Intuit QuickBooks: Simple Start Edition

• Reviewed by: VTTechguy

  Strengths: Simple installation, very solid, basic features for starting a new business.

  Weaknesses: The are some simple features missing that can be a bit irritating.

  Overall: I tried several products before deciding on Simple Start, none of the others were as functional with the basic features of invoicing and client management. One issue I have though is that you cannot alter the fonts in the invoice creation, So where you might want to bold the client information in the Bill To field, you're stuck with the same font as in the body of the invoice. It's certainly not something I would upgrade to QuickBooks Basic just to have, if that was a reason why it wasn't included, but if Peachtree had been a little less expensive I would have gone that way.

• Reviewed by: birdbo

  Strengths: simple installation. works well

  Weaknesses: not compatible with previous versions of QuickBooks. If you have a company already in QuickBooks, this product will not accept the data. Also, if you bill your clients/customers for specific job-related expenses, Simple Start cannot handle this function -

  Overall: If all you want is a product to invoice customers and track payments, then Simple Start is a reasonable product. For anything more, including expense tracking and client billback for job/project related expenses, you will need to upgrade to QuickBooks Pro.I like the Simple Start interface more than the one for QuickBooks Pro, but the lack of features in Simple Start made it necessary for me to upgrade to Pro in order to bill my clients for travel expenses.

• Reviewed by: mkarndt

  Strengths: Great for starting a new small business

  Weaknesses: I have not found any yet

  Overall: If you are looking to start a small business this is the product you need! You could even use this to do your personal check book. The price is unbeatable.

• Reviewed by: DianaEggold

  Strengths: Easy to work with, very complete set of options, well organized.

  Weaknesses: Sometimes it is a little difficult to fix an incorrect error until you figure out how to edit the entries.

  Overall: I love this product. I have tried using data base programs like Excel for my business, but this is so much better. I am glad I spent the money to get this program - it is making things a lot easier.

• Reviewed by: pamelastgermain

  Strengths: Pretty easy to learn, full of basic functions that you cannot get with Quicken (accounts receivable and payable).

  Weaknesses: You cant have more than one job (or project) per client, and there are limits in setting up estimates to invoice against. These (and more) are great features found in the higher grades of Quickboo

  Overall: This is a good step up from Quicken if you are running a business. It is easy to use and will help you keep track of who owes you and who you owe. However, it is pretty basic, and if you need to work with estimates and invoice against them or if you want to have more than one job/project per client, I recommend upgrading to Basic, Pro, or Premier (which I needed to do).