AccountEdge Review: Is It Right For You?

AccountEdge is a small-business accounting software package made by a company called Priority Software. As locally-hosted desktop accounting software, AccountEdge will be a one-off cost for your business — rather than the monthly subscription costs that cloud accounting software tend to entail.

AccountEdge, with its two plans, will be one of your most straightforward business accounting software options.

AccountEdge Basic

AccountEdge Basic is a desktop accounting software option that offers general ledger accounting capabilities, bank syncing, sales tracking and credit card payment.

AccountEdge Basic will have a one-off cost of $149 for new users or $99 to upgrade your software from a previous version of AccountEdge.

AccountEdge Pro

AccountEdge Pro is also a desktop accounting software, but unlike AccountEdge Basic, AccountEdge Pro will offer some cloud collaboration capabilities.

On top of all of the features that AccountEdge Basic offers, AccountEdge Pro will allow for up to 10 users and offers payroll capabilities, time billing, inventory management and purchase tracking.

For new users, AccountEdge Pro will cost a single payment of $399. A single-user upgrade for AccountEdge Pro will cost $199 and a multi-user AccountEdge Pro upgrade will cost $299.

With AccountEdge software, you’ll also be able to tack add-on features onto your accounting software capabilities. Thanks to this add-on system AccountEdge offers, you won’t have to settle for a one-size-fits-all accounting software. If you feel that AccountEdge software is missing a crucial feature, check out these add-on options to see if one — or many of them — addresses your pain point:

AccountEdge Connect

If you absolutely need cloud collaboration capability, but you only need the features that AccountEdge Basic offers, then consider this add-on. If you purchase this add-on in conjunction with AccountEdge Basic, you could access the cloud accessibility of the Pro plan — without all of the other bells and whistles. This add-on feature will start at $10 a month for one user access and will cost as much as $100 a month for up to 50 users.

Payroll

If payroll is the feature you absolutely need on your accounting software, there are add-on options for that, too. You’ll be able to choose from three tiers of this add-on: Payroll tax service, payroll tax service plus support and full-service payroll. Add-on payroll will start at $249 a year.

Direct deposit

For AccountEdge software, direct deposit will be a separate add-on — and a separate cost — from the payroll services add-on. To pay your employees quickly and efficiently from within AccountEdge, you’ll likely want to set this up. This add-on will involve a few costs: A $49.95 set-up fee, a $0.99 per-transaction fee, a monthly $14.95 access fee and $2.50 per-occurrence rejected item fee.

Credit cards

If you have an earlier version of AccountEdge software and want to access the ability to accept credit card payments — without undergoing a full update — then you can opt for the credit cards add-on option. AccountEdge offers a fully-integrated merchant account for users who want to accept credit cards from their customers.

You’ll be able to choose between two different payment plans for this add-on — the Variable Fee option, which will involve a monthly $15 fee and lower per-transaction fees, or the Flat Fee option, which will have no monthly fee but higher per-transaction fees.

Web pay

To offer an online payment link on your invoices, you’ll need to access the Web Pay add-on for AccountEdge software. Having this easy-pay option will likely make it much easier and, most importantly, quicker for your customers to fulfill the invoices you send them.

To be able to access this add-on, you’ll have to opt for an accounting software that’s enabled with AccountEdge Connect and you’ll need to have an AccountEdge merchant account.

Shopify connector

You’ll also have the option to connect your AccountEdge account with your business’s Shopify account. Syncing the data between these two accounts will make your business’s bookkeeping that much more streamlined. Be sure to note that you’ll need a version of AccountEdge software from 2018 or later.

Checks and forms

Finally, through AccountEdge software, you can access check and form printing capabilities. You’ll be able to print custom business checks and forms like invoices, purchase orders and tax forms. It doesn't include pricing for these capabilities on its website, but AccountEdge does mention that you can get a 25% discount for your first order.

Not quite convinced any of the possible iterations of AccountEdge are the right business accounting software for you? Luckily, AccountEdge has a lot of worthy competitors, and some of them might be better for your business.

QuickBooks Desktop

If you’re looking for a desktop accounting software, then we suggest you look into QuickBooks Desktop.

QuickBooks is generally the industry-leading accounting software solution, so you might be better off going with this market leader as opposed to AccountEdge. You’ll likely get more services and support.

The QuickBooks Desktop accounting software is a locally-hosted option, which means your business’s books will be far away from the cloud. You won’t be able to access your account from any device as you would with a cloud-based accounting software. That said, QuickBooks Desktop offers some pretty powerful accounting features that make this option especially apt for inventory-based businesses.

QuickBooks Desktop comes in three versions — QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise — priced with one-off costs of $299.95, $499.95 and $1155, respectively.

QuickBooks Online

Alternatively, if you want to be able to access your accounting data from any device with an internet connection, then you’ll need to opt for a cloud-based accounting software. Unlike AccountEdge and QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online will always be cloud-hosted — and it won’t require you to pay extra for cloud collaboration.

QuickBooks Online also comes in three versions, all of which will be priced on a monthly subscription basis. Simple Start is the most basic version and will only cost $25. Essentials will be the next step up and will cost $50. Finally, Plus will be the most powerful version of QuickBooks Online and will cost $80.

Wave accounting software

Finally, if you’re just starting out and don’t really need anything as powerful as QuickBooks or AccountEdge, then free accounting software could be a better starting block for you. If this is the case, then check out Wave accounting software.

You’ll be able to access basic accounting functions for free through Wave accounting software, and you’ll also be able to send invoices and track receipts through free add-ons. You’ll also be able to access card payments and payroll as pay-as-you-go add-ons.

Though it’s important to invest in accounting apps and software early on, Wave could be a starter solution for your accounting needs.

» MORE: NerdWallet's best small-business apps