It is difficult to compare QuickBooks Live and Botkeeper since they offer very different online bookkeeping services. QuickBooks Live has a standardized product for very small businesses, whereas Botkeeper uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the accounting for large businesses and accounting firms. We don’t declare an overall winner in our comparison of QuickBooks Live vs Botkeeper because they serve distinctly different clientele.
- QuickBooks Live: Ideal for small businesses seeking basic bookkeeping services
- Botkeeper: Best for large businesses and accounting firms looking to automate their bookkeeping transactions
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Neither QuickBooks Live nor Botkeeper provide tax or consulting services, which many small businesses are looking for along with their bookkeeping. We’ve included Bench as a third option in the table below if you’re interested in tax services and consulting. You can learn more by reading our review of Bench.
Use Cases and Pros & Cons
- Businesses seeking a do-it-yourself (DIY) bookkeeping solution: If you would prefer to handle your own day-to-day bookkeeping tasks, such as invoicing customers and paying bills, then QuickBooks Live is a great option. It will handle monthly duties, such as reconciling your bank and credit card accounts and performing a month-end close.
- New and inexperienced QuickBooks users: It provides support with setting up your account and connecting your bank and credit card accounts. Your QuickBooks Live bookkeeper will also train you on day-to-day bookkeeping tasks if needed.
- Businesses seeking a personal connection with their bookkeeper: You’re assigned a dedicated bookkeeper who is backed by a team of QuickBooks specialists. You can meet with them as often as needed via one-way video conferencing, and they’ll work with you to learn the ins and outs of your business.
Pros
- Works seamlessly with QuickBooks Online and other QuickBooks products
- Has historical data import
- Offers assistance with reports and reporting tools
Cons
- Lacks payroll or tax filing services
- Has no A/R, A/P, or inventory management features
- Doesn’t support accrual-based accounting
- Accounting firms: Botkeeper is predominantly used by accounting firms that offer full-service bookkeeping to their clients. Botkeeper can automate their client bookkeeping to allow accounting professionals to focus on higher-level client-advisory services.
- Multilocation and enterprise businesses: It’s an ideal solution for multilocation and enterprise businesses with a large quantity of monthly transactions that can justify the cost. Botkeeper supports multiple-entity accounting, reaching beyond your core business pipeline to automate accounting for your associates, subsidiaries, and affiliates
Pros
- Offers unlimited connections and transactions
- Reduces data entry and human error
- Includes support with every plan
Cons
- Has no free trial
- Has no invoicing or bill pay services
- Has no tax and consulting services
- Businesses seeking tax preparation and bookkeeping for one low fee: Bench, which leads our roundup of the best online bookkeeping services, provides services similar to QuickBooks Live but also includes tax consulting and return preparation as part of a monthly package. Read our Bench review to determine if it’s a fit for your business.
User Reviews: Botkeeper Wins
Both QuickBooks Live and Botkeeper received mostly positive reviews but Botkeeper scored higher overall. We agree with users that Botkeeper’s services ultimately save time and streamline mundane bookkeeping tasks so that accounting firms can focus on what they do best.
Reviewers of QuickBooks Live appreciated the responsiveness and knowledge of the customer support team. They also liked that the fees are affordable and the dashboard itself is clean and easy to navigate. Users wished that bill pay or invoicing services, as well as income tax filing or advisory services, were available. Also, many wished QuickBooks Live offered a free trial so that they could try the service before committing.
QuickBooks Live earned the following average scores on popular review sites:
- Capterra[1]: 4.5 out of 5 based on around 70 reviews
- G2.com[2]: 4.0 out of 5 based on almost 80 reviews
Botkeeper users mentioned that the service saves time and that its automation reduces the risk of human bookkeeping errors. Others felt that it removes the tedious and monotonous tasks of data entry from the firm’s bookkeepers, so that they can instead become account managers who focus on high-level tasks, quality control, and working more closely with clients in other areas. One drawback is that it can take some time to familiarize yourself with the software.
Botkeeper earned the following average scores on popular review sites:
- G2.com[3]: 4.4 out of 5 based on about 30 reviews
- Featured Customers[4]: 4.8 out of 5 based on over 1,700 reviews
Pricing: QuickBooks Live Wins
QuickBooks Live offers a choice of three subscription levels, which vary in price depending on your monthly expenses. Botkeeper’s pricing isn’t transparent, with only the starting prices of their two plans listed. Another major difference is that Botkeeper does not offer a monthly service—only daily or weekly. We awarded QuickBooks Live the win here because of the pricing transparency.
The first month of service with QuickBooks Live is dedicated to onboarding and cleanup of your books (cost is $500). QuickBooks Live also requires that you have a subscription to any version of QuickBooks Online (starts at $30 a month for QuickBooks Simple Start).
QuickBooks Live offers a choice of three subscription plans, which vary in price depending on the number of monthly expenses. Your first month of service includes onboarding and will cost more than the normal monthly price. This cost used to be $500 per month for all companies, but QuickBooks Live no longer publishes this price, so you’ll need to contact the provider to determine your first month’s cost.
QuickBooks Online is also required to work with QuickBooks Live, which starts at $30 per month for Simple Start.
Botkeeper offers the choice of two plans—Basic or Advanced—which differ based on the features included. Users also have the choice of frequency, whether that is a weekly or daily basis, although services are billed monthly.
Features: QuickBooks Live Wins
When we compare QuickBooks Live and Botkeeper, the difference between the two is that QuickBooks Live bookkeepers are certified with the software, and you can enjoy enhanced communication and a more personalized relationship. It also offers a 100% Accurate Books Guarantee, which lets you request an audit at any time. However, Botkeeper provides users with an interactive dashboard that provides direct access to key performance indicators (KPIs) that users can share with clients. Both assign you to a dedicated bookkeeper upon enrollment.
Enhanced Communication: QuickBooks Live Wins
With QuickBooks Live, you can meet with your bookkeeper via one-way video chat, so you can see them but they can’t see you. This makes it easier to share documents. Whether you are a new user or have an established account, QuickBooks Live will assist you with cleanup and setup and provide monthly reports as well, with the ability to discuss the reports if you have questions.
100% Accurate Books Guarantee: QuickBooks Live Wins
QuickBooks Live has a feature that is unique to the service, its 100% Accurate Books Guarantee. This guarantee enables you to request an audit of your books at any time and is not something that Bookkeeper360 offers.
Business Dashboard: Botkeeper Wins
Botkeeper’s interactive business dashboard grants you access to KPIs, trending analytics, and data visualizations. You can also share the dashboard with clients, with the ability to grant specific permissions and additional security, such as the “view only” permission, and protect the dashboard with a password.
Ease of Use: QuickBooks Live Wins
QuickBooks Live is very intuitive and easy to use, and its dashboard is user-friendly compared to Botkeeper. QuickBooks Live also has a wide selection of help resources, including an online help session with a searchable knowledge base and community support. The main difference between the two is that QuickBooks Live offers the ability to communicate with your dedicated bookkeeper via one-way video chat.
Integrations: QuickBooks Live Wins
Botkeeper offers mainly ecommerce integrations, whereas QuickBooks Live offers numerous third-party and even built-in integrations. We chose QuickBooks Live as the winner in that category because of its wide variety of integrations.
- QuickBooks Live integrations: QuickBooks Payroll, QuickBooks Time, QuickBooks Payments, Shopify, Fathom, Method:CRM, Insightly, Hubdoc, AutoEntry, TradeGecko, and more
- Botkeeper integrations: ScanBot, Xero, BigCommerce, Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento
Mobile App: Tie
Both QuickBooks Live and Botkeeper lack a dedicated mobile app, although Botkeeper integrates with the mobile app ScanBot, which can extract financial data directly from a photo of a receipt or invoice taken with your cell phone. You can drag and drop files into ScanBot, and it’ll read the file automatically.
Meanwhile, QuickBooks Live users can use the QuickBooks Online app to manage their bookkeeping. However, QuickBooks Live doesn’t offer a separate app for communicating with your bookkeeper and uploading documents.
Customer Support: QuickBooks Live Wins
QuickBooks Live excels with its customer support, which offers three features that Botkeeper lacks—community support, online help resources, and the ability to meet with your bookkeeper via one-way video chat where you can screen-share documents.
Once you enroll with QuickBooks Live, you’ll be assigned a dedicated bookkeeper who’ll meet with you via one-way video chat. You’ll also have access to the QuickBooks Live Hub, which is your own personal and secure space on the site. You can check on your bookkeeper’s progress, including the status of their task list, view related documents, and schedule a live video appointment. You can also access a product support specialist with any software questions via live chat.
QuickBooks Live Hub (Source: QuickBooks)
With Botkeeper, unlimited support is included with every plan. There’s multilevel, specialized support available for both technical and general bookkeeping issues. Support is available by phone or live chat, and you can also email your bookkeeper. You’ll typically receive a response within 24 hours of submission. If you’re an accountant, you’ll be given access to Botkeeper’s Partner Platform Overview page, which allows you to keep track of the status of all of your clients.
Botkeeper Partner Platform Overview Page (Source: Botkeeper)
How We Evaluated QuickBooks Live vs Botkeeper
We evaluated QuickBooks Live vs Botkeeper based on the following criteria:
35% of Overall Score
Because each plan depends on many factors, we looked at the value provided in terms of the time and potential money that you’re saving by using the service.
20% of Overall Score
You should be able to access a dedicated bookkeeper for any questions or advice and one-on-one assistance.
15% of Overall Score
The best online bookkeeping service should offer a wide range of bookkeeping solutions, including catch-up bookkeeping, invoicing, bill pay, bank reconciliation, payroll, and tax filing.
10% of Overall Score
We evaluated whether the online bookkeeping service offered tax and consulting, and the scope of those services.
20% of Overall Score
We consider the opinions of users and the service’s ratings on various review sites. These criteria were disregarded for providers where no reviews were found.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
QuickBooks Live, a virtual bookkeeping service for QuickBooks Online users, will help you connect your bank and credit card accounts, categorize expenses, reconcile accounts, and send you financial reports monthly. You can meet with your dedicated bookkeeper on an as-needed basis via telephone and one-way video conference.
Botkeeper connects with both QuickBooks Online and Xero.
Yes, Botkeeper supports bookkeeping on a cash and accrual basis for all available packages.
QuickBooks Live costs anywhere from $200 to $400 per month, depending on the amount of monthly expenses.
Bottom Line
Because of the distinct differences between QuickBooks Live vs Botkeeper, comparing them is a bit like comparing apples and oranges, so we were unable to declare an overall winner. While Botkeeper uses AI to automate accounting for accounting firms and larger businesses, QuickBooks Live relies on its personalized approach for small business owners. QuickBooks Live is best suited for a freelancer or small business owner who prefers a do-it-yourself (DIY) solution to bookkeeping.
With Botkeeper, your experience is with a virtual robotic bookkeeper that supports your accounting practice and handles day-to-day transactions. While it automates many accounting tasks, it isn’t a replacement for an accountant but, rather, an efficient complement. It won’t handle year-end work, including taxes, and won’t create supporting schedules for the books, such as depreciation and deferred revenue. However, its AI and machine learning (ML), combined with a team of specialists that checks the data for accuracy and tax compliance, make Botkeeper a strong choice for larger businesses and accounting firms.
User review references:
1 Capterra | QuickBooks Live
2 G2.com | QuickBooks Live
3 G2.com | Botkeeper
4 Featured Customers | Botkeeper
