Can you leave QuickBooks Desktop without losing classes and old invoices?
Renewal prices jumped. A lot of people still only need one thing Desktop does: classes, a rare invoice, or a receipt they can open later.
This check does not move your books, and it is not tax or legal advice.
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Export everything before you cancel
Do this while you can still open the company file. This is not tax advice. Ask your accountant how long to keep the file. Do not delete the company file the day you cancel.
- Profit and loss, balance sheet, and trial balance for each year you might need. If you use classes, also print or save profit and loss by class.
- General ledger or a transaction detail report for those same years.
- A list of open invoices, unpaid bills, and uncleared bank transactions.
- Every invoice and estimate you still need, as PDF or on paper. Do not trust a later login to show them.
- Receipts and bill attachments. Save the files into a folder you control. A bookkeeper in a public thread said they do not trust a host to keep uploaded copies after a switch.
- Lists: chart of accounts, customers, vendors, items, classes, and employees if you have them.
- A backup of the company file itself, stored somewhere that is not only inside QuickBooks.
- Bank and credit card statements for the same period, from the bank, not only from the books.
- Write down the last reconciliation date for each account.
- Ask the accountant what they need, and how many years of the file to keep, before you turn the subscription off.
Prices checked 5 Oct 2026
US list prices for this Desktop Pro Plus comparison, not Australian MYOB. FreshBooks Select is omitted because the public page does not list a dollar price. Manager Cloud is omitted because the pricing page text loaded on 5 Oct 2026 did not show a dollar amount. The card is the free desktop edition. Each link is the page used. Offers and "percent off" promos are ignored. If a feature was unclear, it is not claimed.
That is 12 times the monthly list price, not a discounted annual quote.
| Product | A year | Not claimed |
|---|---|---|
| Wave Starter | $0 a year for the software | No class, job, or tracking-category report claimed. Live bank feeds not claimed (file import only). Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| Square Invoices (Square Free) | $0 a month | No class, job, or tracking-category report claimed. Bank feeds not claimed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| PayPal invoicing | $0 a year for the software | No class, job, or tracking-category report claimed. Bank feeds not claimed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| Wave Pro | $190 published annual $228 12 × $19 | Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| Xero Early | $324 12 × $27 | Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| Xero Growing | $708 12 × $59 | Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| Xero Established | $1,164 12 × $97 | Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| Zoho Books Free | $0 a month | No class, job, or tracking-category report claimed. Bank feeds not claimed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| Zoho Books Standard | $180 published annual $240 12 × $20 | Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| FreshBooks Lite | $276 12 × $23 | No class, job, or tracking-category report claimed. Bank feeds not confirmed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| FreshBooks Plus | $516 12 × $43 | No class, job, or tracking-category report claimed. Bank feeds not confirmed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| FreshBooks Premium | $840 12 × $70 | Project profit is not department classes. Bank feeds not confirmed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| QuickBooks Online Simple Start | $456 12 × $38 | Classes not confirmed, so not treated as a fit when you must have them. Bank feeds not confirmed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price. Dollar figure was not re-read from a live Intuit page load |
| QuickBooks Online Essentials | $1,020 12 × $85 | Classes not confirmed, so not treated as a fit when you must have them. Bank feeds not confirmed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price. Dollar figure was not re-read from a live Intuit page load |
| QuickBooks Online Plus | $1,680 12 × $140 | Classes not confirmed, so not treated as a fit when you must have them. Bank feeds not confirmed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price. Dollar figure was not re-read from a live Intuit page load |
| QuickBooks Online Advanced | $4,080 12 × $340 | Classes not confirmed, so not treated as a fit when you must have them. Bank feeds not confirmed. Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price. Dollar figure was not re-read from a live Intuit page load |
| GnuCash | $0 a year for the software | No class, job, or tracking-category report claimed. Live bank feeds not claimed (file import only). Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
| Manager desktop | $0 a year for the software | Live bank feeds not claimed (file import only). Payroll not claimed as included in the plan price |
Feature pages used besides the price links: Wave tags and profit and loss by tag, Xero tracking categories on the US Sage comparison, Zoho reporting tags and bank feeds help, Zoho Payroll pricing, Manager divisions and bank-statement import, GnuCash download page.