Choosing an edition
QuickBooks Desktop for businesses running on Mac
There is a native macOS edition. It is a different product from the Windows ones, and the differences are worth knowing first.
Design studios, consultancies, single-owner practices — plenty of businesses run entirely on Macs and are told, repeatedly, that serious accounting software is Windows-only. It is not. There is a native macOS edition and it is a one-time purchase like the rest.
But it is genuinely a separate product, not the Windows software recompiled, and the two constraints below decide whether it fits you.
What you are likely to need
Software that belongs on the machine
A native macOS application rather than a Windows program running under emulation, with the file kept locally on your own Mac.
The core accounting, done properly
Income, expenses and bills tracked, invoices created and sent, financial reports produced. The everyday work, without compromise.
A one-time license
The same terms as the Windows editions: $198, no subscription, no renewal, and no date on which the software stops running.
A clear answer about your accountant
The Mac and Windows editions do not share a company file format, so moving a file between them is a conversion. Ask whoever does your books how they want to receive it before you order.
What we would sell you
Recommended
QuickBooks Desktop Mac Plus 2024
It is the only edition that runs natively on macOS. The Windows editions will not install on a Mac, and there is no cross-grade between the two — so the machine decides this, not the feature list.
How many seats
Sold as a single-user license. There are no two-, three- or five-user tiers on macOS as there are on the Windows side. How to count yours
Before you order
If several people need the file open at once, or you need the advanced inventory and pricing that only the Windows Enterprise edition carries, macOS is a real constraint rather than a preference. Tell us what you are trying to do and we will say plainly whether it fits.
Whichever edition you take, the license never expires — but Intuit ends the connected services for the 2024 release, payroll and bank feeds included, on 31 May 2027. What that means