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Owwel and QuickBooks
QuickBooks keeps the books for small businesses and their accountants. Owwel keeps the books too, built from the day's trading, with the till, stock valued first in, first out, the daily close and the team in the same system. Here is how the two compare for a business that runs a counter, stock and a team.
Owwel and QuickBooks, point by point
| Feature | Owwel | QuickBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Point of sale | OwwelBuilt in, on every plan, and keeps selling offline | QuickBooksQuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale was discontinued in 2023, with retailers pointed to a separate system[1] |
| Stock tracking | OwwelEvery plan, by dated batch with cost and expiry | QuickBooksQuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced only[2] |
| Multiple currencies | OwwelEvery plan, each branch in its own currency | QuickBooksEssentials, Plus and Advanced plans[4] |
| Several businesses | OwwelUp to 5 businesses on Enterprise, at one yearly price | QuickBooksEach company needs its own paid subscription[3] |
Where QuickBooks falls short for a shop
Intuit discontinued QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale in October 2023 and points retailers to a separate system for the till.
The till is part of Owwel, on every plan, joined to stock, staff and the daily close, and it keeps selling offline.
It is built around the ledger, not the counter: there is no end of day close where the cash is counted and each payment channel is checked.
Owwel's daily close compares counted cash and every mobile money, bank and card channel with what the day's trading says, and flags any difference that evening.
Each separate company is its own subscription, so a second business means a second bill.
Up to 3 branches on Growth, 10 on Professional, and 5 businesses with unlimited branches on Enterprise, each branch in its own currency, under one login.
Mobile money such as M-Pesa comes through third party connectors rather than as an everyday payment channel.
Each mobile money till or paybill is a payment channel of its own, chosen at the till and reconciled every day.
Built into Owwel, not added on
Twelve things that come with Owwel at one yearly price.
Offline sales, each recorded once
The till keeps selling when the internet drops, and each sale is sent by itself when the connection returns, recorded exactly once even if it is sent twice.
Team stock counts by QR code
Teammates join a stock count by scanning a QR code and count from their own phones, with no account and no user licence.
Excel round trip with every change shown
Download stock, edit it in Excel, upload it back and review every change product by product before it is applied, with nothing created twice.
Profit, margin and cost hidden from staff
Two restrictions hide profit, margin and cost of goods, and what you paid for stock, inside pages a person can otherwise open, so a cashier runs the till without seeing your margins.
A minimum price, with discounts flagged
Each product has a minimum price the till will not go under, and a discount that takes a sale below it flags the invoice and alerts the owner.
Backbar costed into each service
Salon product opened for use on clients is spread across the services that used it, so service margins are real.
Attendance, staff portal, consultations and ratings
Professional planA badge kiosk with shifts per weekday, each person's own portal, consultations with priced plans and customer ratings of their work, in the same system as the till.
An owner portal across every branch
Professional planOwners sign in with a phone number and a five digit PIN to see every branch's sales, money, reports and alerts from their phone.
Ayuuto across branches
A group savings pot where each branch pays a set amount daily, with any shortfall covered by another branch and tracked as a debt.
Livestock mode and fabric by the metre
Animals with their own IDs, weights, purchases and sales, each animal's cost in every profit figure, and fabric counted roll by roll and cut against an order.
Files vault, SMS marketing and an API
A PIN protected vault for licences and contracts, SMS campaigns with delivery tracked per recipient, and a developer API for your own software, on every plan.
One yearly price, and never deleted
Plans from Ksh 20,599 a year with team members included rather than charged per user. If a subscription lapses the account goes read-only, and nothing is deleted.
See every accounting feature, or how to bring your products across.
Sources
Checked 19 October 2026. Products change, so check QuickBooks's own site for the latest.
- [1] Intuit: QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale discontinuation
- [2] Intuit: set up and track inventory in QuickBooks Online
- [3] Intuit: create or add another company file in QuickBooks Online
- [4] Intuit: set up and use multicurrency in QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks is a trademark of its owner, used here only to compare.
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