Cloud vs desktop accounting software: which is better?

Cloud accounting software (QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks) wins for most businesses today: automatic updates, anywhere access, bank feed syncing, and easy accountant collaboration. Desktop software (QuickBooks Desktop) can be faster for large data sets and works offline, but requires manual updates, single-machine access, and is increasingly being sunset by vendors. Unless you have a specific reason to use desktop, cloud is the right choice.