At a glance
Vendor descriptions below reflect publicly available positioning as of the date on this page and may change. Confirm current features, editions and pricing with the vendor before deciding.
| QuickBooks Enterprise Contractor | Forge ERP | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Small-business accounting with contractor reports | ERP for project-based businesses, construction first |
| Typical buyer | Contractors under roughly $10M with a bookkeeper | Contractors roughly $10M–$150M with a finance team |
| Architecture | Windows desktop file; hosting available | Cloud, multi-tenant, browser-based |
| Job cost | Customer:job with items and classes; job cost and estimate-vs-actual reports | Job, cost code and cost type with budgets; committed cost on the job |
| Progress billing and retainage | Progress invoicing; retainage by workaround | Cumulative AIA-style applications; retainage on work and stored materials |
| WIP | WIP summary report | WIP schedule from posted cost with cost-to-complete by cost code and the adjusting entry prepared |
| Approvals | Basic | Prepare/approve/post separation with an audit trail |
| Multi-entity | Separate company files | Multi-entity by design |
| Users | Licensed per seat with a cap | Tiered plans |
| Payroll | Intuit payroll add-on | Through your payroll provider; job-costed labor with burden lands in Forge |
| Maturity | Established | Beta; no published customer results yet |
When Enterprise is enough
- One entity, a handful of users, and a bookkeeper who knows QuickBooks
- Progress billing on a few jobs at a time, with retainage small enough to track by hand
- No bank or surety asking for a WIP schedule produced from the system
- The goal is to minimize change this year
When it is time to move
- Retainage, subcontracts or change orders are being tracked outside the system
- More than one person approves spend and the approvals happen by email
- A second entity, or a joint venture
- The WIP schedule is rebuilt in Excel every month
- You are hitting the user cap or paying for hosting to get the desktop file off a server
How Forge handles the move
Forge’s setup imports customers, vendors and employees from QuickBooks exports with duplicate matching and a full revert, loads opening balances by job and cost code, and is designed for a parallel month before cutover. Read the guide on moving beyond QuickBooks for the full plan.
Forge ERP covers projects, purchasing, accounts payable, billing and receivables, job cost and WIP, reporting and close. Payroll runs in your payroll provider and lands in Forge as job-costed labor with burden. Forge is in beta with a 14-day free trial.
Frequently asked
- Can I keep QuickBooks for one entity and use Forge for another?
- You can, but consolidated reporting then happens outside both systems. Most contractors that reach a second entity move both into one system.
- Does Forge connect to QuickBooks?
- Forge imports from QuickBooks exports at setup. An ongoing sync is not part of the current scope; the goal of the move is to stop running two systems.