MYOB accounting: 8 products compared

By Daniel James on Nov 15, 2013 4:24PM

Deciding which version of MYOB you need? Here is an overview of eight different versions of MYOB and their major features.

[As part of our focus on accounting products we produced the 44-page Australian small business accounting software guide earlier this year. This is a summary of MYOB's accounting product range from that guide.]

MYOB has been progressively moving its products into the cloud. There is LiveAccounts, which is a cloud-only product, while the AccountRight range can be used as desktop software, from the cloud, or both.

With AccountRight your data can be stored in the cloud and the software can either access it there, or from a copy kept on your hard drive that is kept in sync whenever there’s a live Internet connection. The important thing to keep in mind is with AccountRight, you have to install the software on the computer you’re using - you can’t just use a Web browser, like with LiveAccounts. If you don’t want to pay a monthly fee, you can also pay for an upfront licence for version of AccountRight. That’s if you prefer not to use the cloud features.

MYOB LiveAccounts

MYOB has also offers the AccountEdge range for Macs. It’s also significant that most of the MYOB range includes M-Powered Invoices (an online payment service), actually built-in. Additional access and per-transaction fees apply if you actually use this capability.

Note: We haven't included every product on the market here. Check the MYOB web site for other products not listed here. Remember that just because a certain feature is missing from a product does not mean it is not available as an add-on from the same vendor or a third party.

	LiveAccounts	AccountRight Live Basics	AccountRight Live Standard	AccountRight Live Plus
Price	$29/month	[CORRECTION] $29/month or $348 upfront*	[CORRECTION] $39/month or $468 upfront*	[CORRECTION] $65/month or $780 upfront*
Cloud / Desktop (OS)	Cloud	Cloud/Desktop (Windows)	Cloud/Desktop (Windows)	Cloud/Desktop (Windows)
Maximum simultaneous users with basic licence	Unlimited	[CORRECTION] 5 plus business advisors (1 for upfront licence)	[CORRECTION] 5 plus business advisors (1 for upfront licence)	[CORRECTION] 5 plus business advisors (1 for upfront licence)
Restrict user access		•	•	•
Lists of items that you buy /sell	•	•	•	•
Lists of customers / suppliers	•	•	•	•
BAS report	•	•	•	•
Quotes	• [UPDATED]	•	•	•
Jobs		•	•	•
Invoices with online payment options		•	•	•
Bank feeds	•	•	•	•
Inventory			•	•
Time tracking and billing				•
Payroll	•			•
Mobile device support	•‡
Multiple currencies

	AccountRight Premier	AccountEdge Basic	AccountEdge Pro	AccountEdge Network Edition
Price	$1,999	$299	$949	$2,049
Cloud / Desktop (OS)	Desktop (Windows)	Desktop (OS X)	Desktop (OS X)	Desktop (OS X)
Maximum simultaneous users with basic licence	3	1	1	3
Restrict user access	•		•	•
Lists of items that you buy /sell	•		•	•
Lists of customers / suppliers	•	•	•	•
BAS report	•	•	•	•
Quotes	•	•	•	•
Jobs	•	•	•	•
Invoices with online payment options	•	•	•	•
Bank feeds
Inventory	•		•	•
Time tracking and billing	•		•	•
Payroll	•		•	•
Mobile device support		•	•	•
Multiple currencies	•		•	•

[CORRECTION: Please note this table has been corrected since it was first published. The corrections are marked in the table.]

* Upfront licences are for offline use on a single computer
‡ Works in browser, but no specific mobile support

Want more info? The essential resource is the 44-page Australian small business accounting software guide. The guide compares MYOB, Xero and others, as well as payroll, bookkeepers and other software basics. Click here to register for free and download it.