QBO vs QFX vs OFX: What’s the Difference and Which One to Use
Download options in online banking often list QuickBooks (QBO), Quicken (QFX) and Money / OFX. All three contain the same kind of data — a statement with transactions — and all three are built on the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) standard. The differences are in a few header fields and in which program will accept the file.
Quick comparison
| QBO | QFX | OFX | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | QuickBooks Web Connect | Quicken Web Connect | Open Financial Exchange |
| Used by | QuickBooks Desktop & Online | Quicken | Xero, Sage, GnuCash, Moneydance, many others |
| Based on | OFX | OFX | — (the standard) |
Intuit bank ID (INTU.BID) |
Yes | Yes | No |
| Typical version | OFX 1.02 (SGML) | OFX 1.02 (SGML) | 1.x (SGML) or 2.x (XML) |
QBO — for QuickBooks
A QBO file is an OFX statement with Intuit sign-on fields, most importantly INTU.BID, the ID of the bank in Intuit’s Web Connect list. QuickBooks Desktop refuses files whose bank ID it does not recognise; QuickBooks Online is more lenient and also accepts QFX and OFX uploads. More detail: what is a QBO file.
QFX — for Quicken
QFX is the Quicken equivalent. Structurally it is almost identical to QBO; Quicken also validates the bank ID. That is why a QFX file can usually be turned into a QBO file without losing anything — QFX to QBO only rewrites the header.
OFX — the open standard
Plain OFX has no Intuit-specific fields and is accepted by most non-Intuit software. Newer banks may export OFX 2.x, which is XML with closing tags; older exports are SGML. To use an OFX file in QuickBooks Desktop, convert OFX to QBO.
What about QIF and CSV?
- QIF (Quicken Interchange Format) is an older, line-based text format without transaction IDs. Current QuickBooks versions do not import it for bank transactions — convert QIF to QBO.
- CSV is a simple table. It is easy to edit but has no account information or transaction IDs, so imports need column mapping and duplicate checks. See how to import a CSV into QuickBooks Online.
Which one should you download?
- Using QuickBooks Desktop → QBO. If the bank does not offer it, download QFX, OFX or CSV and convert.
- Using QuickBooks Online → QBO or QFX if available, otherwise CSV.
- Using Quicken → QFX.
- Using anything else (Xero, Sage, GnuCash…) → OFX, or CSV if OFX is not offered.
Converting between them
All conversions on ConvertQBO run in your browser:
- QFX to QBO and OFX to QBO — keep payees, memos, check numbers and IDs.
- CSV to QFX and CSV to OFX — build a statement from a spreadsheet export.
- QBO to Excel and OFX to CSV — read any statement as a table.