dotConnect for QuickBooks: SQL Access to QuickBooks Online for .NET Developers
dotConnect for QuickBooks (Devart's full name is dotConnect for QuickBooks Online) is a $339.95 ADO.NET data provider that lets .NET applications read and write a QuickBooks Online company, including customers, invoices, accounts, employees and time activities, plus 50 QuickBooks report objects, using SQL or Entity Framework Core instead of Intuit's REST API. It's for developers integrating line-of-business software with QuickBooks Online. It works only with QuickBooks Online, not QuickBooks Desktop, and the price is a perpetual developer license with one year of updates.
If you've had to build Intuit's OAuth 2.0 flow, keep refresh tokens alive and map invoice line JSON by hand, this provider is the shortcut: a connection string with a Company Id and token store, and SELECT * FROM Customer.
Quick facts
- Version: 3.3.248, released November 11, 2026
- Developer: Devart
- Data source: QuickBooks Online through the QuickBooks Online API, production or sandbox companies. QuickBooks Desktop isn't supported
- Authentication: Intuit OAuth 2.0: Company Id and refresh token, with your own app's Client Id and Client Secret or Devart's built-in app at design time. Tokens can be kept in a file or registry key
- .NET: .NET 5 to 11, .NET Core 2.0 to 3.1, .NET Standard 2.0/2.1, .NET Framework 4.5 to 4.8
- ORMs: Entity Framework Core 1 to 11, Entity Framework 4 to 6, Dapper, NHibernate
- Download: 16.82 MB Windows installer, or the Devart.Data.QuickBooks NuGet package
- Price: Developer $339.95, Server $799.95, OEM for 10-100 devices $4,999.95 (perpetual, a year of updates included)
- Trial: 30 days, full features
- Refunds: within 30 days if a technical problem can't be resolved by Devart support
- What we checked: version 3.3.248 and the 16.82 MB installer size on the download page, the OAuth and token-storage documentation, the revision history since 2016, Devart forum answers about invoices and payroll, and the order page on November 14, 2026: $339.95 for a single Developer license. We didn't connect it to a QuickBooks company.
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Overview
QuickBooks Online's API models a company's books as entities (Customer, Invoice, Account, Item, Employee, TimeActivity and so on) plus a separate set of report endpoints. dotConnect for QuickBooks exposes those entities as tables in ADO.NET classes named QuickBooksConnection, QuickBooksCommand and QuickBooksDataReader. Devart's own examples insert and update Customer rows with plain SQL.
The hard part of QuickBooks integrations is usually authentication, not data. Intuit's refresh tokens expire, and Devart's documentation notes that "while they may live for 100 days in theory, sometimes data source may revoke it after just one day." The provider's Token Server option handles this: point it at a file or registry key, and the provider stores each new token and requests fresh ones when needed. OAuth 2.0 support arrived in February 2020, a Sandbox switch in the connection dialog in January 2025, and 50 new report objects plus a TaxExemptionReasonId field on Customer in May 2026.
An EF Core DbContext in Visual Studio with a DbSet of Accounts and a relationship mapping from each account to its parent account (QuickBooks sub-accounts). The diagram underneath is a sample model.
Features
QuickBooks entities as tables
dotConnect for QuickBooks maps QuickBooks Online's accounting entities to tables you can SELECT, INSERT and UPDATE: Customer (with fields such as CustomerTypeRefId and TaxExemptionReasonId), Invoice, Account with its parent-account hierarchy, Employee and TimeActivity among them. Reference fields are flattened into columns like ItemRefId and ItemRefName, so joins work without nested JSON.
Invoices with line items
dotConnect for QuickBooks creates invoices with an INSERT into Invoice, where the Line column takes the invoice lines as JSON. Each line needs its DetailType, and sales lines use flattened fields such as SalesItemLineDetail_ItemRefId, SalesItemLineDetail_Qty and SalesItemLineDetail_UnitPrice. It's the one place where you still need to know QuickBooks' structure, and Devart's forum has a worked example.
50 report objects
dotConnect for QuickBooks added 50 report objects in version 3.2 (May 2026), bringing QuickBooks Online's built-in reports into SQL. A dashboard can read the same figures accountants see in QuickBooks, rather than adding up invoices and bills itself.
Token handling, sandbox and read-only mode
dotConnect for QuickBooks keeps OAuth refresh tokens current through its Token Server option (file:// or reg://), signs in through Web Login at design time with Devart's embedded Intuit app, and supports interactive OAuth at runtime since version 3.0. The Sandbox option points a connection at an Intuit developer sandbox company for safe testing, and Readonly limits a connection to SELECT.
ORMs and Visual Studio
dotConnect for QuickBooks supports EF Core 1 to 11 through a separate EF Core package, Entity Framework 4 to 6, Dapper and NHibernate. Visual Studio 2015 to 2026 gets a Server Explorer data source and design-time components, and QuickBooksMonitor with dbMonitor shows the API calls behind your SQL.
Benefits
- The OAuth chores are handled. Expiring refresh tokens are the most common reason QuickBooks integrations break overnight, and the token store deals with them.
- Accounting data next to your own. Customers and invoices can be joined with your CRM or project data in one query.
- Safe testing. The sandbox option lets you develop against Intuit's test companies with the same code.
Real-World Uses
- Invoicing from a job system: when a field-service job is completed, the app inserts an Invoice with its line items for the customer.
- Customer master sync: new customers created in a CRM are inserted into QuickBooks, and address changes are sent as UPDATEs.
- Timesheets: a time-tracking app writes TimeActivity records against employees so payroll staff see the hours in QuickBooks.
- Management reporting: a nightly job reads QuickBooks report objects into SQL Server for a Power BI dashboard.
Who It's For, and Who Should Skip It
It's for .NET developers and software vendors who connect business applications to QuickBooks Online and would rather work in SQL or EF Core than in Intuit's SDKs.
Skip it if your clients run QuickBooks Desktop: it only talks to QuickBooks Online. Skip it if you need payroll: Devart's staff confirmed in 2017 that the QuickBooks Online API offers no payroll API, only Employee and TimeActivity. And if you just want QuickBooks data in Excel or a BI tool, Devart's Excel Add-in or ODBC driver for QuickBooks Online is a better fit than a developer library.
Usage Guide
- Install the provider (Windows installer after a free Devart sign-in, or the Devart.Data.QuickBooks NuGet package).
- In Server Explorer, add a QuickBooks Online connection and use Web Login to sign in to Intuit and pick a company. The Company Id and refresh token are filled in. Tick Sandbox for a test company.
- For production, register your own app at developer.intuit.com to get a Client Id and Client Secret, as Devart recommends.
- Set Token Server to a file or registry key so refreshed tokens survive restarts.
- Run SQL through
QuickBooksCommand or scaffold an EF Core model, and add the license key before deploying.
Before you buy
- The order page lists the product as dotConnect for QuickBooks Online.
- Buy Now selects a single Developer license. An integration running on a company server needs Server ($799.95), and an app you sell to QuickBooks users needs OEM. Switch the edition, the update term (1, 2 or 3 years) and premium support on the order page.
- All licenses are perpetual. Devart's ordering FAQ allows a refund within 30 days only for a technical problem support can't fix, so try your real invoice and customer flows in the trial.
Where it falls short
- Online only. No QuickBooks Desktop, Enterprise or Point of Sale.
- No payroll. The QuickBooks Online API has no payroll endpoints, so neither does the provider.
- Line items are JSON. Creating invoices means building the Line value with the right DetailType and flattened field names, which tripped up at least one forum user.
- Token revocation still happens. Intuit can revoke tokens early. The token store handles normal refreshes, but a revoked token means signing in again.
- Older Entity Framework setups needed manual provider registration. A 2017 forum user hit "Keyword not supported: 'company id'" until the provider was registered in the config file. Devart later made that registration unnecessary.
What Users Say
No major review site has rated reviews of this provider. The useful public record is Devart's forum, where QuickBooks developers asked practical questions.
Creating an invoice, September 2018
A developer (tklawsuc) was "trying to create an invoice using dotConnect for QuickBooks" and kept getting "Required parameter Line.SalesItemLineDetail is missing." Devart's engineer (Pinturiccio) answered the next day with the exact Line JSON from a test company, showing the flattened SalesItemLineDetail_ItemRefId and SalesItemLineDetail_Qty fields. The user replied: "Thank you @Pinturiccio. That did the trick!"
Payroll, April 2017
A software vendor (danielrail) whose product already supported QuickBooks Desktop wrote: "One thing that I'm noticing is that it doesn't seem to support Payroll. Am I correct in assuming that?" Devart's admin (Shalex) confirmed that "dotConnect for QuickBooks works via QuickBooks Online API," and that Intuit offers no payroll API, "and you can work only with Employee and TimeActivity."
The picture is of a provider that does what the QuickBooks Online API allows, with responsive, concrete help from Devart's engineers, and whose limits are mostly Intuit's: Online-only, no payroll, and JSON-shaped invoice lines.
Comparisons
vs. Intuit's own .NET SDK and REST API
Intuit's SDK and API are free and cover every entity and query option first. You'd still write the OAuth flow, token storage and object mapping. The provider gives you SQL, EF Core and token handling, at a price. For a single invoice push, go with Intuit's SDK. For a sync touching many entities and reports, the provider saves weeks.
vs. dotConnect for FreshBooks
Devart's FreshBooks provider is the same product for a different accounting service, at the same price. Pick by the books your users keep.
Editions and Pricing
| Edition | Price | For |
|---|
| Developer (the Buy Now default) | $339.95 | One developer writing and testing the integration |
| Server | $799.95 | Running it on one server of your organization |
| OEM for 10-100 devices | $4,999.95 | Including it in software you distribute |
| Site, OEM for 100+ devices | See the order page | Whole-company use or larger distribution |
FAQs
Does dotConnect for QuickBooks work with QuickBooks Desktop?
No. dotConnect for QuickBooks works through the QuickBooks Online API, so it connects only to QuickBooks Online companies.
Do I need my own Intuit developer app for dotConnect for QuickBooks?
Not to start. dotConnect for QuickBooks uses Devart's embedded Intuit app when you sign in at design time, so the Client Id and Secret are optional there. Devart recommends registering your own app for production, and it's required if you can't get a refresh token through Visual Studio.
How does dotConnect for QuickBooks keep a nightly job signed in?
dotConnect for QuickBooks stores refresh tokens in the file or registry key named by Token Server and gets new tokens automatically. If Intuit revokes a token early, someone has to sign in again.
Can I test dotConnect for QuickBooks without touching real books?
Yes. dotConnect for QuickBooks has a Sandbox option that connects to an Intuit developer sandbox company, and a Readonly option that blocks any changes.
Can dotConnect for QuickBooks handle several QuickBooks companies?
Yes, with one connection per company. dotConnect for QuickBooks identifies the company by its Company Id, and each company needs its own authorization and token.
Does dotConnect for QuickBooks run in Azure or on Linux servers?
Yes. dotConnect for QuickBooks ships as a NuGet package for .NET 5 to 11 and .NET Core on Windows, Linux and macOS. Use a file-based Token Server on Linux, since the registry option is Windows-only.
System Requirements
- .NET 5 to 11, .NET Core 2.0 to 3.1, .NET Standard 2.0/2.1, or .NET Framework 4.5 to 4.8
- Windows, Linux or macOS. Visual Studio 2015 to 2026 integration on Windows
- A QuickBooks Online company (or an Intuit sandbox company) and an Intuit account that can authorize it
Conclusion
dotConnect for QuickBooks is worth $339.95 to a .NET developer building a real QuickBooks Online integration, such as invoicing from a job system, customer sync or financial dashboards. The reason to buy is that it takes over Intuit's OAuth token juggling and turns the company file and its reports into SQL tables. The reasons to pass are scope: it can't reach QuickBooks Desktop or payroll, and a single small integration is cheaper to write with Intuit's free SDK. Budget for the $799.95 Server license if the integration will run on a server, and use the sandbox during the 30-day trial to prove your invoice flow first.
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