Hello zackgroberg,

Welcome to the Community. 

QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Self-Employed are two different versions. The main difference between both programs is that QuickBooks Self-Employed is designed for Independent Contractors, while Simple Start is for Small Businesses.

If you're an Independent Contractor and need to separate your business and personal expenses, you can use the QBSE. Otherwise, you can use the QuickBooks Online Plus/Essentials/Simple Start.

I've got you a link that shows the comparison of these versions: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/aag/accountants/compchart/.

Let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!