FreshBooks Review

Pros

• Easy to use
• Excellent customer service
• Attractive invoice templates
• Numerous integrations
• Strong proposals feature

Cons

• Expensive monthly cost
• Limited users
• Limited features

What Is FreshBooks?

FreshBooks is accounting software known for its intuitive interface, strong invoicing tools, extensive integrations, and responsive customer support.

It’s best suited for freelancers and small businesses, though growing companies may find its user limits, pricing, and lack of inventory management restrictive.

Read our full FreshBooks review to see whether it’s the right accounting software for your business.

FreshBooks Pricing

FreshBooks offers three main pricing levels.

You can make monthly payments or purchase a yearly subscription, which will get you a 10% discount. A free 30-day trial is available to try the software. No credit card or banking information is required, and you can cancel the service at any time. A custom plan option is also available.

While smaller businesses with a single user and five or fewer clients can get FreshBooks for a pretty reasonable cost, add-ons, additional users, and advanced features drive up pricing for larger businesses with more complex accounting needs.

Here’s what you get with each FreshBooks pricing plan:

FreshBooks Lite

This plan includes:

• Unlimited invoices for up to five clients
• Unlimited estimates
• Expense tracking
• Contact management
• Project management
• Time tracking
• Mobile mileage tracking
• Reports
• Client portal
• Supports one user

FreshBooks Plus

This plan includes everything in the Lite plan, plus:

• Unlimited invoices for up to 50 clients
• Recurring invoices
• Client retainers
• Double-entry accounting reports
• Advanced reports
• Proposals
• Bank reconciliation
• Automatic expense receipt captures
• Accountant access
• 50 billable clients
• Business health reports

FreshBooks Premium

FreshBooks Premium includes everything in the Plus plan, plus:

• Unlimited clients
• Bill tracking
• Automatic expense tracking
• Customizable email templates & signatures
• Automated client emails
• Automatic bill receipt captures
• Project profitability
• Accounts payable

FreshBooks Select

FreshBooks also offers a fourth service called FreshBooks Select.

FreshBooks Select has all of the features of FreshBooks Premium but also includes features such as lower credit card transaction rates, exclusive access to Select Support and Onboarding teams to train your team and migrate your books from other platforms, and the removal of FreshBooks branding from client emails.

Contact FreshBooks directly for a quote for FreshBooks Select.

Extra FreshBooks Costs & Fees

Before purchasing FreshBooks, there are a few extra costs you may have to factor in, depending on your business’s needs:

• FreshBooks Payroll: Built-in payroll is available.
• Additional Users: Additional users can be added for a fee.
• FreshBooks Payments: FreshBooks Payments allows you to accept payments from most major credit cards directly from your invoices.
• Advanced Payments: This add-on allows you to save and charge credit cards, manage subscription-based billing, and use it as a virtual terminal.

Is FreshBooks Easy To Use?

FreshBooks has always been easy to use, and the company consistently rolls out small navigational updates to improve usability. The software is easy to set up and requires little previous bookkeeping experience.

There is still the occasional navigational difficulty, but if you have any trouble using the software, FreshBooks offers strong customer support and plenty of tools to help. FreshBooks also boasts strong mobile apps for accounting on the go.

When it comes to integrations, FreshBooks offers 100+ options to cover just about any need businesses might have. While FreshBooks offers many popular integration options, such as Gusto, Asana, and Basecamp, its payment processing options are limited. API is available for developers.

FreshBooks Features

In terms of features, FreshBooks covers all the basics and has a lot of built-in automations to help save time. However, there are a few missing features we’d like to see FreshBooks add, such as a customizable chart of accounts, advanced inventory, and additional reports.

Here are the most notable features of FreshBooks.

FreshBooks Customer Service

The one thing that hasn’t changed over the years is FreshBooks’ great customer support. FreshBooks highly values its customer service, so much so that every FreshBooks employee spends their first month in customer support. The company has also won numerous customer service awards.

Phone calls get answered right away, and representatives are friendly, informative, and helpful. Emails are also responded to quickly, and there’s a well-developed help center and an expansive blog. In-software help is also available.

FreshBooks also offers free introductory webinars, maintains active social media accounts, and has a well-developed YouTube channel with plenty of helpful videos.

FreshBooks Reviews

Overall, customers seem to like FreshBooks. FreshBooks receives 4.5/5 stars on GetApp (based on 4,500+ reviews), 4.5 stars on G2 (based on 970+ reviews), and 9.1/10 stars on TrustRadius (based on 200+ reviews).

Negative FreshBooks Reviews & Complaints

In recent years, FreshBooks has addressed common issues, such as the lack of double-entry accounting and some navigational difficulties. FreshBooks’ rating from the BBB has dropped to a D- since our last review, and four complaints have been closed in the last three years.

Here are some of the most common issues users still have with the software.

• Needs better reports
• Limited invoice templates
• Too expensive

Positive FreshBooks Reviews & Testimonials

Some of the aspects that customers say they love the most in their FreshBooks reviews are:

• Easy to use
• Great customer service
• Strong mobile apps
• Professional invoices that are easy to create

Is FreshBooks Secure?

FreshBooks is secured by 256-bit SSL encryption as well as Cisco-powered firewalls. Data is backed up on two servers in two separate (undisclosed) locations and backed up nightly onto a physical tape. FreshBooks has intrusion detection and vulnerability test programs that run frequently.

FreshBooks’ servers are housed in Rackspace’s data centers in addition to cloud-based security measures. To learn more about FreshBooks’ security and its partnership with Rackspace, contact the FreshBooks team.

How Does FreshBooks Compare To Other Accounting Software?

FreshBooks Versus QuickBooks

FreshBooks excels in many areas of accounting software, but it can’t compete with QuickBooks in terms of features. While FreshBooks is a bit cheaper, you also don’t get the full array of services that QuickBooks offers.

FreshBooks is a great fit for smaller businesses that have a small number of users. It’s also beneficial for contract workers. But QuickBooks shines when it comes to advanced reports and is an all-in-one accounting solution.

FreshBooks Versus Wave

Wave has a free plan, which you won’t find with FreshBooks. Both platforms shine with their highly intuitive and simple interfaces, and both have solid feature sets for small businesses.

FreshBooks has the edge when it comes to customer service, as Wave only offers some of its support avenues to paid customers. Wave’s integrations are also more limited.

FreshBooks Versus Xero

Xero has the edge when it comes to features, plus you can have multiple users. To access all features, you’ll pay a little more than you will with FreshBooks. But Xero’s full accounting suite that integrates with other popular software covers all of your bases.

FreshBooks shines again when it comes to customer service. And even though Xero’s interface is easier to learn than QuickBooks, it still isn’t as intuitive as FreshBooks.

Is FreshBooks Worth It? The Final Verdict

Despite some shortcomings, we recommend FreshBooks for small and mid-sized businesses.

Double-entry accounting, bank reconciliation, and reporting make this accounting software a viable competitor in the small business accounting space. Ease of use and excellent customer service further add to the software’s benefits. Just keep in mind that the software is missing important features you may find with some of its competitors.

Take the free trial for a spin to see if the pros outweigh the cons for your business, or explore other options by taking a look at pics for the best accounting software.