FreshBooks Review 

Summary of our opinion

Don’t have time to read it all? Here is a summary of our opinion on FreshBooks, to help you understand whether FreshBooks is a good choice for you or not. 

For those who don’t have time to read our entire FreshBooks review, here’s a summary of our test:

• FreshBooks is accounting software very suitable for freelancers, SMB’s and entrepreneurs
• It’s affordable, simple to use, and offers many invoicing capabilities, making it excellent for businesses who send many bills.
• You can also send periodic invoices and take payments online with the help of the automation and customization tools offered by FreshBooks.

In a nutshell, the pricing of FreshBooks is quite reasonable, it is very easy to start using, and it provides a functionality platform that enables users to issue invoices and take payments in a rapid and simple manner.

This is what makes FreshBooks popular among SMB business owners and for over 30 million users. For a full in-depth review, the following is our opinion of FreshBooks in detail.

FreshBooks pricing

There are four different monthly membership levels available via FreshBooks, and all of the price options include accessibility to the FreshBooks phone app, as well as customer support and connections with third-party apps.

Add-on services including Advanced Payments, allowing businesses to save and charge credit cards, manage subscription-based billing and use it as a virtual terminal. This service costs an additional $20/month.

Plan	Lite	Plus	Premium	Select
Price/month	$15	$25	$50	Custom
No. of users	1	1	1	2
No. of clients	5	50	Unlim.	Unlim.
Accounting reports	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Unlimited Estimates	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Unlimited custom invoices	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Track sales tax	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tax time reports	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Automatic bills receipt data capture	No	No	Yes	Yes
Double entry accounting reports	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bank sync	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Account team	No	No	No	Yes

These 4 different offers are adapted to different company needs and sizes. FreshBooks also offers an annual subscription which can save you up to 10%. 

All offers also benefit from a one-month free trial. This is the best way to find out if this accounting software is right for you.

Here are some additional indications on these rates. Regardless of the number of customers authorized on each account, the number of invoices and quotes is unlimited. 

In the Lite formula, for example, you can invoice your 5 customers as many times as you want each month. Also note that you can archive your old customers, in order to be able to invoice new customers. So these limitations are actually for “active” customers.

The first three price plans include one user. To add users, you will be charged extra $10 per additional user.

How to access FreshBooks

FreshBooks is 100% web-based, meaning you can access it anywhere and there’s no software to install on your computer. You can even use FreshBooks on your mobile device.

In addition to the web version, FreshBooks Online offers a mobile app, on iOS and Android. These applications are highly rated by users (4.7/5 for iOS and 4.3/5 for Android).

Required configuration

In order to access FreshBooks, all you need to do is use your internet browser. Users just need to ensure they have an up-to-date browser and a decent internet connection and FreshBooks should work just fine. 

Who should use FreshBooks?

Thanks to its features, FreshBooks is an ideal solution for freelancers, SMB’s self-employed professionals, businesses with contractors and firms with employees. 

If you are a service provider, the Lite version may be sufficient. If however you have a lot of expenses (raw material purchases for example), you can consider the Plus or Premium version.

Additionally, FreshBooks contains some very sophisticated time management capabilities. As a consequence of this, the accounting management software is well suited for business owners, professionals in liberal professions such as pharmacists, physicians, dentists, and attorneys, as well as professionals in marketing, accounting, legal, information technology, and advising roles.

This is especially true for those who subscribe to the Plus or Premium plans since they get access to all of the features that are currently accessible.

The Lite offer has a number of restrictions, including a lack of limitless offers, bank reconciliation, and the capability to accept electronic signatures.

Companies who have sophisticated requirements may want to think about switching to a different package, for instance the Plus or Premium one.

Ease of use

In general, FreshBooks is simple to understand and straightforward to use once you get the hang of it. A mobile application that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store and Apple App makes it accessible not just on personal computers but also on tablets and smartphones.

The control panel has a sleek and well-designed layout. It is simple to understand, even for novices, as well as the menu is conveniently located on the left-hand side of the user interface, where a single click will take you to all of the available functions.

Signup and trial of Freshbooks

In order to sign up for the service, customers will first be required to set up an account by providing their email address and choosing a password.

After that, in order to set up the account, you will need to fill out many documents in order to supply the following info:

• Type of activity
• Company information
• Current invoicing tool
• Forecasted revenues
• Your contact details
• Number of team members

Providing FreshBooks with this information enables the company to customize your account.

After you have entered these inputs, you will be prompted to sign on to the dashboard, where you will see a panel that will tell you of the remaining steps to finish creating your account: Information about the company, adding new clients, details about the items and services offered, and drafting the very first invoice

The process of registering for an account and setting it up is both simple and straightforward, and it can be finished in a short amount of time.

Features

For a 100% online solution, FreshBooks offers a very wide range of features. This topic covers the main features, of which we will review the main elements.

Bookkeeping

You are able to take control of your double-entry accounting with the help of the Freshbooks program. You have the option of connecting one or more bank accounts used for your company to your accounting management system.

Because Freshbooks is synced with your bank, all of your financial transactions, both incoming and outgoing, are immediately evaluated, displayed, and categorized. You also have the option to verify these activities and make any required modifications to them.

It is possible (and recommended) to connect FreshBooks with your bank. QuickBooks is compatible with many banks including Bluevine and Novo.

Billing features

FreshBooks enables you to generate and personalize quotations and invoices for your business including colors, fonts and layout. Additionally, you may personalize the outgoing email.

As an invoice software, FreshBooks offers a high level of automation, which is one of the program’s primary selling points. You may generate an invoice for the hours worked by simply clicking a few buttons inside the time tracking application.

A deposit may be placed to each invoice, and the clients will be billed for it upstream in the process of the project. Along with the establishment of a timetable for the passage of deadlines, reoccurring invoices may also be made.

FreshBooks reports that offering consumers the option to pay online through a payment link often shortens the amount of time it takes for them to make payments.

They also have the option to save their method of payment, which will cause their account to be deducted automatically. You have the option of setting an automated payment reminder, and the due dates are left up to you.

Time tracking management

The time tracker setup gives you the ability to clock the amount of time spent on each job, enabling you to accurately and openly bill your clients for the services you provided.

Views by day, week, and project make it easy to keep track of what everyone on your team has been up to and for how long.

Financial reports

The accounting data supports the establishment of numerous financial reports. They allow businesses to monitor their financial situation as well as data for your tax declarations. You can also easily export these documents to provide them to your accountant.

Project Management

Another one of the services that Freshbooks offers is administration of projects. You may build a project inside of Freshbooks and invite your colleagues, as well as your customers or other external partners, while maintaining complete control over their access levels.

You are able to preserve relevant documents inside the project, as well as list and arrange tasks and communicate with other participants of the project.

The fact that all of the information that is relevant to this task is collected in a single location is very helpful.

Integrations

Connections with Google Suite, Stripe, Shopify, and Zoom are just a few of the many that are available to make your accounting administration even more integrated, which in turn may help your company operate more effectively. There are many more integrations available also.

Contact management

This accounting software has a component called contacts that lets you input basic customer information as well as comments for internal use. You also have the option of setting a default currency, language, as well as creating default invoicing reminders and late charge amounts for each individual client.

A pleasant client page includes graphs that display the overall amount of money that is late, the amount that is still due, and the amount that is in draft. A complete client directory may be seen below this chart, as well as a list of the most recently active customers. You will have an easy time sending invoices straight to your customers.

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable: An accounts payable feature is available for Premium plan subscribers. This feature allows you to track bills, bill payments, and vendors.

Chart Of Accounts:

FreshBooks offers a basic chart of accounts. There is no way to edit or delete the existing accounts. There is the ability to create custom sub accounts, but only your accountant can do so.

Customer Service & Support

FreshBooks offers various resources to help you use its accounting solution. The FreshBooks team is available by phone (toll free), email and chat.

FreshBooks award-winning Support Rockstars are ready to help and support is also free and can be contacted on 1.866.303.6061 between 8am and 8pm EST.

Integrations & Extensions offered by FreshBooks

Over one hundred different applications may be integrated with FreshBooks to meet almost every need that a company might possibly have. Only two payment methods are supported by FreshBooks, despite the fact that the platform supports a wide variety of popular integrations, including Gusto, Asana, and Basecamp. Additionally, a developer API is at their disposal.

Bookkeeping services are currently offered by a variety of accounting software applications, including QuickBooks Online and Wave, amongst others. FreshBooks does not provide its own accounting service; instead, it is compatible with Bench Accounting.

Security

FreshBooks Online has a number of measures in place to keep your data secure. For security of transactions, they use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, which encrypts any information such as credit card number and billing information that you send us electronically. 

The encryption process protects your information by scrambling it before it is sent to us from your computer. In addition, your data is backed up automatically and is accessible from any device, so you can always stay connected and up-to-date.

FreshBooks: Customer reviews

As of this writing, FreshBooks has received 706 reviews on Trustpilot, with an average rating of 3.8/5. 

What stands out mainly is the ease of handling and using the software. Customers also appreciate the customer service that accompanies them at start-up.

Some customers seem a bit disappointed with some version updates from FreshBooks which resulted in bugs in the product, leading to longer invoicing times, something FreshBooks seem to be aware of and we appreciated seeing the FreshBooks teams responding to negative customer reviews to assist. 

FreshBooks: Overall verdict

FreshBooks offers a wide range of features and is an easy to use cloud-base interface with desktop or mobile access. It’s a great option for SMB businesses with a limited number of users. 

The excellent customer service is very much noteworthy as are the numerous integrations. On the other hand, built-in payroll isn’t available. 

FreshBooks adheres to double-entry accountancy, the industry-standard bookkeeping system used by accountants and other small company accounting websites, thus your accounting records have a strong foundation that enables organized record keeping and increased financial insight.

All things considered, the FreshBooks design is exceptional, its navigation tools are intuitive and it has all the tools small businesses need.