FreshBooks Accounting Software Review: Pros, Cons & Pricing

FreshBooks positions itself as an easy-to-use accounting software for either accountants or small business owners, but is it the best accounting software for small businesses?

Good accounting software should help you track and manage your business finances, and reduce manual effort. But does FreshBooks stand up to the task? Our extensive user testing found that FreshBooks is a reliable, user-friendly, and affordable accounting software solution for new users who just want the basics.

It’s not without its flaws, though, and the simplicity of the software does sacrifice some more advanced functionality in places. Our in-depth FreshBooks review will take a look under the hood and help you decide whether it really is the best fit for your business.

How did we test and review FreshBooks?

We are dedicated to bringing you the most helpful and accurate recommendations possible.

Our dedicated research team recently carried out a thorough examination and analysis of FreshBooks from top to bottom, so we know exactly where its strengths and weaknesses lie.

They began with industry-led data, combined with hours of actual hands-on user testing (57 hours in total, in fact), comparing and contrasting FreshBooks against six of its key competitors in the accounting software space.

We followed 1,512 areas of investigation during our testing process, which fell under the umbrellas of the six main categories we determined were most important for a small business’s accounting software.

These were:

1. How FreshBooks handles the primary tasks an accounting software should be able to carry out
2. How FreshBooks helps aid your business with financial planning and sustainability
3. If FreshBooks maximises the overall productivity for your operation, using integrations and workflows
4. The help and support FreshBooks provides to ensure your business is in safe hands
5. Whether FreshBooks’ pricing is fair, you’re getting your money’s worth, and if there are hidden costs
6. Last but not least, whether FreshBooks is easy to use

These are the core pillars our research executives determined, through industry data and audience analysis, to be crucial to good accounting software. Did FreshBooks get perfect marks? We’ll go into more detail about how it performed in each category below.

What’s it like using FreshBooks?

If we were to summarise the strengths of FreshBooks’ interface in a single word, it would be: simplicity. It has a simple and intuitive interface that’s really user-friendly, especially for sole-traders with no prior accounting experience. The interface avoids unnecessary clutter, which makes it clear and easy to understand.

We really like the vertical navigation bar, which makes FreshBooks incredibly easy to navigate. Source: Startups.co.uk

The vertical navigation bar was a big highlight for us (found at the left-hand side of the page), as it was very well organised. All the features in the navigation bar were clearly signposted, so we didn’t find ourselves having to hunt around for anything. All the essential tools, like invoicing, could be accessed in a flash.

Converting quotes into invoices was refreshingly nice and easy. The handy client dashboard gets a thumbs up from us, as it quickly displays clients that have outstanding payments, making it easy to manage your invoices. Ultimately, FreshBooks strikes that tricky balance between simplicity and functionality.

Is there anything about FreshBooks that’s not so easy to use?

Overall, we found FreshBooks to be both intuitive and user-friendly, but there were a couple of areas we had some trouble with.

The messaging function in particular stood out as frustrating, and needs quite a bit more work done on it to improve it. It’s intended to help you contact and follow up with clients, but we found it to be the least intuitive aspect of FreshBooks. Our testers found the messaging feature difficult to locate, and the functionality was a little confusing. The key issue with this is that it relies on both parties being equally comfortable with the messaging software. So, if your client is confused by it or put off using it, it doesn’t work.

It was a minor frustration, but FreshBooks’ naming conventions left us feeling occasionally confused – for example, the word “estimate” being used to mean quote. A more significant gripe we had, though, was over the currency settings. Even after we’d updated the currency in the main settings, it often reverted back to US dollars on quotes and invoices.

FreshBooks’ Pros and Cons

How much does FreshBooks cost?

FreshBooks has three standard plans to choose from, and each comes with a 30-day free trial, so you can test it out for yourself before making a financial commitment. Right now, you can also get 50% off for the first three months:

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Plan Lite	Plan Plus	Plan Premium	Plan Select
Cost £15 per month Or £162 per year	Cost £25 per month Or £270 yearly	Cost £35 per month Or £378 per year	Cost Bespoke cost
Best suited for: Freelancers	Best suited for: Freelancers, self-employed people, sole traders, and small business owners	Best suited for: Self-employed people, small business owners, and businesses that have contractors or employees	Best suited for: Businesses with employees
Features Unlimited invoices for up to five clients Unlimited quotes  MTD-compliant, submit VAT returns directly to HMRC	Features Unlimited invoices to up to 50 clients   Automatically capture data from your receipts  Collaborate with an accountant  Run financial reports	Features Send invoices to an unlimited number of clients Track the profitability of your projects Customisable email templates	Features Advanced Payments add-on included (usually £15 per month) Exclusive support number   FreshBooks branding will be removed from your client emails

At £15 per month for the Lite plan, it’s not necessarily the cheapest option out there for a basic plan, but it’s not outrageously expensive either. There’s no free plan, so if you’re looking for a no-cost starter option like Zoho Books, you should check out our guide to the best free accounting software.

However, as far as mid-level plans go (generally aimed at small businesses, as opposed to sole traders), FreshBooks’ Plus plan is very reasonably priced. It’s a fair bit cheaper than a lot of comparable competitor plans. This is a particularly good option for new small businesses that need a wallet-friendly plan that will help them navigate their finances.

The Premium level tier is aimed at businesses that work with contractors, or have multiple employees. One of the big benefits of this tier is that the cap on invoices to clients is removed, so if you’re doing business with more than 50 clients, this is the plan for you.

Are there any hidden costs?

With FreshBooks, there are some extra fees to be aware of outside of the normal monthly price. A not inconsiderable drawback of FreshBooks is that you’re only limited to one user (except on the Select plan, which includes two users).

If you want to add more team members to your FreshBooks account, this will cost you an additional £8 per user, per month. If you’re planning on adding multiple users to your accounting software, this could get expensive very quickly. There are no other hidden costs for storage or premium features, though.

FreshBooks’ key features

Let’s take a deeper look at the features FreshBooks comes with, and how they can help your business succeed:

Primary accounting tasks

• We found creating quotes to be a little fiddly in places, such as adding the appropriate tax, and we were initially thrown that FreshBooks refers to quotes as “estimates”. Thankfully, though, we found that then turning quotes into invoices was a much easier process. You just need to simply click on the quote, choose ‘convert’, and Bob’s your uncle.

This is what creating a new quote looks like in FreshBooks. Source: Startups.co.uk

• FreshBooks also provides an easy-to-use, precise time tracker for billable hours. Setting up payment reminders was just as easy, and we also found it quite helpful that FreshBooks allows you to see when your client has viewed your invoice, so you can be confident it’s been received.

You can use the time tracking feature to convert billable hours into invoices, allowing for accurate billing directly from projects. Source: Startups.co.uk

• While the software can successfully calculate, add, and subtract tax, it doesn’t automatically update itself to reflect changing regulations, so you’ll need to keep an eye on this yourself. There’s also currently no feature for multi-currency invoicing.

Financial planning and sustainability

• Unfortunately, this is an area where FreshBooks doesn’t perform as strongly, especially when compared to its competitors. For one thing, this is the only software we tested that doesn’t allow you to track upcoming monthly bills and expenses.
• There’s also no option for cash flow projection tools, and you can’t set budgets for specific departments or projects. If you’re looking for advanced forecasting and budgeting tools to help you precisely manage your finances, we’d recommend taking a look at our QuickBooks review instead.
• You also can’t create custom reports or create new reports from scratch – another round in the battle of FreshBooks vs QuickBooks where FreshBooks is beaten out. That said, you can use FreshBooks to track fixed assets, which is only available on QuickBooks’ Advanced accounting plan.

You’ll be able to view profit and loss reports through FreshBooks, but you can’t create new reports from scratch. Source: Startups.co.uk

Overall productivity

• This is another area where FreshBooks finds itself a little less equipped than its competitors. It does have its own marketplace, which is home to over 100 integrations you can use (certainly not bad, but a little meagre when compared to Xero’s 1,000 integrations).
• It can automatically flag mismatched balances, and duplicate entries will be flagged to you when creating clients. However, there’s no option for a client portal, so you’ll be limited to using the less-than-ideal messaging function for contacting your clients.

Is there a mobile app?

Yes, FreshBooks does provide a mobile app for both iOS and Android. With the app, you can:

• Create and send invoices
• Manage your expenses
• Snap receipts
• Speak to clients
• Track mileage

What’s also handy about the FreshBooks app is that it syncs up with your desktop version, so you can stay on top of your financial data on the move.

What’s FreshBooks’ help and support like?

While financial planning and operational efficiency might have been weaker areas for FreshBooks, help and support is an area where it shines. In particular, it provides ‘FreshBot’, its own chatbot that can be accessed 24/7.

This will be particularly helpful for newer businesses who could need support outside of regular business hours. Speaking of non-regular business hours, one quirk of FreshBooks’ help and support is its somewhat unusual phone line operating hours – 1pm until 12am. 

You can also email FreshBooks for support, and there’s a knowledge centre you can use to get quick answers to your queries. When we tested this out for ourselves, we were pleased to find the responses were mostly relevant and helpful.

Who is FreshBooks best for?

Based on our expertise and experience using the software, we would recommend FreshBooks to sole traders and small business owners who just need a cost-effective, simple, and easy-to-use accounting software without too many bells and whistles.

It might feel a little too basic and stripped back for experienced accountants, and slightly more established businesses that want more sophisticated tools and advanced workflows. Sage’s customisability or Xero’s more advanced features may be a preferable fit for these businesses.

What are the best alternatives to FreshBooks?

You can jump over to our full breakdown of the best accounting software for your small business, but these are the platforms that excel in some specific areas FreshBooks stumbles in:

In summary

If you’re looking for a competitively-priced, beginner-friendly software that’s simple to use and understand, FreshBooks might just be the option you’re looking for. It’s definitely edging towards the “cheap and cheerful” end of the accounting spectrum, and its reliable core accounting features and 24/7 chatbot will particularly appeal to new business owners.

However, it is missing out on some more sophisticated features, especially when it comes to forecasting and budgeting tools. Financial planning and long-term visibility is one of FreshBooks’ weakest areas.

But if you’re a novice user, sole trader, or small business owner and you’re looking for an option that has the fundamentals down, FreshBooks is worthy of your consideration.