FreshBooks Accounting Software Review 2024

FreshBooks Visit Site

FreshBooks at a Glance

Best for: Small business owners that need an accounting system
Price range: From $17
Key features: Expenses tracking, estimates, multi-currency invoicing
Apps: iOS and Android apps
Integrations: Shopify, Squarespace, Zoom

FreshBooks Ease of Setup and Use

New users need to progress through a basic questionnaire to get set up on the system. The automatic onboarding program asks them for their name, business name, currency, and location. Once this information is registered and saved, any invoices that users create will be automatically populated with the correct details. 

Using FreshBooks is very easy. Users simply click on areas of the invoice where they need to enter information. The style of the invoices created can be customized for color, or built around a template. In order to add a custom logo to the invoice or add line items, all users have to do is click on parts of the document. 

FreshBooks Pricing and Plans

FreshBooks is available on 3 premium tiers. For especially large businesses that need to bill more than 500 clients, custom pricing is available through the Select Plan. The pricing per user is as follows:

Which tier users should sign up for really depends on how many billable clients they need. Additionally, the Plus and Premium tiers provide progressively more features—although all tiers thankfully include smartphone access through the iOS and Android apps, only Plus and Premium support mobile mileage tracking. Those on the Premium plan are able to invite their accountant to the system to simplify the process of compiling tax returns.

FreshBooks Features

FreshBooks contains sections for invoicing, account management, and time tracking. Users can also use the platform to send out estimates and to conduct double entry bookkeeping. 

General Ledger and Expense Tracking

Tracking expenses with FreshBooks is as easy as creating invoices for clients. Users just begin typing the name of the merchant in order to populate the system with the information. Once a record has been created, it will set up a new account for that supplier so that any future payments can be recorded under the one account. Additionally, users can upload receipts directly from their computer. The expense can be marked as cost of goods sold and associated with client costs or marked as a recurrent expense. If it’s an expense that needs to be billed to a client for reimbursement, this can be marked too. Finally, expenses all have to be categorized by choosing from one of the drop down categories. This makes it easy for accounting teams to sort through expenses inputted and to account for them according to various deductibles. 

Invoicing

Similar to creating expenses, setting up invoices in FreshBooks is as easy as clicking fillable fields on the document view screen. Users are also able to capture and log all invoices payable and a dashboard view can quickly compute the sum total of everything owed and owing. Clients that bill their customers on monthly retainers can also set up recurring invoices for a fixed amount which can be set to issue on a predetermined date or day every month. 

Users can also connect their bank to the system in order to automatically capture inbound and outbound payments. FreshBooks supports more than 14,000 financial institutions including many major American banks including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank. Paypal and American Express can also be integrated. 

FreshBooks Integrations

FreshBooks integrates with a number of tools designed to make recording online accounting transactions even easier for users. These include:

• Shopify: Shopify is a favorite go-to for Ecommerce retailers that want to set up online stores without the hassle. Using the FreshBooks-Shopify integration, storeowners can easily generate and send professional looking documentation.
• Squarespace: Squarespace makes designing attractive looking websites incredibly easy. By integrating FreshBooks with Squarespace, store owners can automatically sync clients and orders to FreshBooks.
• Zoom: FreshBooks users can easily attach meetings minutes from Zoom 
• Gusto: If users want to process payroll transactions using Gusto, then they can connect this information with FreshBooks in order to make sure that the transaction amounts are automatically synced and updated in the FreshBooks accounting system. 

FreshBooks Mobile Apps

FreshBooks has apps for Android and iOS. These apps provide customers with the ability to create and import transactions, invoices, and expenses while on the go. For mobile mileage tracking, however, users will need to be on the Plus or Premium plan. One of the main advantages of using the mobile apps is that users can easily scan and append receipts to the system. At the time of writing, the Android app has a 4 and a half star rating on Google Play after more than 2,000 installations. 

FreshBooks Visit Site

FreshBooks Customer Support

If users need to reach out for help, then they can do so by contacting FreshBooks’ support team. FreshBooks has clustered a variety of resources through its online support center which includes lots of helpful documentation for everything from invoicing through to creating expenses and generating reports. 

The most effective way to get in touch with the team is by clicking on the ‘Submit Request’ button. Additionally, FreshBooks support can be reached by phone. The team is well known for its commitment to answer the phone within 2 rings. Finally, in addition to ticket-based and telephone support, users can send an email to the support address in order to receive help with the product. 

Bottom Line

FreshBooks is an invoicing, expense tracking and accounting software that is perfect for business owners with a lot of clients to bill. The system can be scaled to support billing more than 500 clients but remains extremely user friendly with users only having to click on a fillable document to begin populating documents for clients.