FreshBooks: Accounting Software Full Review

About FreshBooks

FreshBooks was established in 2003 with the vision of creating an easier way to make invoices without relying on Excel and Word. The company grew from a basement-based office to more than three times its size, which now consists of over 500 employees around the world.

FreshBooks is market-leading accounting software with 11 Stevie Award-winning customer support. The software also earns exceptionally positive customer reviews and ratings; 4.5/5 stars from Softwareadvice and GetApp, and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

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FreshBooks Features & Solutions

Accounting

FreshBooks accounting tools will help you ensure compliance with accurate reporting. Its Double-Entry Accounting identifies revenue items and their related expense categories to calculate accurate profit and loss.

FreshBooks provides you with automatic checks and balances that ensure debit, and credit amounts are equal, thus highly reducing any chance of errors year-round when you file your taxes.

You can easily invite your accountant to use the software with a few clicks and permit them to access your business's financial information and reporting.

Moreover, Automated Bank Reconciliation facilitates your transaction organization, as it:

• Imports and categorizes your financial transactions
• Allows you to approve automated matching suggestions easily, make changes or additions
• Easily marks and categorizes equity, transfers, and refunds
• Creates a summary report and exports it to excel

FreshBooks also allows you to digitally capture any document, bill, or receipt to your account or email. Additionally, it can automatically capture the merchant, line items, totals, and taxes within Accounts Payable.

The software offers The Credits feature, which allows you to track prepayments, overpayments, and credits notes that you can easily apply to future invoices. You can also utilize this feature to track all credits for specific clients.
 

Client Management

FreshBooks helps you stay connected with your clients as you know where you stand with each client. You get to keep client estimates, invoices, credits, and other financial information in one place.

Projects feature allows you to keep track of client work as it allows you to log every billable minute with Time Tracking to record all work and send invoices that are more accurate. Your client relationships will blossom with the Client Portal, Comments, Project Collaboration, File Sharing, and more.

Client Management tools also allow you to track loyalty discounts, refund prior work, or take prepayments through Credits. And lastly, provide you with client reports which can include:

• Client Account Statements
• Revenue by Client
• Time Entry Details
• Invoice Details
• Payments Collected
• Retainer Summary
   

Estimates

FreshBooks transforms your custom estimates into ready to pay invoices in a flash. Moreover, you can easily create customizable proposals. The software allows you to clearly outline a project's scope, timeline, and deliverables. Your clients are able to view their Estimates at their convenience and approve a project with one click to kick off your projects.

More Estimates features & benefits include:

• Track estimate status from viewed to accepted
• Turn an estimate into an invoice
• Your client’s ability to accept an estimate online
• Quick client feedback response
• Estimate previews before sending
• Discount addition
• Customize invoices to your preferred currency
• Use the mobile app to create and send invoices and estimates
• Easy to customize and brand
   

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Payments

Your payments are facilitated with FreshBooks Payments. Your customers can pay directly through an invoice, and the software will automatically record each payment into your account. You are also offered more payment options with zero hidden fees.

You can utilize:

FreshBooks Payments

• Credit: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction

• ACH: 1% bank transfer fees*
• Secure for both parties
• Accepts all major credit cards
• ACH connects to most major banks

Stripe

• 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction on most cards
• ACH: 1% bank transfer fees
   

PayPal

• 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• Trusted by millions of users around the world
• Accepts Visa, Mastercard, and American Express
• Accepts Venmo and PayPal Credit
• Takes payments in 25 currencies from 202 countries

Payments also allow you to set up online payments in a single click, create checkout links, and post them on social media, your website, or anywhere else online. Checkout links allow you to:

• Skip creating and sending invoices
• Accept credit cards and bank transfers
• Automatically send receipts to customers

Overall, Payments provide you with the following features and benefits:

• Offer clients flexibility with Payment Schedules and Partial Payments
• Request deposits to control your cash flow
• Accept international currencies with Stripe
• Auto-generated Payments Collected Reports
• Fast and easy bank deposits
• Payment options include VISA, MasterCard, AMEX, Apple Pay
• Processing fees are automatically imported as expenses
   

Mobile App

FreshBooks offers its mobile application, compatible with both Android and iOS operating systems. It provides you with most of its desktop software's capabilities and features. Its benefits include:

• Create and send professional invoices
• Snap pictures of receipts
• Manage expenses on the go
• Stay on top of important updates
• Chat with clients
• Data synced across all devices
   

FreshBooks Plans & Prices

FreshBooks offers four subscription plans for its software. You can try any plan for 30 days for free before committing. Its plans are as follows:

Lite: $4.50/month

This plan provides you with all the basic needs and 5 billable clients. Its top features include:

• Send unlimited invoices to up to 5 clients
• Track unlimited expenses
• Send unlimited estimates
• Get paid with credit cards and bank transfers
• Track sales tax & see reports
• Access anywhere on iOS and Android
   

Plus: $7.50/month

This plan offers extra automation and insights with 50 billable clients. Its top features include everything in the Lite plan, plus:

• Send unlimited invoices to up to 50 clients
• Automatically track expenses
• Automatically capture receipt data
• Send unlimited estimates and proposals
• Get paid with credit cards and bank transfers
• Set up recurring billing and client retainers
• Run business health reports
• Double-entry accounting reports
• Invite your accountant
• Access anywhere on iOS and Android
• Mobile mileage tracking
   

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Premium: $15.00/month

This plan is for growing businesses, and it offers unlimited billable clients. It includes all the features offered in previous plans, plus the following:

• Send unlimited invoices to an unlimited amount of clients
• Track Bills, Bill Payments & Vendors with Accounts Payable
• Track project profitability
• Customize email templates with dynamic fields
• Customize email signatures
• Automatically track expenses
• Automatically capture bills and receipt data
• Automatically send late payment reminders and bill late fees
• Send unlimited estimates and proposals
• Get paid with credit cards and bank transfers
• Get paid with checkout links
• Set up recurring billing and client retainers
• Run business health reports
• Run financial and accounting reports
• Invite your accountant
• Access anywhere on iOS and Android
• Mobile mileage tracking
   

Select: Quote-based

This is the fully-featured plan that FreshBooks offers. Its pricing is quote-based as it will depend on which features you need and the size of your business. Its extra specialized features include:

• Access to lower credit card transaction rates and capped ACH fees
• Start with 2 team member accounts
• Get a dedicated account manager
• Get help migrating from other software
• Set up your account with custom onboarding services
• Remove FreshBooks branding from client emails
   

FreshBooks Add-ons

• Advanced Payments ($20/mo)
• Team Members ($10/person/mo)
• Gusto Payroll (See Gusto Pricing)
   

Customer Support

You can reach the FreshBooks team by live chat from its website or by phone at 1-888-674-3175. Its website also offers a number of blogs and articles that can guide you through its software and answer any question or inquiry you may have.
 

Final Thoughts

FreshBooks offers a fresh take on your accounting tasks and processes by offering you intuitive pieces of the software fully integrated to maximize your cash flow, simplify your invoices, build better client relationships, and much more. You can try its software for free for 30 days before committing to a paid subscription.

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