With countless accounting software solutions on the current market, deciding which applications to use to your business can be somewhat overwhelming. In this guide, we compare pricing and features of two accounting computer software products that are utilized by tens of thousands of small businesses all around the world, FreshBooks vs QuickBooks.
FreshBooks vs QuickBooks: What is The Best?
QuickBooks is the very best accounting software for small companies because they provide more features than FreshBooks and at a competitive price. Whether you’re self-employed or a large business, QuickBooks will help you in whatever point you are in the company cycle. Further, QuickBooks has the largest network of professionals who can assist you with some of your bookkeeping-related needs.
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When FreshBooks Can Be Better Than QuickBooks
FreshBooks is better than QuickBooks if you’re a solopreneur, freelancer, or small business owner who wants to track hours worked by yourself, employees or contractors. This is only because FreshBooks has a better time tracking tool than QuickBooks that can charge clients for time spent on jobs. In addition, it can be greater than QuickBooks since it allows for numerous companies under one account.
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FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks: Features & Pricing
| QuickBooks Online(QBO) | FreshBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Who It’s Ideal For | Small Businesses | Solopreneurs & Freelancers |
| Daily Payment Strategies | Simple Start $15 Essentials $35 Plus $50 |
Lite $15 Plus $25 Premium $50 |
| Ease of Setup | Moderate | Easy |
| Ease of Use | Easy | Easy |
| Characteristics | QB Simple Start contains: Track income & expenditures Invoicing/Estimates Accept online payments Import bank/credit card transactions Track & Report Sales tax QB Essentials includes: QB Plus includes: |
FreshBooks Lite includes: 5 customers Track income & expenses Invoicing/Estimates Time monitoring Accept online payments Import bank/credit card trades FreshBooks Plus includes: FreshBooks Premium includes: |
| Integrations with other Systems | Payroll: Intuit Online Payroll Credit Card processing: Intuit Merchant Services Ecommerce: Shopify, Square Have a look at the Apps center for the complete list |
Payroll: Gusto Credit Card processing: Stripe, Paypal Ecommerce: Shopify, Square Have a look at the Apps center for the Comprehensive list |
| Mobile App | iOS & Android | iOS & Android |
| Get Started | See QuickBooks | See FreshBooks |
We Chose QuickBooks since the Best Accounting Software for Small Firms
We picked QuickBooks over FreshBooks since it’s distinct tiers that can help you at any moment in your company’s life cycle for a competitive price. With QuickBooks, for example, you can get 1099 reporting, inventory budgeting and tracking and forecasting, whereas FreshBooks doesn’t offer you one of these attributes at any tier.
The 3 unique reasons we picked QuickBooks as the best comprises:
1. More Features than FreshBooks
Among the key challenges that small businesses face is the ability to manage cash flow. That is precisely why it is so important that you be able to deal with the money that you owe to other people (called accounts payable). With QuickBooks, you can easily enter your bills and write a check to cover them a couple of days until they become due. Regrettably with FreshBooks, you can only track bill payments which were downloaded from your lender or manually entered as expenses.
2. Greater Control & Access than FreshBooks
With QuickBooks, you may readily give anyone access to your information at no additional charge, something which FreshBooks doesn’t offer. QuickBooks allows you to install 3 users and 2 accountants using their own user id and passwords. You may also control which regions of QuickBooks they could access. On the other hand, FreshBooks only comes with 1 user; incorporating additional users will cost you $10 per user, per month.
3. More Reporting Templates than FreshBooks
QuickBooks beats FreshBooks because QuickBooks not only includes the P&L, Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows, but in addition, it has over 20 pre-built reports. In just a few clicks you can run reports to analyze each aspect of your enterprise. You Can’t conduct a Balance Sheet or a Statement of Cash Flows report in FreshBooks.
What QuickBooks Online Is Missing
While QuickBooks is our top choice, there are a couple of disadvantages that you should know about. To begin with, you can only manage one company per QuickBooks account. With FreshBooks, you may set up multiple companies under the exact same accounts and click on between them as needed. Additional fees may apply.
QuickBooks also does not allow you to automatically send payment reminders to customers. As we will discuss in the future, it is possible to create up to 3 automatic payment reminders from FreshBooks Premium which will notify a customer before an invoice is coming due and/or when an invoice is past due.
When You Need to Think about FreshBooks Over QuickBooks
If you are a freelancer or have a business with contractors or employees that require you to monitor time spent on projects, then you should consider utilizing FreshBooks instead of QuickBooks. The time monitoring feature in FreshBooks is quite robust and lets you easily transfer billable hours to a customer invoice.
There are a couple other features that FreshBooks has and QuickBooks does not. To begin with, it is possible to manage multiple companies with a single login. If you have more than one business, FreshBooks permits you to toggle between companies without having to log out of your account.
Secondly, FreshBooks also lets you send automatic payment reminders for your customers. This will let you get paid faster since you can send reminders to your clients before their invoices become due. We discuss all this in more detail in the FreshBooks Features section.
In-Depth Replies: FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks
Lets deep dip into the pricing, ease of use, features, integrations and cellular app capabilities for QuickBooks and Freshbooks. Keep in mind both Freshbooks and QuickBooks have three comparable monthly plans. For convenience, we’ll compare the two premium variants: QuickBooks Plus and FreshBooks Premium.
QuickBooks also includes a product called QuickBooks Self-Employed. It is ideal for Uber/Lyft drivers and salespeople, but provides very limited capacities and isn’t suitable for many companies. It begins at $10 per month with promotions running regularly. Have a look at our QuickBooks self-evident Guide to learn more about the features and pricing.
Bookkeeping Characteristics
Both FreshBooks Premium and QuickBooks Plus include the following features:
- Client invoicing
- Create estimates
- Connect bank/credit card balances
- Track income & expenses
- Time tracking
- Accept online credit card payments
- Charge late fees for overdue invoices
- Create recurring statements
- Multi-user accessibility
QuickBooks Plus Characteristics
In addition to the attributes listed above, QuickBooks Plus also includes the following features:
Manage Accounts Payable (A/P)
QuickBooks Plus allows you to handle all of your bills. This means you could put in your bills into QuickBooks and pay them with a credit card, debit card or check when they become due. For instance, the ability to conduct an A/P Aging record so you are able to see what bills are coming due is critical to managing cash flow. Regrettably, FreshBooks does not offer A/P capacities in any of the pricing plans.
1099 Reporting for Contractors
Unlike FreshBooks, QuickBooks Plus allows you to keep tabs made to 1099 contractors during the year. This is key since you’ll have to get this information when it’s time to issue 1099 forms, which you can also do in QuickBooks and not FreshBooks.
Inventory Tracking
Using QuickBooks Plus, you can keep track of the price, quantities and value of all products that you buy for resale. This is important because you will always have current inventory and cost of goods sold figures to assist you make informed business decisions. Regrettably, FreshBooks doesn’t offer stock monitoring in any of its programs.
Budget/Forecasting
QuickBooks Plus is one of the few accounting software programs that includes a budgeting/forecasting tool. FreshBooks doesn’t. After you’ve been in business for a year or two, it is beneficial to create a budget and begin running reports to see how your actuals compare to what you expected to make (income) and pay (expenditures ). This can be a critical tool in recognizing trends so that you can make the right business decisions.
FreshBooks Premium Features
In addition to the features listed above, FreshBooks Premium also includes the following attributes:
Time Tracking
One of my favorite attributes in FreshBooks is that the time monitoring feature. This feature can be found in all three pricing strategies and it’s very robust. You can track time manually or use the timer. It also lets you invite workers, contractors and customers who need to monitor their time, also it’s comprehensive reports that you can conduct by project, customer or employee/contractor to keep tabs on the progress of every job.
Last but not least, you can easily transfer the opportunity to an invoice so you can charge your customers for the work done. While QuickBooks does have a time tracking feature, it is not anywhere near as user-friendly and robust since the time tracker in FreshBooks.
Automatically Send Payment Reminders
FreshBooks will automatically send payment reminders to inform your customers that an invoice is coming due or past due. Payment reminders could be scheduled to go out before an invoice is due, after it’s due or both. Unfortunately, this is a feature that QuickBooks Plus does not provide.
Setup Multiple Firms
FreshBooks permits you to install numerous businesses under precisely the same account. This means that you can access all your companies using one sign-in and just toggle between businesses as needed. Every new company will qualify for a free 30-day trial and subject to the present pricing after the trial ends.
Unfortunately, you can only get 1 business per QuickBooks account. Should you have to prepare a new business, it is going to have to be installed as a fresh QuickBooks account.
Monthly Pricing Strategies
When it comes to pricing, FreshBooks and QuickBooks offer a plan for every budget. The cheapest priced plan for both products is $15 per month and the maximum is $50 a month. On the other hand, the mid-tier plan is priced at $25 a month for FreshBooks Plus and $35 per month for QuickBooks Essentials, which can be a 40% cost gap.
QuickBooks Pricing
QuickBooks provides 3 pricing plans:
- Simple Start — $15 per month
- Basics — $35 a month
- Plus — $50 a month
The primary difference between the 3 strategies are the attributes included in each. Similar to FreshBooks Lite, QuickBooks Simple Start provides the least amount of features, and that’s why it is priced at $15/mo. The only difference between the Essentials and Plus plans is that Plus includes inventory tracking,1099 monitoring and budgeting/forecasting, and Essentials does not.
FreshBooks Pricing
FreshBooks includes 3 pricing strategies:
- Lite $15 a month
- Plus $25 a month
- Premium $50 per month
The main difference between both plans is the features which are included. As you may guess, the Lite program comes with the smallest quantity of attributes that’s why it’s just $15/mo. On the other hand, the Plus and Premium programs are identical with the exception of the amount of customers that you could have; Plus permits up to 50 customers while the Premium permits up to 500 customers.
Benefits of Use
Both FreshBooks and QuickBooks possess a very user-friendly interface. They both use straightforward language throughout the program so anybody without an accounting/bookkeeping background may use the software. Let’s take a look at the dash of each to provide you with a better understanding.
QuickBooks Benefits of Use
Below is a photo of the Dashboard in QuickBooks together with a brief description of this info you’ll find here.
- Left Menu Bar — Similar to FreshBooks, you are able to get just about any tasks in the menu bar, including produce invoices, bank accounts and reports.
- Invoice — In this section, you may see the amount your clients pay you (accounts receivable), in addition to the total amount of payments collected you have deposited vs undeposited funds.
- Expenses — Watch the total expenses for a selected time period along with the top 3 groups (i.e. Maintenance & Repairs, Job Expenses, Cost of Goods Sold).
- Profit and Loss — Much like FreshBooks, keep tabs on your own profit/loss without needing to run a report!
- Revenue — Keep your eye on your sales throughout the month/year so that you can spot trends and make adjustments as needed.
FreshBooks Ease of Use
Below is a photo of the Dashboard in FreshBooks along with a brief description of the information you’ll find here.
- Left Menu Bar — You are able to perform most tasks from the menu bar; for example create invoices, input expenses and create new projects.
- Create New — Click the drop-down button and you can easily create new bills, expenses or enter time on a project.
- Outstanding Revenue — keep at the top of customer invoices that haven’t been paid. The color-coded bar suggests overdue invoices (in red) vs. invoices that haven’t come due (in yellow).
- Complete Gain — Keep tabs on your bottom line without having to conduct a report! It is possible to change the time period to understand your profit on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.
Software Integrations
The two FreshBooks and QuickBooks integrate with hundreds of applications programs. For example, when you have complicated inventory needs (that FreshBooks or QuickBooks can meet), then you can visit the app centre to find a service that works with either supplier.
QuickBooks Software Integrations
QuickBooks integrates with over 400 software applications. Gusto, Stripe, Paypal, Shopify and Square are just a couple of the apps that integrate with QBO.
But, unlike FreshBooks, QuickBooks has built-in payroll and credit card processing features. Whenever you’re prepared to hire that employee or accept online payments from customers you just turn this feature on, no other app required but additional fees may apply.Be sure to check out the complete list of apps.
FreshBooks Integrations
FreshBooks integrates with several hundred software programs. Some of which include Gusto for citizenship, Stripe and Paypal for credit card processing and Shopify and Square for Ecommerce, just to mention a few. Make sure you check out the complete lineup.
Client Service & Support
Having the capacity to get help when you want it’s key. The two FreshBooks and QuickBooks offer a number of service channels that you can certainly access.The best part is that boundless support is currently included in your daily plan.
QuickBooks Customer Service & Support
With QuickBooks, you can speak with a service rep via phone. Unlike FreshBooks, QuickBooks also includes a chat feature. You may access the link to begin a chat straight from within your QuickBooks account. Just make sure that you are logged in and then click on the Help option (indicated with a question mark”?”) .
You are able to speak to a QuickBooks service rep in 1-800-488-7330. They’re available Monday through Friday, 6am to 6pm PST and Saturdays 6am-3pm PST.
Ultimately, QuickBooks does have a learn & service page that includes articles and videos on FAQ’s. If you can not find the answer to your query, there is a section on the site where you can submit detailed questions to the service team; you could expect to receive a response within two days.
Brand New Novels Client Service & Service
FreshBooks permits you to speak with a human (this is actually on their website), email themor you can access their extensive FAQ Department with detailed instructions about how to do virtually anything in FreshBooks!
Don’t hesitate to contact a FreshBooks customer service representative at 1-866-303-6061. They are available Monday to Friday, 8am- 8pm EST.. You might also send an email to help@freshbooks.com.
Mobile App
One of the advantages of utilizing cloud bookkeeping applications such as FreshBooks and QuickBooks is your ability to conduct your company from almost any mobile device with an online connection. The two FreshBooks and QuickBooks run on the iOS and Android platforms. Read on to learn what you could do using the mobile programs.
QuickBooks Mobile App
The QuickBooks mobile app lets you perform most of the features that you can do from a desktop computer. Very similar to FreshBooks, you can be confident your data syncs through the day, regardless of the device you’re using. This feature might not be available to get a desktop version.
Below is a listing of a few of the tasks which you can perform with the QuickBooks mobile program. Have a look at the comprehensive collection of cellular app features for iOs and Android devices.
- Create/manage customers
- Create/manage vendors
- Create customer invoices
- Create vendor invoices
- Reconcile bank/credit card accounts
FreshBooks Mobile App
Together with the FreshBooks mobile app, you can execute these tasks from any mobile device. As you change from your desktop computer to your Mobile Phone or tablet throughout the afternoon, your info is synced across all apparatus:
- Create and send professional invoices
- Snap images of receipts to catch expenses on the go
- Manage expenses on the go (Coming soon to Android)
- Stay on top of crucial software upgrades
- Chat with customers
FreshBooks vs QuickBooks Reviews
In general, both FreshBooks and QuickBooks have fairly good customer testimonials. We have provided insight to what clients say each software does well and what they do not do well.
QuickBooks Reviews
On the flip side, QuickBooks customers said that the program works well on all mobile devices; on the flip side, clients feel like the customer support team is inefficient and unreliable occasionally. As a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, I have to concur that whenever I’ve called the service line it’s hit or miss on whether the rep will be able to answer my question; I have had the most success with all the chat support staff.
Check out our client review page to find out more about what small businesses are saying about FreshBooks.
FreshBooks Reviews
On the flip side, FreshBooks customers said that the invoicing and payment processing features work well for smaller businesses. On the flip side, customers feel as the program lacks some features that an accounting software ought to have, such as financial statement creation and bank reconciliation.
Check out our client review page to learn more about what small companies are saying about FreshBooks.
Bottom Line — FreshBooks vs QuickBooks
Now that we have compared the pricing and features of FreshBooks vs QuickBooks, it is time to earn a determination. If you want to have an accounting program that provides you the most bang for your buck, go with QuickBooks. It is possible to manage every financial aspect of your enterprise and have up-to-date financial statements anytime you need them.
Require QuickBooks to get a test drive so which it is possible to see try out some of the features we have discussed. You can sign up for your free 30-day trial below.
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