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The apps are easy enough to use, and they offer an exceptional user experience, just like you get from the web portal. To create a new client record in FreshBooks, you click Clients in the toolbar and then New Client. Enter the client’s name and contact information, or as much as you have at hand. When creating clients, you can also customize reminders, late fees, currency, language, and invoice attachments for them by modifying the client settings to the right of the data entry fields. For every client you create, FreshBooks builds a client homepage, which eventually populates with additional information once you have a transaction history.
FreshBooks provides a series of webinar tutorials to guide new users through the setup process. When you sign up, you’ll be put on a 30-day trial so you can try out all of the features before committing to a plan. You will add information about your clients, expenses, items (when you’re billing for goods or products that you sell to clients), taxes and vendors. The FreshBooks dashboard is so simple to navigate that even most novices won’t have any trouble setting up an account and creating and sending invoices. Everything you need is available on your dashboard, including the ability to track your business expenses and your time, manage your projects, and create proposals to send to prospective clients. But, once you sign up for a FreshBooks plan, check out our Advanced Payments feature, which includes recurring billing.
What Sets FreshBooks Apart
FreshBooks streamlines the creation of accounting reports by pulling in data from invoices, payments, expenses, and your bank account. FreshBooks also provides the ability to invite your accountant to view your account. The other connection you may want to set up is to a payment gateway, which allows you to accept credit and debit card payments, as well as bank transfers from your customers. Your customers can make payments to you using FreshBooks’ own payment function, which is in fact a rebranded version of payment processing service WePay. It costs 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction and 1% for bank transfers (ACH), which is effectively the industry standard. When you close the setup box, however, you’re on the site’s Dashboard, with no further guidance on how to get started.
Moreover, FreshBooks offers add-ons and integrations to optimize your workflow and meet specific business requirements. It provides effective solutions for time tracking, invoicing, and project coordination, resolving these challenges seamlessly. Overall, we found the FreshBooks platform to be one of the easiest to use across accounting software options. It’s a great value, starting at just $15 per month, and is ideal for those who need to quickly set up a software to begin tracking company financial information. The dashboard is very pleasing to the eye and the tool is extremely easy to navigate.
Why 30+ Million People Have Used FreshBooks
QuickBooks Online has a limit of five users in its most popular Plus plan and 25 users in its Advanced plan. Wave, a free accounting software product, doesn’t place limits on the number of users or clients. Xero doesn’t cap the number of users or clients you can have, but it limits the number of invoices you can send in its lowest-tier Early plan. FreshBooks’ Plus plan lets you bill up to 50 clients, and adds features like standard financial reports, e-signatures, and proposals and client retainers.
- It’s equally easy to send invoices and collect payments; you can distribute your invoices with one click.
- We use a rigorous software review process to create our unbiased, in-depth research.
- QuickBooks is one of the most well-known accounting platforms on the market and part of the Intuit product family founded in 1983.
- These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most.
- If you’re self-employed, FreshBooks was created to give you an easy way to track income and expenses.
Be aware, though, that business partners do not have complete control, since they can’t remove apps or integrations. All you have to do is sign up for a FreshBooks account, add your business details, and you’re ready to go. Wave is a popular freemium accounting software with a clean, intuitive, and easy-to-use backend. It has the same features as FreshBooks, allowing you to send invoices, manage expenses, connect your bank account, and keep track of your financial health using the range of reports.
Customer Service
You can choose from various customizable designs, set up recurring digital invoices, easily include discounts, and get instant updates when invoices have been viewed or paid online. You can work strictly from the project homepage to enter the time and expenses needed to complete your project, or you can use the tools provided outside of the project homepage. And no competitor in this group of applications offers tools like these. The app first asks a few basic questions about your business, such as what type of work you do and how you bill clients, so it can customize various elements for you. You provide contact information and are encouraged to invite any team members to set up accounts. You can close this setup window if you just want to get on with it and add those things on the fly.
It’s simple to use, relatively affordable and it makes it easy to stay organized. On the other hand, freshbooks has limitations for larger companies or teams. Adding a team member to your account will cost an extra $11 per month, for example, and the lower-tier plans have a limit to how many clients you can have. Have the reports that you need at your fingertips all the time with FreshBooks. In the Reports tab, you can access popular business accounting reports such as profit and loss, sales tax summary, aging accounts, invoice details and expense reports.
