FreshBooks Reviews

Pros

It's incredibly simple, even if you don't have any bookkeeping background. Self-employed folks will especially find it useful and the time tracking is simple to manage day to day. Also, it's pretty cost efficient.

Cons

The accounting side isn't very deep or well-rounded especially if you're looking for more advanced bookkeeping features.

Pros

Feels like an adaptive invoicing toolkit that includes the key features I need to manage clients end-to-end. It lets me create, produce and send invoices and it also supports online payments so customers can settle without hassle. Overall, it's earned a spot as one of the best options for small-business invoicing.

Cons

This software aims to take the stress out of invoicing and does help with that but it's not a complete accounting/business suite. Digging a bit deeper, it turns out this is cloud-based invoicing and accounting software built mainly for small businesses and freelancers. It covers finance management, client invoices, tracking expenses and activity and communication with team members. The catch is that it doesn't include payroll services and the pricing can feel steep for solo operators with only a handful of clients (around five or so).

Pros

Time tracking feels genuinely solid and invoicing is really simple once everything's set up the right way. I also appreciate the flexibility for billing-hourly billing, retainer billing or mixing both on a per-client basis. Being able to drop tracked time straight into an invoice and generate a polished, professional bill is way faster and less painful than building everything manually.

Cons

There's a learning curve and you'll want to spend a bit of time upfront getting clients and projects configured correctly. That initial effort is worth it later for the time you save but it's not the best fit for every situation... especially if you're just getting started. If you don't already invoice regularly, it may make more sense to wait until you have at least several (around half a dozen) clients you bill consistently before paying for something like this.

Pros

Using it is simple and I was able to get up and running without much time or effort. The reporting options are genuinely solid and there are a lot of ways to pull the data I need.

Cons

Pricing model is based on the number of clients you have which is exactly why I eventually moved to another program. That setup is pretty rough for freelancers, it's easy to end up with a long list of clients you only work with once or twice and then you're forced to watch the active client count. Asking people to "make sure I don't go over 50 active clients" feels unrealistic. Another big gap for me was the lack of integrated e-sign contracts, other competing tools already include e-signing at a similar or even lower price.

Pros

Like many other accounting tools, it helps me run my business without turning everything into a learning project. The usability matters a lot for someone like me and it really fits that need. There's also a decent mobile app included which makes handling things on the go much more convenient.

Cons

Cost is kind of high for the functionality you get. The one thing that helps is that it supports billing either monthly or annually. Still, I wish there were more features... especially more options comparable to QuickBooks.

Pros

Super adaptive and packed with a really solid set of core features that cover the basics well.

Cons

Reporting felt a bit lacking and I think it could use some improvements.

Pros

It has one of the best invoice views I've come across and it also cuts down a lot of the paperwork that usually comes with invoicing. It basically creates a "global village" for you and your clients. Once you're set up, everything is right there at your fingertips. The cloud setup really pays off, with just a click you're connected and since it's cloud-based, it's accessible from anywhere (including on smartphones). Also, the regular updates keep it aligned with how the business world is changing which makes the product feel current and reliable.

Cons

Only downside I can think of is that it's internet-based. If someone is in an area with weak or no connectivity... especially less networked locations, it may not be as usable, even though the system works smoothly when you have access to the internet.

Pros

This is super simple for someone like me who hasn't used QuickBooks before. I really appreciate being able to create and update client details directly from the invoices, without jumping around. Keeping track of payments, who they're coming from and when they're expected, has been genuinely helpful since it removes one more organizational step from my plate and makes scheduled payments easier to manage. The email alerts after payments go through are also a nice touch.

Cons

Subscription cost can feel steep over time especially month to month when there isn't much ongoing work. Another thing I'd change is the invoice workflow, having to handle each invoice one at a time gets tiring and batching invoices would be a much better option.

Pros

Been using it for a few years now and it's been dependable on both Android and iOS. The Android app runs well and the iOS version just feels consistently polished. I've been able to handle my accounting tasks, create and send invoices, bill clients, track expenses and generate reports covering my spending.

Cons

Pretty light on a lot of the features you'd expect. For instance, there's no way to plan or schedule incoming payments and receipts and it's not possible to keep records across multiple accounts. It also doesn't properly cover cash expenses and cash income.

Pros

Really works well for me thanks to the flexibility in its settings. I'm able to assign which responsible people are linked to invoices and also control how the billing documents are delivered. From the same place, I can send an invoice by email and also through regular mail, the app even labels this as "Snail mail."

Cons

The only import options available for customer data are CSV and QuickBooks which feels a bit limiting. It would be more convenient if I could pull the data directly from Google Sheets and the export side has the same kind of restriction for me.

Pros

Back when I was running my own small business, it let me collect payments from both suppliers and customers. The best part was how flexible it felt, you could handle everything using just a smartphone, without needing to be on a computer.

Cons

Functionality feels pretty basic. You can't manage things like stock levels and discounts and the analytics available for finances are limited to expense items only.

Pros

The invoice tracking plus the customer portal are both fully labeled as your own which is a feature many competitors don't offer. You can see when customers have viewed invoices and even when they've printed them. The mobile app also feels really slick and makes day-to-day use convenient.

Cons

Pricing has increased compared with other similar competitors. The built, In ticketing feels pretty basic and the workflow leans more toward quoting than proposal-style documents, If you want more polished proposals, you'll likely be better served by a different platform.

Pros

Using it has been simple and it's genuinely easy to use. My invoices also look a lot better now, the overall appearance improved noticeably.

Cons

No real complaints from me though I think technical support could be strengthened if something isn't clear while using the program.

Pros

Connects well with CRM tools and makes it simple to send invoices to clients. It also does a solid job keeping tabs on outstanding invoices across all my clients so nothing slips through the cracks.

Cons

More invoice template control would be appreciated. The default designs feel a bit dull-professional is good but it'd be nice to have options that are a little more flashy. Since I travel sometimes without reliable internet, I'd really like an offline mode so I can draft and store invoices locally when I can't log in.

Pros

It lets me clear my invoices really quickly, with very little stress each time. After I make a purchase, I can log it in fast and stay on top of everything. I also like being able to create and send invoices almost instantly.

Cons

Occasionally some entries struggle to sync properly.

Pros

The interface is pretty simple and creating invoices is simple enough.

Cons

Feel like it is missing a bunch of industry-standard security features. There's no two-factor authentication for login, no IP address blocking to stop specific addresses from accessing the account and no audit/log trail showing my last login or logout times. It also doesn't force an automatic timeout/log out after the account sits idle for a while. None of this is unusual, most other online accounting tools include these protections and banks typically use the same kind of measures.

Pros

Totally enjoyed how quickly I was able to get the hang of it and the feature set is genuinely impressive. Everything feels thoughtfully put together and once you start using it, you notice how much it can do.

Cons

Sometimes, updates take longer than expected. It might not be the software itself, could be the speed of the actual system my company connects through but the delay is still noticeable sometimes.

Pros

This ended up being a solid beginner friendly accounting tool and the invoicing feature was one I actually used a lot. Navigation felt adaptive and the whole setup came across as pretty user-friendly, even when I was still learning the basics.

Cons

Pricing kept climbing over time. Since we're a non-profit, we were hoping to bring in more donors and add more contacts but each time our contact list grew we got pushed into higher pricing tiers. Eventually it became too costly for our organization to keep using the software.

Pros

Feels simple to set up and understand. It's a really solid fit for small businesses and sole proprietors who want an accounting tool that makes sense without a ton of hassle.

Cons

Reporting tools aren't as flexible, customizing reports and running them the way you want can be a bit frustrating.

Pros

The redesign definitely made it simpler to use and the built-in integrations, PayPal included, cut down on a lot of manual work. There's also an integrated time tracker though I still mostly stick with Toggl. Bookkeeping feels surprisingly enjoyable, at least as enjoyable as it can be. Support has been excellent too, replies have been fast even on weekends and after hours which is genuinely impressive.

Cons

I've run into occasional integration problems like transactions not syncing or getting duplicated. That said, their support team has always been willing to help and has even offered to manually import transactions for me on more than one occasion. I'm also on a paid tier but some features I'd like to explore require paying even more and the subscription-style pricing is a bit of a letdown. It also feels odd that it's meant to connect with eCommerce platforms when the available tiers limit what you can actually do.