The biggest benefit we receive is how easy it is to send invoices and get paid online. Freshbooks makes this a lot easier than some of the other solutions we've tried over the years.
Pros
Freshbooks is a simple and straight-forward accounting solution. It's delivered with relatively small amount of standard accounting categories so you're not overwhelmed placing expenses into their proper buckets and adding new categories is quite easy.
Our business doesn't have a ton of complex expenses - and if yours does, Freshbooks might not be a good fit. What we love about Freshbooks is how straight-forward their invoicing system has been. It's easy to create recurring invoicing and it integrates with popular credit card processors to facilitate easy online payments.
Perhaps the attribute that has kept us with Freshbooks through the years is their customer service - it's amazing. Customer service has always been super friendly, easy to understand, and they always seen eager to help. This interest and willingness to be helpful goes a long way.
Cons
The only con we've experienced with Freshbooks is their limited subscription levels. We've exceed their standard top level package but we're not quite big enough to financially justify a custom/enterprise package. It seems Freshbooks is ideal for customers with a lot of recurring transactions - which, we have more individual transactions than recurring so this is part of our problem. Regardless, Freshbooks staff has always been quite helpful in offering up solutions to help us make the most of our subscription limits (500 active clients).
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 9/10
Great experience, easy to use. Customers like quotes and invoices and I like the ability to create them off my mobile device quickly and easily.
Pros
Ease of use, mobile app, ability to have a ticketing system for customers, ability to have subs long hours in the system, ability to create professional looking quotes and invoices on the fly, integration to credit card and bank accounts to track and attach expenses to jobs.
Cons
Not perfect. May need a supplemental software to handle certain accounting functions, but that need has been decreasing as new features are introduced.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 9/10
Overall, the program is very strong and other than those few things I stated above, it was great. If you are not a freelancer, I think it may work out great for you.
Pros
I like how easy it is to use. It didn't take long to get up and running with it. I love all the reporting options.
Cons
I don't like how you pay based on how many clients you have (this is ultimately why I left them for another program). For freelancers, this is awful since we can rack up lots of clients that we may only work with once or twice. I mean, who has time to "make sure I don't go over 50 active clients"??? Also, a BIG miss was not having integrated e-sign contracts available. Most other competing products have this option already built-in at a similar or cheaper price point.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 7/10
Able to run and invoice quickly. Add the strong integration that it has with Freshdesk for ticketing and my time tracking - it has allowed me to better streamline my operations.
Pros
Tracking and customer portal that is fully labeled as your own... this is a feature most competitors do not have. Know when your customers have viewed your invoices and even printed them! Slick mobile app
Cons
Pricing has gone up vis a vis other comparable competitors. Ticketing is very basic. One issue that could have been done better is that this is more of a quoting system and not proposal based. So making fancier proposals you are best off using another platform.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 10/10
Here's the skinny on FreshBooks (the good, the bad, and the ugly): The Good: You can't beat the visual dashboard for tracking outstanding and past payments for clients. It's a great billing system for small businesses and especially consultants or freelancers. The recurring billing/invoicing system is FAB! Like many platforms these days, Freshbooks showcases a library of "add-ons" to help enhance your experience. Some of the best ones (in my book, as a tech consultant and marketer) are Hubspot, Shopify, Mailchimp, Bidsketch, BaseCamp, and Podio. There's a decent time tracking feature, along with the ability to track expenses. You can create/assign staff to project billing. Of course, you can issue "estimates" to prospects for future projects. As you send invoices through the Freshbooks system, it will log "sent" emails for you. And the system is designed to handle manual invoices for snail mail as well. Each client/business that you bill receives their own "login" to your dashboard to view their invoice(s). This is a nice touch, as clients may often "misplace" that original email with your invoice in it... It integrates very nicely with Stripe and PayPal (although I hear that may be changing - what? I know) plus Freshbooks has its own payment feature. I never have issues with payments, they always come through the system promptly (for online playing, 24-48 hours, the norm). The Bad: I'm not a fan of the reporting feature, while it's functional, it doesn't allow enough flexibility that a diverse consultant such as myself would like (need) to have. There are several reporting functions for each core feature (Accounting, Clients, Invoicing, and Time Tracking). But no option for custom reporting, which I often need as my diverse array of clientele has different process, set-ups, etc. At the very least, I would like to be able to customize the built-in reports on some level. I've not found an add-on that would assist me with this pain point. The Ugly: Finally, sadly, the worst thing I have to say about FreshBooks is that the Android app is greatly lacking. As the years (and technology) progress, that could eventually become a deal breaker. All the features in the world won't do a consultant much good if all of those same features can't be accessed via mobile device. We're ALL mobile these days, doncha know. However, if you split your time between desktop/Mac and mobile, then Freshbooks is well worth a look!
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend: 5/10
Lite: $15/month, 5 clients
Plus: $25/month, 50 clients
Premium: $50/month, 500 clients
Kick the tires with a 30 day unlimited free trial (no credit card required).
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