FreshBooks review covering pricing, invoicing, expense and time tracking features, pros and cons, and top alternatives for freelancers and small businesses.
FreshBooks is a Toronto-founded cloud accounting and invoicing platform built originally for freelancers and small service businesses. It started in 2003 as a simple invoicing tool after founder Mike McDerment lost an invoice and could not find good web-based software to replace it, and has since grown into a broader small-business accounting suite covering invoicing, expenses, time tracking, and reporting.
The company was bootstrapped for its first several years before raising a $30 million Series A round in 2014 led by Oak Investment Partners. It remains privately held and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, serving customers primarily across North America, Europe, and Australia.
FreshBooks centers on customizable, recurring invoicing with support for multiple currencies and languages, paired with integrated online payment acceptance through FreshBooks Payments (credit card, ACH, and more).
Time tracking is built directly into the billing workflow, so tracked hours convert into invoice line items without manual re-entry, and expense tracking uses mobile receipt scanning and bank imports to automate categorization for tax time.
Higher-tier plans add double-entry accounting reports, project profitability tracking, client retainers and proposals, and accountant-collaboration access, while mobile apps for iOS and Android extend the platform to on-the-go invoicing and mileage tracking.
FreshBooks uses a four-tier structure: Lite ($23/month, 5 billable clients), Plus ($43/month, 50 billable clients, most popular), Premium ($70/month, unlimited billable clients), and Select (custom pricing for larger teams with dedicated support and lower payment fees).
All plans include one user by default, with additional team members billed at $11/user/month. FreshBooks offers a 30-day free trial with no credit card required, an annual-billing discount of roughly 10%, and add-ons such as Advanced Payments ($20/month) and Payroll (from $40/month).
FreshBooks is cloud accounting and invoicing software used mainly by freelancers, consultants, and small service businesses to send invoices, track time and expenses, accept online payments, and generate basic financial reports.
As researched from FreshBooks' pricing page, the Lite plan is $23/month, Plus is $43/month, Premium is $70/month, and Select is custom-priced. Promotional discounts and a roughly 10% annual-billing discount are commonly available.
Yes, FreshBooks offers a 30-day free trial on its paid plans and does not require a credit card to start the trial.
FreshBooks can support small teams, but each plan has a billable-client cap and only one included user seat, with additional team members billed separately, which can make it less cost-efficient for larger teams than accounting platforms built for bigger organizations.
FreshBooks focuses on ease of use for invoicing-first small businesses and freelancers, while QuickBooks Online generally offers deeper native accounting, inventory, and payroll functionality aimed at a broader range of small-to-midsize businesses.
FreshBooks was founded by Mike McDerment along with Levi Cooperman and Joe Sawada in Toronto, starting in 2003, after McDerment struggled with existing invoicing tools at his own design business.