FreshBooks Review: A Quickbooks Alternative
Gone are the days of the old school method of maintaining various journals and books for accounting purposes. With the advancement of technology, books have been replaced by accounting software. There are many players in this segment offering cloud-based software applications. It handles accounts payable and receivable, payroll, trial balance, and more. One such popular accounting software is FreshBooks. Do check below our unbiased Freshbooks Review.
Freshbooks Review 2020
What is FreshBooks?
FreshBooks is one of the best software for small businesses. It is easy to track income and expenses. It was launched as invoicing software. It was updated in 2018, and double-entry techniques of accounting, bank reconciliation, journal entries, and reporting features were introduced.
Pros – FreshBooks Review
FreshBooks is software that is easy to use. It has a user-focused design and hence easy to navigate. The invoices can be customized as per your requirement. It also has standard design templates for invoices. It integrates with various software. It can be accessed through mobile as well. This makes it excellent for a small businessman on the go. If you need to check your expenses or add an expense item when you are out of your office on business, you can do it quickly and efficiently. You get excellent customer service. You can also avail of live customer support help. You have the option to try this app for free for 30 days.
Cons – FreshBooks Review
The existing features are useful but limited when we talk about accounting software. You have limited users in FreshBooks. Price-wise it turns out to be an expensive monthly option. You would need to pay more to get better features. It offers limited options for report customization.
Pricing – FreshBooks Review
FreshBooks offers 3 pricing plans. All 3 plans offer the standard features which include customized invoicing, supports bank transfers, and credit cards as a payment option, user-friendly dashboard, can generate estimates, reports, and helpful for invoicing. You get additional features with each plan. The first plan Lite is best suited for self-employed. The monthly fee is $15. You can have 1 user id and bill up to 5 clients. The Plus plan is for small businesses as you can bill up to 50 clients with 1 user id. The monthly fees are $25. The Premium plan is for growing business with large teams. The monthly fee is $50. You can bill up to 500 clients under 1 user id.
The Premium plans have all the added features of the Lite and Plus plan. In addition to it, have advanced features like Reports, Proposals, and live bank feeds. In case you have more than 500 clients, you can opt for FreshBooks Select. It has an advance payment option and integrates with QuickBooks and Xero. You also have a dedicated account manager. The monthly fees vary as per your business requirements. All the above 3 plans support 1 user. The cost to add more users is $10/month per user.
Features Overview – FreshBooks Review
FreshBooks gives accrual and cash-basis accounting features. The dashboard displays information like business activity and the financial status of the company. It can be used on desktop or mobile. This gives your business mobility. The menu option offers all the options; hence it is easy to navigate. The invoice templates can be easily customized to make it look more professional. You can make estimates easily and turn them into invoices.
Through the client portal, the client can check the estimates, invoices, and projects. The client can directly make payments from the portal. It offers a contact management facility wherein you can view your customer information and outstanding payments due, if any. You can also track expenses and inventory. You can also see the summary of your tax report.
FreshBooks can generate over 20 reports. The reports can be exported to CVS or excel file. FreshBooks allows you to handle multiple currencies and change the language settings for your clients. The security is robust as it has 256-bit SSL encryption and Cisco-powered firewalls.
FreshBooks Integration
FreshBooks integrates with more than 40 apps which include payment processing apps. For payroll, it integrates with Gusto. Also, if you choose FreshBooks Select monthly plan, then you can use it with Quickbooks and Xero.
Customer Support Review for FreshBooks
You can get in touch with the support team via phone, email, and through the support form. It also has help tab within the software and Help Center which is a knowledge bank. FreshBooks has won many awards for excellent customer service. They are prompt to respond over the phone and handle your queries efficiently. Email responses are quick and helpful.
Ease of Use FreshBooks Review
You need not be a professional to use FreshBooks. It is a jargon-free software; hence even a novice can handle the software easily. It is incredibly user-friendly. It gets outstanding ratings when it comes to ease of use.
How a Small Businessman can Use FreshBooks?
For new and small businesses having a full-time accountant to handle accounts is pointless and a costly affair. The user-friendly FreshBooks software can be handled by the proprietor too. The software is best for invoicing, creation of various reports and to manage daily expenses and income.
FreshBooks doesn’t need any specific hardware as it can be easily accessed through mobile phones and desktops. You can choose the 30-days free trial to check if it suits your business requirements.
All these save a lot of time, effort, and money. The monthly subscription plans are economical. FreshBooks was initially designed for invoicing for small businesses. It continues to be the best option for small companies as it is a reasonable and efficient accounting software.
Conclusion – FreshBooks Review
FreshBooks is it an alternative to Quickbooks. The small businesses need simple accounting software and at a reasonable cost. This is what FreshBooks is all about. Quickbooks and Xero offer advanced accounting system at extra cost, but it is more suitable for large organizations. If you have limited transactions, go for Freshbooks.