QuickBooks Vs FreshBooks: Understanding Which Is Right for Your Business

In the world of accounting software, two names often stand out: QuickBooks and FreshBooks. Both are strong software systems intended to assist companies in keeping their funds in order, but they target slightly different clients and have different functionalities. To make it easier, we will compare all the aspects that we consider essential so you have enough information at your disposal to make a decision on which is more suitable for your purposes, QuickBooks or FreshBooks. Here’s a comparison on QuickBooks Vs FreshBooks to help you decide.

Overview of QuickBooks and FreshBooks

QuickBooks is an effective and powerful tool of accounting that is designed and developed by Intuit based on the demand of small business to medium-sized business entities’. It comes with a range of features that include basic and enhanced functionalities such as accounting, payroll, and inventory.

On its part, FreshBooks is a cloud based software intended for accounts management which is noted for its simplicity. Freelancers, small business owners, and mostly service-based businesses highly benefit from it because it has robust invoicing and time tracking features.

Features Comparison

FreshBooks: Renowned for its robust invoicing features, FreshBooks lets users create professional, customizable invoices. It offers multi-currency invoicing, automatic payment reminders, and recurrent invoices.

QuickBooks: QuickBooks also provides a variety of invoicing capabilities, such as the capacity to receive payments directly through invoices, customizable templates, and recurring invoices. QuickBooks seamlessly integrates with other financial tools, simplifying the management of all business financial aspects.

1. Expense Tracking

FreshBooks: Facilitates expense tracking by enabling users to attach receipts, categorize expenses, and monitor expenditure in multiple currencies. Additionally, it provides tax-friendly categories to facilitate the tax filing process.

Quickbooks: Offers comprehensive expense monitoring capabilities, including bank account integration for automatic transaction imports, receipt capture, and expense categorization. QuickBooks also has powerful reporting tools for more in-depth analysis of spending trends. 

2. Time Tracking

FreshBooks: Excels in time tracking, enabling users to record billable hours, manage team timesheets, and integrate time tracking with invoicing. This feature is especially beneficial for service-based businesses.

QuickBooks: QuickBook integrates with TSheets to provide time tracking capabilities, which enable employees to clock in and out, monitor time on projects, and synchronize time data with payroll.

3. Reporting

FreshBooks: FreshBooks offers basic financial reports including tax summaries, expense reports, and profit and loss statements. Although enough for small businesses, it doesn’t have the breadth of reporting available in QuickBooks.

QuickBooks: QuickBooks is renowned for its advanced and sophisticated reporting capabilities, which include an extensive range of customizable reports, such as inventory summaries, sales reports, and detailed financial statements. These reports offer valuable insights into the performance of the business.

4. PayRoll

FreshBooks: Does not provide built-in payroll capabilities. To handle employee payments, users need to connect to third-party payroll systems.

QuickBooks: QuickBooks provides comprehensive payroll services including direct deposits, tax filing, automated payroll processing, and benefits management and administration. QuickBooks Payroll is a great tool for businesses that have workers.

5. Ease of Use

FreshBooks: FreshBooks is renowned for its user-friendly interface, which is effortless to navigate and configure. Designed with non-accountants in mind, it’s a perfect fit for small business owners and freelancers looking for basic and straightforward accounting solutions.

Quickbooks: Despite its increased functionality, QuickBooks has a more challenging learning curve. However, it offers a customizable dashboard, support resources, and extensive tutorials to assist users in settling into the platform.

6. Integrations

FreshBooks: FreshBooks offers integration with more than 100 third-party applications, such as CRM systems, project management tools, and payment processors. This facilitates the interoperability of FreshBooks with other business tools.

QuickBooks: Provides more than 750 integrations, including prominent applications for CRM, payroll, and e-commerce. The extensive integration capability of QuickBooks makes it a versatile and appropriate tool for businesses with intricate requirements.

7. Customer Support

FreshBooks: FreshBooks offers exceptional customer service through live chat, email, and phone. Additionally, users have access to a comprehensive knowledge base and community forums.

QuickBooks: QuickBooks has a thorough help center, strong customer service including phone and chat support, and community forums. For expert help, QuickBooks also offers access to trained ProAdvisors.

8. Scalability

FreshBooks: Ideal for small businesses with a fewer number of staffs, contractors, and freelancers. The top-tier plan supports two users, with extra users available for a charge.

QuickBooks: It can help small businesses with dozens of workers. The highest-tier plan supports up to 25 individuals, making it a scalable choice for expanding enterprises.

9. Pricing Plans

FreshBooks Pricing

Lite:

• Price: $9.50 per month (billed monthly) or $148.20/Yr (billed annually).
• Features: Send unlimited invoices to up to 5 clients, track unlimited expenses, and run basic reports.

Plus:

•  Price: $16.50 per month (billed monthly) or $257.40/Yr (billed annually).
• Features: Includes all Lite features plus the ability to send invoices to up to 50 clients, set up recurring invoices, and invite accountants.

Premium:

• Price: $30.00 per month (billed monthly) or $468.00/Yr (billed annually).
• Features: Includes all Plus features with the ability to send invoices to an unlimited number of clients and advanced reporting capabilities.

Select:

Custom Pricing: Tailored for larger businesses with specific needs. Includes all Premium features plus dedicated account support and customized billing options.

QuickBooks Pricing

Simple Start:

• Price: $35/Month (billed monthly) / 50 percent off for the first three months or free 30-day trial.
• Features: Basic accounting features, including income and expense tracking, invoicing, and receipt capture.

Essentials:

• Price: $65/Month (billed monthly) / 50 percent off for the first three months or free 30-day trial.
• Features: Includes all Simple Start features plus bill management, time tracking, and support for up to 3 users.

Plus:

• Price: $99/Month (billed monthly) / 50 percent off for the first three months or free 30-day trial.
•  Features: Includes all Essentials features plus inventory tracking, project profitability tracking, and support for up to 5 users.

Advanced:

• Price: $235/Month (billed monthly) /50 percent off for the first three months or free 30-day trial.

Features: Includes all Plus features plus advanced reporting, dedicated account support, and support for up to 25 users.

PROS and CONS of Freshbooks & QuickBooks

Pros of FreshBooks

1. User-Friendly Interface: FreshBooks is renowned for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, which is accessible even to individuals who are without accounting experience.

2. Strong Invoicing Capabilities: FreshBooks is a forerunner in invoicing services, providing automatic payment reminders, recurring invoices, and customizable templates.

3. Time Tracking: The integrated time tracking functionality enables users to record billable hours and seamlessly incorporate them into invoices, which is especially advantageous for freelancers and service-based businesses.

4. Expense Management: FreshBooks simplifies and streamlines expense monitoring by enabling users to attach receipts, categorize expenditures, and monitor spending across multiple currencies.

5. Mobile Application: FreshBooks provides a comprehensive mobile application that enables users to oversee their finances remotely, including the issuance of invoices, expense tracking, and client communication.

6. Customer Assistance: FreshBooks offers exceptional customer assistance through telephone, email, and live chat platforms. Users also get access to an extensive knowledge base and community forums.

7. Cost-Effective Pricing: FreshBooks has competitive and affordable pricing plans, particularly for its entry-level or lower-tier plans, making it an economical and affordable alternative for freelancers and small businesses.

Cons of FreshBooks

1. Restricted Scalability: FreshBooks is not designed for larger enterprises. The premium plan accommodates only two users, with the option to add more at an additional fee.

2. Limited Customization: In comparison to certain alternative accounting software, FreshBooks provides fewer customization options for reports and invoicing.

3. Additional Costs for Team Members: The addition of new team members results in additional monthly expenses, which can mount for expanding businesses.

4. Limited Advanced Feature: FreshBooks seems to lack in certain advanced accounting features like inventory management and comprehensive payroll services that are available in other accounting software. 

5. Limitations on Clients and Users: Lower-tier plans have restrictions on the number of billable clients and users, which may not be appropriate for enterprises with a larger client base.

Pros and Cons of QuickBooks:

Pros of QuickBooks

1. Comprehensive Feature Set: QuickBooks has a lot of features, like invoicing, tracking expenses, managing payroll, handling inventory, and providing advanced reports. This is a really useful tool for different business purposes.

2. Scalability: QuickBooks has the ability to expand with your business. It has different pricing plans and features that are suitable for both small businesses and larger companies.

3. Integration Capabilities: QuickBooks works with more than 750 third-party apps, such as payment processors, CRM systems, and e-commerce platforms. This really cool integration feature makes it easier to manage business operations.

4. Cloud-Based Accessibility: QuickBooks Online enables users to access their financial data from any location with an internet connection. This is especially helpful for companies that have remote teams.

5. Robust Reporting: QuickBooks offers a range of customizable reports, such as profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements. These reports provide vital insights into the performance of businesses.

6. Payroll Services: QuickBooks provides a range of payroll services, such as automatic payroll processing, tax filing, and direct deposit. This feature is really helpful for companies that have people working for them.

7. Easy to Use Interface: Even with its extensive set of features, QuickBooks is designed to be customer centric and user-friendly. It has an easily customizable dashboard and a lot of lessons to help people figure out how to use the software.

Cons of QuickBooks

1. Higher Cost: Particularly for smaller companies, QuickBooks can be costly. The subscription costs might mount up especially if you require advanced capabilities or more users.

2. Learning Curve: Though QuickBooks is user-friendly, its learning curve is steeper than that of more basic accounting programs. Users could need time to completely grasp and implement all of its capabilities.

3. Price Variations: QuickBooks has a propensity to frequently raise its prices, which may be a matter of concern for businesses that are cost-conscious. Also the price structure is quite complex. QuickBooks Online offers three versions at monthly or annual pricing. Cost is different from country to country for the latest pricing for each product. Usually a 50% lesser cost is applicable for a plan when billed annually. Sometimes, the discount is up to 70 percent for an online purchase or for a specific country. This makes things confusing.

4. Limited Customer Support: QuickBooks’ customer support has been reported to be limited and not always responsive by certain users. This can be a source of frustration when confronting urgent and pressing issues.

5. Costs for Add-Ons: Many advanced features and integrations come at an extra cost. This can cause QuickBooks to cost more than first projected.

6. Bugs and Malfunctions: Users have reported occasional bugs and malfunctions, including the software freezing or crashing. Business operations may be disrupted by these issues.

FreshBooks is the optimal choice for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and sole proprietors businesses seeking a cost-effective and user-friendly accounting tool that includes robust time-tracking and invoicing capabilities. It is suitable for start-ups, small businesses as well as the self-employed, but it may not serve the needs of large businesses and those that need complicated accounting services.

QuickBooks is among the best and most versatile accounting platforms with tools that fit business requirements of different kinds. Due to its features such as scalability, integration, and comprehensive reporting, it can be beneficial for expanding enterprises. However, it’s expensive compared to other software, has a steep learning curve in some areas, and the customer support is not totally reliable.

Latest Updates on FreshBooks and QuickBooks (2024)

FreshBooks Updates

1. Payroll Powered by Gusto: FreshBooks has partnered with Gusto to provide payroll services for businesses in the United States. This encompasses payroll processing, tax submission, and compliance oversight.

2. Journal Entries: A new section for manually written journal entries has been introduced, facilitating the tracking and management of these entries.

3. Invoice Management: Users can now conduct advanced searches to locate specific invoices, thereby improving the efficiency of managing large volumes of invoices.

4. Bulk Download for Received Invoices: Businesses can now download multiple received invoices as PDFs in bulk, thereby facilitating document management.

5. Payments by Stripe: FreshBooks has collaborated with Stripe to provide improved payment processing solutions for businesses in Canada and the United States.

6. Dashboard Improvements: Users can now personalize their dashboard by hiding or reordering graphs, which includes a new Revenue and Expenses graph.

QuickBooks Updates

1. Improved Payroll Features: New payroll features have been introduced by QuickBooks, such as automated tax submission and compliance, same-day direct deposit, and integration with benefits providers.

2. Advanced Reporting Tools: Users can now generate comprehensive financial reports that are customized to meet their unique requirements with the addition of new customizable reporting tools.

3. Integration with Third-Party Applications: QuickBooks has broadened its integration capabilities to now support over 750 third-party applications, such as CRM, e-commerce, and project management.

4. Mobile App Improvements: The QuickBooks mobile app has been updated with new features, such as real-time notifications, enhanced receipt capture, and mileage tracking.

5. User Interface Updates: The user interface has been redesigned to enhance navigation and usability, thereby simplifying the process of accessing essential features and tools for users.Two.

Conclusion

Choosing between QuickBooks and FreshBooks ultimately depends on your business needs:

Choose FreshBooks if: You are a freelancer, a contractor, or a small business owner who simply requires a basic, simple and intuitive invoicing tool with fundamental accounting capabilities. FreshBooks is well-suited for service-based businesses that need robust time-tracking and expense tracking features.

Choose QuickBooks if: You own or manage a small to medium-sized business and you need proper accounting tools for your enterprise, such as extensive reporting, payroll, and inventory features. QuickBooks is used as an application that is flexible and can easily accommodate your expanding company.

While comparing FreshBooks and QuickBooks, it is essential to know that both of them provide free trials for their services. In this way, knowing your personal requirements and comparing the features, cost and support services it will be easier to choose the option that will fit your company’s needs better and help improve financial processes.

Also Read: A Short-Guide on Invoicing Services of FreshBooks & QuickBooks

FAQ

What is the difference between QuickBooks and FreshBooks?

The main difference concerns the audience and characteristics of the two categories. QuickBooks has more features and is better for businesses that have more complex needs, while FreshBooks is reserved for independent contractors and small businesses that simply require an easy way to manage their invoices and expenses.

What are the disadvantages of FreshBooks?

While FreshBooks can help small and medium businesses save time and manage their expenses, it does not have some of the features such as; payroll, in-depth reporting, and inventory control that big businesses require.

What’s something better than QuickBooks?

Xero is another strong competitor to QuickBooks, having few extra features than QuickBooks but easy to use compared to it. Other options include Wave, appropriate for simple accounting within a small business, and Zoho Books as a cheaper option that offers many more features.

Who is FreshBooks best for?

There is no doubt that FreshBooks suits self-employed individuals, start-up companies, service-based industries the best who are not focused on the advanced features of an accounting software but more on the ease of invoicing.