FreshBooks

FreshBooks is cloud accounting and invoicing software for freelancers and small service businesses, with a billable client cap on every plan.

FreshBooks is cloud accounting and invoicing software for freelancers, self-employed professionals and small service businesses that bill clients for time and work rather than for goods. It closes the gap between sending an invoice and closing the books: the record that goes to the client also posts to the ledger, so year-end figures come out of the same place the billing does. FreshBooks is made and owned by the Toronto company of the same name, founded in 2003, and it is sold as one platform under one login. Invoicing covers branded invoices, recurring invoices, automatic payment reminders and late fees, with card, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Buy Now Pay Later accepted through Online Payments. Estimates, Proposals and Client Retainers handle the agreement before the invoice, while Projects, Time Tracking and the Mileage Tracking app capture what the work actually cost. Expenses and Receipts pulls costs in by photo or bank connection, and Bill Pay records and settles supplier bills. On the accounting side there is a customizable chart of accounts, journal entries, bank reconciliation, and reports including Profit and Loss, Balance Sheet, Trial Balance and the Sales Tax Summary. FreshBooks Payroll and Advanced Payments are separate paid add-ons. FreshBooks suits one-person consultancies, agencies, tradespeople and professional firms whose invoicing is the heart of their bookkeeping. Accountants and bookkeepers get their own access to a client's file rather than borrowing the owner's login. It fits teams that would rather track billable clients and projects than manage stock or an asset register. Billing is per account, not per seat: the tier is set by how many billable clients the business has, and each extra team member is charged on top. The routine is raising and chasing invoices, logging receipts against a job, watching a project's profitability while the work is still running, and handing a clean set of books to an accountant at year end. Mobile apps cover receipt capture and mileage logging away from the desk, and an Easy Switch migration brings a file over from another accounting tool. Bank and card connections feed transactions in, and an Integrations directory and a public developer API connect the file to the payment processors, payroll services and client tools a small firm already runs. At the close of a quarter it produces the Profit and Loss and the Sales Tax Summary that the return is built from.