# FreshBooks

> Invoicing and accounting for freelancers and service businesses

FreshBooks is invoicing and accounting software built around billing clients. It handles invoices, estimates, proposals, retainers, time tracking and expenses, with double-entry accounting reports and bank reconciliation for the bookkeeping side. Plans are priced by how many clients you bill, and extra team members are charged per person.

- **Category:** Accounting & Invoicing
- **Made by:** FreshBooks (since 2003)
- **Website:** https://www.freshbooks.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026

## Pricing

FreshBooks is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $23 per month, billed monthly.

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 30-day free trial, no credit card required.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lite | $23 per month for 5 billable clients, billed monthly | Advertised at $4.60 a month for the first 4 months. Invoices, estimates, expenses, online payments and tax-time reports. |
| Plus | $43 per month for 50 billable clients, billed monthly | Advertised at $8.60 a month for the first 4 months. Adds proposals, retainers, accounting reports, receipt scanning and accountant access. |
| Premium | $70 per month for unlimited clients, billed monthly | Advertised at $14 a month for the first 4 months. Adds project profitability, accounts payable, bill line-item capture and custom email templates. |
| Select | Custom | Unlimited clients, lower card fees, Advanced Payments included, 2 team members, unbranded emails and dedicated phone support. |

Read from https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with FreshBooks before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **80% off the first 4 months** (Other savings): New customers pay 20% of the Lite, Plus or Premium price for 4 months, then the full monthly price. The page calls it a limited-time offer. Source: https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing
- **10% off with yearly billing** (Annual discount): Yearly plans cost $248.40 for Lite, $464.40 for Plus and $756 for Premium, 10% less than paying monthly. Source: https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing

## Key features

- **Invoices, estimates and proposals:** Recurring invoices, late fees and automatic reminders on every plan. Proposals and client retainers start on Plus.
- **Online payments:** Clients pay by card, ACH bank transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Affirm and Afterpay. Card payments through FreshBooks Payments cost 2.9% plus $0.30.
- **Time tracking and projects:** Unlimited time tracking on every plan, with project budgets and billing. Project profitability reports need Premium.
- **Expenses and receipts:** Bank import, mileage tracking on mobile and unlimited expenses. Receipt scanning starts on Plus, and bill line-item capture on Premium.
- **Double-entry accounting:** Accounting reports, bank reconciliation and accountant access start on Plus. Lite has tax-time reports only.
- **FreshBooks Payroll:** Payroll run with Gusto inside FreshBooks: unlimited pay runs, free direct deposit, and federal and state payroll tax filing.

## Good for

- Freelancers and consultants who bill a handful of clients for their time
- Service businesses that send estimates, proposals and retainers
- Owners who want invoicing first and accounting reports second

## Worth knowing

- The advertised prices are 80% off for 4 months; plans then renew at $23, $43 or $70 a month.
- Lite bills only 5 clients and Plus 50, counting archived clients; each extra team member costs $11 a month.
- Payroll costs $40 a month plus $6 per employee, files US federal and state taxes, and is not available during the free trial.
- Advanced Payments is a $20 a month add-on on every plan except Select.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. FreshBooks is invoicing software that grew a proper set of books, and billing clients is where it's strongest: estimates, proposals, retainers, time tracking and late reminders. The catch is the price ladder. Lite at $23 a month bills only 5 clients and skips the accounting reports, so most people end up on Plus at $43.

- **Value for money: D.** Lite is $23 a month, right at this category's middle, but it bills only 5 clients and has tax-time reports only. Accounting reports and bank reconciliation start on Plus at $43, and every extra team member is $11 a month on top.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A 30-day free trial with no card needed, which is fair. There's no free plan, though, and the 80% off for 4 months is a discount, not a trial: after that you pay the full $23, $43 or $70.
- **Features: B.** Invoices, estimates, proposals, retainers, online payments, unlimited time tracking, expenses, double-entry reports, bank reconciliation, accounts payable on Premium and payroll run with Gusto. That's the whole job for a business that bills clients.
- **Ease of use: A.** 4.7 from 10,979 App Store ratings, the top band for accounting apps. It's built around sending an invoice, which is the first thing most small business owners need to do.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with card payments through Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Affirm and Afterpay, and payroll through Gusto. There's no desktop app, which keeps it off an A.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from FreshBooks' own pages on 17 October 2026, and its App Store rating. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among accounting and invoicing tools

- FreshBooks's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 10 of the 17 other accounting and invoicing tools we grade, and level with 1.
- It stands best on ease of use (A, above 13 of 17) and worst on value for money (D, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $23 a month, against a middle price of $19 for the category: 9 of the 16 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 3.3 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/accounting

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace FreshBooks you would be making live feeds from your bank, which take an agreement with each bank or a service that has them. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $276 a year.

- You could make: Invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking and reports: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Live feeds from your bank, which take an agreement with each bank or a service that has them.
- You could not: Payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Gusto, Stripe and Apple Pay among them.
- You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## What people say

- **App Store rating of the iPhone and iPad app:** 4.7 out of 5 from 10,979 ratings in the United States, read Oct 17, 2026. This is the store's rating of the app, not a score from ToolGPA. Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1052884030

## Works with

Gusto, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Affirm, Afterpay

**Tags:** Invoicing, Bookkeeping, Expense tracking, Time tracking, Reports, Payroll

## Alternatives

- [QuickBooks Online](https://toolgpa.com/tools/quickbooks): Cloud accounting from Intuit, from a free plan to 25-user Advanced. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-quickbooks)
- [Xero](https://toolgpa.com/tools/xero): Cloud accounting for small businesses, with unlimited users. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-xero)
- [Wave](https://toolgpa.com/tools/wave): Free invoicing and bookkeeping for US and Canadian small businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-wave)
- [Zoho Books](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zoho-books): Online accounting from Zoho, with a free plan and six paid tiers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books)
- [Bonsai](https://toolgpa.com/tools/bonsai): Client, project and billing software for agencies and freelancers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/bonsai-vs-freshbooks)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026:

- https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing
- https://www.freshbooks.com/payroll-software
- https://www.freshbooks.com/mobile-apps
- https://www.freshbooks.com/about

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/freshbooks
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).