FreshBooks vs Xero: How They Compare

They also performed well in our evaluation for A/R management. You can set sales prices, create customers, email invoices, accept short payments, and manage customer accounts in both FreshBooks and Xero. FreshBooks is a super-easy-to-use accounting software built specifically for small business owners, letting you easily do everything yourself. However, when it comes to using all the tools available to you as a small business owner, your accountant should definitely be part of your toolbox. You can also connect your bank account and credit cards to your FreshBooks account to automatically track your expenses. Plus, use bank reconciliation to ensure your accounts are accurate and up to date.

Popular categories include payroll, inventory, time tracking, payments and CRM. If you’re in the Plumbing business and need a quick and uncomplicated way to create job estimates, the free Plumbing Estimate Template is an excellent choice. While this template is customizable and user-friendly, for a more advanced solution, explore estimating software like FreshBooks. It enables you to copy past estimates, automate invoicing, keep tabs on payments, store client details, send invoice reminders, monitor business revenue, and streamline your plumbing operations efficiently.

FreshBooks Vs. Xero (2024 Comparison)

To know whether your bank provides direct bank feeds, visit the partner (direct) bank feeds page on Xero and click your region. In this day and age, the providers you contract with don’t need to be in the same city, state or even time zone as you. Remote work has expanded across nearly every field, including bookkeeping. If you find someone who is a good fit for your business needs, it doesn’t matter if they are in California while you work from New York.

• Has robust reporting tools and report customization options, basic inventory tracking in all plans and a capable mobile app; Early plan limits the number of invoices and bills.
• FreshBooks’ reports may be more aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate, but Xero’s include the level of detail needed to stay organized as your company grows.
• Starting at $40 per month, add payroll to any plan using Gusto.
• FreshBooks prioritises essential accounting operations that are simplified for smaller firms, making it very simple and easy to use.

If you are in charge of a larger organization that depends on highly-detailed financial reporting, Quickbooks is most likely your best option due to its deep customization and multitude of included features. The five basic reports offered by Freshbooks include outstanding revenue, revenue streams, spending, total profit, and unbilled time. Much like Quickbooks, Xero also has the features to support larger companies and is not as simple or easy to use as Freshbooks. Quickbooks has many more features and can support much larger businesses compared to Freshbooks, however this does come at the cost of simplicity and ease of use. Freshbooks is incredibly easy to use and set up, which makes it perfect for the new businesses owner or freelancer looking to get started quickly and easily. There’s nothing like the freedom of running your own business.

And FreshBooks is a unique accounting software program in that it allows you to bring your software along with you while serving billable clients. When setting up a FreshBooks account, you can start fresh, or transfer over existing data from any previous accounting software solutions like Xero, QuickBooks Online, Zoho Books, or Invoice2Go. If you’re not a fan of manual entry, Clients, Expenses, and Items can be imported by you with the steps below.

QuickBooks vs. FreshBooks vs. Xero: A Comparative Guide from a Business Owner’s Perspective

When you are looking at what is amortization, it’s important to ask what you actually need so you don’t pay for unnecessary features. It can be easily accessed from any device, from your PC (Windows desktop) or Mac desktop to your mobile phone. 95% of users agree that FreshBooks makes it easy to work with your accountant.

Available Support

FreshBooks is best equipped to serve freelancers without much accounting experience. The larger your business is, the better equipped Xero becomes to meet your needs. Xero and QuickBooks have similar pricing, except when it comes to QuickBooks Desktop. The Desktop plan offered by QuickBooks starts at $349.99 per year, goes up to $804 for your first year and renews at $1,340 per year. While QuickBooks does offer a more scaled-back product for freelancers and gig workers — QuickBooks Self-Employed starts at $15 per month — you can’t seamlessly grow into QuickBooks from this version.

Award-Winning Customer Service

With more than 3 million users worldwide, Xero is popular but not as ubiquitous as QuickBooks Online. QuickBooks Online allows users to claim expenses and match them to photos of receipts in all plans, whereas Xero requires Xero Expenses, an additional feature only included in the highest-tier Established plan. If snapping photos of receipts to claim expenses on the go is a key mobile feature you’d like to have, regardless of plan level, QuickBooks Online might be a better fit. Project tracking tools in higher-tier plans; lacks industry-specific reports and transaction tracking tags; users with multiple businesses must pay for separate subscriptions. Comparing FreshBooks and Xero side by side shows that their starting prices aren’t bad—though Xero is the cheaper option for both the introductory and regular offers. If you’re looking to pay bills regularly, it makes more sense to Xero, as you can pay five of them on the base plan.

With the ability to send unlimited, customizable invoices, payment reminders and proposals to clients, FreshBooks is the optimal solution for freelancers or solo entrepreneurs. It also lets you track time and billable hours so clients can see exactly what you’re charging for. We prefer Xero if you’re a larger business looking for more potent features, such as bank account reconciliation and Gusto payroll software. Xero also has robust file storage that lets you manage and share documents, bills, contracts and receipts on the cloud.

Honestly, FreshBooks’ list of integrations is pretty impressive. Its integrations only pale in comparison to Xero’s because, well, everyone’s app integrations pale in comparison to Xero. As an Advanced QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, Certified Xero Partner, and a Freshbooks Accountant, we have had the opportunity to really dive into all three platforms. While all three offer great products, our firm (Parkway Business Solutions) selected QuickBooks Online as its premier offering. Freshbooks was generally very highly rated, although the mobile app reviews are very mixed (more on that in a moment). As with Xero and QuickBooks, Xero also has a free trial which lasts 30 days to let you get to grips with the app and its features.

It’s a fantastic piece of kit, but even this can be too complicated for some peoples’ needs. Xero – while a little pricey compared to other options, Xero is a fantastic all-in-one accounting app for small-to-mid-sized businesses. Hell, even if you’re self-employed and don’t have a team, you still need to log your clients’ payments, prepare your taxes, and create balance sheet statements. However, accounting and bookkeeping is also a vital part of running a business if you want to abide by the law and track your finances.

It showcases various third-party apps that seamlessly integrate with Xero’s environment. Navigating around FreshBooks is easy because you can find everything on the left-side menu. By clicking on the menu categories, a drop-down menu will appear to show related subcategories. If you haven’t used FreshBooks, the setup wizard on the dashboard (see image below) will guide you through the process.

FreshBooks is the best software for freelancers and service providers. Its features combine project management and accounting with helping professionals self-manage their business. It also has a flexible pricing plan, which is cheaper than Xero if you only need one or two users. If you intend to expand your business, it has a custom plan to match your needs.