FreshBooks
Invoicing-first accounting for people who bill for their time.
- Finance
- Productivity
- from $23/mo
FreshBooks is cloud accounting built around invoicing, time tracking and project profitability rather than inventory and stock. It suits service businesses, consultants and agencies who need to bill hours accurately and chase payment, and its plans are limited by the number of clients you invoice rather than by features alone.
FreshBooks: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 9 August 2026.
- What it is
- Invoicing-first accounting for people who bill for their time
- Best for
- Freelancers and agencies billing for time
- Starts at
- Lite $23/month, Plus $43, Premium $70
- Free option
- No free plan, 30 days trial
- Biggest strength
- Time tracking to invoice with no duplicate entry
- Biggest drawback
- Plans capped by number of billable clients, and Lite allows only 5
- Closest alternative
- QuickBooks Online - Deeper accounting and the format most accountants prefer
- True annual cost
- from $276 a year at the cheapest paid tier
FreshBooks at a glance
| Best for | Freelancers and agencies billing for time, Service businesses that need project profitability, Anyone whose main accounting pain is getting invoices paid |
|---|---|
| Category | Finance, Productivity |
| Starting price | Lite $23/month, Plus $43, Premium $70 |
| Free plan | No |
| Free trial | 30 days |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | FreshBooks (2ndSite Inc.) |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Founders | Mike McDerment, Levi Cooperman, Joe Sawada |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | No |
| Mobile apps | iOS + Android |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | No |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
FreshBooks pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 9 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. Free trial: 30 days.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $23 | per month | Invoice up to 5 clients. Expenses, estimates, tax reports |
| Plus | $43 | per month | Invoice up to 50 clients. Adds recurring invoices and proposals |
| Premium | $70 | per month | Unlimited clients, plus project profitability and deeper reporting |
| Select | Contact sales | Negotiated | Unlimited clients, 2 team member accounts included, dedicated support |
| Team Members | $11 | per month | per user - Every additional user beyond the account owner |
| Payroll | $40 | per month | Plus $6 per user per month. Advanced Payments is $20/month |
What FreshBooks actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above multiplied out to twelve months, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way.
| Plan | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $23 | $276 |
| Plus | $43 | $516 |
| Premium | $70 | $840 |
| Team Membersper user | $11 | $132 |
| Payroll | $40 | $480 |
Which FreshBooks plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You invoice five clients or fewer | Lite | $23 a month. Count your clients first, because client six forces the jump to $43 regardless of invoice volume. |
| You invoice up to fifty clients | Plus | $43 a month, and where recurring invoices and proposals arrive. |
| You need unlimited clients and project profitability | Premium | $70 a month, and the tier that answers whether a project actually made money. |
| You have team members | Add $11 per person to whatever tier you choose | Only the account owner is included. A three-person agency on Premium is $92 a month before payroll. |
| You sell physical products | Do not buy FreshBooks | There is no inventory management. QuickBooks Online or Xero instead. |
| Your team is larger than two people | Price Xero as well | Xero includes unlimited users, which can outweigh FreshBooks' better invoicing. |
Verdict by who you are
Freelancer billing for timeYes
Time tracking flows into invoices without re-entry, and automatic late-payment chasing is the feature that actually gets you paid.
Small service agencyCompare first
Excellent at invoicing, but $11 per extra seat adds up. Run the comparison against Xero's unlimited users.
Product or retail businessNo
No inventory. This is accounting for selling hours, not things.
Consultant with seven clientsCompare first
You are pushed to Plus at $43 by the client cap alone, which is poor value at that volume. Compare alternatives.
Should you buy FreshBooks?
Buy FreshBooks if…
- Freelancers and agencies billing for time
- Service businesses that need project profitability
- Anyone whose main accounting pain is getting invoices paid
Do not buy FreshBooks if…
- Product businesses needing inventory management
- Companies with many clients on a cheap plan
- Teams wanting free additional user seats
Key features
- Invoicing with automatic late-payment reminders and fees
- Time tracking that converts directly into billable invoices
- Project profitability comparing tracked time against fees
- Proposals and estimates that become invoices
- Expense capture and receipt attachment
- Double-entry accounting with accountant access
- Client portal for viewing and paying invoices
- Card, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Buy Now Pay Later payments
Integrations
- Stripe and PayPal
- Gusto for payroll
- Zapier
- Shopify and Squarespace
- FreshBooks API
FreshBooks screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Vendors localise pricing by visitor region, so a pricing screenshot may display a different currency to the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
FreshBooks is the best of these tools at the specific job of billing for time and getting paid. Time tracking flows into invoices without re-entry, late-payment reminders and fees are handled automatically, and project profitability answers the question service businesses actually care about. Where it costs you is structure. Plans are capped by billable clients, so Lite's five-client limit is reached quickly and the jump to Plus is nearly double. Every extra user is $11 a month, which compares badly with Xero including unlimited users. And the prices on display are frequently promotional: we found a 90% discount for three months running when we checked, which makes the list price the number to budget against.
What works in FreshBooks
- Time tracking to invoice with no duplicate entry
- Automatic late-payment reminders and configurable late fees
- Project profitability reporting that service businesses need
- Genuinely pleasant to use, and clients find the portal easy
What doesn't
- Plans capped by number of billable clients, and Lite allows only 5
- Additional team members cost $11 each per month
- No inventory management for product businesses
- Advertised prices are often heavily discounted introductory rates
EveryAny Decision Score
Scored by dimension rather than averaged into one number, because the trade-offs are the useful part. 3 of these 8 dimensions are calculated from verified facts by published formula; the rest are editorial judgement, labelled as such. How each score is calculated.
- Cost position4/10
derivedentry tier at $23 a month against a category median of $23 across 5 comparable tools
- Portability5/10
derivedpublic API
- Subscription flexibility6/10
derivedfree trial, subscription, monthly billing
- Feature depth6/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Ease of learning9/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Collaboration6/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- AI capability5/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Professional adoption7/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
What leaving FreshBooks would cost
moderate lock-in
Calculated as 10 minus a portability score of 5, built from four signals (self-hosting, a public API, open-source licensing and a documented export path) . FreshBooks scores on: public API. Formula.
FreshBooks competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| QuickBooks Online | Deeper accounting and the format most accountants prefer. |
| Xero | Unlimited users included, which changes the maths for teams. |
| Wave | Free, and adequate if invoicing volume is low. |
QuickBooks Online
Finance
The small-business accounting default in the United States.
Xero
Finance
Cloud accounting built for the person doing the books, not just the accountant.
The advertised price was 90% off when we checked
On 9 August 2026 the FreshBooks pricing page led with “Get 90% off FreshBooks for 3 months”, displaying Lite at $2.30, Plus at $4.30 and Premium at $7.00 a month, with the list prices struck through beside them.
The list prices are $23, $43 and $70 per month, and those are the figures recorded on this profile, because they are what you pay from month four onwards. The advertised saving of $62.10, $116.10 and $189.00 is simply 90% of three months.
Promotions of this kind are close to permanent at FreshBooks, in the sense that there is usually one running. That does not make them fake, and it does mean the first-year cost and the steady-state cost are very different numbers. Budget the second one.
Billable clients, not features, decide the tier
This is the constraint people hit:
| Plan | Price | Clients you can invoice |
|---|---|---|
| Lite | $23/month | 5 |
| Plus | $43/month | 50 |
| Premium | $70/month | Unlimited |
A consultant with six clients cannot use Lite, regardless of how few invoices they send. The step from five to fifty is also the step from $23 to $43, so the middle ground is expensive for someone with seven clients.
Count your clients first. It determines your plan more reliably than any feature comparison.
Seats are charged, and that is the Xero comparison
The account owner is included; every additional team member is $11 a month. Payroll is $40 a month plus $6 per user, and Advanced Payments is $20 a month.
For a three-person agency on Premium that is $70 plus $22, so $92 a month before payroll. Xero includes unlimited users on every plan. If your team is larger than one or two people, run that comparison properly, because it can outweigh FreshBooks’ better invoicing.
Where it genuinely wins
Time to invoice. Track hours against a project, mark them billable, and generate an invoice that reflects them without retyping anything. Then let FreshBooks chase the payment with reminders and late fees you configured once.
For a business whose product is hours, that loop is the whole job, and neither QuickBooks Online nor Xero does it as smoothly. If your product is physical goods, neither of those observations matters and you want inventory, which FreshBooks does not have.
FreshBooks questions, answered
- Is FreshBooks worth it?
- FreshBooks is the best of these tools at the specific job of billing for time and getting paid.
- How much does FreshBooks cost?
- Lite $23/month, Plus $43, Premium $70. The cheapest paid tier we recorded works out at $23 a month, or $276 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does FreshBooks have a free plan or free trial?
- FreshBooks has no free plan. A free trial is available: 30 days.
- What is the best FreshBooks alternative?
- It depends on the job. QuickBooks Online: Deeper accounting and the format most accountants prefer. Xero: Unlimited users included, which changes the maths for teams. Wave: Free, and adequate if invoicing volume is low.
- Can I self-host FreshBooks?
- No. FreshBooks is a hosted service only, so your data lives on the vendor's infrastructure.
Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme
- Company details
What has changed
-
August 2026
- List prices recorded; a 90% three-month promotion was running at the time of checking
- Added plan picker and verdicts
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- FreshBooks pricing - checked 9 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.
