FreshBooks Pricing

FreshBooks Pricing Review

No matter the industry, small businesses and independent contractors (freelancers) need viable, affordable accounting solutions. Along with QuickBooks and Xero, Freshbooks ranks in the top tier for the accounting SaaS space. 

The company offers a variety of customizable features for invoicing and has superb customer service. But does their price point match the features and services?

This article answers this question and provides a complete overview of every Freshbooks pricing plan with pros and cons. 

Freshbooks Pros	Freshbooks Cons
Easy-to-use interface that works for everyone from freelancers all the way to enterprises	Each tier limits the number of users and the bottom tiers have billable client limits. Limits on the number of users and clients.
Top-notch customer service and support	The lowest-tier offers no accountant access, bank reconciliation, or electronic signatures
One of the best SaaS platforms for invoicing on the market	No option for Quarterly tax estimates
Offers both mileage and time tracking in every plan

Find The Perfect Pricing Plan for Your Business

Whether you’re a freelancer or a growing enterprise, FreshBooks offers plans designed to fit any budget. Start optimizing your financial success today by choosing the pricing plan that works best for you!

Visit FreshBooks

Freshbooks Pricing Plans

**Freshbooks currently has an offer for 70% off the first three months on any tier, monthly or annual.**

Freshbooks currently offers four pricing tier plans called Lite, Plus, Premium, and Select. With each jump, you’ll get more features and billable clients, but you’ll pay more for them too. Here’s a breakdown of each tier with pros and cons.

Price Tier	Price Monthly	Price Annually	Number of Billable Clients
Lite	$15/month	$180/annually	5
Plus	$25/month	$300/annually	50
Premium	$50/month	$600/annually	Unlimited
Select	Contact Freshbooks	Contact Freshbooks	Unlimited

Value Metrics

Factors to Consider

Price	The lowest tier starts at $15 per month. You’ll get a discount for paying annually, and Freshbooks rotates offers on their plans.
Maximum number of users	Only the Select plan — highest tier — offers two additional users . Other plans require you to add on additional users at an additional cost.
Ease of sharing with accountants	Although the Lite Plan — lowest tier — doesn’t provide access for accountants, the other tiers allow you to set up this role.
Scalability	With limited billable clients in the Lite and Plus plans, Freshbooks pricing tiers don’t leave much room for scalability.
Ease of use	The Freshbooks interface is intuitive and easy to use, and they offer a comprehensive help section with access to top-tier customer support.

Boost Your Business’s Bottom Line with Affordable Accounting

Upgrade your financial management with FreshBooks’ cost-effective accounting solutions. Gain access to professional invoicing, expense tracking, and powerful reporting tools without breaking the bank. Take control of your business finances today and watch your profits soar!

Visit FreshBooks

Freshbooks Pricing Plans First Look

To start, let’s answer the burning question as a basis for everything else to consider in this article. How much does Freshbooks cost?

Fortunately, Freshbooks is straightforward than many other SaaS companies regarding what they offer. 

There are three pricing tiers to choose from at $15, $25, and $50 per month and an additional custom pricing tier for larger enterprises. All tiers offer discounts for annual pricing and the potential for add-ons that we’ll cover later on. 

The key selling point between each tier is the number of billable clients allotted. The lowest Lite Plan offers only five billable clients, and the next tier up — Plus — gives you fifty. If your business has over 50 billable clients or you intend to scale quickly, you can bypass these two tiers automatically.

Free trial

Before we move forward, it’s important to note that Freshbooks offers a 30-day trial with no credit card required. Just sign up for an account with an email address, and you’ll have access to the basic features of the platform to test and see if this software would work for your business.

With that, we’ll break down everything you need to know about Freshbooks pricing, including:

• What is and isn’t included under each plan
• Pros and Cons
• Key upgradeable features 

Each pricing plan reflects numbers in US dollars. Freshbooks has location-based pricing, so the numbers could vary based on your location.

Pricing Plan	Who is it for?
Lite	Individual professionals
Plus	Small businesses
Premium	Growing small businesses
Select	Enterprises with custom needs

Freshbooks Pricing Plans Overview

Freshbooks Lite Plan

Cost and number of clients: $15/month or $180/annually, 5 billable clients

Includes:

• Unlimited invoices for up to 5 clients
• Automated billing
• Track unlimited expenses and send unlimited estimates
• Get paid with credit cards, bank transfers, and checkout links
• Track sales tax and view your reports
• Access to your account via iOS or Android app
• Mobile mileage tracking
• Auto send late payment reminders and bill for late fees

Freshbooks markets their Lite plan as a solution for “professionals with basic needs,” which means it’s for freelancers and tiny businesses. And with only five billable clients available under this tier, that definitely limits the plan to this group.

However, for a freelancer or small business, you gain access to a ton of useful accounting features for $15 per month or $180 annually. You’ll be able to send unlimited invoices to each of your clients and set the system up for automated billing. 

It also comes with several key features for tracking your expenses, organizing taxes, and automated features to collect late payments and charge fees. 

Pros	Cons
Unlimited invoices	Only offers five billable clients
Expense and tax features	No access for accountants
Mobile and web platforms	No bank reconciliation features
Automated reminders and late fee billing

Freshbooks Plus Plan

Cost and number of clients: $25/month or $300/annually, 50 billable clients

Includes all previous features and adds:

• Up to 50 billable clients
• Auto-capture expense receipt data
• Send unlimited proposals and estimates
• Includes client retainers
• Ability to run business health reports
• Accountant access
• Double-entry accounting reports available

The Plus plan increases the number of billable clients to fifty and adds some automation features to the plan. This makes it better for small businesses with a lot of room for growth. 

The key positive for this category is that you can give your accountant access to the platform for accounting support and have access to bank reconciliation. Both features are necessary if you plan to scale. 

This tier is also very helpful to service-oriented businesses as it allows you to charge client retainers. 

Pros	Cons
Allows platform access for accountants	Limited to fifty billable clients
Offers additional reporting features	No customized email templates and signatures
Client retainers are a big plus for service-based businesses	Doesn’t automatically capture bills receipt data
Gives you access to the Advanced Payments add-on for subscription-based payments and secure card storage

Freshbooks Premium Plan

Cost and number of clients – $50/month or $600/annually, unlimited billable clients

Includes all previous features and adds:

• Unlimited amount of billable clients
• Accounts Payable features
• Project profitability tracking
• Customizable email templates with dynamic fields and email signatures
• Accounts Payable features allow you to track bills, bill payments, and vendors

If you’re in true small business or medium-size business territory, then you’ll probably need to bump up to their Premium tier to access unlimited billable clients. As mentioned, this feature is key in deciding which tier is right for your business. 

Besides the unlimited clients, you’ll be able to customize email templates and signatures and use the platform’s Accounts Payable and Product Profitability tracking features.

Pros	Cons
Bumps you up to unlimited billable clients	Still includes Freshbooks branding on client emails
Adds customizable email templates and signatures for mass billing	Must pay an add-on for subscription based payments or secure card storage
Accounts Payable and Project Profitability features	No onboarding or data migration services

Freshbooks Select Plan

Cost and number of clients: Custom pricing, unlimited billable clients

Includes all previous features and adds:

• Access to lower credit card transaction rates and capped ACH fees
• Two team member accounts at start
• Assigned a dedicated account manager
• Help in software migration
• Custom onboarding services and account setup
• Removes FreshBooks branding from client emails
• Access to a dedicated support number
• Ability to accept credit cards over the phone

The Freshbooks Select Plan provides custom pricing with specialized features and works best for larger enterprises. It’s difficult to say how much of a price advantage Freshbooks has over their competition at this tier as they customize the pricing for each customer.

This tier removes the branding from your email correspondence and offers lower transaction fees over other tiers. Also, you’ll have support with onboarding and migration, and Freshbooks assigns an account manager for your business.

Pros	Cons
Removes branding from emails	Unlisted pricing
Lower transaction fees	Only includes two team members
Access to an account manager and migration and onboarding services	Doesn’t estimate quarterly tax rates — requires third-party application
Support red phone/hotline

Try a Plus Plan Now!

The Freshbooks Plus Plan is by far their most popular tier, and a perfect solution for SMBs looking for automation and data insights. The tier allows up to 50 billable clients. And once you reach that threshold, the process to scale and upgrade is quick and easy. Start tracking your business expenses with ease today! You can even invite your accountant to view your books.

Visit FreshBooks

Key Upgradable Features

With four pricing tiers, it’s important to know exactly what you get for stepping up a level and investing more money. Each jump in level offers specific features that could be beneficial based on your business needs. 

The sections below highlight the key areas where you’ll unlock or improve your features when moving to a higher pricing tier. We provide a full pricing tiers comparison in the Freshbooks Pricing Plans section.

Emails

• Customized email templates & signatures
• Automated client emails with dynamic fields
• Remove FreshBooks branding from client emails

For emailing invoices and accounting correspondence, Freshbooks has a wide range of features. But if you have a lot of clients, then automated emails and customized templates and signatures may be important to you. These two features can save a lot of time and effort in reaching out to your clients.

Last, removing Freshbooks branding from client emails requires a select plan with custom pricing. If you’re a smaller business, the Select plan may not be a financially viable option. Be sure you’re okay with Freshbooks branding on your emails if you can’t make the jump.

Billing

Online businesses typically require electronic signature acceptance regardless of size. We’re not sure why this isn’t included in the Lite tier, but it’s definitely something to consider if you’re a freelancer who requires eSignatures — even with 5 clients or less.

Proposals and client retainers are two other areas to consider when choosing your pricing tier. Retainers are especially useful for businesses who offer a service. Think about a cleaning service who charges a retainer for continual service. 

• Accept e-Signatures
• Unlimited Proposals
• Client Retainers

Business Management

For business management, the key feature upgrades are in the bank reconciliation services and accountant access. Bank reconciliation allows you to scan and match your bank account numbers to your Freshbooks account numbers. And obviously, businesses require that accountants can access their numbers. Note that neither of these features are available on the Lite tier.

The other feature of note here is Freshbooks’ Accounts Payable features. You must opt for the Premium tier for access, but they come with tracking features for vendors, payments, and bills.

• Accountant Access
• Project Profitability
• Accounts Payable
• 2 team member accounts included
• Dedicated account manager
• Data migration services
• Customized onboarding services

Payments

Subscription services and card storage are important factors to consider for your business. The features can steer a company onto the path of scalability with a modernized payment system. 

The upgradeable features listed in this section apply to the Select tier. However, the Plus and Premiere tiers can access these features by adding the Advanced Payments add-on to their account for $20/month. 

• Access to lower credit card transaction fees and capped ACH fees
• Subscription-based payments
• Securely accept credit cards over the phone
• Secure Card Storage 
• Users can charge client credit cards

Add-ons

Upgrading your monthly plan only gives you access to additional clients and the features above. Each tier — except for Select — allows only one user per account. To add more team members, you’ll pay an additional $10 per month fee for each additional user.

Outside of the number of billable clients, this is the most important pricing element to note. It adds $120 per-person to your annual bill. 

We mentioned the Advanced Payments add-on earlier that gives you access to card storage and subscription payments. This add-on also gives you access to a virtual terminal. 

Last, it’s possible to integrate Gusto Payroll with Freshbooks, but you’ll need to set up and pay for an account through Gusto. 

• Advanced Payments – $20/month; Plus and Premium Tier
• Team Members (per person) – $10/month; all tiers
• Gusto Payroll – Pricing through Gusto

Freshbooks: Which Pricing Plan is Right for You?

With Freshbooks, it’s easy to narrow down your choice for a pricing plan with two key factors:

• The number of billable clients you intend to have
• The need for accountant access and banking reconciliation

The Plus tier offers fifty billable clients, the Lite offers five, and the top tiers give you unlimited clients. Obviously, the number of billable clients your business requires will determine which pricing tier you need. Everything else is an additional feature. 

If you’re under that five or fifty mark, consider how fast you intend to scale your business. You can always upgrade your plan. 

But if you’re under five billable clients, you may still want to opt for the Plus plan. Banking reconciliation is a key feature needed by businesses of all sizes to keep your books in order. And providing an accountant access to your books is just common sense if you use one.

Another feature one could consider a deciding factor is the need for subscription-based payments and credit card storage. They only included these features in the Select tier. 

However, Plus and Premium subscribers can use the Advanced Payments add-on to gain access, so it’s not really a deciding factor unless you’re considering a Select plan.

Try a Freshbooks Lite Plan

You don’t have to be a big business or even a small business to take advantage of everything Freshbooks has to offer. Their Lite plan allows individuals to track expenses, send unlimited invoices to up to five clients, and lets you accept credit and debit card payments. It’s the perfect solution for anyone running a side business.

Visit FreshBooks

Hidden/Additional Costs

Fortunately, Freshbooks has nothing you could consider a ‘hidden’ cost as their pricing structure is highly transparent. However, there are two additional costs to consider listed under ‘Add-ons’.

The Select Plan allows two user or ‘team member’ accounts and every other tier only offers one. If you have multiple individuals who need to use your Freshbooks account, it’s an additional $120 annually per user. 

The other additional cost to be aware of is the $240 per year Advanced Payments add-on. If your business runs a subscription model or requires you to store credit card information for billing, then you won’t be able to get around this fee on the Plus and Premium tiers.

How to Save Money Using FreshBooks Pricing

Freshbooks offers a 30-day trial. Before you commit to any tier, be sure to test the software and know that it’s something that you can use effectively and fits in your business model.

Next, you can assess the number of clients you have or intend to have and the number of people who will use the program. Each tier upgrades the number of available billable clients, so don’t pay for more clients if you won’t use the slots. Also, each additional user adds $120 per year to your bill, it’s best to minimize the number of account users.

Last, look at the Advanced Payments add-on. If you don’t need to store your client credit card records or have another program that does this effectively, then you may not need to pay an additional $20 per month for this feature.

Freshbooks offers some great tips in their support center about upgrading on the platform. And you can use the listed tips to assess how you can save money when using the platform.

Try a Freshbooks Select Plan

Large enterprises need comprehensive business solutions to help them scale their business. Freshbooks offers custom pricing along with unlimited billable clients and specialized features businesses of that scale need to drive numbers even higher.

Visit FreshBooks

How Do I Pay for My Freshbooks Membership/Subscription?

Freshbooks accepts all major credit and debit cards. You can input your information when you want to start your plan, and their system bills recurrently based on your membership tier — monthly or yearly. You can cancel your membership at any time. 

Can I Use Freshbooks for Free?

Freshbooks offers a 30-day trial with no credit card required. Just sign up for an account with an email address, and you’ll unlock all features. It’s a great opportunity for a tea

Location-based Pricing

Freshbooks offers pricing based on your region and lists over ten total. The pricing in this article uses US dollars, but you might find better pricing or other offers from other regions.

Try a monthly pricing plan now!

Freshbooks offers a 30-day free trial and 10% off on annual plans. But you don’t have to take advantage of these offers. Sign up for a monthly payment plan that suits your needs and cancel anytime.

Visit FreshBooks

Freshbooks Pricing vs. Competitors

Freshbooks is a great option for freelancers and small-businesses. It has an outstanding mobile application and offers tons of superb features with an easy-to-use interface. That being said, Freshbooks has some scalability issues, and there are a lot of solid alternatives out there. Let’s look at how the SaaS service stands up to some of the competition.

Potential alternatives

QuickBooks

Overall, QuickBooks Online offers a more comprehensive selection of features. You’ll get more reporting capabilities and the ability to handle much more inventory. That means it’s much easier to scale using QuickBooks Online. However, QuickBooks has a higher price point and Freshbooks offers a better time-tracking feature. 

Quickbooks	Freshbooks
Pros	Pros
More comprehensive platform	Lower pricing
Works well for both small or midsize companies	Works well for freelancers and very small businesses
Better scaling capabilities	Has better time-tracking over Quickbooks
Cons	Cons
Requires upgrade to the Essentials Plan ($50/month) for time-tracking capabilities	Harder to scale and add inventory

Xero

If you’re considering integrating a wide range of applications with your accounting program, then Xero may be a better choice over Freshbooks. Xero offers 800 integrations to Freshbooks’ 110. The platform also has bank reconciliation, accounts payable, and accountant access at all tiers. You’ll pay a little more for Xero, but you also get an upgrade for inventory tracking.

Xero	Freshbooks
Pros	Pros
Accountant access, bank reconciliation and access for accountants at every tier	Lower pricing
Huge number of app integrations	Also offers better time-tracking capabilities
Allows better reporting customization	Has no inventory sending restrictions
Cons	Cons
Limits the number of invoices you can send on lower plans	Scaling can be more expensive than Xero

Summary

Freshbooks is an excellent option for freelancers and small businesses in need of a SaaS accounting solution. The platform is user-friendly and makes the task of sending invoices a breeze. It may not be the best for scalability and large inventories, but the platform has a wide range of features that make it well worth your consideration.