They advertise that any business owner can do everything themselves with the software, but in practice, most of the things business owners do are inaccurate. FreshBooks is a QuickBooks alternative that’s actually easy to use (ahem, QuickBooks). Most small business accounting software can import spreadsheets, which makes transitioning from one system to another more efficient. The main difference between the four plans is the number of clients that can be billed per month. It was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California. With plans starting at $15 a month, FreshBooks is well-suited for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small-business owners alike.

If you’re looking for integrated payroll features, you’ll have to look past FreshBooks—at least for now. FreshBooks has no native payroll feature as of this writing, but it offers a separate Gusto integration that allows you to track FreshBooks transactions, update reports, and categorize payroll as expenses. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you’ll have to jump through some hoops by talking with an account specialist to set it up. However, it’s worth noting that there’s a forthcoming FreshBooks Payroll feature powered by Gusto that’s currently in beta testing. QuickBooks one-ups FreshBooks in a lot of features that matter to large and growing businesses. For users with more than 2,000 clients, they recommend adding a firm to your account or consolidating clients.

What QuickBooks Online offers

You can when to prepare multiyear financial statements also assign transactions, timesheets, expenses, invoices and labor costs to these projects. This way, you can track your project’s profitability and generate reports pertaining to solely the project in question. We found it easy to review project profitability as well as our team’s work by date and labor costs per team member.

FreshBooks is straightforward and limited, whereas QuickBooks is complex and flexible

These functions are standard on the entry-level plan for QuickBooks and most other accounting software platforms. Many accounting software packages allow third-party application integrations. In a service-based business, a time-tracking application could integrate with the accounting software to add labor to a client invoice. Even without this add-on, FreshBooks tremendously streamlines your invoicing. We were pleased that we could convert estimates and proposals to invoices in just two clicks — few other platforms make this so easy.

Best Accounting Software for Small Businesses of 2024

QuickBooks is best for medium to large organizations that need access to a comprehensive accounting system that includes inventory management. The choice between FreshBooks and QuickBooks comes down to what features you need and how much you’re willing to pay. If you need a comprehensive accounting solution, then QuickBooks is the better option.

1. Both products also offer promotional pricing for the first three months.
2. It also integrates with a number of other software programs, making it an excellent choice for businesses that need to track their finances in multiple ways.
3. There are four different Freshbooks plans to choose from, and businesses can get a 10% discount if they pay yearly rather than monthly.

We were impressed that FreshBooks is a decent alternative to a full-scale project management platform. We recommend FreshBooks for any small business that needs advanced invoicing tools within its accounting software platform. We find it easier to create customized invoices in FreshBooks than in any other platform whether you’re doing so manually or automatically. This accounting service automates recurring invoices more powerfully than competitively how to calculate stockholders’ equity for a balance sheet priced options and transforms estimates and quotes into invoices in just two clicks.

The best software accounting packages are easy to use, offer robust tracking and planning tools and reports, integrate with other software, and are easy to share with outside bookkeepers and accountants. Despite these benefits, 51% of small businesses with 19 or fewer employees rely on spreadsheets or non-digital methods to manage and track their funds, according to one recent survey. The software systems featured here can help you manage business finances more efficiently and help your business grow. It should come as no surprise that Intuit, creator of TurboTax, includes plenty of helpful tax features with QuickBooks Online. If you manage 1099 contractors, the software will generate end-of-year 1099 tax forms for easy distribution. You can also organize your income and expenses by tax category, easily see how much you owe in taxes each quarter, track sales taxes, and automatically calculate taxes right on your invoices.

QuickBooks Online’s app store breaks down its apps by function and provides helpful examples of each app’s benefits. Intuit’s QuickBooks Online is one of the most familiar names in accounting software, widely used by small businesses and their bookkeeping and tax professionals. The cloud-based software can be accessed through a web browser or a mobile app. Both offer similar features in each of their respective applications, with additional features in the more expensive plans. Additionally, since bank reporting guidelines for cash deposits QuickBooks is the most commonly used accounting software, it has the power to operate its own network of customer accounts.