The Advanced Payments feature also allows companies to accept credit card payments in person and over the phone. Xero is an accounting powerhouse that can handle anything from freelancers to big-shot enterprises. With features like invoicing, payroll, and inventory management, it’s got all the bells and whistles. Meanwhile, FreshBooks is perfect for freelancers and small businesses that want simplicity without sacrificing functionality.
QuickBooks Online
You can also set up different payment methods for different clients, depending on what suits them best. QuickBooks’ customization options are more elaborate than FreshBooks, but are also designed for larger companies and businesses that need more flexibility in their accounting systems. One of the key expenses a business owner must keep track of is employee hours worked on a project. FreshBooks has specialized Time Tracking Software that integrates into FreshBooks so that your invoicing is quick and easy. It also helps business owners manage projects and clients so that they know how many hours are worked for any given task. Like most accounting programs, FreshBooks’ expense tracking automatically syncs expenses to your FreshBooks account and helps categorize expenses by tax category.
Account Information
Accept payments in 25 currencies from 202 countries directly on an invoice. Your books will always be up-to-date when you accept credit cards since payments are recorded automatically without you needing to lift a finger. Easily set FreshBooks to automatically apply a late fee when your invoice becomes overdue to give your clients that extra incentive to pay you quickly. Discover seamless app integrations for efficient accounting with Xero’s comprehensive accounting software.
Accessibility
Customers that use FreshBooks and want to run payrolls can integrate the PEO solution Gusto – an easy-to-use payroll solution designed for small businesses. Under the bills dashboard in Xero, customers can store bills in one place and see an overview of unpaid bills, expenses and purchase orders. They can also schedule payments and view bills that are in draft, waiting for approval or ready to be paid. Unlike both FreshBooks and QuickBooks Online (and, frankly, nearly every other accounting tool), Xero includes inventory management with each plan.
Customer support
- If you didn’t receive an email don’t forgot to check your spam folder, otherwise contact support.
- You can import expenses from our expense tracker by uploading a CSV file as well as having FreshBooks automatically track them by connecting your bank accounts or credit cards.
- Your most active clients are easily accessible saving you even more time when you’re invoicing.
- FreshBooks is the go-to solution for freelancers and solopreneurs who want freedom with managing and billing their clients.
- This means you can build customized AI workflows to automate tasks, whether you’re team Xero or team FreshBooks.
Xero isn’t simply more affordable than either FreshBooks or QuickBooks Online. It also has more comprehensive accounting features—though there are a few notable exceptions. Learn more about how to automate Xero, or dive into these ready-to-use workflows for both apps. Number of users aside, Xero is a better fit for small businesses with multiple employees, whereas FreshBooks is more ideal for freelancers and independent contractors. Entry-level plan limits bills and invoices to five and 20 per month, respectively.
Arguably, the smallest of small businesses benefit the most from expense tracking, so it’s downright bizarre that Xero doesn’t include it. While FreshBooks lets you send an unlimited amount of invoices each month, it restricts the number of clients you can invoice per plan. And Xero doesn’t limit your billable clients, but it does limit you to sending just 20 invoices a month with the cheapest plan. FreshBooks’ cheapest plan uses the less-reliable single-entry accounting system, which introduces a higher possibility of accounting errors. Worse, FreshBooks doesn’t include free accountant access with its cheapest plan. Xero only offers time tracking in its Established plan as part of the Expenses and Projects feature sets.
Keep your projects on track by tracking time directly against them. Never guess how much time you spent working on your client since FreshBooks lets you track time against specific clients. Just click the time you started, enter the time worked and voila, you’re done. Once estimate is approved you can easily transform your custom estimates into ready-to pay invoices. Forecast workload and income by collecting payments in advance and then billing and tracking work against that amount.
On the downside, it can marginal revenue definition example and formula be expensive compared to other options like FreshBooks and Xero. All FreshBooks plans, except for the highest-tier custom plan, come with one user. FreshBooks gives you six user roles to choose from, plus client access and project manager customization options.