FreshBooks and QuickBooks are accounting software solutions that take different approaches to help users with their business needs. While both software solutions support basic accounting features, each offers some unique features that the other does not. Learn about the key features of FreshBooks and QuickBooks so you can make an informed decision about the best tool for your business needs.
TO SEE: Feature Comparison: Time Attendance Software and Systems (Tech Republic Premium)
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What is FreshBooks?
FreshBooks is an accounting and bookkeeping software with capabilities primarily aimed at small service businesses and freelancers. The web-based software solution includes tools that help users bill and manage expenses. FreshBooks also supports tasks such as time tracking, project management, automating payments, and reporting.
What is QuickBooks?
QuickBooks is a scalable accounting software with tools to help users manage their finances, bookkeeping and other business activities. It offers subscriptions and products useful for small and medium businesses. The features of QuickBooks benefit users from many of their inventory, payroll, payments, taxes, time tracking, and e-commerce processes.
FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks: What’s the Difference in Features?
Key Features of FreshBooks
FreshBooks provides features for businesses with employees and solo entrepreneurs to manage their bookkeeping and bookkeeping. FreshBooks allows users to perform billing actions to make doing business easy for their customers, such as offering multiple payment options, price estimates, and invoices. FreshBooks users can even set up automated payment reminders and scheduled late fees to ensure they receive appropriate compensation for their business.
The features of the Double-Entry Accounting tool allow buyers to track their expenses through the software and track their company’s financial performance indicators. FreshBooks also allows users to easily track their company’s cash flow, profitability, and tax information using its intuitive dashboards and reporting features.
Users can develop invoices based on time logs that are automatically added from FreshBooks Time Tracking system. The FreshBooks software also supports teams through its project management features, keeping business professionals, clients, and contractors on track and collaborating with simple collaboration tools. More advanced FreshBooks plans support more team members and payroll features, and the most expensive plan even comes with custom onboarding services.
Key Features of QuickBooks
The features of QuickBooks that are similar to those of FreshBooks include expense tracking, payment processing, cash flow tracking, and report generation. QuickBooks features with unique capabilities focus on tax processes, financial management, and budgeting based on profitability.
Taxes are made easy by the features of QuickBooks, which can help your business calculate sales tax and prepare tax papers for contractors. In addition, the system provides tax deduction functions so that users can organize tax documents and share information with accountants. By tracking business travel data with the mileage tracking feature, users can easily generate reports and determine potential deductions.
In addition, QuickBooks has features to help users keep things secure, with invoice generation and estimates features that can be customized to represent their brand and meet their business needs. More advanced QuickBooks plans include additional features for processes such as inventory management, business analytics with Excel, batch invoice generation, and employee expense tracking. While workflow automation is a feature, it is only offered in the QuickBooks Advanced subscription.
FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks: Feature Comparison Chart
| Feature | FreshBooks | QuickBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory management | no | Yes |
| Budgeting options | no | Yes |
| Team roles included in all plans | Yes | no |
| Check printing and recording | no | Yes |
| Compare actual costs with estimates | Yes | no |
| Vendor Management Features | Yes | Yes |
| Time & attendance included in all plans | Yes | no |
FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks: Which Is Easier to Use?
The ease of use of FreshBooks
FreshBooks offers an intuitive user interface, making it easy to use and learn. Additionally, FreshBooks users can quickly create invoices, track time and manage their business finances within one solution, as well as access the system on the go via the mobile app.
FreshBooks software also simplifies accounting and bookkeeping processes by integrating with many widely used third-party applications, including Gusto, HubSpot CRMAcuity Scheduling and DocuSend.
QuickBooks ease of use
QuickBooks is designed to provide simple accounting functionality to a wide variety of users. The online software has a clean, intuitive interface to help users complete tasks without confusion and offers automated accounts payable processes to save time and improve accuracy. Still, the advanced tax and expense features of this software may be best for users with at least basic accounting knowledge.
QuickBooks also helps users to easily access data and increase the functionality of its services by providing connections to external systems and applications. Some popular integrations available are Amazon Business Purchases, Etsy, PayPal, and eBay.
FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks: Which Is Easier to Learn?
Learning new books
If users have any problems using this accounting system, they can visit the FreshBooks support page to learn about different usage scenarios and answer frequently asked questions. The custom plan also gives buyers a dedicated support number that they can use to contact the company and get help.
In addition, users can sign up for a free webinar with the FreshBooks expert team to learn the basics of accounting software service. In addition, the website allows users to sign up for live and on-demand webinars on many topics surrounding small business success with FreshBooks.
Learn QuickBooks
All QuickBooks subscriptions provide access to QuickBooks support to answer their questions. Users with an Advanced membership plan can access online training courses and webinars to master the QuickBooks system and get the most out of its features; the free online remote training is worth $3,000 and is open to the users and their entire team. Users who do not have an Advanced membership plan can still participate in the QuickBooks training classes, but they must pay for each course they take.
FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks: What Are the Price Differences?
FreshBooks Pricing Levels
- FreshBooks Lite includes five billable customers and costs $15 per month. Since it only supports five billable clients, it is a good option for freelancers and contractors.
- FreshBooks Plus includes 50 billable customers and is aimed at smaller businesses. It costs $30 per month.
- FreshBooks Premium costs $55 per month. This pricing plan includes unlimited billable customers and offers additional features such as customizable email templates and the ability to send unlimited invoices. This subscription is suitable for medium to large companies.
- FreshBooks Select is a custom pricing option. It comes with additional benefits including onboarding services and a dedicated account manager. Large companies and enterprises with more employees would benefit the most from this option.
You can add more team members to FreshBooks’ subscriptions for $10 per person per month.
QuickBooks Price Levels
- Standalone QuickBooks is only $15 per month, with opportunities ideal for freelancers and independent contractors.
- QuickBooks Easy Start is $30 per month and offers basic features aimed at small, individual businesses and startups.
- QuickBooks Essentials is $55 per month and includes three users. This pricing plan is best for smaller businesses because it makes it easy to pay contractors.
- QuickBooks Online Plus includes five users and costs $85 per month. It also comes with stock tracking and can support medium-sized businesses.
- QuickBooks Online Advanced is $200 per month and supports up to 25 unique users and unlimited reports-only users, with additional features to support larger business operations.
- QuickBooks Payroll is an additional option. Users can choose between three salary plans, including Payroll Core for $45, Payroll Premium for $75, and Payroll Elite for $125.
Choosing between FreshBooks and QuickBooks
When choosing an accounting software system for your business, consider how the features of each plan can benefit your organizational processes. It can be helpful to start by identifying your organization’s most critical needs and then compare the unique features of each software option to see how they would meet them.
Let’s say your company does a lot of business with many customers and is looking for a low-cost option to help them manage their invoices and collect payments. FreshBooks would be an ideal choice for their needs as the premium plan includes unlimited billable customers at an affordable price.
On the other hand, a company with many suppliers would probably benefit from a system that can help simplify the process of tracking inventory and determining how many orders to place. QuickBooks would be the best option in this case, as it includes advanced subscription features for inventory management.
By identifying the needs of your organization’s ideal solution, you can assess the features and capabilities of each option to determine the best software based on how it will support your accounting experience.
