FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks Online Advanced

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreshBooks
Score 8.6 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
FreshBooks is an accounting service for small businesses. The solution enables users to send and manage invoices, track billable time and collect online payments. The vendor’s value proposition this that their solution provides a straightforward service that simplifies the billing process.
$21
per month
QuickBooks Online Advanced
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Online Advanced is a SaaS-based accounting software designed to scale with growing businesses. It includes the functionalities of QuickBooks Online, as well as more robust business analytics, customization, and resource management.N/A
Pricing
FreshBooksQuickBooks Online Advanced
Editions & Modules
Lite
$21
per month
Plus
$38
per month
Premium
$65
per month
Select
Custom Pricing
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreshBooksQuickBooks Online Advanced
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details10% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
FreshBooksQuickBooks Online Advanced
Features
FreshBooksQuickBooks Online Advanced
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
9.1
Ratings
17% above category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.0
Ratings
16% above category average
API for custom integration9.30 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Plug-ins9.00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
10.0
Ratings
18% above category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.2
Ratings
10% above category average
Single sign-on capability10.00 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Role-based user permissions10.00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
7.5
Ratings
5% below category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
8.4
Ratings
6% above category average
Dashboards9.00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Standard reports8.80 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Custom reports4.80 Ratings7.70 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
7.5
Ratings
4% below category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.3
Ratings
18% above category average
Accounts payable8.00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Accounts receivable9.40 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Cash management7.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Bank reconciliation7.00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Expense management6.60 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Time tracking7.60 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Multi-currency support7.00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Regulations compliance6.00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Self-service portal9.10 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Multi-division support00 Ratings7.50 Ratings
Electronic tax filing00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings7.40 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
9.5
Ratings
21% above category average
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.5
Ratings
21% above category average
Pricing8.80 Ratings9.80 Ratings
Order entry9.30 Ratings9.90 Ratings
Credit card processing9.70 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
QuickBooks Online Advanced
9.6
Ratings
27% above category average
Inventory tracking00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FreshBooksQuickBooks Online Advanced
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Score 8.6 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreshBooksQuickBooks Online Advanced
Likelihood to Recommend
9.4
(0 ratings)
9.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.6
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
6.4
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreshBooksQuickBooks Online Advanced
Likelihood to Recommend
FreshBooks is the perfect tool for businesses who have hundreds of clients and customers whom they invoice regularly. It removes the need to manually send invoices to clients and customers, by streamlining inputted information to create an automated invoicing system which keeps clients and customers up to date with their bills. It is also a great tool for managing expenses, especially for companies with different teams working on varying projects, ensuring these teams do not exceed the budget ceiling.
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QuickBooks Online Advanced is best suited for small businesses who don’t have any consolidation considerations. Additionally, the software tends to struggle when there are a large number of projects. The report screens will struggle to load at times and it will be difficult to view reports. However, it does really well at creating an all-in-one solution for companies who need payroll, accounting, and tax compliance in a relatively inexpensive bundle.
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Pros
  • FreshBooks is pretty intuitive to use. I did have some questions when I first started using the system, but it wasn't a long learning curve.
  • FreshBooks provides more capability than other billing applications such as PaySimple or BlinkSale. FreshBooks does provide an easy invoicing function. It's easy to create invoices that can be sent via email or snail mail to one or more individuals (for example, the decision-maker and the accounting dept). Clients can pay online or send a check and then I note that the payment has been received. If paid by credit card, the system automatically marks the invoice paid. Your business accounts such as bank accounts can be linked to FreshBooks. Then, the system can automatically draw in expenses and will create simple P&L reports, overdue invoices, client history, etc. If you don't have inventory and complex payroll, etc. FreshBooks provides just the right level of capability to make financial tracking simple.
  • FreshBooks integrates with a number of credit card companies. I use Stripe, which has fees similar to Paypal, but much more reliable processing. I can accept all credit cards, including American Express, for a reasonable fee.
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  • It allows us to link to bank accounts in order to get up-to-date, real-time information, which is so important in today's lightning speed work world.
  • The "canned" reports are excellent and allow for extreme customization also. This makes them very helpful to both me and my clients.
  • The user interface for QuickBooks Online Advanced is easy to navigate and is intuitive for novices. The screens are well laid out and have cohesiveness on each screen to match tasks with others that match up well.
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Cons
  • Pricing structure is very poor for us. $10/user per month when we have staff that comes and goes. And it's impossible to change a free contractor to a paid staff and vice-versa. This is my biggest complaint.
  • They only allow one admin owner user. Emails must come from that account. This is annoying, as other staff cannot log in with the same power.
  • The user interface is quite dated. I've made recommendations to improve it and all have been ignored. It's skinny and not fluid. Also, there is no way to link between invoices and clients.
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  • Proper advice in QuickBooks Online Pro for the usage if QuickBooks Online Advanced will be more efficient.
  • More features and space in the app for organization of the self-created workflows.
  • The stability of QuickBooks Online Advanced can still be better.
  • There are still file-size issues and limitations on transactions and attributes of transactions.
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Likelihood to Renew
At the current needs of our business, FreshBooks suits us perfectly - it allows online access by our accountant to the system for GST purposes, easy input of expenses and tracking of Profit and Loss statements. FreshBooks customer service is great as well - very understanding and accommodating.
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QuickBooks Online Advanced is very easy to use and the data is very transparent. The reporting shortfalls (not being able to report the current month and YTD results on the same report) as well as the issues with the limitations with the management reports.
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Usability
It is well-built software with no significant drawbacks. It offers all the necessary futures expected from online software. However, it is not yet up there with Xero and QuickBooks regarding connections with other software and advanced reporting features. The developers work closely with accountants, and therefore, I expect further development of the software.
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QuickBooks Online Advanced is great and effective. I use it for almost three months and it definitely does their job
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Reliability and Availability
FreshBooks is easy to use and always works!
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No issue at any time with Availability
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Performance
No answers on this topic
It can be access at any time and reports is generate in less than a minute
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Support Rating
I think the support level for FreshBooks is on par with a 6 because the folks behind this application do a fairly good job at providing support for their customer base. I still don't think they are at an elite level when it comes to supporting but are getting there although too slow in my opinion.
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
No answers on this topic
The online training was easy to follow and understand. The online training gave us the specific instructions to follow
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Implementation Rating
I haven't changed my mind since my first evaluation. Freshbooks is still meeting my needs, easy to use, etc.
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I dont have any
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Alternatives Considered
There is no fluff and feature overload with FreshBooks. I can get to what I need quickly and easily. I don't have to deal with unnecessary features and fields the system considers essential. The payment features are streamlined and have lots of flexibility when receiving payments. I love FreshBooks support, and it is 100 more customer-friendly and easier to work with than its primary competitors from my experience.
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QuickBooks Desktop is no longer being sold in the US, so we had to switch to the online version of the program. It is not a fully fleshed-out all-in-one solution offering everything the desktop version did. That being said, the desktop enterprise was overkill for many people.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
Software is very flexible
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Return on Investment
  • Since implementing FreshBrooks, 80% of invoices created are paid in less than 30 days from the time the invoice is sent via email to the client. Prior to FreshBooks, we were mailing or hand-delivering our invoices and payment on those invoices was in the 45-90 day range.
  • Time tracking is done directly in FreshBooks (or through a plugin that's connected directly to FreshBooks) and is very easy to use. With this feature we're much better able to track all business activities. This has helped us to quantify the time we're spending on non-billable business-related work in addition to our billable client hours. We've been able to adjust our pricing accordingly, as well as being more efficient with our non-billable activities.
  • When FreshBooks online payments is set-up in your account, payments made with this method are automatically sent to your bank account. We choose between FreshBooks payments and PayPal payments in order to manage how much money stays in the PayPal account for online expenses vs. how much is transferred directly to the bank account.
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  • QBOA has shown my clients the increase and decrease of my monthly income activity
  • I am able to project my income and spending more easily
  • The P&L reports has shown me a lot and by customizing to focus on my income and expenses has allowed me to better budget
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ScreenShots

FreshBooks Screenshots

Screenshot of the dashboardScreenshot of an invoice overviewScreenshot of an example of a customizable invoiceScreenshot of an invoice appearing across devicesScreenshot of expensesScreenshot of time tracking