Earlier, businesses spent hours manually managing resources, tracking spending, and preparing accounts. As companies expand, these tasks become more complicated, leading to incapability, mistakes, and compliance challenges. Cloud-based accounting software has transformed financial management, providing upgrades, authenticity, and real-time visibility.
So many options available for choosing the right accounting platform can be challenging. If you want built-in and user-friendly features, choose FreshBooks or the feature-rich platform, then choose QuickBooks. Freshworks, parent company of FreshBooks, reported earnings of $596.43 million in 2023, while Intuit, parent company of QuickBooks, generated an amazing profit of $16.28 billion in 2024.
In this article, we’ll discuss the main features of QuickBooks and FreshBooks and help you decide which platform is best for your business. Let’s dive!
Features Comparison: QuickBooks vs FreshBooks
There are several key differences between QuickBooks and FreshBooks. Let’s look at it:
1. Scalability
QuickBooks Scalability Features
QuickBooks provides a server-based approach to financial management, ensuring that you have the tools to handle complicated accounting needs.
- QuickBooks provides various pricing plans, allowing businesses to grow from new businesses to large enterprises.
- Advanced Reporting, Forecasting features, budgeting tools, and custom reporting for complete insights into business performance.
- Inventory & Logistics are important for businesses managing large inventories.
- QuickBooks Enterprise provides advanced tracking for stock levels, costs, and orders.
- QuickBooks smoothly connects with over 750 third-party apps.
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FreshBooks Scalability Features
FreshBooks is customized for self-earners, entrepreneurs, and small businesses. It focuses on user-friendliness while still providing growth capabilities.
- Simple Plan Upgrades provide four pricing tiers, allowing businesses to upgrade as their client base grows.
- Unlimited Invoices remove client limitations, making them suitable for growing service-based businesses.
- Automated Expense & Time Tracking helps freelancers and small teams manage billing without complex accounting tasks.
- Project Collaboration Features include intrinsic team collaboration tools, making it easy for growing teams to track projects, tasks, and chargeable hours.
- FreshBooks only supports up to 10 users, which may limit adaptability for larger organizations, unlike QuickBooks.
2. Reporting
QuickBooks Reporting Features
QuickBooks is known for its complete financial reporting, making it an excellent choice for businesses requiring detailed analytics and financial health visions.
- QuickBooks provides 50 Built-in Reports and a wide variety of reports, including profit and loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow analysis.
- Customizable Reports can filter, modify, and create custom reports to fit their specific business needs.
- Advanced Reporting in Enterprise Edition allows for thorough financial analysis, forecasting, and trend tracking, helping larger businesses make data-oriented decisions.
- Actual time Dashboards provide a bilateral dashboard that updates in real time, showing critical financial data with a quick look.
- Excel allows for further data manipulation and deeper financial insights.
FreshBooks Reporting Features
FreshBooks focuses on advanced financial reports, making it perfect for self-earners, small enterprises, and service-based companies that need basic financial monitoring.
- Financial Reports include standard reports like profit and loss, budget tracking, and tax reports.
- Simple & Visual Dashboards Provide powerful graphs and reports, ensuring non-accountants can quickly understand their business finances.
- Time-Tracking & Expense Reports are useful for freelancers and small teams billing clients based on working hours.
- FreshBooks reports have fewer customization options, which may be restricting for growing businesses, unlike QuickBooks.
- Mobile Reporting allows users to access reports on the go, making it accessible to business owners who need quick financial insights.
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3. Inventory management
QuickBooks Inventory Management Features
QuickBooks provides powerful inventory management tools, making it great for businesses that deal with physical products, storehouses, and logistics.
- Actual time Inventory Inspection upgrades stock levels as products are purchased and sold, avoiding overstocking or stockouts.
- QuickBooks Enterprise allows businesses to follow inventory across various locations, which is useful for larger enterprises.
- Businesses can use barcode scanning for quick and authentic inventory checking.
- Low Stock Notifications automatically remind businesses when stock levels are low, helping them restore stock before it runs out.
- Valuation & Cost helps businesses monitor inventory costs, profits, and stock movement trends.
FreshBooks Inventory Management Features
FreshBooks provides basic inventory monitoring, making it suitable for freelancers, service-based businesses, and small companies with minimum inventory requirements.
- Simple Product & Service monitoring allows businesses to track items and services sold but needs advanced inventory management features.
- Limited automation does not provide real-time inventory updates or automatic tracking of inventory movement.
- Users can manually input and adjust stock levels for products.
- FreshBooks is not designed for businesses with multiple locations or warehouses.
- Service-based businesses provide services rather than physical products.
Read More: Zoho Books Vs QuickBooks: Which is better?
4. Accounting fundamentals
QuickBooks Accounting Features
QuickBooks is a feature-rich accounting software designed for businesses of all sizes, providing complete financial management tools.
- Double-entry accounting ensures authenticity by monitoring a debits and credits system, making it perfect for businesses that need detailed financial reporting.
- QuickBooks coordinates with bank accounts and naturally matches transactions, reducing manual entry errors.
- Tax Preparation & Compliance includes inborn tax monitoring features, such as sales tax calculations and tax filing support.
- Complete Financial Reports generate profit & loss statements, balance sheets, cash flow reports, and expense tracking for complete financial analysis.
- Accounts Payable & Receivable allows businesses to follow incoming payments, manage bills, and upgrade repeated payments.
- Multi-currency & Multi-User Support global transactions for better collaboration.
FreshBooks Accounting Features
FreshBooks is an easy accounting solution designed mainly for self-earners, industrialists, and small businesses.
- FreshBooks provides basic accounting functionalities, making it accessible for non-accountants.
- Expense & Income monitoring helps users track business expenses and revenue, but there is a shortage of advanced financial reporting.
- Automated Invoicing & Payments supports online payments, repeated invoices, and late payment reminders.
- Basic Financial Reports provide simple profit & loss statements and expense summaries but lack advanced reporting features.
- Unlike QuickBooks, FreshBooks does not offer payroll services, requiring third-party integrations.
- Best for individual users or small teams but not ideal for businesses with multiple accountants.
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5. Ease of sharing with accountants
QuickBooks Accountant Collaboration Features
QuickBooks is designed with an uninterrupted accountant collaboration function, making it easy for businesses to share financial data.
- QuickBooks allows users to invite their accountant with a dedicated login, ensuring secure collaboration.
- Accountants get instant access to financial records, eliminating the need for manual data transfers.
- Exportable Reports generate detailed financial statements, tax reports, and transaction logs in formats that accountants prefer.
- The audit Trail Feature keeps track of all changes made to financial data, helping accountants provide authenticity and industry regulations.
- QuickBooks permits accountants to sign in from any place, reducing the need for person-to-person meetings.
FreshBooks Accountant Collaboration Features
FreshBooks provides basic sharing capabilities, making it suitable for small businesses and freelancers.
- Invite Accountant Feature users can grant accountants access to view reports and financial data.
- Limited Reporting Options provide simple profit & loss statements and expense reports but lack advanced reports.
- Exporting Data to Excel or CSV allows users to download financial data but may require manual work.
- FreshBooks does not have an inherent audit log, making it harder to monitor changes, unlike QuickBooks.
- Accountants can access data from any device but with fewer customization options with cloud-based access.
Read More: How to Integrate Email with Zoho CRM
6. Time tracking
QuickBooks Time Tracking Features
QuickBooks provides a complete time-tracking system for businesses managing employees, self-earners, and billable hours.
- Employees and contractors can log billable hours directly with QuickBooks Built-in Time Tracking.
- Users can track time on the go with the QuickBooks mobile app.
- Automatic Timesheet Integration syncs smoothly with payroll and invoicing.
- GPS Tracking for Employees monitors employee locations for accurate work-hour verification.
- Project-Based Time Tracking assigns billable hours to specific projects for accurate client billing.
FreshBooks Time Tracking Features
FreshBooks provides easy time-monitoring tools, making it perfect for self-earners and small businesses.
- Start and stop a timer with a single click to monitor work hours smoothly with FreshBooks.
- Project-based tracking users can assign tracked hours to projects or clients.
- Manual Time Entries allow users to add or edit time entries manually for flexibility.
- Integrated Invoicing converts tracked hours directly into invoices for easier billing.
- Teams can work hours but lack advanced payroll integration.
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7. Pricing
FreshBooks Pricing Plans
FreshBooks provides flexible pricing plans appropriate for self-earners and small enterprises:
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Lite Plan:$19/month is best for freelancers for managing basic accounting requirements.
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Plus Plan:$33/month ideal for growing businesses that need automation and reporting.
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Premium Plan: $60/month is best for larger businesses handling multiple clients and projects.
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Custom pricingThis is designed for enterprise-level businesses needing customized solutions.
QuickBooks Pricing Plans
QuickBooks provides different pricing plans based on business size and complexity:
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Simple Start: $35/month is great for new businesses tracking income and expenses.
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Essentials: $65/month for up to 3 users, adds bill management and time tracking.
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Plus: $99/month for up to 5 users, including project tracking and inventory management.
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Advanced: $235/month for up to 25 users, ideal for large businesses needing custom workflows.
QuickBooks Enterprise Pricing
For larger enterprises, QuickBooks provides annual subscription-based pricing:
- Silver:Starts at $1,703/year for 1 user – Basic accounting tools.
- Gold:Starts at $2,210/year for 1 user – Includes payroll features.
- Platinum:Starts at $2,717/year and includes advanced inventory management.
- Diamond:Starts at $5,364/year and provides premium enterprise.
Conclusion
FreshBooks is an excellent choice for self-earners and small businesses looking for a natural, affordable, and simple accounting platform with strong billing and time-keeping capabilities.
QuickBooks provides powerful financial reporting, inventory control, and upgraded payment notifications for developing companies looking for a more complete accounting solution.
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FAQs
1. Which software is better for businesses with multiple users?
QuickBooks allows many users with different permission levels, making it a better option for bigger teams. FreshBooks supports many users but has position-based permissions.
2. Can you invite your accountant into your FreshBooks account?
Yes. You must subscribe to the FreshBooks Plus plan for this functionality. However, all QuickBooks Online plans allow you to invite an accountant.
3. Can I track time with these software options?
Yes, both QuickBooks and FreshBooks allow you to track time. FreshBooks has better tools for tracking, especially if you bill by the time of day.
