FreshBooks Pricing – Which Plan is Right For You in 2025?
FreshBooks is now one of the best cloud-based accounting software with cutting-edge features like double-entry accounting, project management, recurring invoices, and mobile accounting. The tool has gained immense popularity with freelancers and small businesses.
This post is a guide for FreshBooks pricing. Here you will also learn about the features that come with each plan, and some alternatives to FreshBooks. Hopefully this post will help you choose the right plan.
FreshBooks Pricing Comparison: Which Plan Should I Pick?
1. Lite
Best FreshBooks Plan for Professionals with Basic Needs
The Lite plan is the best choice for those who need only some basic accounting software features. Entry-level freelancers and solopreneurs may find this plan convenient. It costs $13.50 per month if paid yearly and $15 per month if you pay monthly.
The platform is currently offering a 50% discount. If you get the Lite plan just now, you will enjoy the plan for $7.50 for the first three months. If you don’t know much about accounting or don’t need advanced features, start with the Light plan. FreshBooks’ Lite plan is one of the most affordable paid plans available on the market. However, some platforms, such as Wave, offer free plans for entry-level users.
2. Plus
Best FreshBooks Plan for Small Businesses
Of the four FreshBooks plans, Plus is the most popular. When billed yearly, this plan costs $22.50 per month. And when billed monthly it costs $25 per month. With a 50% discount, the Plus plan currently costs only $12.50 per month.
If you are running a small business with a big goal in mind, you will find the Plus plan very convenient. It will allow you to deal with up to 50 billable clients, ten times than the Lite plan.
3. Premium
Best FreshBooks Plan for Growing Businesses
The Premium plan is intended for dynamic teams and medium-sized businesses with up to 500 billable clients. Billed annually, the plan costs $45 per month. Billed monthly, it costs $50 per month. Users who are getting the Premium plan now will enjoy the plan for only $25 per month for the first three months.
Premium is not suitable for small businesses. And a business with 500 billable clients is considered larger than a typical medium-sized business. The absence of a tier between 50 and 500 clients is a limitation of FreshBooks.
4. Select
Best FreshBooks Plan for Thriving Businesses
Select is FreshBooks’ custom plan intended for large businesses with more than 500 billable clients. Unless you are running an enterprise-level business, this plan is probably not for you. In other words, this plan is for business owners with a focus on prosperity.
To find out how much the plan will cost, you will have to get in touch with the people at the help desk and let them know your particular requirements.
What Features Do The Different FreshBooks Plans Include?
1. Features of the Lite Plan
The Lite plan is the most affordable of the four FreshBooks plans, and it comes with the most basic features. Before we discuss the features in detail, let’s see them at a glance.
Tracking and Organizing Client Info
- 5 billable clients
- Storing clients’ credit card info
- Client profiles and account statements
- Client credits
- Client self-service portal
- Automated recurring invoices
Billing Solutions
- Unlimited estimates
- Scheduled late fees
- Unlimited customized invoices
- Accept deposits
- Automated late payment reminders
- Manage budget and billing
Client Payment Options
- Online ACH bank transfers (US Only)
- Online credit card payments
- Checkout links
Managing Your Business
- Unlimited expenses
- Unlimited time-tracking
- Mobile mileage tracking
- Automated bank import
- Business health reports
- Tax time reports
- At-a-glance performance dashboards
The Lite Plan allows you to send as many invoices as you want, to up to 5 billable clients. The process of creating and customizing invoices is super easy. You can personalize your thank you emails by adding your logo. FreshBooks accepts online payment from ACH and credit cards.
FreshBooks has been designed to perform financial accounting smoothly. For smaller businesses, keeping track of payments is of utmost importance. When you send an invoice to a customer, FreshBooks tracks the invoice and lets you know when the customer views it.
With a recurring template invoice, you can automatically charge a client’s PayPal account, Bank transfer (ACH) details, or credit card on a regular basis. Recurring services such as subscriptions find this feature very useful because it allows them to take payments automatically.
Late Payment Reminders is another amazing feature. You can send emails to your clients to remind them about their outstanding invoices. FreshBooks offers multiple ways to send late payment reminders and charge late fees.
Through FreshBooks Payments, which is powered by Stripe, you can accept online payments with Apple Pay and major credit cards. Better yet, the procedure requires zero setup.
For online payments, FreshBooks has a simple and transparent pricing policy. For MasterCard, Visa, Discover, AMEX and Apple Pay, the fee is 2.9% of the payment amount. And for ACH, which is available only in the U.S., 1% bank transfer fee applies.
FreshBooks’ business management features are highly sophisticated. As you connect your credit or bank account for automatic entry, your business gets updated with your most recent expenses. The most recent data is automatically organized in the system.
The features also include automatic categorization, assignment of recurring expenses, tax-friendly categories, and processing multi-currency expenses.
To log hours spent on work, you will find the time-tracking feature very useful. The start-stop timer logs time into your invoices. If you want, you can track time from apps such as Teamwork, Trello, Basecamp, and Asana.
Team time tracking, detailed time entry notes, and time against a specific client are some other fascinating features that come with the Lite Plan.
2. Features of the Plus Plan
The Plus plan offers all the features available with the Lite plan, plus some more. Let’s see the features:
- 50 billable clients
- Accept e-signatures
- Client retainers
- Unlimited proposals
- Bank reconciliation
- Double-entry accounting reports
- Accountant access
- Advanced payments ($20 per month)
The main difference is that it allows up to 50 billable clients, which can be enough for a typical small business. You pay double the price of the Lite plan, but for this price you can handle ten times more clients. And if you are already handling 50 clients, you are on the way to attain real abundance.
Using the Client Retainers feature is a great way to bill your clients. A retainer works in a pretty straightforward way. If you are offering a service, talk to your client and establish a budget. Then reserve a chunk of time for work performed, and use that on a recurring basis.
Time is tracked in your balance, and the feature automatically generates invoices. It automates the process of billing, saving your valuable time. If you end up tracking more time and exceed your balance, those excess hours will be automatically flagged as extra. This extra time can be billed into a one-off invoice.
To provide your clients with more detailed estimates, you can create professional-grade pitches with images and rich text content and send them to your clients—without leaving FreshBooks. With these proposals, you can outline your project’s scope, deliverables, and timeline.
Whether you need to send a response to an RFP, a follow-up to a meeting, or a cold pitch, you will find this feature immensely useful. One of the best things about the Plus plan is that it allows you to send as many proposals as you want.
The Bank Reconciliation feature, which is available with the Plus plan, lets you know if your bank balance is in keeping with your account balance.
All businesses have to match transactions in their bank records on a regular basis. By keeping track of balances in your credit card and bank accounts, deposits and outstanding payments, you can spot errors easily and quickly, and avoid unnecessary bank fees. For this you will have to connect your bank account to FreshBooks. The procedure is simple.
With the Plus plan, you also get double-entry accounting reports. This feature lets you know how your money is actually being spent and where your savings are available. Thus you can easily learn about the overall financial health and performance of your business.
And if you have a clear insight into your business, you can make informed decisions like hiring a new employee, setting aside money for tax, or making a ticket purchase.
To make collaboration with your accountant, you can give them secure access to your FreshBooks journal entries and reports. They can filter these entries and reports, set date ranges, or download them to Excel. You can remove your accountant from your FreshBooks account whenever you want.
3. Features of the Premium Plan
The Premium plan is the most expensive of the three predefined plans. It comes with all the features available with the Lite and Plus plans, and some more. Here are the additional features:
- Unlimited Billable Clients
- Customized email templates and signatures
- Automated client emails with dynamic fields
- Project profitability
- Accounts Payable
For a growing business, the Premium plan has a lot to offer. First, it allows you to manage unlimited billable clients. And that means you have the freedom to expand your business the way you want. If you are a business owner with an entrepreneurial mindset and more than 50 billable clients, the Premium plan is for you.
Any serious business wants to send emails with customized templates. With this plan, you can customize your email templates the way that represent your business, and put signatures. So, when you send emails to your clients or potential clients, they will take your business seriously.
The Project Profitability feature allows you to manage your team members in a more effective way and track the performance of your non-internal projects. It allows you to figure out team cost rates and get project estimates. As a result, you have a better insight into your operations and can make better business decisions.
4. Features of the Select Plan
This one is FreshBooks’ custom plan intended for businesses with more complex needs. It allows you to manage unlimited billable clients, like the Premium plan, and offers many specialized features, apart from the ones available with the Premium plan. Here are the additional features:
- Removal of FreshBooks branding from emails
- Access to capped ACH fees and lower credit card transaction fees
- Securely accept credit cards over phone
- Subscription-based payments
- Charging clients with credit cards
- Secure card storage
- 2 team member accounts included
- Customized Onboarding services
- Dedicated account manager
- Data migration services
- Advanced payments
If you are running your operations on a large scale, and none of the predefined plans is enough to meet your needs, the Select plan is for you.
This plan stands out for its personalization feature. Your emails do not contain the FreshBooks branding.
Users enjoy lower credit card transaction fees. FreshBooks charges only 1% fee for payments made with bank transfers (for American FreshBooks users). There are no setup fees or monthly fees. That means, you have to pay a fee only when you make sales.
The Select plan allows you to receive subscription-based payments. Your clients can pay you online, and the procedure is simple and secure.
To get your team on board, you can include two team member accounts in your FreshBooks account. It can significantly improve your workflows and customer service.
The dedicated account manager allows you to get a helping hand for the training of your team. You will find this feature useful also when you want to migrate your books from any other platform.
The Select plan helps you keep your contractors, team and accountant informed, and as a result your clients stay engaged and projects move faster.
FreshBooks Alternatives: Pricing Compared to Its Competitors
1. NetSuite
Best FreshBooks Plan for Medium-sized Businesses
NetSuite is one of the most popular enterprise resource planning (ERP) for businesses, and considered a strong alternative to FreshBooks.
The platform does not have a straightforward pricing plan. You may need to see a NetSuite pricing guide, because the pricing is custom, and the amount depends on a host of factors.
While FreshBooks is designed mainly for the self-employed, NetSuite is more suitable for medium-sized businesses and enterprises. NetSuite is more than just an accounting tool. It is also a project management tool, inventory, and CRM.
Therefore, NetSuite has some features that FreshBooks doesn’t. Such features include CPA firms, nonprofits, fund accounting, fixed asset management, and purchase order management.
The best thing about NetSuite is that it is a comprehensive platform that allows you to seamlessly integrate any software tool. This tool makes life super easy for accounting folks.
If you have a fast-growing business or are looking to scale your operations, NetSuite may be a better option for you.
2. Wave
Best FreshBooks Alternative for Businesses That Want a Free Tool
Wave is a free accounting tool with many key features such as receipt scanning and invoicing. It comes with a pretty intuitive user interface that makes it very easy to access balance sheets and other important reports. Wave is designed mainly for sole proprietors, but small businesses also find it very convenient.
A tool that is 100% free leaves some room for suspicion, but Wave does not make you feel that you are using a free tool. Some notable features of the tool are as follow:
- Create an estimate
- Create a custom invoice
- Process a sale
- Connect your bank account
- Upload receipts
- Record purchases
- Reporting
- Bank reconciliation
You can accept online payments via Wave, but that incurs additional cost.
Wave allows you to customize your invoices, and that is really remarkable for a free tool.
With FreshBooks, you have to pay additional fees for additional users. But Wave does not put any limitation on the number of users or transactions.
The tool allows you to upload receipts to the purchases feature, which makes it super easy to track expenses.
Fees are charged only if you use Wave Payroll or Wave Payments. Currently, Wave Payments charges a 2.9% fee. For ACH payments, the fee is 1%.
3. Xero
Best FreshBooks Alternative for Medium to Large-sized Businesses
Xero is another well-known accounting tool known for its capability for app integrations. The tool allows more than 800 app integrations. In contrast, FreshBooks allows just around 110.
The platform has three pricing plans: Early, Growing, and Established that start respectively at $5.50, $16 and $31 per month.
No matter which plan you choose, you have access to a mobile app, can track inventory, create invoices, and pay bills. The platform is very user-friendly. If you hate accounting-related jargon, you will love Xero.
It is designed for medium to large-sized businesses and has an edge over FreshBooks in terms of the number of features. Besides covering the basics such as invoicing, payments and expenses, Xero has many other features for inventory, bank reconciliation, and purchase ordering.
4. QuickBooks Online
Best FreshBooks Alternative for Small Businesses
QuickBooks Online is one of the most popular accounting tools, known for its intuitive design and excellent reporting capability. The platform has three plans: Simple Start, Essentials and Plus that cost $4.80, $7.50 and $10.20 per month respectively.
This tool offers beautiful invoicing, advanced accounting features, and more than 550 integrations.
If your business requires complex accounting capabilities, QuickBooks Online may be a great option for you. The platform has recently added a highly sophisticated project management feature.
QuickBooks Online boasts of some features that FreshBooks does not offer. Such features include multilingual invoicing and progress invoicing. The Live Bookkeeping service feature allows you to outsource your bookkeeping tasks.
While FreshBooks is designed for a freelancer, contractor or sole proprietor, QuickBooks Online is more suitable for a small business. QuickBooks Premier Nonprofit Edition can be used as an alternative to church accounting software.
FreshBooks Pricing FAQ
FreshBooks has three predefined plans and a custom plan. The predefined plans namely Lite, Plus and Premium cost respectively $14, $25 and $50 per month. Select is FreshBooks’ custom plan, and its price depends on the particular needs of your business.
The platform is now offering a 50% discount for a limited time. The three predefined plans are now available for respectively $7.50, $12.50 and $25 per month, for the first three months.
As the plans get more expensive, they offer more features and allow you to manage more billable clients. QuickBooks charges additional monthly fees for additional users, Payroll, and Advanced Payments.
The platform offers a 30-day free trial, so you can try any plan before you buy.
Since 2003, FreshBooks has been a constant companion for more than 24 million small business owners and freelancers from 160 countries.
If you are tired of using Excel and looking for a way to automate expense tracking and client billing, you should probably start using FreshBooks. This tool will make your life easier.
Over the years, however, some other accounting tools have emerged as strong competitors of FreshBooks. Some are even free.
With that said, no serious business can entirely rely on a free tool. So, if you are willing to invest in premium accounting software, FreshBooks can be a very good option for you.
Just like FreshBooks’ 24 million other users, you will find the tool immensely useful, user-friendly and reliable.
Next Step: Choose the Right FreshBooks Plan for You
FreshBooks has a straightforward pricing strategy—the plans are designed for businesses of all types and sizes. If your operations have the most basic accounting needs and you have fewer than 5 clients, you should probably start with the Lite plan.
And if you know that you will have more than 5 clients in a matter of days, skip the Lite plan and start with the next plan: Plus. The platform offers free trials. So, go ahead and try it before you buy.