Can support freelancers, contractors and small businesses with a handful of employees; highest-tier plan includes two users (additional users can be added for a fee). Xero, on the other hand, is best for small businesses that want to take the step up from tracking expenses in Excel. It has all the functionality you need to manage transactions, calculate payments and track projects at an affordable entry point. It’s available online 24/7, which is great for businesses that have unusual operating hours. You’ll just submit a support ticket, where you can attach any files that may make things easier to troubleshoot.
- There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.
- You can also snap and store pictures of receipts in the FreshBooks mobile app (touched upon later).
- Xero offers 24/7 support for its customers, while FreshBooks only provides phone and email support during office hours.
- Still, it’s an extra step you’ll avoid with most other accounting tools.
With FreshBooks, users can embed checkouts in websites, social media and apps. The Advanced Payments feature also allows companies to accept credit card payments in person and over the phone. These features are either not as robust with FreshBooks or are only accessible by upgrading to a more expensive plan. You don’t have time to spend figuring out how to use complicated accounting software. With FreshBooks, you’ll confidently create invoices, input expenses, and do your bookkeeping in half the time.
You’re All Set
It utilizes the tabular format in most of its modules, making it easy for users to pick up important information without clicking further. Another minor drawback with Xero would be the inability to enter the ending balance of the checking account in the bank statement. For expediency, we’d prefer just to enter the bank statement balance and reconcile directly. Instead, Xero requires users to upload a bank statement before reconciliation. Access all Xero features for 30 days, then decide which plan best suits your business. Stay updated on the latest products and services anytime anywhere.
This makes tax time easy as you have all the numbers in one place. FreshBooks’ Double-Entry Accounting tool identifies revenue items and their related expenses, giving you an accurate calculation of profits and losses. It helps you make choices based on actual business data and insights. It provides you a web-based centralized place for file storage and sharing and gives you an overview of the project status. You can chat and assign project deadlines from within the accounting tool.
FreshBooks Pros
We also recommend Xero for businesses that prioritize financial reporting tools in their accounting software. While Xero’s reporting suite isn’t as advanced as QuickBooks, it’s still noteworthy. When you log into your Xero dashboard, you’ll immediately see your team’s expenses and tracked time. This feature makes it incredibly easy to see which inputs you might need to adjust to cut business expenses. Xero offers more than 80 reports, including standard financial reports, and lets you add tracking categories to monitor performance in different areas of your business. You can generate traditional financial reports, but they aren’t available with all plans.
In the same vein, FreshBooks does not provide audit trails for accountants. Audit trails show all changes within the software, who made them and when they were made to help accountants track down errors or unauthorized entries. 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.
The Digital Merchant has the best strategies and tools to grow your digital business. With the Standard and Premium package, you can also create customizable purchase orders, payroll direct deposits and checks, and there is a federal and state e-file and e-pay option. Keeping track of projects, and the time spent on those projects, is key for ensuring accurate billing. You can either assign hours to a project after the fact, or time a project live if you are completing a project for a client in real time.
Who FreshBooks Helps
FreshBooks is the best software for freelancers and service providers. Its features combine project management and accounting with helping professionals self-manage their business. It also has a flexible pricing plan, which is cheaper than Xero if you only need one or two users.
FreshBooks integrates with several apps commonly used by small businesses, but its integration options aren’t as vast as Xero’s. All are third-party apps that can help you further streamline your accounting and project management processes. As a full-featured accounting software program, there are many features to explore. However, once you get the navigational how to become a certified woman flow, it’s a matter of remembering where to find specific accounting information based on the menu categories. You’ll find both FreshBooks and Xero useful if you’re a service-based business that works on projects or bills clients by the hour. You’ll have the option to set up hourly or flat-rate projects and assign them to your employees or customers.
Before the advent of cloud technology, if you wanted to access your accounting data it involved traveling to your business to log in to view your financial records. Using the cloud, you can access this same accounting information in your pajamas on a Friday night at 11 p.m. Xero and FreshBooks operate on pricing tiers, and both tools have three pricing plans to choose from. Whereas Xero stands out in terms of users, billing, inventory tracking, and overall functionality and features. However, users often report Xero as a not-so-intuitive platform and may require you to invest in employee training. Now that you have a clear idea of what features both tools offer and their pricing structure, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each.
Xero Turns Small-Business Accounting Into a Big Headache
It offers the same features as the previous plans, but you can bill up to 500 clients. At $50/month, this FreshBooks plan gives you everything you need to scale your business. Both FreshBooks and Xero are industry-leading cloud-based accounting tools with huge client bases. While both are similar in many regards, there are some key differences in their features. Xero offers a choice of three subscription plans, which range from $15 to $78 per month.
Time Tracking
FreshBooks has its time tracking feature, considered one of the best in its class of accounting software. This is an important question; if you are a small business owner, would you want the same accounting software McDonald’s uses? You want something that makes your life easier, not complicates it by providing unnecessary options every time you try to create and send invoice. With inventory management features that FreshBooks lacks, this tool is ideal for those that sell physical goods, though companies that require the utmost detail may find that it falls short.
Best third-party app integrations: Xero
FreshBooks is superior to more than Xero when it comes to invoicing ― it’s also superior to all other accounting software platforms. If invoicing is your most significant need within accounting software, choose FreshBooks over Xero. Additionally, canceling your account incurs no fees if you do so at least 30 days in advance.
