FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks: Buying Guide 2024

Choosing the right accounting software for you is easier said than done. Whether you're a small business or a freelancer, it is the easiest way to track the money flowing in and out. Also, you can estimate the exact time you've spent on each client or project, bill customers, send invoices, and ultimately keep your finances in order at the end of the year.

While looking for the right bookkeeping software for your business, I'm sure you came across FreshBooks and QuickBooks Online. They're two of the most popular software in the industry for small businesses.

This article aims to help you make a smarter buying decision by providing a one-page overview of where these tools align, how they differ, and the use cases they're designed for.

Feel free to jump to the section you like:

• An Overview of FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks
• Detailed Comparison
• How SurveySparrow Can Help You Get a New Perspective
• A Comparison Table
• When to choose FreshBooks and QuickBooks

Let’s start with an overview of both tools.

FreshBooks vs. QuickBooks Online

Founded in 2003, FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software. Popular as a solution for small to medium-sized businesses, self-employed freelancers, and solopreneurs, FreshBooks is designed to help you with essential bookkeeping and accounting tasks such as time tracking, unlimited invoicing, and more.

The software is beginner-friendly yet robust enough to make it effective across many different niches and kinds of businesses.

Part of the Intuit product family, QuickBooks is also a widely popular accounting tool. QuickBooks offers you various business finance features such as accounting, bookkeeping, inventory management, and more.

Because of its scalability, QuickBooks is considered best for medium to large businesses. It has 750+ integrations and lets you share your books with external accountants, bookkeepers, and other services.

FreshBooks vs QuickBooks: Comparing key features

While both FreshBooks and QuickBooks can offer you all the standard features and services that we generally expect from an efficient accounting software, let's discuss the specifics to understand where each tool shines.

Ease of use

• Designed to make it easier to help you get to what you need, the FreshBooks dashboard offers an at-a-glance overview of your business's overall financial health.
• This intuitive design makes it simpler for small business owners and those who are new to accounting to access the features hassle-free!
• QuickBooks boasts a more comprehensive dashboard than FreshBooks. And, you require some accounting knowledge to work with the software.
• For example, a few business features, like inventory management, can confuse new Quickbook users.
• Investing in time & resources is recommended if accounting is not your top skill but you want to garner the maximum benefits that QuickBooks's advanced features can offer.

Customization

• While both platforms, FreshBooks & QuickBooks, allow you to customize invoices, the latter has a bit more additional flexibility in tailoring the offerings to your unique business needs.
• With QuickBooks, you can create custom user roles with different permissions and access levels, allowing you to control who can see and edit specific data.
• You can customize the workflows to automate tasks & add custom fields to track data points to streamline your financial data.
• The software also provides specialized tutorials to guide you through the customization process and help you make changes that will fit your business requirements better.
• Though FreshBooks offers user role management, it may not be as granular as QuickBooks. The limited field customization from Freshdesk may not be adequate for you, especially if you're looking for a highly tailored solution or if you're a business with complex accounting needs.

Scalability & Integrations

• Your accounting software must work with the other tools your company is using to ensure smooth workflows and to avoid the hassle of your team logging in and out of different apps.
• FreshBooks offer 100+ integrations covering a variety of business needs. Popular integrations include Indeed (for recruiting), Acuity Scheduling (for appointment booking), and NiceJob (for customer reviews).
• Whereas QuickBooks offers 750+ integrations with accounting, CRM, payroll, and e-commerce platforms. Some QuickBooks integrations offer advanced features like automatic data backup and restoration (Rewind Backups), cash flow forecasting (Float), and invoice automation (BILL).

Pricing

FreshBooks and QuickBooks offer four pricing plans, with each successive plan offering more advanced capabilities and premium features.

Compared to FreshBooks, QuickBooks is costlier. Before making the purchase, you can use the 30-day free trial offered by the platforms to explore the tool, see how the tool will fit your financial management system, and make an informed decision.

The starting price is $19 for FreshBooks and $35 for QuickBooks. 

Whether it is accounting or other facets of your finances, data collection is key! While SurveySparrow is not a finance tool, I think the platform can be a huge help for you! Here's how...

So, How Can SurveySparrow Help?

This VOC tool can easily streamline your data collection process. You can start with rolling out a Satisfaction Survey to measure how happy your customers are. 

Here's a conversational survey made with SurveySparrow for you to try out...

Customer Feedback Survey Template

Preview Template

Use This Template

Check in at each touchpoint, whether it is with invoicing process, payment options, or overall financial interactions! With this you can understand which invoice style best suits your target audience

You can also share surveys within your team to see where they spend time on various tasks. This will give you a better idea on where you need to improve.

Plus, a thorough market research can help you predict financial risks hiding around the corner. You can use the survey data to create more accurate financial projections by understanding customer spending habits and future needs.

By using surveys as a medium to personalize communication with your customers, you can build a bond of trust. 

So, what are you waiting for?

FreshBooks vs QuickBooks: Table of comparison

Here’s a side-by-side comparison to help you consider the similarities and differences between the two platforms.

When to Choose FreshBooks over QuickBooks

Because it's designed to be user-friendly, FreshBooks is considered to be better suited for small businesses and freelancers who want to prioritize ease of use.

For those who prefer a less complex solution and who are new to accounting, FreshBooks is a better choice than QuickBooks for managing their bookkeeping.

FreshBooks also excels at time tracking and invoicing, so if your business primarily needs to track income expenses and send invoices, FreshBooks may be sufficient.

In short, FreshBooks may be a better choice than QuickBooks if you are a:

• Solopreneur or freelancer
• Service-based business
• Business with simple accounting needs

When to Choose QuickBooks over FreshBooks

Designed to support businesses with complex financial structures, QuickBooks offers a more extensive & comprehensive solution.

The platform offers inventory management, payroll processing, or advanced reporting to help you manage bookkeeping for larger businesses. It can seamlessly handle multiple users and offers more advanced user role management features.

In addition to that, Quickbooks also make it hassle-free to integrate with other business software, such as CRM systems, payroll solutions, and e-commerce platforms.

In short, QuickBooks may be a better choice than QuickBooks if you are a:

• Business with multiple locations or international operations
• Retail or manufacturing business
• Business that needs to integrate with other accounting software
• Larger business with numerous employees.

Take your time and make a choice. There's no hurry!