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You can prepare budgets and can send customized quotes while choosing the level of details to show customers. A basic feature that you’d expect, Xero gets it right as creating custom branded invoices is super straightforward with this tool. You can let customers pay you with a credit card straight from the invoice using third-party payment services by adding a ‘Pay now’ button for one-click payment. You can quickly create professional invoices (along with customized estimates and proposals) with your logo and a thank you email. You can accept credit cards and ACH, and automate reminders, tax calculation, and inventory tracking.

• We especially like the fact that you can generate invoices from estimates and quotes in two clicks.
• As a company, FreshBooks is a little older — founded in 2003 — but doesn’t necessarily own a bigger share of the market.
• You can use the FreshBooks automated bookkeeping software wherever you have access to the internet, so let FreshBooks take care of your invoicing worries while you sit back and relax.
• You can quickly know how your entire team is spending their time and get a daily, weekly, and monthly breakdown of the work hours, too.

Speaking of the cloud, both software earned a spot on our best cloud accounting software list. Xero also allows companies to be paid via invoice and it can also help businesses receive payments in time by automatically debiting customers’ bank accounts whenever invoices are due. Like FreshBooks, it offers debit and credit card payments, bank-to-bank payments and Apple Pay or Google Pay via Stripe. While FreshBooks’ security is based solely on the Payment Card Industry Security Standards, Xero adds an additional layer of security to its online invoices and payments system.

Customer Reviews

Often a tedious process, bank reconciliation becomes a breeze with Xero’s suggested matches. You can group bank transactions into bulk to reconcile them all at once. You can quickly know how your entire team is spending their time and get a daily, weekly, and monthly breakdown of the work hours, too. See how Xero helps make it easy for small businesses to stay on top of their finances, so they can focus on doing what they love. No, it isn’t possible to reconcile bank statements manually in FreshBooks because it doesn’t allow you to upload files of transactions unless you connect your bank account. You can only interact with a chatbot that’ll guide you through some common customer problems or redirect you to self-help articles on Xero’s support page.

• Both FreshBooks and Xero are cheaper than QuickBooks while offering many of the same functionalities.
• Like we said above, while FreshBooks has unlimited invoices, it limits the number of clients you can bill each month.
• FreshBooks is an easy-to-use accounting and invoice cloud platform popular among small businesses with clients in over 160 countries.
• Read our QuickBooks vs. Xero comparison to explore these platforms’ similarities and differences further.
• The FreshBooks design suite allows for more customization and is easier to use compared to Xero.

QuickBooks Online is an industry standard for small-business accounting and delivers on its robust feature set, ease of sharing with accountants and range of integrations. On the downside, it can be expensive compared to other options like FreshBooks and Xero. Zoho Books stands out for its 24/5 customer support, strong feature set and affordability. It’s ideal for businesses that already use in-house Zoho apps, since it has limited third-party integrations beyond that.

Receive payments

You can also set up different payment methods for different clients, depending on what suits them best. Bank transactions can easily go awry if not properly monitored, and more accounting software services are beginning to provide bank reconciliation options within their accounting tools. FreshBooks integrates with a number of payment processors so that you can choose the payment method that works best for you and your business. Whether you want to accept credit card payments, set up bank transfers, or get paid through FreshBooks Payments, you can easily set up the method you prefer.

Read our QuickBooks review to learn why this platform is our pick for the best small business accounting software. Additionally, canceling your account incurs no fees if you do so at least 30 days in advance. Check out our other picks for the year’s best small-business accounting software. With plans starting at $15 a month, FreshBooks is well-suited for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small-business owners alike. While FreshBooks lets you send an unlimited amount of invoices each month, it restricts the number of clients you can invoice per plan.

What is the difference between FreshBooks and Xero?

But if you want something straightforward and user-friendly that gets the job done without fuss, FreshBooks is your go-to. At the end of the day, weigh your needs and your budget, and if all else fails, flip a coin. FreshBooks’ reports may be more aesthetically pleasing and easier to navigate, but Xero’s include the level of detail needed to stay organized as your company grows. It creates this feel through bright colors, creative design, a straightforward layout, clear navigation, fun fonts, and a super casual tone. I never thought I’d hear the phrase “invoicing like a boss,” yet here we are. Plans are affordable, starting at $13 per month, but no free plan.

FreshBooks is more intuitive, especially for freelancers

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. Kristy Snyder is a professional writer and editor living in Pittsburgh with over 10 years of content creation experience.

Payroll

FreshBooks gives you six user roles to choose from, plus client access and project manager customization options. With Xero, all plans include a bank reconciliation tool that suggests transaction what is form 1120 matches for you, making it easy to reconcile bank accounts. If a bank statement line meets the set of criteria you specified, Xero will suggest creating a matching transaction for you.

FreshBooks vs. Xero summary

Arguably, the smallest of small businesses benefit the most from expense tracking, so it’s downright bizarre that Xero doesn’t include it. Because FreshBooks cloud accounting charges you an additional $10 per person per month. FreshBooks and Xero are similar when it comes to customer support options, and both have identical scores on Trustpilot.