Xero is cheaper when comparing the two base plans, but it quickly becomes more expensive in higher tiers. However, both Xero and FreshBooks are cheaper than the more popular difference between depreciation and amortization with comparison chart QuickBooks software. Plans are affordable, starting at $13 per month, but no free plan. Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us.

Plus you can effortlessly manage your books and run your business using FreshBooks’ intuitive platform. Fresbooks offers simple, easy reporting for freelancers, independent contractors, and small businesses that are just looking for the basics in financial reporting. Xero is a more popular name in this industry, and it’s the better choice if you deal with inventory. It has a more comprehensive set of features than FreshBooks, including financial reporting and analysis. Choose Xero if your specific accounting needs aren’t present in FreshBooks, such as more advanced A/P features.

• QuickBooks Online allows users to claim expenses and match them to photos of receipts in all plans, whereas Xero requires Xero Expenses, an additional feature only included in the highest-tier Established plan.
• In contrast, all Xero plans offer unlimited users and its highest-tier Established plan is a more affordable $70 per month.
• This is relying on information from user reviews, but it features commonly enough for it to feature in this comparison.
• For Taxes, you can email our excellent customer support the details below and we’ll take care of it for you.
• And it’s easy to adjust settings to make it work best for your individual needs.

And if you need a hand, our phone support with a live rep extends to both you and your accountant with no additional fees. When it comes to making online payments easy for you and your clients and comparing QuickBooks vs FreshBooks it’s easy to see why people choose FreshBooks. Unlike QuickBooks Online, you don’t need an accounting degree to use FreshBooks.

Easy to Use, Stellar Support, It’s a No-Brainer ✔ FreshBooks vs ✘ QuickBooks

This is because QuickBooks was designed for small businesses that might not have an accounting background, whereas Xero was designed with accountants and bookkeepers in mind. QuickBooks is also better for businesses that need to track inventory, as it has built-in inventory management features. Xero also has inventory management, but it’s not one of its core functions. QuickBooks is a little harder to get up and running with, but a few tutorials later and you’ll have the best accounting software for small businesses on your hands. It’s built so you can add your clients, connect your bank account, launch new projects and get started with expense management, without having to read documentation or get help from a lawyer. And if you need a hand, our phone support with a live rep extends to both you and your accountant, with no additional fees.

You can add new users via email and assign them one of seven different user roles, including “read only” and “advisor” access. If you want to further customize a user profile, you can give users additional permissions to particular features, like reports, projects and new expenses. Has a strong invoicing feature; app lets users send invoices on the go, scan receipts and track mileage; basic inventory tracking for billable items; least expensive plan lacks double-entry accounting reports. Meanwhile, users who left Xero reviews said that the software is easy to set up and use, adding that it has a simple and clean user interface along with intuitive features.

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It lets you enter bills, accept payments, issue invoices, and capture expense receipts. In addition to user interface (UI) and navigation, we also consider the available customer support options, including live chat and email and phone support. Many businesses are involved in the sales of products, so it’s essential that the best accounting software has a dedicated inventory management system. We evaluated FreshBooks and Xero based on ease of use, pricing, and how well they performed against the ideal features we’re seeking, including project accounting, inventory management, and mobile accounting. Our evaluation was based on a rubric scoring methodology in six categories, each with a designated appropriate percentage.

Low-cost plans for freelancers

Meanwhile, Xero’s banking and cash management system allows but doesn’t require a bank feed connection. You can set up different cash accounts, reconcile book and bank statements, and print checks. FreshBooks is a bit complicated and limited in its banking features, especially with bank reconciliation.

FreshBooks is more intuitive, especially for freelancers

The only real issue with Quickbooks is that the sheer spread of features can be a little overwhelming at first, and learning how to fully use the app can be difficult. QuickBooks has a strong app ecosystem with third-party apps that can support you with tasks like syncing eCommerce data with accounting, cash flow forecasting, and account-level data backup and recovery. While these might sound like small changes, they make all the difference in turning QuickBooks into a fully-fledged accounting suite rather than an invoicing app with a few extra features.

FreshBooks vs Xero: Assisted Bookkeeping

FreshBooks integrates with a number of payment processors so that you can choose the payment method that works best for you and your business (and can deal with multiple currencies). Whether you want to accept online credit card payments, set up bank transfers, or get paid through FreshBooks Payments, you can easily set up the method you prefer. You can also set up different payment methods for different clients, depending on what suits them best. When setting up a FreshBooks account, you can start fresh, or transfer over existing data from any previous accounting software solutions like Xero, QuickBooks Online, Zoho Books, or Invoice2Go. If you’re not a fan of manual entry, Clients, Expenses, and Items can be imported by you with the steps below.

Payments and Invoicing

If the three have many similarities, these distinct features will be the deciding factors on which one you will pick. You’ll see that the three small business accounting software only have a few differences, but they will be enough for you to know which shines brighter than the rest. It’s expected that accountants have recommendations when choosing your cloud accounting tool. Accountants feel comfortable with Xero because it’s built for them. Business owners, on the other hand, might not have the in-depth accounting knowledge needed to make Xero work for them. When choosing software vendors you need to prioritize the one that fits your business needs.

Think about how many bills you receive every month either in the mail or by email then ask yourself what do they all have in common? Other than the occasional company logo that was added, they all pretty much look the same. It is important to remember that your invoice is just another bill to someone else, that is unless you make it stand out more! For more advanced and tech savvy users, they even offer the ability to upload your own custom .docx file that can be as unique as your business. Like most accounting programs, FreshBooks’ expense tracking automatically syncs expenses to your FreshBooks account and helps categorize expenses by tax category. Xero is a strange outlier in that it doesn’t include basic expense tracking with every plan—instead, expense tracking only comes with Xero’s priciest plan, which starts at $62 a month.