The credit card processing fee is 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for Visa, Mastercard and Discover, which is standard in the industry. If you send dozens of invoices a month to dozens of clients, accounting software with truly unlimited invoicing will be a better fit for you than either Xero or FreshBooks. Starting at just $13 a month, Xero’s basic plan is one of the most affordable out there. It certainly beats understanding operating margin QuickBooks Online’s starting price ($30 a month) by a mile. Xero is also gearing up to launch Just Ask Xero (JAX), a generative AI assistant designed to help businesses complete accounting tasks like creating invoices or paying bills. While details on pricing and a hard launch date are still under wraps, JAX promises to reduce admin time by giving users a more intuitive, hands-free way to manage their finances.
Third-party Integrations
Use interfaces, data tables, and logic to build secure, automated systems for your business-critical workflows across your organization’s technology stack. When comparing the reports generated by FreshBooks vs. Xero, I found Xero’s to consistently provide more detail and offer more flexibility with data presentation than FreshBooks’. FreshBooks brings some serious pizzazz and excitement to accounting, while Xero takes a more polished, business-like approach.
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Xero is a powerhouse accounting software, with the ability to create and send purchase orders, quotes, invoices and more with a few clicks. You’ll also get inventory management, accounting reports and cloud file storage, all on the base plan. Plus, Xero integrates with over a thousand apps, meaning you can personalize your inventory, payroll, CRM or time-tracking experience however you’d like. If you run a small company or a freelance business, you are likely familiar with juggling multiple clients, payment deadlines, invoices and more—there’s always something else to remember.
Invoicing
- If you’re a freelancer consistently working with the same handful of clients, you’ll likely do fine with FreshBooks’ cheapest plan.
- And FreshBooks also lets you send automatic recurring invoices—a time-saving feature that most accounting software overlooks, especially basic accounting plans.
- The left sidebar will help you navigate through payments, expenses and any other functions you need.
- We felt that each tier’s features justified its costs as did the automatically included (but optional) Gusto payroll integration.
- You can even connect your bank accounts for automatic bank reconciliation trusting your data will always be private and secure.
You can even monitor your company’s performance by customizing and measuring specific KPIs. Instead, it partners with Bench, an online bookkeeping service that helps you find a bookkeeper. FreshBooks doesn’t offer bank reconciliation with its least expensive option, FreshBooks Lite. And while the software automatically suggests some transaction matches for you during the reconciliation process, you cannot create your own custom bank rules. Both FreshBooks and Xero are cheaper than QuickBooks while offering many of the same functionalities.
FreshBooks is an accounting software designed for solo business owners, freelancers and sole proprietors. The software makes it easy to stay organized, keep track of payments owed and expenses made, send invoices and accept payments. While there are many accounting software options out there, FreshBooks is particularly well-suited for smaller businesses and companies with one main owner and operator. These features are either not as robust with FreshBooks or are only accessible by upgrading to a more expensive plan. Xero offers accounts payable features with all plans — although you can enter only five bills per month with the Early plan.
95% of users agree that FreshBooks makes it easy to work with your accountant. Xero’ business model is to get people ‘hooked’ and slowly up the price. Sometimes even charging for things that were already part of the product and calling it an add on feature.
FreshBooks vs Xero: How They Compare
This plan also allows you to easily keep track of payroll through a Gusto Payments integration. If you want to add multiple users to your accounting software, Xero is likely a better choice than FreshBooks because it accommodates unlimited users in all plans. 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. 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.
QuickBooks has more inventory management and budgeting tools than FreshBooks. QuickBooks also has a more intuitive interface than Xero as well as a desktop version. Stay updated on the latest products and services anytime anywhere.