FreshBooks alternatives
FreshBooks charges a monthly price per account by plan and number of billable clients, plus a fee for each team member besides the owner. It limits its Lite and Plus plans by billable clients, keeps profit and capacity for higher plans, and adds a fee of its own on online payments.
By Fred Wu, maker of Hourbun · Hourbun is our app · Checked · Report a mistake
The short answer
This page lists Hourbun, our app, and Avaza, Invoice Ninja, Harpoon, Productive and Plutio. Each one costs less than FreshBooks for 2 people, or does more on a feature that the pages of FreshBooks limit or leave out.
The apps
6 alternatives to FreshBooks
Hourbun first, as it is our app. Then the others by their price for 2 people, lowest first. Each one costs less than FreshBooks, or does more on a feature in bold.
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1. Hourbun Our app
Freelancers, consultants and small teams who bill their clients by the hour
Hourbun vs FreshBooks2 people, a month
$15 (lower price)
Duo
- Cost rates and profit (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes For admins and the owner
- Weekly capacity of each teammate (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes
- Accounting sync
- Partly Xero, one way: issued invoices and credit notes, and their payments if you choose
- No fee of the app on online payments (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes Only the fees of Stripe
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2. Avaza
Teams that want projects, tasks, scheduling, chat, timesheets and invoicing in one app
Hourbun vs Avaza2 people, a month
$11.95 (lower price)
Startup
- Cost rates and profit (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes Cost rates, and a Project Profitability report
- Weekly capacity of each teammate (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes Available hours of each person in a Staff Utilisation report
- Accounting sync (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes Xero, two way: invoices, supplier bills and payments
- No fee of the app on online payments
- No
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3. Invoice Ninja
Freelancers and small businesses that want a free plan, many payment gateways, native apps or a self-hosted server
Hourbun vs Invoice Ninja2 people, a month
$18 (lower price)
Enterprise (1–2 users)
- Cost rates and profit
- Partly A project margin of invoiced income less expenses, with no cost rates
- Weekly capacity of each teammate
- No
- Accounting sync
- Partly QuickBooks Online: a one-time import, then a push to QuickBooks
- No fee of the app on online payments (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes Only the fees of your payment gateway
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4. Harpoon
Agencies and freelancers that want yearly revenue goals and forecasts beside time tracking and invoicing
Hourbun vs Harpoon2 people, a month
$19 (lower price)
Freelancer
- Cost rates and profit (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes
- Weekly capacity of each teammate (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes
- Accounting sync
- No
- No fee of the app on online payments (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes Only the fees of Stripe
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5. Productive
Agencies and consultancies that want resource planning, project management, a sales CRM and budgets with profitability in one app
Hourbun vs Productive2 people, a month
$36 (lower price)
Essential
- Cost rates and profit (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes
- Weekly capacity of each teammate (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes
- Accounting sync
- Higher plan Xero, QuickBooks Online, Exact and others from the Professional plan: invoices out, payments back
- No fee of the app on online payments
- No
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6. Plutio
Freelancers and agencies that want projects, proposals, contracts, scheduling and invoicing in one app, at a flat price per workspace
Hourbun vs Plutio2 people, a month
$49 (lower price)
Pro
- Cost rates and profit (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes Cost rates on each time entry
- Weekly capacity of each teammate
- No
- Accounting sync
- Partly Xero through Zapier: invoices and payments
- No fee of the app on online payments (ahead of FreshBooks)
- Yes Only the fees of the payment processor
For comparison
FreshBooks
Freelancers and small businesses that want invoicing, payments and accounting in one app
Hourbun vs FreshBooks2 people, a month
$54
Plus
- Cost rates and profit
- Higher plan From the Premium plan
- Weekly capacity of each teammate
- Higher plan From the Premium plan
- Accounting sync
- Higher plan Accounting is built in: double-entry accounting reports and bank reconciliation from the Plus plan
- No fee of the app on online payments
- No FreshBooks Payments takes 2.9% + $0.30 on a card payment and 1% on an ACH transfer
- USD list prices, billed monthly
- ≈ marks an estimate
- Highlight = cheaper than FreshBooks
- Bold row = ahead of FreshBooks
- The example: 2 people · 8 clients · 10 projects · 8 tasks · 10 invoices and $16k invoiced a month
Questions
Questions and answers
What are the alternatives to FreshBooks?
This page lists Hourbun, our app, and Avaza, Invoice Ninja, Harpoon, Productive and Plutio. Each one costs less than FreshBooks for 2 people, or does more on a feature that the pages of FreshBooks limit or leave out.
Which FreshBooks alternative costs the least?
For 2 people, Avaza costs the least on this page: $11.95 a month on its Startup plan. Hourbun, our app, costs $15 a month on its Duo plan, and FreshBooks $54 a month on its Plus plan.
Is Hourbun an alternative to FreshBooks?
Yes. Hourbun charges one flat price per workspace, set by seats, with no fee for each teammate, and has profit and capacity on every plan. FreshBooks adds $11 a month for each team member besides the owner, and limits its Lite and Plus plans to 5 and 50 billable clients. FreshBooks fits businesses that want accounting and invoicing in one app.
Sources
- Each fact comes from the comparison page of its app, which names its sources
- A feature that no page of an app states is a No
- Prices change: check the pricing page of each app
Avaza, Invoice Ninja, Harpoon, Productive, Plutio and FreshBooks are trademarks of their owners, and Hourbun is not affiliated with them.