If you are a new business owner, then you might be familiar with the struggles of running a business. Buying raw materials, and organizing the business takes immense effort.
Checking your money inflow and outflow and tracking all your payments and expenses for the business can be a challenging process. Switching to accounting software to track all your business accounts can lift mountains of the load off your hands.
Using accounting software for your business can transform the way your business functions and can avoid any unnecessary clutter that may arise during the tracking of business expenses and profits.
Now if you are confused about which accounting software to choose from, then we will help you with just that.
Here we are comparing two popular accounting software, Quickbooks and Freshbooks and judging which one is better and if there is a better alternative to both.
Quickbooks
If you have searched up anything related to accounting software, chances are that the name Quickbooks has come up.
This is because Quickbooks is one of the most popular and used accounting software systems as of now.
To give an introduction, Quickbooks is a multi-featured business and financial management software designed especially for small businesses.
Quickbooks is cloud-based software, which means all your accounting is organized on a cloud platform. What’s more, this allows you to track your sales, create invoices and analyze your business performance at any time.
A very convenient and well-designed tool to aid you in your financial management issues. With Quickbooks, you can track all your accounts and sales in one place.
This avoids a huge clutter of financial management work, checking if everything is in check and registered in the company books. Quickbooks is definitely a very powerful and efficient tool to run a business smoothly.
Quickbooks – PROS and CONS
Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of Quickbooks.
PROS
1. Cloud accounting
The fact that Quickbooks is a cloud-based accounting software gives some benefits like online syncing of all your accounts and being able to track your expenses at any time.
2. An all-in-one platform
Quickbooks is a strong round accounting tool for all your business needs. From bank feeds and inventory management to GST and VAT tracking, whatever you need Quickbooks has it all. With such a high variety of functions and features, Quickbooks emerges as the winner in the versatility battle.
3. Online Banking
If you want a software that readily tracks all your online payments, then Quickbooks has a dedicated banking integration feature to track all your bank statements and transactions. This is extremely helpful to track all your online transactions especially if your business deals with a significant number of online transactions.
CONS
1. All these features…. at a cost!
Quickbooks indeed has loads of features and tools that can help you in finance management, but many of these functions are not available in the base plan of the software. This means to fully utilize all the features of Quickbooks, you must buy a premium plan that unlocks more features and tools.
2. Single user design
Although you can share your account with more than one user, the base plan only allows access for a single user. This can be a drawback if you are planning to work in teams or if there are multiple people in charge of operations.
3. Easy to manipulate accounts
Unlike other options, it is easy to change or correct data on Quickbooks. This can turn out to be a double-edged sword in the long run. On one hand, it can make it easy for you to correct and rectify mistakes in the accounts. This can also be used to manipulate the existing accounts for frauds or similar activities.
Freshbooks
Freshbooks, just like Quickbooks, is another popular software for accounting and finance management.
Freshbooks was first launched in 2003, which means it has been in the game for quite some time now. Easy to use and convenient has made Freshbooks a popular choice among new business owners and freelancers.
Their invoicing, and expense tracking features are easy to use and convenient. They also have an added time tracking feature that allows you to track the time spent on each project. This is especially helpful for freelancers and single-person business owners.
Freshbooks is highly user-friendly and easy to navigate and use, even if you have never used any accounting software before.
That is a steal for many young business owners who want to get rid of the hassle of bookkeeping and tracking expenses. Even a first-time user will find Freshbooks an easy-to-use software.
While both this software are extremely popular, there might be confusion on which one you should choose for your business.
Let us clear that confusion, here we will be comparing and discussing both these platforms and deciding which is better and which one should you choose.
Before choosing the accounting software, you must know all the features and benefits of each software. This will better make you understand which software is more suited for your needs.
We will be discussing the pros and cons of both these tools, their pricing, their features and in what scenario should you choose either.
Freshbooks – PROS and CONS
Let’s quickly look at where Freshbooks excels and where it falls short.
PROS
1. User Friendly
If you are a new business owner and never used accounting software in your life, then Freshbooks can offer you an easier and more user-friendly user interface. This will ensure that your learning curb is not too steep.
2. Timestamp to record your work
Freshbooks offers time recording features which allow you to even track the amount of time you spend on each client. This is especially useful if you are a freelancer or offer services rather than retail goods.
3. Less expensive
Freshbooks is a solid accounting tool with reasonable pricing. Freshbooks offers competitive pricing compared to other cloud accounting platforms. This can be useful if you do not want to spend too much money on an accounting software. Freshbooks also has a free trial allowing you to try the software before confirming your purchase.
CONS
1. Designed for small or single-owned businesses
Freshbooks has a more small-scale approach compared to other accounting software. If you are planning to run a rather medium or large-sized business, then Freshbooks might not be adequate for all your needs. Lack of features like inventory management, vendor tracking etc. will turn out to be a shortcoming in the long run.
2. Lack of features on mobile
Although Freshbooks does have a dedicated mobile app on both IOS and Android platforms, the app itself does not have all the features. Certain features like reporting are not accessible on the mobile platform.
3. Fewer features compared to competitors
Although very popular and a more affordable option, Freshbooks also at times lacks features that are offered by other similar accounting platforms.
Is Quickbooks is the right choice?
Why would I choose Quickbooks? If you are looking to see if Quickbooks is the best software for your needs, then these scenarios can better explain if Quickbooks is the right accounting software for you.
If you want to have just one accounting software to track all your finances and don’t like to use multiple software, then there is a high chance Quickbooks is the software for you.
Quickbooks is one of the most powerful accounting software and is always a great choice to update all your finances.
If you are running a business that sells products or retail goods, then Quickbooks can be extremely helpful for you.
Quickbooks allows you to record daily sales from different channels and also keep track of your inventory to know your items in stock.
Quickbooks is also arguably better for medium-sized businesses. Quickbooks offers a more scalable option than Freshbooks. This also makes it better for fast-growing businesses where there is a potential for more growth.
Quickbooks can adapt easily to your business growth. There can be tools or features that might be helpful to your business when it grows to make Quickbooks a more long-term advantage as well.
Along with cloud accounting, Quickbooks can be a one-stop solution for all your financial management issues.
Packed with features, Quickbooks software and user experience can seem a bit overwhelming at first for new users. But the complexity also comes with its functionality and usability.
Is Freshbooks for you?
Freshbooks also seem like an equally good option. Now you might be confused about which one to select. Here are a few instances to compare if Freshbooks is a more suited platform for your finance tracking.
If you run a single-person business or work as a freelancer, Freshbooks might be the better choice out of the two. This is because Freshbooks is more oriented toward small or single-owner businesses.
The user interface of Freshbooks also attracts more small businesses and freelancers. Around 20% of Freshbooks users are in self-employed fields like marketing and freelancing. Contrary to the majority of Quickbooks users being accountants.
Freshbooks also offers features like time tracking. This helps you to analyze the time you spent on each client if you work as a freelancer. You can further mark these hours as working hours and Freshbooks can automatically invoice the time you spent working.
Also if you are using accounting software for the first time, you might not want to grab all the features without knowing if they will be helpful for your business. In such cases using software like Freshbooks is more convenient and logical.
Freshbooks has always been given high ratings for ease of use and it won’t disappoint if what you want is to remove accounting complexity.
Freshbooks also has a better customer service system, giving timely replies to queries and support.
Pricing
Quickbooks and Freshbooks are two very popular accounting tools. Both of them are rather affordable and have various subscription plans to suit your needs.
Although Freshbooks seems like a more affordable option at first glance, Quickbooks does not fail to deliver for the money you spend.
Quickbooks
Quickbooks basic essential plan starts at $25/month. This is their base plan and it comes with most of the features that you would require to run a business.
With the essentials plan, you can track expenses, income, invoices, capture receipts, accept payments etc.
All in all, if you are running a rather large business, the Quickbooks Essentials plan will satisfy most of your needs. The main drawback of the essentials plan is access to only one user.
The next plus plan is available for $70/month. The plus plan offers further features like time and inventory tracking.
This plan also has access to more reports. You can also have two user access to your account. If you have a fast-growing business, then opting for the plus plan might be more suited for your needs.
Their highest plan, advanced is priced at $150/month. The advanced plan comes with features like batch invoicing automated approvals and even custom reporting fields.
Freshbooks
Freshbooks starts with a more affordable essentials plan. Freshbooks’ lite plan starts at $15/month. This is especially useful for freelancers and small-scale single-owner businesses.
A disadvantage of the lite plan is the maximum number of billable clients. The lite plan only allows you to manage and invoice a maximum of 5 billable clients.
The plus plan starting at $25/month increases the maximum amount of manageable clients to 50. This plan includes unlimited proposals and recurring invoice management. This plan costs the same as Quickbooks basic plan.
The premium plan starting at $50/month allows you to manage up to 500 clients. It also comes with all the features of lite and plus plan like, double entry reports, scheduled late fees, client retainers etc.
Final Thoughts
From this comparison, it is evident that both the platforms are priced almost similar. Although the features offered by both are different. Therefore we can say that pricing is not a very strong point of comparison as both the software are priced at a similar price range.
This means it will be better to choose your preferred accounting software according to the features and tools that each provides at your desired price range.
If managing clients and tracking time is more important to you, then Freshbooks might be the better choice for you.
If you want features like inventory tracking and running advanced reports then Quickbooks should be your choice.
Either way, both of these platforms are rather popular and robust accounting software with their features and functionality.
Now that we have given you a clear idea of what is Quickbooks and Freshbooks, it might have become easier for you to decide which one will better suit your needs.
One thing to be noted is that both these software have their limitations and shortcomings. So choosing either one of these does not mean a one-way ticket to all your needs.
Quickbooks and Freshbooks are just two popular options available for accounting and business finance management. Multiple other accounting tools are available that might be better fitted to your needs.
Do we know of any such alternative options?
In fact, we do 🙂
ProfitBooks is one such alternate accounting software that is designed for business owners. It is a well-designed and amazing accounting platform that offers extensive features and tools.
ProfitBooks – An Alternative to Quickbooks or Freshbooks?
ProfitBooks is an easy-to-use and powerful accounting tool that lets you track your business expenses, income, transactions, manage your inventory etc.
The user-friendly user interface makes using ProfitBooks easy even for someone without any prior accounting knowledge.
It has most of the features offered by Quickbooks and Freshbooks.
Right from purchase to sales, ProfitBooks offers easy tools to manage the business operations.
ProfitBooks is online accounting software. This means you can track your accounts from multiple platforms and keep yourself updated on your business’s performance. You can also track your data with your accountant for better tracking and bookkeeping for your business.
Most of the accounting software available offer a paid subscription plan for their features. This also means you might have to subscribe to a higher paid service if you want to unlock all the tools offered by the software.
ProfitBooks on the contrary offers only 2 plans:
- Startup plan which is completely free
- SMB plan with just a nominal fee of INR 499/month for Indian users and 15 USD/month for other users to unlock their entire catalogue and features.
ProfitBooks also offers one the best customer service and support. They have a dedicated and robust customer support team, with fast response and action. With a dedicated in chat system available 5 days of the week.
Apart from this, ProfitBooks also offers bookkeeping service for business owners who do not want to hire a full-time accountant.
In a nutshell, ProfitBooks has a lot of features and tools that will be especially beneficial to small or medium sized businesses. If you want to a robust and dynamic accounting platform with excellent customer support, easy user interface at an affordable price, then I suggest you definitely check out ProfitBooks.
I assure you it won’t disappoint you. ProfitBooks will be the perfect tool for your day to day and long term business accounting needs.
Find out how ProfitBooks can help you with your accounting needs! Create your account for free today.
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Top 12 FREE Software For Small Businesses
