Over the last few weeks I’ve found myself recommending Freshbooks over and over to people. I kind of feel like a broken record but the problem is that there are still a lot of people who are not aware of FreshBooks and what they have to offer.

Here’s a quick overview of information on FreshBooks you may be missing for those of you who may be looking for a billing/time tracking/invoice solution.

Pricing

The primary concern most people have when looking for a solution for billing/time tracking software is the price. It’s easy to pay a one time price of $29 or $49 to get a desktop app and not have to worry about recurring monthly payments.

Granted, it’s cheaper to buy a desktop application in the long haul. However, you’ll be missing out on a lot of features you just won’t be able to get with a desktop application (which we’ll get into later). With that in mind, FreshBooks might be cheaper than you think.

FreshBooks has several levels of accounts to meet everyone’s needs (which you can see here). I personally use the “Shuttle Bus” plan at $14 per month.

Here’s where I hear the most complaints with FreshBooks. Lots of people have had tons of clients over the years and 25, 100 or even 500 just isn’t enough for some people. Yet $89 per month is a lot to pay to get above 500 clients. Here’s the information you’re missing.

Client Allotment

Your client allotment (25 for the “Shuttle Bus”) is only a count of your active clients. When a client is no longer active, you just “delete” them. When you “delete” a client, you’re not actually deleting them from the system. They go into a “deleted” list which you can go back into and recover a client any time you want. So their information and everything is still available should they become active again or you should need it for some reason.

The advantage here is that you retain the client information without the client counting against your allotment.

Custom Packages

If all you need is a higher client allotment, you can customize your package to only increase what you need. Let’s say I need at least 100 clients but I don’t need to add an extra staff member. I can add 250 clients for $10 per month extra, saving me $3 per month.

Now my client allotment will be 275 total. It’s much more than I really need but it’s a little cheaper than upgrading my plan to $27 per month. Plus, it gives me much more head room to add more active clients than actually upgrading to the next plan which only has a 100 client allotment.

Why go with FreshBooks?

For some people a desktop app may be a great choice. For most people, I think FreshBooks is a better choice. I hear things like, “What invoicing app can I use for PC that is like this one on Mac”.

1. FreshBooks is platform independent. Use it on Mac, PC or Linux.
2. FreshBooks is in “the cloud” which means you can access your billing/time tracking from anywhere in the world, not just on your computer.
3. FreshBooks backs up and secures data much better than almost anyone else will be able to do with a normal desktop application.
4. You can try it for free, without being forced to purchase anything after 30 or 60 days like desktop apps.
5. FreshBooks has features that desktop apps can’t provide, yet it’s flexible enough for users from beginner to large professional companies.

Features

Instead of showing all the great features here, I’ll recommend that you go to FreshBooks’ features page and take a look there. Here’s a brief list of them though.

• Invoicing
• Time Tracking
• Estimates
• Clients & Staff
• Contractors
• Branding

Features You Won’t Get With A Desktop App

Online payments using a variety of payment systems. When you setup a new client you are setting up an account for them to log into, view their invoices, make payments, etc. This makes payments for your clients really easy and helps everyone keep track of time and money.

Collaborate with a team. You can add staff members or even contractors so you can work together to keep track of your time, clients and invoices.

Automatic recurring invoices are easy. FreshBooks lets you automatically invoice your clients on a set schedule that you decide. No need to process emails or snail mail, FreshBooks takes care of everything once you’ve set it up.

Invoice via snail mail without visiting the post office. I hate having to go to the post office so I can mail things, especially invoices. If your clients still prefer snail mail (or both email and snail mail) you can send it out from within FreshBooks from the comfort of your chair. You’ll have to pay for the stamps but that’s a small price to pay for this luxury.

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Seriously, if you’re looking for a billing, invoicing, time tracking, etc. solution, take a few minutes and look at the features FreshBook’s provides. They will most likely be able to do anything you need and more.

Last Notes

I am not trying to sell you something here, I’m just a very happy customer voicing my opinion on FreshBooks and why people should at least give it a look. I’ve been recommending FreshBooks to people a lot lately so I thought a blog post about it might help.

If you do decide to sign up for FreshBooks though, throw me a bone and use my affiliate link (everyone gets one when they sign up). It won’t cost you anything and it could potentially help me.