QuickBooks vs FreshBooks – Which Is Better?
FreshBooks and QuickBooks are the most well-known options if your business accounting needs an upgrade. These cloud-based accounting apps can help your company go further into digital transformation. That’s the general trend for businesses nowadays, so you will need to keep up by adopting programs like these two.
You will have to weigh your options carefully. Your accounting app should have the features your business needs and fit your budget. This guide can help with that, as I will discuss more details regarding this accounting software. Let’s see which one’s best for your brand!
I’ll cover the many ways online accounting software helps businesses, such as QuickBooks. Then, I’ll talk about the features of QuickBooks and FreshBooks, so you can see which one to pick. I’ll also include additional tips, such as choosing other accounting apps.
Why do businesses need accounting software?
The biggest reason businesses need accounting apps is that the world is “going digital.” You may not realize it, but this transformation is happening all around you.
For example, more countries are buying and selling stuff online. Some countries prefer online transfer apps over using bills and coins. This means businesses should adopt as well.
If you’re a business owner, you will need a platform to process these transactions. More importantly, you will need accounting software that can record them regularly.
That’s not the only thing it can do, though. Here are the other features you can find in apps like FreshBooks and QuickBooks:
- Accounting software reduces calculation errors. A decimal point in the wrong place can mess up your monthly balance sheet!
- They can crunch the numbers much faster than your accountant did it by hand.
- These apps can also reduce spending since you won’t need that much time and effort to perform the computations.
- What’s more, these apps can give you accurate reports about your finances. They often have a template that users can easily fill out, so it’s faster than writing the reports manually.
- Online account solutions let you see all your financial info in one place.
- Apps like QuickBooks and FreshBooks work with tax return software so that you can file those much easier too.
Does this mean you don’t need an accountant anymore? No, because you will need someone who understands how the program computes the figures.
Your accountant can make sure the apps get the correct data so you get the correct results. Remember that apps are just tools, so you will need someone with skills to use them.
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What are the features of QuickBooks?
Now that you know why you need accounting software let’s talk about an example like Quickbooks. It’s been part of the Intuit family of products since 1983.
If that name rings a bell, that’s because it’s one of the major tax return services right now. Here are the features you can get from QuickBooks Online:
- Sending invoices and quotes
- Organizing expenses
- Syncing with bank accounts
- Tracking sales taxes on expenses and income
- Facilitating inventory management
- Taking images of your receipts
- Providing reports and insights
- Supporting various fiat currencies
- Keeping your information safe
- Letting you access these features on a mobile app
What’s more, it has a pricing plan just for freelancers. This is a great option because more people are working from home nowadays. Here are the features of the Self-Employed Plan:
- Track earnings and spending
- Recording and organizing receipts
- Compute taxes every quarter
- Monitoring how much you’re traveling for work and personal reasons
- Providing basic reports
This one is $7.00 every month, but the regular one starts at $12.00 per month. The features you get will depend on your payment plan.
What are the features of FreshBooks?
As the name suggests, FreshBooks is a “fresher” option than QuickBooks because it came out in 2003. Here are the things this accounting software can do for you:
- It lets you make invoices within seconds.
- Similar to QuickBooks, you can capture receipt data by taking a picture.
- What’s more, it allows you to keep track of project spending.
- FreshBooks offers time tracking, so you can see how productive you and your team members are.
- It lets you access files and projects in one place.
- FreshBooks supports multiple payment options so that you can get paid faster.
- What’s more, this accounting app helps you prepare financial reports and tax returns.
- FreshBooks has the tools to make double-entry accounting easier for your accountant.
- Like QuickBooks, you can access all these features from the FreshBooks app.
You can start using FreshBooks at $4.50 a month for the Lite plan. However, this low price might not be the best when you consider the features it provides.
When is QuickBooks or FreshBooks a good choice?
Accounting apps are that there’s no option that truly is the best for every business. That’s because brands have different needs that only specific apps can meet.
Take QuickBooks and FreshBooks as examples. They’re great for certain types of businesses. You might want to try the former if any of these match your needs:
- QuickBooks is a good pick if you offer products because of its relevant features. It lets you see daily sales from shopping cart apps like Shopify. You may also keep track of your inventory and other accounting info.
- This accounting software is also ideal if you want a solution that does it all instead of using several ones.
- QuickBooks is better suited for growing businesses than FreshBooks. It has many features that can satisfy a mid-sized brand or larger, but it may overwhelm startups.
On the other hand, FreshBooks is best for small business owners and freelancers. You might want to choose this accounting app if your needs are similar to the ones below:
- This might just be the accounting app you need if you’re a freelancer. Just like QuickBooks, it helps you track how much you’ve traveled for work. This is important for freelancers who have to meet clients face-to-face.
- It’s also good for small business accounting. While FreshBooks may seem complicated at first, it provides quite many features at a low price.
- This might be the best app if you need an accounting solution to set up quickly. That way, you can get straight into improving your business.
- FreshBooks might be the right accounting app if you need quick customer support. It has a website contact form, an email address managed by people, and multiple toll-free phone numbers.
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Final thoughts
That’s the gist of what QuickBooks and FreshBooks can do for your business. If you need more details, reach out to their respective websites.
Otherwise, you may search the internet for a lot of alternatives. For example, you might want to sign up for a business account on Google WorkSpace.
What’s more, you could read more Inquirer USA for the latest business trends and other small business management tools. See how much more you can improve your company.
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