Freshbooks vs Zoho Invoice

May 17, 2023 | Author: Michael Stromann
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Freshbooks
FreshBooks is an online invoicing software as a service for freelancers, small businesses, agencies, and professionals. The product includes a myriad of other related features, such as time tracking, expense tracking, recurring billing, online payment collection, the ability to mail invoices through the U.S. Post, and support tickets.
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Zoho Invoice
Zoho Invoice is the easiest way to invoice your customers. It helps create, send and manage your invoices online. Using Zoho Invoice you can track customer payments and also accept online payments from customers. In this section let's take a quick look at some of its invoicing features
FreshBooks and Zoho Invoice are both popular cloud-based invoicing and accounting software, but they have distinct features and target different user needs. FreshBooks offers a user-friendly interface and is designed for small businesses and freelancers who require streamlined invoicing, time tracking, expense management, and basic accounting features. It also integrates with popular payment gateways and provides professional invoice templates. Zoho Invoice, on the other hand, caters to a wider range of businesses, offering advanced features like recurring billing, client portal access, project management, and multi-currency support. It is part of the larger Zoho suite of business applications, allowing for seamless integration with other Zoho tools. Zoho Invoice is ideal for businesses seeking comprehensive invoicing and accounting capabilities, while FreshBooks is suited for freelancers and small businesses in need of a user-friendly and efficient invoicing solution.

See also: Top 10 Online Accounting software
Freshbooks vs Zoho Invoice in our news:

2021. Zoho Invoice is now free for SMBs



Zoho Invoice is now offering complete free access to small and medium-sized businesses. This decision reflects Zoho's strong dedication to empowering the SMB community. With Zoho Invoice becoming free, the developers are reinforcing their commitment to enhance user experience by investing in regular updates and new features. The ultimate goal is to streamline the invoicing process and make it as simple as possible for users.


2015. Freshbooks allowed to invoice clients faster



FreshBooks, the online accounting software, has introduced three enhancements to streamline your billing process. The addition of a search box at the top of the list allows you to quickly find specific clients by typing their names, ensuring that only relevant results are displayed. Creating a new client directly from the New Invoice screen is now more convenient as the "New Client" field is prominently positioned at the top of your client list, simplifying the process of adding new clients. Additionally, any updates made to a client's contact information, such as their address or phone number, will be instantly reflected on all unsent invoices for that client. Previously sent invoices will retain the original information by default, but you have the option to manually update them if necessary. This improvement eliminates the need for redundant data entry, which is particularly beneficial for efficiency-minded users.


2014. Zoho Invoice became available for Windows Surface and Windows Phone



The Windows phone and Windows Surface users can now access and utilize the Zoho Invoice app. With this app, users can efficiently manage their income and expenses, whether they are in the office or on the go. It offers the ability to create invoices within minutes and send them to clients with just a tap. Payments can be recorded as soon as the invoice is paid, ensuring accurate tracking. The app also simplifies the process of tracking reimbursable expenses. Users can conveniently add all their contacts using either a tablet or a phone. The Dashboard provides Quick Insights, offering valuable information at a glance. Additionally, time tracking for projects becomes effortless, allowing users to log the time spent on tasks or start a timer directly from their Windows Phone app.


2010. Zoho Invoice 2.0 becomes an online accounting app



Zoho released version 2.0 of its online invoicing service Zoho Invoice. One of the major updates is the appearance of Expenses module, so now the service can be used as an online accounting app for service companies. Of course, it lacks legal compliance, but it's a great solution for estimating, tracking time, money expenses and revenues. In addition, the latest release includes a beautiful design, multi-user access to the company account (for collaboration) and an open API, that enables to integrate Zoho Invoice with other applications. Thanks to the tighter integration with Zoho Mail you can link email history which tracks your email exchanges with your clients to the invoice. ***


2009. FreshBooks comes to Salesforce AppExchange

FreshBooks, the widely used Web-based invoicing software, has made an exciting announcement regarding its integration with Salesforce.com CRM. This collaboration proves to be a perfect match, particularly for sales-related activities. With the introduction of the FreshBooks Connector for Salesforce, enterprises can seamlessly generate invoices for contacts or opportunities directly within their CRM system. The functionality of converting contacts and opportunities in Salesforce.com into invoices appears to be a straightforward process. Moreover, apart from facilitating the transfer of data between platforms, the Connector establishes a dedicated tab within your CRM, allowing you to track activities related to your 20 most recent invoices. While the app offers a 15-day free trial, subsequent usage comes at a cost of $50 per month per organization.


2009. FreshBooks adds collaboration features

FreshBooks, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) invoice application, is introducing a networking capability to its software, enabling direct collaboration between freelancers and small businesses within the program and facilitating the sharing of information. With the new "Contractor" feature, FreshBooks users can now create and collaborate on client projects across different FreshBooks accounts, allowing multiple users to access various accounts simultaneously. Previously, collaboration on projects across the internet was not possible within FreshBooks. Additionally, the Contractor feature offers real-time project tracking, providing businesses with visibility into a contractor's ongoing progress on a project.


2009. FreshBooks - online billing for small business



There are numerous online billing services available on the Web, each offering their own unique blend of usability and relevance to businesses. However, if you're seeking a straightforward solution that simplifies monitoring your billing cycles, FreshBooks is an excellent starting point. FreshBooks streamlines the management of clients, projects, and, most importantly, invoices. This tool facilitates the generation of recurring invoices and automates the billing process for customers. Furthermore, it is relatively cost-effective, with the option to use basic invoicing for free or pay up to $149 per month to grant additional employees access to the account. In addition to the ability to import from and export to QuickBooks and CSV files, FreshBooks seamlessly integrates with popular payment processing solutions like PayPal. Its intuitive design enables swift completion of invoicing tasks. However, the most valuable feature lies in its tracking capabilities. If you currently employ a rudimentary billing system, you may encounter difficulties in remembering when payments were made or received. FreshBooks eliminates this issue by providing a menu pane that displays outstanding and historical payments, allowing you to stay informed about incoming revenue. Moreover, if you have concerns about the appearance of your invoices, you have the freedom to customize them according to your preferences, including the option to incorporate your company logo.


2008. Zoho Invoice - Review

Zoho Invoice, an invoicing service offered by Zoho, complements their range of on-demand solutions. It competes with similar services like FreshBooks and follows a freemium pricing model, offering the product for free to contractors generating five or fewer invoices per month. The user experience is straightforward, with a tabbed interface separating different functions. While it integrates with other Zoho products, it still feels like a separate offering. Zoho Invoice provides customization options, allows data sharing with CRM and project management systems, and offers features such as automated thank-you notes and invoice reminders. It supports multiple currencies and tax lines, and integrates with PayPal and Google Checkout for seamless invoicing and payment receipting. The real value of Zoho Invoice lies in its integration with other Zoho products, although there is potential for more cross-application aggregation. Security is ensured through Zoho's comprehensive security policy and data storage in Tier 1 data centers. While the service allows data export, a complete data dump option would be desirable. Zoho Invoice also offers APIs for integration with its own products and data importation from other platforms. Overall, Zoho Invoice provides a robust and user-friendly invoicing solution, with additional benefits like multi-tax and multi-currency support.


2008. Online Invoicing Service FreshBooks Takes Industry Benchmarks Public

FreshBooks, an online invoicing and business time management service, is introducing quarterly anonymized benchmarks for various industries such as web development, IT, design, and marketing. The purpose is to provide the public with concrete financial statistics specific to each sector, enabling businesses to set and achieve goals. FreshBooks is leveraging data from its extensive clientele to offer these benchmarks, recognizing that understanding one's performance relative to others is crucial in a competitive industry. While too much data can be overwhelming, FreshBooks' generalized approach benefits both contributors and consumers by providing perspective and insights for company managers. With over 500,000 users, FreshBooks has accumulated substantial data over the past year and a half, allowing them to compile valuable information. While there is a sales pitch involved, the provided benchmarks have significant value, attracting a majority of users who appreciate FreshBooks' transparent approach. Overall, this move by FreshBooks is considered a smart and positive decision, offering concise and helpful benchmarks to assist businesses.


2008. Zoho adds strong Invoice app to growing business suite

Zoho introduces Zoho Invoice, the latest addition to its expanding suite of paid business-focused web-based applications. Zoho Invoice offers a clean, user-friendly, and flexible invoicing service. It provides a variety of attractive invoice templates for goods and services, or users can customize their own. Converting estimates into invoices is a seamless process, and the application incorporates a robust template system that automatically sends form email cover letters along with attached invoices or estimates in PDF format. The system includes payment tracking and aging reports, offering the ability to send dunning letters and apply flat or percentage-rate fees for late transactions. Customers can make payments via PayPal, although credit card processing is not supported. The application supports multiple currencies and tax rates, although the initial version does not include pre-populated tax rates for different states or regions. Four service levels will be available, with pricing tightly grouped. The most expensive tier costs only $35 per month and permits up to 1,500 invoices per period.

Author: Michael Stromann
Michael is an expert in IT Service Management, IT Security and software development. With his extensive experience as a software developer and active involvement in multiple ERP implementation projects, Michael brings a wealth of practical knowledge to his writings. Having previously worked at SAP, he has honed his expertise and gained a deep understanding of software development and implementation processes. Currently, as a freelance developer, Michael continues to contribute to the IT community by sharing his insights through guest articles published on several IT portals. You can contact Michael by email stromann@liventerprise.com