QuickBooks Desktop vs FreshBooks: Full Accounting or Simple Invoicing?

▶ At a Glance

▶ Where FreshBooks Shines

▶ Where QuickBooks Desktop Shines

▶ Who Should Choose Which?

▶ Growing Out of FreshBooks

▶ Three Real-World Scenarios

▶ Questions to Ask Before You Decide

▶ FAQs

At a Glance

Where FreshBooks Shines

• Easy invoicing. Beautiful invoices, online payments and automatic reminders with almost no learning curve.
• Time tracking. Track hours against clients and projects and turn them into invoices in a couple of clicks.
• Anywhere access. Works in any browser and on your phone.
• Client-friendly. Clients can view, comment on and pay invoices online.

Where QuickBooks Desktop Shines

• Real accounting depth. Full chart of accounts, journal entries, class tracking, budgets and a huge report library.
• Inventory and purchasing. Purchase orders, receiving, reorder points and, in Enterprise, multiple locations and barcodes.
• Industry editions. Contractor, manufacturing, nonprofit, retail and professional services versions in Premier and Enterprise.
• Pay once. One-time licenses with no monthly bill. See our pricing guide.
• Accountant-friendly. Most US accountants work with QuickBooks Desktop files every day.

Who Should Choose Which?

FreshBooks is a great fit if:

• You're a freelancer, consultant or small service business
• Invoicing and getting paid is 90% of your bookkeeping
• You don't hold inventory
• You want to work from anywhere

QuickBooks Desktop is a better fit if:

• You sell products and track inventory
• You have employees, subcontractors or jobs to cost
• You need detailed reports for lenders, investors or your accountant
• You want to own your software instead of renting it

Growing Out of FreshBooks

A common story: a business starts on FreshBooks, grows, hires, starts holding stock, and the accountant begins asking for reports FreshBooks can't easily produce. That's usually the moment to move to QuickBooks. Export your clients and items from FreshBooks, import them into QuickBooks Desktop, and start with opening balances at a clean cut-off date like the start of a quarter.

Three Real-World Scenarios

A solo web designer

Invoices go out to a dozen clients a month, there's no inventory and no staff. FreshBooks is quick, pleasant and does everything needed. QuickBooks Desktop would be more than this business needs today.

A plumbing company with five vans

Jobs, parts, subcontractors, payroll and a bookkeeper who needs real reports. QuickBooks Desktop Premier Contractor is the better tool, with job costing and purchase orders that FreshBooks doesn't really cover. Our contractor guide shows the setup.

A boutique that sells online and in store

Stock levels, reorder points and cost of goods sold matter every week. QuickBooks Desktop handles inventory properly; FreshBooks doesn't. See our retail guide.

Questions to Ask Before You Decide

• Do we sell products, or only our time?
• Will we hire employees or subcontractors in the next two years?
• Does our accountant need detailed reports at year-end?
• Would we rather pay once or pay monthly forever?

Frequently Asked Questions