FreshBooks Invoicing App Reviews

by Jo2jo

update may2020- time tracking is still broken.

update (after using for 2months-mar2020)-
i’m pretty disappointed with this apps time logging functionality. there is a clear bug where logging time will often get stuck on “today” (but it’s infact 1 or 2 days behind, even after pulling down to sync), so you will enter time log entries but they will be recorded a few days back. big issue where i’m now logging several times on a saturday or sunday for a client when it’s infact a monday. and sadly app updates are not released very frequently. for 25$ a mo per user, users should expect (and get) a lot more. (that’s nearly 3x netflix monthly fee, for a pretty basic cloud based app/db). will update review if this improves.

4.8* avg, really?? I hope i’m missing something-

There are no settings in FreshBooksInvoicingApp . thus no way to customize it at all. ie when i log time i never use the timer, often use the same service , yet each time i have to click and choose each of these. there should be a setting for your defaults. quite a few things tell you to use a web browser (not a big deal though)

FreshBooksInvoicingApp is always slow to open ( ie you tap it, get the blue freshbooks screen for 5-10s and then your in (not a login issue bc am already logged in).

FreshBooksInvoicingApp needs some improvements and ability for settings / defaults.

by Boosh Mcvandergunz

FreshBooksInvoicingApp used to be passable, now it’s useless. Info doesn’t update. Can’t search. Works sporadically. Forgets I’m a registered user. The only thing worse is the website that constantly crashes or worse, after you’ve spent hours invoicing or typing up a bid, becomes unresponsive not allowing you to save or send the bid/invoice out. So you have to close out and start all over again. I’m in the process of researching 3rd party software that will allow me to take my data and my business elsewhere. Stay away and if you are already in, run.

Edit: In response to the developers comments on my review, these issues aren’t new. There have been numerous qol and productivity issues caused when you made the great transition. FreshBooksInvoicingApp version also doesn’t solve the web interface issues that have been a problem and reported numerous times by myself and the owner. I don’t know why you made so many unnecessary changes but it took your product from “not comprehensive, but passable” to “a row of speed bumps on the road of productivity” As soon as I find a way to migrate all of my clients and other pertinent data, I will.

by Biggy Jones

I WILL NEVER USE FRESHBOOKS AGAIN. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND ANYONE USE THEIR SERVICE. I AM SWITCHING TO QUICKBOOKS. ——- I’m so upset with Freshbooks. For the past few years, I have used their service and it has worked fine. Just over 3 weeks ago, all of a sudden they decided that I need to verify my business address and are requiring documentation. As a result, they are withholding my paycheck. I will not able to pay my bills. I’ve been trying to work with them to sort it out, have called 4 or 5 times, and their support team has completely failed to resolve this issue. In addition, their third party fund distributor ‘WePay’ has no support team. No one to talk to. All you get is an automated email with the same information every time. Freshbooks ‘WePay’ should rebrand as ‘WeWon’tPay’ —- BEWARE.

by 24 Solo

I run a software development team and I can recognize poor QA when I see it. I can always tell a deployment happened in FreshBooks recently, because things start going wrong. This week, I had the secondary contacts list suddenly disappear. This affected our ability to send out an invoice on time, which for a small business is a crippling problem. Then I encountered the next bug. I needed to re-login. This is no big deal as this is how I always know they’ve changed something. When I tried to enter my credentials, it took me to a dialog forcing me to create a new account. There was no ability to go back to a screen to log in. Even clearing FreshBooksInvoicingApp out of memory took me right past the log in screen to the create new account dialog. The only fix was to uninstall FreshBooksInvoicingApp and reinstall. That’s such an amateur oversight that one would not expect from an established application. This only comes up when there is no real application testing to verify that it’s actually usable versus the devs just meeting requirements. This bug doesn’t sound like a big deal except that when I’m trying to start the clock on-site at the client’s location, I can’t be seen playing on my phone.

by DontIknowYou

I’ve had nothing but issues with the functionality of FreshBooksInvoicingApp starting about 6 months ago after they did an update and it hasn’t gotten any better. The log in screen wouldn’t go away and you would have to swipe down to dismiss it. I started having issues tracking mileage if I didn’t sign in right before a drive and now since the last update 4 days ago I can’t even do that and I’m stuck on the log in screen! How am I supposed to run a business like that? Don’t get me wrong I love the program and the software is great….when I can use it. FreshBooksInvoicingApp needs work!

by Dovetail Ww

As a sole proprietor, my time is my profit and not being able to accurately track time is problematic when billing my customers. Fresh books has a recurring problem of time tracking issues. If you’re actually able to get in touch with a customer service representative, their advice will be to delete FreshBooksInvoicingApp and reinstall hoping this takes care of the problem. I’ve done that several times over several years sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Please FreshBooks fix this problem once and for all! I have to go to a different app in order to track my time which eliminates the convenience of tracking from my accounting app. The time tracking is probably the most use option in my business and it works about 50% of the time; unacceptable.

by Badbluesman

I only use the mobile app for entering expenses and uploading photos of receipts. Other more detailed functions are difficult to do with thumbs. However a bug in the expense module has persisted on and off for many months: after entering all data you often hit the save button only to see all of your tedious thumb work vanish instantly! The only remedy is to re-enter the expense info on your desktop or laptop machine and then use the mobile app to upload the receipt photo. So at this point FreshBooksInvoicingApp is a time waster rather than a time saver.

Another thing: why isn’t it possible to edit an existing expense to make it a recurring expense? Instead, you have to delete your previous entry and start over to create a recurring expense. Another time waster.

How about adding a mileage field to the time tracking module? That way, the user could track mileage and see a total at the end of the year. The IRS requires record keeping to support mileage deductions. Adding a mileage field to time tracking would create the fastest, easiest possible way to comply with the IRS on mileage. I have probably requested this feature 20 times on support calls. It seems to be falling on deaf ears.

by BreezyP.

I can tell within my first month of using FreshBooksInvoicingApp that it’s going to make my life much easier during tax time. However, PLEASE fix the mileage tracker! It doesn’t track all of my trips, and if I’m lucky it’ll track a small portion of some trips. I have the iPhone 13, and I have restarted my phone and uninstalled & reinstalled FreshBooksInvoicingApp multiple times, so I know it’s not my phone. I drive a lot and I don’t want to pay for & depend on third party mileage tracking apps. I just want the native FreshBooks mileage tracker to work properly so I can have everything I need in one place. Other than that, FreshBooksInvoicingApp is wonderful ❤️

by Parkenter

You have a great app but I can’t access my account during business hours on a Saturday. I’ve been trying to trouble shoot why I can’t get into my profile. It simply told me try again in 30 seconds because of a error.

After trying and trying to access my account and perform very necessary tasks for my business on a Saturday morning it still didn’t work.

Only to google and trouble shoot myself I found the issue. There is scheduled maintenance for FreshBooksInvoicingApp and they shut all their users out and don’t allow them access to their accounts. It’s a horrible practice with even worse timing. Will be looking into a different app after this issue.

Everything else about FreshBooksInvoicingApp is super solid so this seems like a fixable problem but it’s very upsetting to have FreshBooksInvoicingApp you use for work shut down your work day and cripple productivity for seemingly no good reason. Fix it.

by Le Mew

I use the desktop version often, but I get behind on entering expenses and income. I hoped that having FreshBooksInvoicingApp on my phone would get me into the habit of entering them right away. However, FreshBooksInvoicingApp does not seem to have a way to enter income, and to be honest it is not easy to get to where you add income on the desktop version either. It’s quite frustrating.

I do like the ability to create my own categories for expenses, but it would be really nice to be able to split a receipt into several categories. I have to enter one receipt several times in order to have more than one category in a purchase.

by BadBrain13

I’ve been trying out FreshBooks for a few weeks and while it’s still lacking in some areas, it is pretty good for a free app. I needed something to track/log expenses, mileage, hours and invoices. I use FreshBooksInvoicingApp along with the online version and set up was fairly straightforward. Both versions are easy to use and I like that the functionality I’m using is free. I like the “duplicate” feature for expenses in the online version and hope they add it to FreshBooksInvoicingApp soon as it makes logging expenses on the go quicker. I also wish they’d provide the ability to attach more than one image to any given expense. For instance when logging expenses for a trip I would like to be able to bundle the expenses with a combined total and attach multiple receipts to a single expense record. I also wish there was a way to have daily recurring expenses (like parking or mileage) for a given project, instead of just weekly/monthly. Trying to log my parking and mileage daily via FreshBooksInvoicingApp without the duplicate feature gets tedious. However in the end this is a free app that still has a lot of features so it’s hard to be too critical.

by Johnny Marsz

From the perspective of a small business owner with no accounting or tax knowledge, I LOVE Freshbooks. My CPA isn't a big fan of my reports, though. This could be due to the fact that Freshbooks is not a U.S. Company, so my American CPA isn't a fan of how it compiles the info for reports. I tried QuickBooks, but hated it because like I said, I'm ignorant to accounting and taxes. I give Freshbooks 4/5 stars just because I think there is a tiny little room for improvement. Basically it could be made a little bit more idiot-proof. I'd like to see more preset expense categories with explanations of each, so I'm not putting expenses in the "wrong" categories. I basically love the entire Freshbooks experience up until my CPA emails me in response to me submitting my reports.

by Hjhjhjhhhhh23

I never write reviews but I freaking LOVE FreshBooksInvoicingApp so far. I’m a few days into my free trial and so far everything is amazing!!! The invoices and time tracking are a life saver and time saver! Especially when I’m trying to focus on my design work, social media management, and art! This makes it so I can ACTUALLY focus on work instead of worrying about all the technical stuff :) definitely worth the cost especially considering the time it has saved me! I highly recommend trying it out!

by Tulip&crow

I was introduced to Freshbooks through an entrepreneurial class that I took at a local college, It was highly recommended. After a 30 day free trial, it became abundantly clear that Freshbooks was a seamless fit for my small start-up floral business. I am still learning how to navigate and tweak it with the help of a wonderful and eager support staff just a click away. The tiered pricing options are very attractive whether you are a start up or well seasoned. I could not be more pleased with this product ! Thank you : )

by 907JesseJones

If, as small businesses ness owners, we must pour our “blood, sweat, and tears” into what we do then FreshBooks is the heartbeat that keeps us all going. The ability to quickly enter time and items to automated invoices makes running my businesses almost effortless. The automatic invoicing and auto-pay options keeps the money flowing so that I can pay my employees. I honest don’t know how I would be able to do it all without FreshBooks! Thank you for such an amazing product!!

by Lifestyle Woodworks Inc

I am a contractor and have been using FreshBooks for years. Now I could not live without it. Every time I pay for something I have my phone out and enter the purchase on the spot. I can create and send an invoice as I stand with my customer and they write a check at the same time. I know if I am making money which has helped my business to be more profitable! Plus their customer support is the best I have ever experienced. Thank you FreshBooks for making it easy to be completely on top of my own books and not have to spend my weekends doing it!

by Simprio Cleaning Services

I want to thank all the developers and people that made FreshBooksInvoicingApp happen I don’t usually do reviews but I’m very happy with this software has helped me in many ways to keep my accounting tidy and have a better understanding where my business is going financiallyNot to mention it makes it easy for my clients to pay their invoices at anyway they like I highly recommend it to small businesses or large it has a lot of tools to let you know the health of your business and they keep improving and adding moreFeatures to help your business grow best part of it is easy to use

by Pathallsd

I’ve loved FreshBooks since I made the switch. It’s been incredibly convenient to knock out fast detailed invoices to clients on the run. The iPhone app has made this very easy. I operate a notary service in San Diego, Ca. I work with attorneys and businesses around the city. My clients appreciate the professionalism and convenience of being able to pay online through multiple payment options. Freshbooks has automated and simplified my bookkeeping. I’ve used it for several years and cannot imagine switching back. Thankful for the hard work and commitment of The FreshBooks team to produce such a great product! On another note, thanks for your newsletter with tips for small businesses. Those are awesome!

by Rearnakedu

If you have a small business or a larger one, you have to use this product. For the price it cannot be beat, PERIOD! It's easy to use, even for a caveman like myself. I'm a construction guy who still peck types, and this is a breeze for me to navigate through. In my opinion the new one is better than the old, not worse. Yes some things got moved around, but the things that took there places are well worth the swap or navigation to get to a couple things the old had out front. With a free trial period, you can't go wrong with giving it a spin. Worth every second of your time I promise. And for anyone wondering I'm not being paid or asked to write this. First review I've ever wrote because it deserves it. Thanks

by Apodivore

I’ve tried just about every small business accounting package out there. I don’t like QuickBooks because Intuit lobbies Congress to keep taxes broken. I refuse to use their products for that reason. That leaves me with few options like with the most modern being Wave, Freshbooks and (sort of) Xero. I’ve flirted with Zoho and a few others that seem pretty dowdy compared with the UI aesthetic of Freshbooks.

The project management and timekeeping features are perfect for a consulting firm like mine.

However, the accounting features are quite limited - especially when it comes to tax time. Luckily,our accounting requirements are pretty simple, and the reports are adequate for my accountant to use. He does grumble about it though.

by Be4692

I've LOVED FreshBooks for years, but their new app and redesign has lost time entries, some of which I have screenshots for. I'm certain their development team will fix this eventually, but I've lost records of billable time, and it would be dishonest of me to guess and bill the client.

I would expect something like this will be fixed by around October of 2018. If you're reading this then or later, you're probably in good shape. But right now, I can't trust it and I've been working with their help team for about a week.

Just wanted to put a warning out there. The reason I had to rate it 1 star is that FreshBooks has probably cost me twice what I paid for it this year already because of the flaws.

by Nessa815

FreshBooks as a whole does everything I need, but their app so subpar. It was great until the last 3 mo or so when I realized that entries made on FreshBooksInvoicingApp (expenses, time etc) weren’t syncing with the site. I’ve logged tickets only to be told I need to update FreshBooksInvoicingApp . But not matter how many times I update FreshBooksInvoicingApp or stop and close it or restart the issue persists. Today the only use of FreshBooksInvoicingApp is to see where we’re at as there is no way to actually use it with any degree of safety. In an hourly based small business having faith that the hours I log will be available when I go to invoice is a must have. It’s frustrating that I have to lug out my laptop to safely make these changes.

by Johnny Orphonic

From the perspective of a small business owner with no accounting or tax knowledge, I LOVE Freshbooks. My CPA isn't a big fan of my reports, though. This could be due to the fact that Freshbooks is not a U.S. Company, so my American CPA isn't a fan of how it compiles the info for reports. I tried QuickBooks, but hated it because like I said, I'm ignorant to accounting and taxes. I give Freshbooks 4/5 stars just because I think there is a tiny little room for improvement. Basically it could be made a little bit more idiot-proof. I'd like to see more preset expense categories with explanations of each, so I'm not putting expenses in the "wrong" categories. I basically love the entire Freshbooks experience up until my CPA emails me in response to me submitting my reports.

by Luna, Yeah Like The Moon...

I love FreshBooks. I am a new self maintained business and this is great for many of my needs; invoices, expense tracking, client profiles. Im finding it so easy to be organized and it's making me love my buissness even more.

However, the ONLY thing that I would request, that would make it the perfect app would be milage tracking. I used quickbooks for a while and while I like FreshBooks undoubtedly more, a huge part of my buissness is driving, and a built in milage tracker such as quickbooks would make it a near perfect buissness app I think.

by Wellhungnyc

I’ve been a FreshBooks user for years now and love it! One thing though. Since the new version was launched, there are features that are not yet available on it that were avail on the previous version. So I may switch back to the classic version. It’s been a long Time now and still those features aren’t available.

Other than that I’m a loyal FreshBooks user and expect to be for a long time!

Special shout out to Paola in tech support for being awesome!

by Jho G

After I retired I was asked to do a little consulting. Well that gig has lasted 11 months so far and FreshBooks has kept me organized and getting paid on time. Phone I support is amazing. They answer on two rings and really know their stuff. The also make dumb questions feel not so dumb. Since I take pictures of expense receipts WHEN I sign them I’m not losing them or money as I did while employed full time. One ‘un-lost’ receipt easily pays for the program each month. Happy customer.

by Ljanelle7

FreshBooks his hands down my favorite accounting software out there. The desktop and app versions are easy to use and navigate. Business owners can look professional with customized estimates and proposals. If you have an issue or question, just call and get a super helpful (and friendly) live person almost immediately. I’ll never use anything else.