After much deliberation, I decided to use Freshbooks exclusively in 2009 for my small business. I loved it. It was simple, it was easy to use. It was fast. Paired with Fluid on my Mac, it was almost perfect.
They are decent at adding new functionality, but mostly they just got it right with the core app, except for one thing:
$14 per month.
Doesn’t seem like much, does it? But look at it this way: $168 (one year). Now how about $336 (two years). That is a LOT of money for one tool in a freelancer’s/small business owner’s toolbox.
Less Accounting ($12/mo, $144/yr) and Blinksale ($6/mo, $72/yr) are other options, but they’re still expensive.
I’m switching to Billings for a one-time payment of $39. If I upgrade, it’ll probably be once, maybe twice over the next two years ($25 or $50), bringing my total to a max of $89 over two years.
I’ve been drooling over some amazing graphics and diagrams recently, but this is the best I could do to show my potential cost savings over the next two years:
Just thought I’d share my thoughts and recommendations. Freshbooks is awesome. Less Accounting seems like a good tool. Blinksale is good also. If you run multiple computers or have more than one employee, it might be worth the extra cost for the online services.
But as a freelancer/small business owner with one or two employees (the wife does some HR consulting occasionally), and only one responsible for estimate, invoicing, etc., I’m going with the cost savings, while retaining the same functionality (albeit local to my machine) as the web-based tools.
I’ll probably have more on this subject after a few months or a year with Billings.
(Thanks to Aaron for the nudge).
You were the guy who got me in Freshbooks. 😉
If you haven’t seen the Billings iPhone app yet — oh you must. The $14.99 upgrade to the pro version (in-app purchase) is a nice way to get you into the app (it’s free to get from iTunes), but omg it’s so awesome.
It makes me want to bill stuff right now.
Since Freshbooks is out of the picture how are payments going to work?
I’ve had the same pricing dilemma with Freshbooks vs. Billings. I’d love to hear how it is working out for you so far.
Also, how are you dealing with online payments?
You may also want to check out our accounting app rhinoaccounting.com its free and works with Google Apps.
You were the guy who got me in Freshbooks. 😉
If you haven’t seen the Billings iPhone app yet — oh you must. The $14.99 upgrade to the pro version (in-app purchase) is a nice way to get you into the app (it’s free to get from iTunes), but omg it’s so awesome.
It makes me want to bill stuff right now.
Now what is your plan giving that Billings is going away, only to be replaced by Billings Pro?
I’m actually still with Freshbooks. I was never able to quit them. Sure, I could save money with a one-time purchase of local software, but the mobile apps plus logging in anywhere, plus integration with some other tools I use, plus referral rewards, were all too much to quit.
Billings Pro looks like a reasonably-priced cloud option, and I’m sure the iPad app will be gorgeous. But, they don’t have expense management or integration with Shoeboxed or my other services. Freshbooks is more cloud accounting than just invoicing. I like Harvest for just invoicing and time tracking.
This post was brought up again on Twitter, so I thought I’d post another quick update. I’m still using, and loving, Freshbooks. The convenience and reporting are totally worth the monthly cost. Simply put, it saves me way more time/money than it costs me.