# Alternatives to FreshBooks

> Source: https://tickmarkbooks.com/freshbooks/alternatives/ (re-verified)
> Updated: 28 October 2026

## At a glance

| Name | Best for | Starts at | A month at 100 transactions | Better than FreshBooks at | Checked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [FreshBooks](https://tickmarkbooks.com/freshbooks.md) | Service businesses and freelancers who bill clients and want their books in the same place | From $23 a month | $43 | — | 28 October 2026 |
| [FreeAgent](https://tickmarkbooks.com/freeagent.md) | UK sole traders and small limited companies filing their own VAT and Self Assessment | From about $13 a month | About $25 | Notice before a price rise, Reconciles your accounts | 26 October 2026 |
| [Zoho Books](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zoho-books.md) | Small businesses and startups that want one ledger plus the wider Zoho app suite | Free, then $20 a month | $20 | Reconciles your accounts, Reads receipts and bills | 26 October 2026 |
| [Puzzle](https://tickmarkbooks.com/puzzle.md) | A US startup on Mercury, Brex, Ramp, Stripe and Gusto that wants to replace QuickBooks | Price not established | $30 | Shopify | 26 October 2026 |
| [Pilot](https://tickmarkbooks.com/pilot.md) | A US startup or small business that wants its books done for it in QuickBooks Online | Price not established | $137 | Reconciles your accounts, Shopify | 26 October 2026 |
| [Booke AI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/booke-ai.md) | A business or bookkeeping firm already on QuickBooks Online or Xero | Price not established | $156 | Australia | 26 October 2026 |
| [SimpleAI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/simpleai.md) | Accounting firms and finance teams processing high volumes of invoices and bank statements | From $79 a month | $106 | Past your plan’s limits, Reconciles your accounts | 27 October 2026 |
| [Sage Accounting](https://tickmarkbooks.com/sage-accounting.md) | VAT-registered sole traders and small firms up to 49 employees wanting payroll built in | From about $27 a month | About $58 | Reconciles your accounts, Your accountant can sign in | 27 October 2026 |
| [QuickBooks Online](https://tickmarkbooks.com/quickbooks-online.md) | Small businesses that want one ledger plus payroll, payments and an accountant login | Free, then $38 a month | $38 | Reads receipts and bills, Pays your bills | 28 October 2026 |
| [Xero](https://tickmarkbooks.com/xero.md) | Small businesses wanting the whole team and their advisor on the books, no per-user fees | From $27 a month | $27 | Notice before a price rise, Reconciles your accounts | 28 October 2026 |

“About” figures are converted at the European Central Bank rate of 30 October 2026.

The ones people open most here come first, then the closest matches.

## Shortlist

### 1. FreeAgent

UK cloud accounting with HMRC filing, bank feeds and AI receipt capture, priced per business type.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Notice before a price rise: yes — The terms of service promise at least 60 days' advance notice of a price or payment-term change, and a chance to decide whether to carry on before any increase.](https://www.freeagent.com/company/terms/)
- [Reconciles your accounts: yes — A Bank Reconciliation report compares the FreeAgent balance with the bank statement balance for each account; you run and review it yourself rather than it closing the month for you.](https://support.freeagent.com/hc/en-gb/articles/7096372611346-Bank-Reconciliation-report)
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Photograph, share or drag in a receipt or bill and Smart Capture extracts the key data, suggests a category and attaches it to the matching bank transaction for approval.](https://www.freeagent.com/features/expenses/)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [What the AI costs: partial — included in every plan for smart categorization and the first ten captures a month; processing more than ten receipts or bills needs the £5 (about $6.70)-a-month Smart Capture Unlimited add-on.](https://www.freeagent.com/pricing/)
- [People check the books: no — Checking the AI is yours: Smart Capture ends with you approving each captured bill or receipt, and no plan includes a bookkeeper reviewing the books, only UK support accountants answering questions.](https://www.freeagent.com/features/expenses/)
- [Gusto payroll: no — Its partner directory carries Stripe, PayPal, GoCardless, Tyl, SumUp, WooCommerce and a paid Amazon UK add-on, but no Shopify, Square or Gusto appear in any category of that directory.](https://www.freeagent.com/integrations/)

[View FreeAgent](https://tickmarkbooks.com/freeagent)

### 2. Zoho Books

Cloud accounting ledger with Zia AI, bank feeds, sales tax and 1099 e-filing, from $20 a month.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Reconciles your accounts: yes — Bank and card accounts are reconciled inside the product, with matched and pending transactions in one view and reconciliation statements exportable as PDF per account and date range.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/accounting-software/bank-reconciliation/)
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Receipts can be photographed in the mobile app, uploaded or auto-forwarded from an email inbox, and autoscans turn them into transactions within a plan-wise monthly scan allowance.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/pricing-comparison.html)
- [Accrual books and reports: yes — Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow sit among 70+ built-in reports you can run at any time; the pages read do not state whether the books are kept on a cash or accrual basis.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/accounting-software/accounting-financial-reports/)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [Promotion and regular price: no — none — the $20 Standard rate is the standing month-to-month price; the lower $15 figure is simply the yearly billing rate, not a time-limited introductory offer.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/)
- [Categorizes transactions: partial — Zia pre-fills the account and vendor against each imported bank line, so it suggests rather than posts by itself, and the page does not claim it learns from your corrections.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/accounting-software/ai-in-accounting/)
- [Stripe: partial — Stripe, PayPal, Square and Authorize.Net are supported payment gateways and Shopify stores connect on Elite and above (up to two)](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/pricing-comparison.html)

[View Zoho Books](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zoho-books)

### 3. Puzzle

AI-native accounting software with optional bookkeeper services for startups and small businesses.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Shopify: yes — Shopify no](https://puzzle.io/integrations/stripe)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [Your own bookkeeper: partial — Named bookkeeper only on Full Service. Full Service includes a named bookkeeper with unlimited questions by email.](https://puzzle.io/pricing)
- [PayPal: partial — PayPal, Square not named. PayPal: not named on any page read.](https://puzzle.io/integrations/stripe)
- [For accounting firms: partial — Partner firm program by waitlist; no firm plan. Puzzle no longer sells its platform to accounting firms.](https://puzzle.io/accounting-partners)

[View Puzzle](https://tickmarkbooks.com/puzzle)

### 4. Pilot

A bookkeeping and tax service for startups that pairs software-driven dashboards with human financial advisors.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Reconciles your accounts: yes — Bank and card accounts reconciled each month. Essentials: AI reconciles accounts and closes the books monthly.](https://pilot.com/pricing)
- [Shopify: yes — Stripe, Shopify, Gusto yes](https://pilot.com/platform/integrations)
- [Square: yes — PayPal, Square listed](https://pilot.com/platform/integrations)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [Ledger included: no — Works in QuickBooks Online; you pay for the license. Every bookkeeping plan is done in QuickBooks Online (FAQ: 'Pilot does all of its bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online').](https://pilot.com/terms/client-terms)
- [Catching up past months: partial — Offered; no price published. Pilot says it offers catch-up bookkeeping, but the pricing page and FAQ carry no catch-up product or price.](https://pilot.com/blog/bench-vs-pilot-bookkeeping-service)
- [Sends invoices: partial — Invoicing is an add-on service. Pilot has no invoicing feature in its bookkeeping plans.](https://pilot.com/faq)

[View Pilot](https://tickmarkbooks.com/pilot)

### 5. Booke AI

An AI bookkeeper that works inside QuickBooks Online and Xero to categorize transactions and match documents.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Australia: yes — US, Canada, UK and Australia, in local currency.](https://booke.ai/)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [Ledger included: no — No: you also pay for QuickBooks Online or Xero. Booke works inside an existing QuickBooks Online or Xero file, joining it as a user; it is not a ledger and no ledger license is in its price.](https://booke.ai/)
- [Sends invoices: partial — Matches payments to ledger invoices; sends none. It matches incoming payments to invoices that already exist in QuickBooks Online or Xero, including multi-invoice payments.](https://booke.ai/quickbooks-online)
- [People check the books: no — No: software only; your team reviews exceptions. No bookkeeper or accountant from Booke reviews the work on any plan.](https://booke.ai/)

[View Booke AI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/booke-ai)

### 6. SimpleAI

AI agents that extract, classify and reconcile accounting documents, then publish them into Xero or QuickBooks.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Past your plan’s limits: yes — Past the monthly credit allowance you buy add-on packs at a published rate, but the number of packs is capped per month, so very heavy months force a plan upgrade rather than open-ended overage.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/pricing)
- [Reconciles your accounts: yes — Reconciliation is on every published SAAM plan: it matches your transactions against bank feed entries and flags mismatches, and converts statements into reconciled, accounting-ready transactions.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/solutions/accounting-automation)
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Receipts, invoices and bills are extracted and classified automatically and can be sent in from desktop, mobile or email; the reconciliation step is what matches the resulting entries to bank transactions.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [Promotion and regular price: no — none on the SAAM plan cards: the only discount the vendor names on them is 10% for annual billing, and the separate Bank Statement Extraction module is the one that runs a labeled limited-time promotion.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/pricing)
- [Ledger included: no — SAAM is not the ledger: it extracts and classifies documents and then publishes entries into the accounting software you already pay for, so a Xero, QuickBooks or Accurate subscription sits on top of its price.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/contact)
- [Sends invoices: partial — Sending invoices belongs to the other product lines, not SAAM: NOVA handles invoices and AR aging conversationally, and the e-Invoicing module issues Peppol invoices for Singapore, while SAAM only extracts AR documents.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/solutions/nova)

[View SimpleAI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/simpleai)

### 7. Sage Accounting

Sage's cloud small-business ledger with built-in payroll and the Sage Copilot assistant; US edition retired.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Reconciles your accounts: yes — Bank and card accounts connect directly, transactions import automatically and reconciliation is a core feature of the cheapest plan rather than an upgrade.](https://www.sage.com/en-ca/sage-business-cloud/accounting/)
- [Your accountant can sign in: yes — Sage says the software lets a business collaborate with others and grant its accountant access, and the plan table carries a 'Work with your accountant' row; the pages do not say whether that access consumes one of the plan's user accounts.](https://www.sage.com/en-gb/sage-business-cloud/sage-accounting/)
- [Shopify: yes — Sage names Stripe, PayPal and Shopify plus WooCommerce as connections for Sage Accounting, with the rest of the library in the Sage Marketplace](https://www.sage.com/en-ca/sage-business-cloud/accounting/)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [Gusto payroll: no — Square and Gusto are not named on the pages read.](https://www.sage.com/en-ca/sage-business-cloud/accounting/)
- [Australia: no — no Australian edition appeared among Sage Australia's products.](https://www.sage.com/en-us/sage-business-cloud/sage-accounting/)

[View Sage Accounting](https://tickmarkbooks.com/sage-accounting)

### 8. QuickBooks Online

Intuit's cloud ledger, now with Intuit Intelligence agents that categorize, reconcile and flag errors.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Photograph a receipt in the mobile app and it is stored and matched to the transaction automatically; the Free plan has no mobile app, so this needs a paid tier.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/accounting/mobile/)
- [Pays your bills: yes — Bills can be tracked and paid from Simple Start upward, with five standard ACH payments a month included and fifty cents each beyond the allotment; approval workflows are an Advanced feature.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/)
- [Accrual books and reports: yes — Profit and loss and balance sheet reports are produced on every tier including Free; the pages read do not state whether the books are kept on an accrual basis or name a cash flow statement.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [Catching up past months: partial — Cleanup of past months exists only as a separately bought Intuit Expert service, not as part of any QuickBooks Online plan, and its price is not published.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/experts/)
- [Your own bookkeeper: partial — A named bookkeeper comes only with the separately purchased Expert Full Service Bookkeeping tier; the cheaper Expert Assisted tier gives coaching but will not work in your books.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/experts/)
- [Stripe: partial — Third-party app integrations are offered with paid plans and an app marketplace, but they are explicitly unavailable on the Free plan, and the pages read name no individual app such as Stripe or Shopify.](https://quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing/)

[View QuickBooks Online](https://tickmarkbooks.com/quickbooks-online)

### 9. Xero

Small-business ledger with a JAX assistant that answers questions in plain language; unlimited users on every plan.

**Where it improves on FreshBooks:**
- [Notice before a price rise: partial — The pricing page reserves the right to change prices at any time, while the terms promise a reasonable effort to give 60 days notice of material changes, so the notice is an endeavor rather than a guarantee.](https://www.xero.com/us/legal/terms/)
- [Reconciles your accounts: yes — Bank reconciliation is on every plan: feeds arrive automatically, Xero proposes matches on one screen, and reconciling often keeps the cash-flow forecast honest.](https://www.xero.com/us/accounting-software/connect-your-bank/)
- [Reads receipts and bills: yes — Smart Document Capture is on all three plans and pulls bills and receipts straight into Xero so they sit with the records they belong to.](https://www.xero.com/us/)

**Trade-offs against FreshBooks:**
- [Categorizes transactions: partial — Bank rules categorize recurring transactions for you and Xero suggests matches, but hands-off auto-reconcile is a $5 a month add-on on Early and only included from Growing up; no page claims it learns from your corrections.](https://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/)
- [Sends invoices: partial — Invoicing with online payment acceptance is on every plan, but Early is capped at 20 invoices a month before you must move up to Growing.](https://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/)
- [Payroll: partial — add-on: payroll is not in the plan price but is sold beside it as Xero Payroll powered by Gusto at $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor, on any plan.](https://www.xero.com/us/pricing-plans/)

[View Xero](https://tickmarkbooks.com/xero)