AlternativesUpdated

Best FreshBooks Alternatives in 2026

FreshBooks Lite is $23 a month for 5 billable clients at the regular price, Plus $43 for 50, and each extra team member is $11 a month. If you have more clients than your plan, want a free plan, or only need invoices and what clients owe, here are five alternatives and what each one does.

By the Fabricate teamWe make Fabricate5 min readPrices checked
Build this app freePublish on Pro
Invoice tracker
An invoice tracker made with Fabricate: paid, pending and overdue totals above a list of client invoices
An invoicing app made with Fabricate, shown with sample data.

Key takeaways

  • FreshBooks Lite is $23 a month for 5 billable clients; unlimited clients is Premium, at $70.
  • Each extra FreshBooks team member is $11 a month.
  • Wave's Starter plan is free; QuickBooks Online and Xero cover full bookkeeping from $38 and $27 a month.
  • Fabricate builds an invoice app around how you bill, with no price per client; it is not accounting software. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.

Why Are People Looking for FreshBooks Alternatives?

  • Priced by Billable Clients

    Lite covers 5 billable clients and Plus 50; unlimited clients is Premium, at $70 a month.

  • $11 for Each Team Member

    Each extra team member is $11 a month on every plan.

  • A Free Plan

    Wave's Starter plan is free, with 2.9% plus $0.60 on each card payment.

    Fits: Wave

  • No Price per Client

    An invoice app of your own keeps as many clients as you have, and the people who sign in are not counted.

    Fits: Fabricate

Compare at a glance

Fabricate beside FreshBooks, feature by feature.

  • Builds From a Description
    Fabricate
    Yes
    FreshBooks
    No, ready-made software
  • Clients
    Fabricate
    As many as you have
    FreshBooks
    5 on Lite, 50 on Plus
  • Extra Team Members
    Fabricate
    Not counted
    FreshBooks
    $11 a month each
  • Time Tracking
    Fabricate
    If you ask for it
    FreshBooks
    Yes
  • Bookkeeping
    Fabricate
    Not built in
    FreshBooks
    Yes
  • Paid Plans From
    Fabricate
    $25 a month
    FreshBooks
    $23 a month
Number 1

Fabricate

We make this

Best for: Invoices and what clients owe, without bookkeeping

Builds an invoice app from your description: clients, numbered invoices with line items and tax, paid, pending and overdue totals, and a page for each invoice laid out for printing or saving as a PDF. On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. It is not accounting software: bookkeeping, bank connections, payroll, tax filing and emailing invoices are not built in. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.

Checks before you publish

Fabricate's security check on an app: one problem to fix and two quality warnings, each with a Fix in chat button
Each finding comes with a Fix in chat button. A real Fabricate screen, shown with sample data.

What it does well

  • Invoices in your own layout
  • What each client owes, at a glance
  • No share of what you are paid
Paid plans from
$25 a month
350 credits a month on Pro
Free plan
60 credits
A month, to build and preview
A live app
Pro and Max
Publishing is on paid plans

See the plans

How to Move from FreshBooks to Fabricate

  1. 1

    Export your clients

    Save your customer list from FreshBooks as a CSV file, and your open invoices if you want them in the app.

  2. 2

    Describe how you bill

    Your clients, what goes on an invoice, how you number them, your tax rate and how clients pay.

  3. 3

    Ask for an import page

    Ask for a page, behind your own sign-in, that adds the rows of your CSV file to the app's own database.

  4. 4

    Send yourself a test invoice

    Make an invoice in the preview, print it to PDF and check the totals.

  5. 5

    Put it online

    On Pro, one press of Publish gives it its own address to share, after the same browser check.

Chat

Fabricate's chat on a phone: the owner asks for opening hours and a note about cardamom buns, and Fabricate says what it changed and that it used 5 credits

Your app

The same bakery app in Fabricate's Your app view on a phone, now showing Open today 7am - 3pm above its menu
Asking for a change in chat, then trying the app. Real Fabricate screens on a phone, shown with sample data.

The other FreshBooks alternatives

What each one does well, and the kind of project it suits best.

  1. Number 2

    Wave

    Best for: A free start on bookkeeping

    Accounting and invoicing with a free Starter plan; card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.60 each. Pro is $19 a month, or $190 a year, and charges no fixed fee on the first ten card payments each month.

    • A free plan
    • Invoicing and bookkeeping
    • Card payments built in

    Where Wave beats Fabricate

    If you want invoicing and bookkeeping for nothing a month, and pay only when clients pay by card, Wave's free plan covers that.

    From $19 a month

    Source: waveapps.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  2. Number 3

    QuickBooks Online

    Best for: Bookkeeping your accountant already uses

    Intuit's accounting software. Simple Start is $38 a month for 1 user, Essentials $85 for 3, Plus $140 for 5 and Advanced $340 for 25, at the regular price; the page also showed 50% off for the first 3 months.

    • Full bookkeeping
    • The software many accountants know
    • Plans up to 25 users

    Where QuickBooks Online beats Fabricate

    If your accountant works in QuickBooks and you want full bookkeeping, with bank feeds and reports in the software they know, QuickBooks Online is the safe pick.

    From $38 a monthQuickBooks alternatives

    Source: quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  3. Number 4

    Xero

    Best for: Bookkeeping for a growing team

    Accounting software with plans by size: Early is $27 a month, with 20 invoices and 5 bills, Growing $59 and Established $97, after an introductory discount for the first months.

    • Full bookkeeping
    • Plans by the size of your business
    • Multiple currencies on Established

    Where Xero beats Fabricate

    If you want full accounting software with room to grow, and multiple currencies on the top plan, Xero is built for that.

    From $27 a monthXero alternatives

    Source: xero.com/us/pricing-plans (opens in a new tab), checked

  4. Number 5

    Zoho Books

    Best for: Free bookkeeping for a small business

    Zoho's accounting software, free for 1 user and an accountant while your revenue stays under $50,000 a year. Its paid plans add users and features.

    • Free under $50K revenue a year
    • From the company behind Zoho's other apps

    Where Zoho Books beats Fabricate

    If your business makes under $50,000 a year and you want accounting software for nothing, Zoho Books is free at that size.

    Zoho Books alternatives

    Source: Zoho Books pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

FreshBooks and its alternatives: priced by clients, or not

FreshBooks puts invoicing first, with time tracking and the bookkeeping behind it, and prices by billable clients: Lite is $23 a month for 5, Plus $43 for 50 and Premium $70 for unlimited, at the regular price. Each extra team member is $11 a month.

Wave has a free plan and charges on card payments. QuickBooks Online and Xero are full accounting software, from $38 and $27 a month. Zoho Books is free while revenue stays under $50,000 a year.

A freelancer with a handful of clients fits Lite. A business with more clients, or a few people who send invoices, pays more for each of those.

An invoice app built with Fabricate is your own web app: clients, numbered invoices with line items and tax, and paid, pending and overdue totals, with no price per client or per person who signs in. On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. Bookkeeping, bank connections, payroll, tax filing and emailing invoices are not built in.

Frequently asked questions

How much does FreshBooks cost?
At the regular price, Lite is $23 a month for 5 billable clients, Plus $43 for 50 and Premium $70 for unlimited clients, and each extra team member is $11 a month. When we read the page it also showed 80% off for the first 4 months.
What is the best FreshBooks alternative?
For a free plan, Wave, or Zoho Books while revenue stays under $50,000 a year. For full bookkeeping, QuickBooks Online or Xero. For invoices and what clients owe, with no price per client, Fabricate, which we make. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.
Can I build my own invoice app?
Yes. Describe your clients, what goes on an invoice and how you number them, and Fabricate builds the invoice app and shows it working in a preview. To change something, you ask in the chat. There is no code to write or read.
Can an app built with Fabricate replace my accounting software?
Not for bookkeeping. It keeps your clients, invoices and what each one owes, but it does not connect to a bank, keep the books, run payroll or file tax. Ask for a download of your invoices as a CSV file for your accountant.
Can I track my hours and bill them?
Yes, if you ask for it: a timer or a form for hours on each project, and a button that turns unbilled hours into invoice lines at your rate. Describe how you bill time, and try it in the preview.
Can clients pay an invoice online?
On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. Ask for a pay button on each invoice; once Stripe confirms the payment, the invoice is marked paid. Fabricate takes no share of what you are paid; Stripe charges its own card fees.

Sources

The pages this guide quotes, each with the day it was read.

  1. freshbooks.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  2. waveapps.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  3. quickbooks.intuit.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  4. xero.com/us/pricing-plans (opens in a new tab), checked
  5. Zoho Books pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  6. fabricate.build/pricing, from our live plans

About this guide

Written by the Fabricate team. Fabricate is our product, so it is first on this page and marked "We make this". Where a reason to switch fits another tool better, the reason says which.

Each tool's card lists the pages we read about it and the day we read them. We compared the tools from their own pricing pages and documentation, not by signing up for them. Spotted something out of date? Write to info@fabricate.build.

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