FreshBooks vs Zoho Books

Compared on	FreshBooks Free trial · from $20.70/mo VisitRemove	Zoho Books Free plan · from $15/mo VisitRemove
What it is	Invoicing and accounting for freelancers and service businesses, priced by number of billable clients	Accounting with a free plan under $50K revenue, six US plans priced per organization and the Zia AI assistant
Free plan	No	For businesses with financial-year revenue under $50K: 1 user plus 1 accountant, up to 1,000 invoices and 1,000 expenses a year, 50 receipt autoscans a month, 5 scheduled reports, email support. Bank feeds are not included; document autoscans are the only add-on allowed.
Cheapest paid plan	$20.70/mo billed annually (Lite)FreshBooks pricing	$15/mo billed annually (Standard)Zoho Books pricing
What it covers	Invoice up to 5 billable clients; extra team members $11/month each; $248.40 billed yearly. Promotion: 80% off ($4.60/month) for the first 4 months.	Per organization; 3 users, up to 5,000 invoices and 5,000 bills/expenses a year, 200 receipt autoscans a month. Extra users $3/user/month ($2.50 billed yearly). Prices exclude local taxes.
Free trial	30-day free trial, no credit card required	14-day free trial
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android, Windows, API
Integrations (vendor's figure)	100+ apps in the FreshBooks AppStore	Not stated
Open source	No	No
Good for	Freelancers and consultants who bill a small number of clients Service businesses that invoice for tracked time and project work Owners who want their accountant working in the same books	Micro businesses under $50K revenue that want free double-entry accounting Product businesses that need inventory and purchase orders inside the accounting tool Teams that want custom workflows, approvals and custom modules
Watch out for	Lite invoices only 5 clients and Plus 50; unlimited clients need Premium ($70/mo) Each team member costs $11 a month on top of the plan Bank reconciliation, receipt scanning and accountant access are not on Lite	The Free plan applies only while annual revenue stays under $50K, with 1 user and no bank feeds Annual invoice and bill caps on every plan, from 5,000 on Standard to 100,000 on Elite and Ultimate Multi-currency, projects and inventory need Professional ($50/mo); budgets and cash flow forecasting need Premium
Made by	2NDSITE Inc.	Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd.

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in accounting and invoicing software is on its category page, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.