What FreshBooks charges
FreshBooks runs $23 a month. Below: what that comes to over a year at three volumes, what is not in that number, and what the same job costs when you own it instead of renting it.
What FreshBooks publishes
Lite $23/mo regular (Plus $43, Premium $70, Select custom). Payments: cards 2.9% + $0.30, ACH 1%.
Those are FreshBooks's own published numbers, read on 22 September 2026. Vendors change pricing without announcing it, so check the live page before you sign anything — and check your own last invoice, which is the only number that is definitely yours.
A year of FreshBooks, whatever you sell
This one does not move with volume: the published price is the published price, so the only question is whether you use enough of it to be worth that.
FreshBooks runs $23 a month.
That is $276 a year before card processing. Built and owned, that year is about $27.60 — a tenth of what you pay now, hosting and changes included.
FreshBooks's pricing page, read 22 September 2026What you would own instead
- The part you actually useMost of a platform like FreshBooks goes unused. We rebuild the parts your business runs on and leave the rest out.
- The code and the dataYours, in your own account, exportable on any day for any reason.
- A price that does not scale with your takingsa tenth of what you pay now — hosting and changes included, and it does not grow with your takings.
When to stay put
- You use nearly all of itIf your team lives in every corner of FreshBooks and the bill is small, replacing it is work for no gain.
- The fee is tiny against your marginRun the numbers above on your real volume first. If it is noise, leave it.
- It is the only place your customers can find youA marketplace that brings you buyers is selling you demand, not only software. That is worth paying for.
FreshBooks pricing, asked and answered
What does FreshBooks cost?
FreshBooks runs $23 a month. Lite $23/mo regular (Plus $43, Premium $70, Select custom). Payments: cards 2.9% + $0.30, ACH 1%.
What would FreshBooks cost me over a year?
On 500 invoices at $500, FreshBooks's published fees come to about $276 a year ($23 × 12 months). Built and owned, that year is about $27.60 — a tenth of what you pay now — and you keep the $248.40 difference.
Who pays FreshBooks's fee — me or my customer?
You do — it comes out of your payout, so the price your customer sees is not the amount you keep.
Is card processing included?
No. Taking the money is a separate cost, normally around 2.9% + $0.30 an order, and it is charged whoever you use. The figures on this page leave processing out on both sides so the comparison is like for like.
Is there a cheaper alternative to FreshBooks?
That depends on what you actually use it for. Most businesses use a small part of a platform like this — take the money, hold the record, send the confirmation, show the list. That part can be built once and owned, and we price it against your own bill: a tenth of what you pay now, instead of a share of every invoice forever. You keep the code and the data, and the old system keeps running beside it until the new one is proven.
What the others charge
Same category, same treatment — each one read from the vendor's own pricing page.
- What QuickBooks Online chargesQuickBooks Online runs $38 a month.
- What Wave chargesWave runs $19 a month.
- What BILL chargesBILL runs $49 a month per listing.
Reading on the same subject
- Software implementation and onboarding fees: what to countSeptember 30, 2026 · Setup, data import, training, paid support and your own staff hours. What to count when pricing new software, and how to spread one-off costs over time.
- How to audit your software subscriptions in an afternoonSeptember 24, 2026 · A one-afternoon software subscription audit: pull statements, list every tool with its owner, use, scaling and renewal date, then act on the overlap.
- What does per-seat pricing really cost as you hire?September 21, 2026 · Per-seat software bills grow with every hire. How to count seats, handle seasonal staff, spot tier jumps and project next year's bill for your headcount.
Keep reading
Tell us what FreshBooks costs you
Send your last invoice or just the rate you are on, and we will tell you what the same work costs built and owned — and say so plainly if you are better off where you are.
Hiro costs about a tenth of what you pay now, quoted against your own bill. Hosting, fixes and changes included, and no per-seat fees.