Ranked by invoicing quality, ease of use, and price
| Feature | FreshBooksBest Pick | Xero | Wave | QuickBooks Self-Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price | $17/mo | $15/mo | Custom | Custom |
| Free Plan | 30-day free trial | 30-day free trial | Trial only | Trial only |
| Best For | Freelancers, consultants, service-based small businesses | Small businesses, accountants, Australian/UK businesses | Various | Various |
| Try It | Start Free → | Start Free → | Start Free → | Start Free → |
FreshBooks is cloud accounting software built for freelancers and small businesses — simple invoicing, time tracking, expense management, and reporting.
Pricing: From $17/mo
Xero is cloud accounting software for small and medium businesses, offering bank reconciliation, invoicing, payroll, and 1,000+ integrations.
Pricing: From $15/mo
Wave is a leading freelancers and independent contractors tool with strong features and competitive pricing.
Pricing: From Check website
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a leading freelancers and independent contractors tool with strong features and competitive pricing.
Pricing: From Check website
Run the numbers — our free calculator shows payback period & annual ROI in seconds.
FreshBooks is our top pick for freelancers and independent contractors — Best invoicing UI in the market.
Yes — FreshBooks, Xero have free plans. FreshBooks also offers 30-day free trial.
Consider: team size, budget, must-have features, and current tools you use. We recommend trialling FreshBooks and Xero side-by-side since both offer free access.
Key criteria: pricing per user at your team size, free trial length and completeness, integration with your existing stack, mobile app quality, and customer support response time.
We evaluated each tool on: pricing value, feature depth, ease of onboarding, reliability, customer support quality, and integration ecosystem. Rankings reflect best fit for freelancers and independent contractors, not raw feature count.
FreshBooks tops our list for freelancers and independent contractors because Best invoicing UI in the market. It's the tool we'd recommend to most teams starting out.
If budget is tight, Bonsai offers the most value at the lowest price point. You trade some features for a significantly lower monthly cost — a reasonable trade for smaller teams.
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