FreshBooks
The invoicing-first choice for a service business or freelancer, with time tracking, projects, estimates and card payments built in.
Who owns it
FreshBooks is 2ndSite Inc. of Toronto, a private company founded in 2003 that passed a billion-dollar valuation on its last funding round, and it sells the same product in the UK as everywhere else, with a UK edition that files VAT. It is strongest at the front of the business, invoices, estimates, time and projects, and thinnest at the back, where a limited company's accountant lives.
What it costs
Prices in pounds, read on 8 September 2026, with a "price change 2026" FAQ on the site that confirms the figures as the new ones: Lite £16 a month (£172.80 a year), Plus £30 (£324), Premium unchanged at £42 (£453.60), Select by quote, all yearly plans 10 per cent off. VAT basis is not stated. The standing offer is 50 per cent off for three months, and the day we read it a countdown banner offered 90 per cent. Lite is capped at five billable clients and Plus at fifty; Premium is unlimited. No plan includes a second person: every team member is £8 a month, so a company with two staff and the owner pays £46 on Plus before the accountant, and we could not confirm whether the accountant's seat is exempt. Plus is the plan we score, since Lite's five-client cap rules it out for a trading company, and Premium is where the general ledger, bank reconciliation and balance sheet that an accountant will ask for arrive, so the honest number for a limited company may be £42 plus seats. There is a 30-day trial without a card.
What you get and what to watch
HMRC lists FreshBooks on the Making Tax Digital for VAT list as record-keeping and bridging software. It is not on the Income Tax list, and we found no FreshBooks page claiming otherwise, which matters for the sole traders and landlords the product is aimed at. Bank feeds run through aggregators and are Open Banking and PSD2 compliant; card payments and UK BACS direct debit come through FreshBooks Payments powered by Stripe, with no native GoCardless. There is no UK payroll, no Corporation Tax or Companies House filing and no CIS. Multi-currency invoicing and mileage tracking are included on every plan. The REST API is documented and the partner and app ecosystem is real, but there is no official MCP server, only community ones. SOC 2 Type 1 was completed in February 2023.
Support is a help centre, a chatbot and a UK freephone number staffed Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm Eastern, which is early afternoon to the small hours in the UK. Trustpilot is 3.7 on 1,038 invited reviews, 58 per cent five-star and 18 per cent one-star, with August 2026 themes of slow payment settlement, processing fees rising to 3.5 per cent and a cancellation flow that "routed to the reactivations site time after time". For a UK freelancer who lives in invoices it is a pleasant tool; for a VAT-registered company with staff, the per-seat pricing and the missing HMRC pieces put it near the bottom.
Not yet tested by Saaskly: assessed on published pricing, HMRC's software lists, vendor documentation and third-party reviews.
Pros
- +The best invoicing, estimates, time tracking and project tools on this page; card and BACS direct debit through Stripe; multi-currency on every plan
- +On HMRC's MTD for VAT list; 10 per cent annual discount; 30-day trial without a card; SOC 2 Type 1
- +UK freephone number and a large help centre
Cons
- −Every team member is £8 a month on top, and Lite and Plus cap billable clients at 5 and 50
- −Not on HMRC's MTD for Income Tax list; no UK payroll, Corporation Tax, Companies House or CIS filing; full double-entry only from Premium at £42
- −Prices rose in 2026; support hours are US Eastern; Trustpilot 3.7 with 18 per cent one-star; no GoCardless; no official MCP server
Pricing
Minimum commitment: £14.40 (£14.40/yr for the entry licence). The least you can spend before walking away; excludes numbers, minutes and add-ons.
Lite
£16/mo · month-to-month
£14.40/yr on an annual commitment
Month-to-month costs 11% more
- ✓£16/mo or £172.80 a year (10% off); 50% off for 3 months. 5 billable clients, no team members included (£8 each a month). VAT basis not stated. 30-day trial.
Plus
£30/mo · month-to-month
£27/yr on an annual commitment
Month-to-month costs 11% more
- ✓£30/mo or £324 a year. 50 billable clients, no team members included (£8 each). Premium £42 (£453.60 a year): unlimited clients, general ledger, bank reconciliation, balance sheet. Select by quote.
Specifications
| Rating | 3.1 |
| Pricing and plans | |
|---|---|
| Scored plan* | £30/mo · £27 annual (Plus) |
| Entry plan | £16/mo (Lite) |
| Intro offer | 50% off for 3 months (90% off in a timed offer on 8 Sep 2026) |
| Sole trader plan | £16/mo (Lite) |
| Free tier | None |
| Scored tier | Plus |
| VAT basis | Excluding VAT |
| Top plan | £42/mo (Premium) |
| Accountant seat free | No |
| Free trial (days) | 30 |
| Features | |
| Users | 1 included · +£8 each |
| Entry invoice cap | No cap |
| MTD VAT | ✓ |
| MTD Income Tax | No |
| Self Assessment | No |
| Corporation Tax | No |
| CIS | No |
| Bank feeds | ✓ |
| Multi-currency | Included |
| Payroll | None |
| Receipt capture | Built in |
| Projects | ✓ |
| Inventory | No |
| Accountant console | No |
| Companies House filing | No |
| RTI payroll | No |
| Bank feed note | Via aggregators (Plaid, Salt Edge, Yodlee, secondary source); Open Banking and PSD2 compliant |
| Pay Now on invoices | ✓ |
| Own payments product | FreshBooks Payments powered by Stripe |
| Expense claims | ✓ |
| Purchase orders | No |
| Quotes and estimates | ✓ |
| Recurring invoices | ✓ |
| Cashflow forecasting | No |
| Fixed assets | No |
| Accountant network | FreshBooks Accounting Partner Program; no published count |
| Mobile apps | ✓ |
| Accountancy service bundled | No |
| Integrations and developers | |
| Stripe | ✓ |
| GoCardless | No |
| API | ✓ |
| MCP server | No |
| Webhooks | No |
| Zapier / Make | ✓ |
| Ownership and trust | |
| Owned in** | Canada-owned |
| Trustpilot (reviews) | 3.7 (1,038) |
| HQ | Canada |
| Owner | 2ndSite Inc. (private) |
| Data location | Not stated |
| SOC 2 | ✓ |
| ISO 27001 | No |
| Cyber Essentials | No |
| 2FA mandatory | No |
| Support | |
| Phone support | ✓ |
| Live chat | No |
| UK support hours | UK freephone Mon to Fri 8am to 8pm Eastern (afternoon and evening UK); chatbot 24/7 |
| Support channels | Phone (UK number, Eastern hours), Chatbot, Help centre |
*Scored plan: the limited-company tier the score is set on (the cheapest plan a VAT-registered company with a few staff can run on), per month at the renewal price once any introductory discount ends, in the currency the vendor shows a UK visitor on the research date; see each profile for the VAT basis, the introductory offer and what the tier above adds.
**Owned in: where the company that owns the provider answers to. A US-owned provider is subject to US law (including the CLOUD Act) wherever the data centre is; a UK data centre is not the same thing as UK jurisdiction. "Data location" records where the ledger is stored.
Researched and drafted with AI assistance; reviewed and approved by Tim Meredith. How we use AI
Work at FreshBooks? Something not look right? Register in the vendor portal to see what we publish and send corrections.