FreeAgent vs. QuickBooks Online

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreeAgent
Score 6.5 out of 10
N/A
FreeAgent is an cloud-based accounting system designed for small businesses and freelancers. FreeAgent supports many core accounting features and bank reconciliation, payroll, tax management, project level accounting, and multiple currency support. It is mobile-accessible, and integrates with many apps.
$13.50
per month
QuickBooks Online
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Online is a SaaS version of the QuickBooks product. It contains all of the features found in the local version. Higher-priced plans include greater automation, payment management, inventory and time tracking, and analytics features.
$38
per month
Pricing
FreeAgentQuickBooks Online
Editions & Modules
FreeAgent
$13.50
per month
FreeAgent
$135
per year
Simple Start
$38
per month
Essentials
$75
per month
Plus
$115
per month
Advanced
$275
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreeAgentQuickBooks Online
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
FreeAgentQuickBooks Online
Considered Both Products
FreeAgent
Chose FreeAgent
Our clients use all of the above software providers, some of them using Xero, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, QuickFile, Kashflow, Wave App etc. FreeAgent is best one for me among the free software available as it does everything and we would not even need additional software for …
Chose FreeAgent
Xero is a product I have only used for Payroll, but which it does very well. It is more complex to use compared to FreeAgent though and in that regard harder to learn.
Chose FreeAgent
As a free software for Mettle users it is excellent choice and great value for money especially for micro businesses. It does the needed bank imports and reconciliations, however compared to more advanced products like Xero or QuickBooks it lacks the flexibility of those …
Chose FreeAgent
I have used and tested out many other systems. I was looking at Xero for my accounting system but at the time I chose FreeAgent because of the way it handles the recording of dividends and the inbuilt time recording. The others I trialed were good and many of them cheaper. …
Chose FreeAgent
I haven't used other products, I used freeagent and was so impressed that I've continued to use it and recommend to other
Chose FreeAgent
I liked FreshBooks - but the support, banking integration and other extras FreeAgent offers won me over.
Chose FreeAgent
FreeAgent was really the first product we looked at based on a personal recommendation and since we found it to be almost perfect we didn't look at the alternatives.
Chose FreeAgent
I found FreeAgent to be more user friendly and since I have no accounting background much more easy to use than QuickBooks.
Chose FreeAgent
We did start the business using Kashflow. It is good but isn't as full service as FreeAgent and does require a bit of knowledge of some accounting terms which FreeAgent doesn't.
Chose FreeAgent
FreeAgent is far easier to use and navigate.
Chose FreeAgent
I've not evaluated other products but know there are others out there.
Chose FreeAgent
Support. Any questions gets a fast and detailed response. Helpful, knowledgable and friendly people provide detailed explanations and answers to not only teach but help understanding.
Chose FreeAgent
Sage was way too complicated for my needs and not as user friendly. FreeAgent was cheaper, easier and more user friendly. Easy decision
Chose FreeAgent
I used Fresh Books for about three years prior to switching to FreeAgent. It was the accounting functionality that made the difference - in the past two years I've not regretted the switch. Fresh Books is good, but its the UK accounting features that make FreeAgent …
QuickBooks Online
Chose QuickBooks Online
I think of the two products this has less hassle as it is pretty straight forward and streamlined. Unfortunately, as much as we use the payroll version I cannot give that product the same raving reviews as QuickBooks Online. I really wish Payroll was not as complicated as it …
Chose QuickBooks Online
We use QuickBooks Online since it is user friendly and it has the ability to accommodate small businesses with more complex accounting needs. Price is not that expensive although the users that you can add are limited, if we need to add a user we need to remove the other users.
Chose QuickBooks Online
QBO works much better for our needs and our business. Netsuite had a few too many layers for our business, it was a little harder to use. QBO makes everything simple you don't need to be an accountant to use it. We are happy with the product and will most likely continue to …
Chose QuickBooks Online
None. The only other accounting software I used was a proprietary MSDOS system 20 years ago; this is much better.
Chose QuickBooks Online
We did not look at any other products as QB online is typically considered best in class.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Desktop is way cheaper, but QuickBooks Online stays more upto date and is way better at integrating with other software.
Chose QuickBooks Online
We went with Quickbooks because it was recommended to us by our accountant, as they too use Quickbooks.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Melio was a little easier to use, but could be clunky while syncing to QB, and also got expensive as they added charges for every transaction as well as syncing.
Chose QuickBooks Online
As an accountant, QuickBooks Online uses the language I learned in school and throughout my career. Xero tries to simplify it, while actually making it more difficult to understand.
Chose QuickBooks Online
I truly hated Sage as a bookkeeper. I know that accountants don't have the same experience, but from a day to day perspective, it was not user friendly.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Easier to use and setup. More accountants are familiar with it so that also made the selection easier. Other software was also more expensive and had features that we weren't going to utilize at our current growth stage.
Chose QuickBooks Online
I have to use SAP for billing with some clients, and I think Ariba is much less intuitive, and the interface/GUI is much less modern and appealing. The fact that the client needs to send a PDF "user guide" says a lot to me about how counter-intuitive a lot of the features in …
Chose QuickBooks Online
Sage Timeslips and Avaza
Chose QuickBooks Online
Reporting is more diverse and ability to add multiple dimensions
Chose QuickBooks Online
I think QuickBooks Online is better than Xero. However I think is is lower then NetSuite and Sage Intacct. The system isself is great because it's cloud based so it can be accessed readily. However, in my opinion, it's not built for companies that are growing or expect to grow. …
Chose QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online has better options for sending invoices and receiving electronic payments.
Chose QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is by far the easiest and fastest accounting management platform that I have used, especially compared to any industry specific tools like Sage, Foundation, Northstar, etc. I like how user friendly it is, the visual is great, and it can fit for a wise array of …
Chose QuickBooks Online
They are expensive and always have freezing issues and duplicating entries and no one available to address issues. To change the way you use the sites it takes time to update and its too jumpy and makes annoying issues. These effect the whole company and can take a lot of time …
Chose QuickBooks Online
User friendly for smaller communities.
The cost seems to be reasonable for smaller communities.
Support is helpful, and trainings provided online are helpful.
Chose QuickBooks Online
Unfortunately, in my opinion, QuickBooks Online is not anywhere cloase to coupa or Blackline in terms of functionality. Both platforms are head and shoulders above where i understand QuickBooks Online to be currently. Specifically in relation to task automation and more …
Chose QuickBooks Online
As I've mentioned, there aren't a lot of similar products, and certainly not with all the capability of QuickBooks Online. In my opinion, they nickel and dime for everything but they also do work pretty well across the board. I think the reconciliation process is also by far …
Features
FreeAgentQuickBooks Online
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.6
Ratings
11% above category average
QuickBooks Online
8.4
Ratings
8% above category average
Pay calculation8.00 Ratings7.70 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.50 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.80 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.70 Ratings9.50 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
6.7
Ratings
13% below category average
QuickBooks Online
8.3
Ratings
8% above category average
API for custom integration4.50 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Plug-ins8.90 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.5
Ratings
2% above category average
QuickBooks Online
9.7
Ratings
15% above category average
Single sign-on capability9.00 Ratings9.60 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.00 Ratings9.70 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
6.4
Ratings
21% below category average
QuickBooks Online
8.1
Ratings
3% above category average
Dashboards7.10 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Standard reports7.60 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Custom reports4.40 Ratings7.60 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.7
Ratings
11% above category average
QuickBooks Online
8.6
Ratings
10% above category average
Accounts payable8.00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.50 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Cash management8.50 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Bank reconciliation9.00 Ratings9.10 Ratings
Expense management8.90 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Time tracking9.00 Ratings6.90 Ratings
Fixed asset management8.60 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Multi-currency support8.10 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Multi-division support9.00 Ratings9.20 Ratings
Regulations compliance8.70 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Electronic tax filing9.10 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Self-service portal9.00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations8.00 Ratings9.40 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings8.70 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings8.80 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings7.80 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings8.40 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings8.50 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
7.4
Ratings
1% above category average
QuickBooks Online
7.5
Ratings
2% above category average
Inventory tracking7.70 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Automatic reordering8.20 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Location management4.50 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Manufacturing module9.10 Ratings7.00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.1
Ratings
5% above category average
QuickBooks Online
8.4
Ratings
8% above category average
Pricing8.10 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Order entry6.80 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Credit card processing8.20 Ratings8.60 Ratings
Cost of goods sold9.10 Ratings9.30 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FreeAgentQuickBooks Online
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 8.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 10.0 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreeAgentQuickBooks Online
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(0 ratings)
1.9
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.5
(0 ratings)
8.8
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(0 ratings)
2.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
1.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.0
(0 ratings)
3.0
(0 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
1.3
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreeAgentQuickBooks Online
Likelihood to Recommend
For micro and small business it is a great solution. The new requirements for MTD for landlords could also be met with this software. Groups and more complex businesses could not use the accounts and tax returns features, however they still could use it for bookkeeping and then export the data to other tax and accounts production software.
Read full review
I appreciate the ability to auto-generate invoices for recurring transactions, which saves time, as well as the option to set up auto-generated transactions. The report option is super helpful when reviewing information, as you can click to view the details in the report without having to go back and forth.
Read full review
Pros
  • Recurring invoices with automated follow-up is fantastic for helping to get paid on time
  • Automated bank transfers are the easiest way to ensure that I can reconcile my accounts with ease
  • Support is fantastic
  • Built-in Time tracking for projects/tasks (integration with Basecamp to get this info) is fantastic, it allows us to accurately track what we are working on and get paid for it!
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  • It enables me to do a P&L for each specific program as requested by the county for the grant money that they give us.
  • It enables me to do [an] organizational budget as well as a budget for each specific program
  • It enables the accountant and the auditor access at any time for transparency
Read full review
Cons
  • Reporting on financials, time tracking and project status is a little poor. It's adequate for what what we need, but would be great to see more advanced features.
  • API is quite closed so cannot integrate with our other project management tools.
Read full review
  • Purchase Orders cannot be linked to multiple bill payments which makes tracking purchase orders in QuickBooks Online obsolete. Without the function we have to track this within a different more manual spreadsheet.
  • Would be helpful if you could "split" bank transactions directly from the "review" downloads from the bank. Currently, to split transactions to multiple accounts we need to first categorize, then review after assigning to 1 account.
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Likelihood to Renew
We have used Freeagent for many years now and it serves us well for our needs. To change it would mean a lot of work, and this would most likely only happen if the cost became prohibitive to us.
Read full review
QBO needs better integration with non-Intuit products and developers need to use Intuit's open API to develop better add-ons. Clients are having a great deal of problems with their data importing from the bank and this takes time away from better revenue producing activities. Although the efficiencies are there, they are outweighted by the shortcomings of the product. When we ran a parallel of QBO versus other cloud accounting products, we had more issues with the QBO product than any other
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Usability
It is a great software that does everything we need for small business clients. It allows to keep the books in a cloud from bookkeeping to accounts production and tax returns, all in one software. There are no major drawbacks and I would highly recommend it for most of our clients.
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I had very little trouble setting up the program and migrating from our old accounting system. The daily usage is also very intuitive and easy. Anytime we run into minor trouble with the program, there are always tons of help available on YouTube, so we don't even look up the online manual anymore.
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Reliability and Availability
Based in a cloud and never had any issues with down time. I can access from any device
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We have rarely had outages in the last 10 years. I can only recall 2 times in the last 10 years where we were not able to access our client files.
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Performance
No answers on this topic
Everything process has its bugs lately with the new interface. Nothing has worked smoothly since this all began last month.
Read full review
Support Rating
I have never personally used support
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In my experience, most representatives keep me on the phone for hours, literally, for a single issue and then usually cannot resolve it satisfactorily. I have 10 open cases that need resolution and, in my experience, there has been NO follow-up communication on any of them.
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Implementation Rating
Did not participate
Read full review
The person in charge of QB needs to be very accurate with record keeping and is recommended to stay on top of tasks. The biggest issue we have is reconciliation, and those issues occur only when too much time has occurred between reconciliations
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Alternatives Considered
I used Fresh Books for about three years prior to switching to FreeAgent. It was the accounting functionality that made the difference - in the past two years I've not regretted the switch. Fresh Books is good, but its the UK accounting features that make FreeAgent indispensable to my business.
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QuickBooks Online is an accounting software package that allows companies to use a cost-effective and efficient software package. QuickBooks Online allows companies to prepare their balance sheets and income statements. It connects with a variety of other applications, which allows you to be efficient. We are very pleased with QuickBooks Online, and we would highly recommend it.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
As we have grown along our professional path, we have also expanded our use of QB. The scalability is easy and features seem to be waiting for you until you need them. We have increased profits by over 10x from our first year in business to the current and have yet to find a reason to look elsewhere
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Return on Investment
  • Has freed up a lot of time based on my previous system of managing my invoicing and accounts through Word and Excel
  • I have an accurate day to day handle on the financial position of my business so I can manage my cashflow better
  • The inbuilt time recording against projects has saved time in creating the invoices but also tracks my profitability on the work I do
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  • I think the help function is cumbersome and hard to use. When I go to refresh myself on a function, say quarterly, I feel like I have to cast about just looking for it.
  • The account reconciliation works, but in this place that could benefit from messaging, there are no easy helping functions flagging things like amounts that fit the discrepancy.
  • Even styling invoices and documents is more cumbersome than it should be.
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ScreenShots

QuickBooks Online Screenshots

Screenshot of the accounting and bank transactions interfaceScreenshot of an overview of the accounting inventoryScreenshot of book marksScreenshot of the business tax overviewScreenshot of the customer hubScreenshot of the dashboard