Araize FastFund Online vs. FreeAgent

I have found FastFund to be a flexible yet easy-to-use accounting and donor support software. Of course, it does not have all the power of something like SalesForce, but then again, I don't need that and my more technically challenged users would be overwhelmed with something like that. FastFund allows us to track donor support, issue receipts for tax purposes, and even record notes of interactions with donors. We create mailing lists and can easily allocate donations to the specific project as designated by the donor. We use FastFund for our accounting software. We pay bills, make deposits, cut checks, and allocate expenses to the appropriate projects. We also use the newest module of FastFund which is the Payroll module. I am not involved with using that module, but I do know that it is great to have everything in one package.

Incentivized

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.

• Cloud-based so all our employees have access to it from their various remote locations.
• Fund-based accounting.
• Ongoing training on updates and improvements and tech support responses are quick and useful.

Incentivized

• Accounting! As you'd expect. Makes it much simpler andmore cost effective. In-coming and out-goings are recorded and assigned to projects and accounts. My accountant can access my books and reconcile so much more easily than trawling through spreadsheets.
• Time billing - time spent on projects/client work is recorded and is ready to be invoiced as required. Saves so much time and prevents inaccuracies.
• Invoicing - again, it should do this well and it does. Non payment reminders are automatic and clients have no excuses for not knowing the status of their account.
• Account dashboard - gives me an instant overview of the health of the business (am I on track to meet my yearly targets) and my accounts.

• Initial use of the new payroll features had several hiccups that had to be addressed.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

We are satisfied with the software and on-going costs. Moving to something else would be an investment and cost that would be difficult to justify given our satisfaction with FastFund.

Incentivized

I find FastFund to be easy to use and, for the most part, intuitive in its user interface and options. Sometimes new features are added or updates are made which causes some changes. Araize is good at holding short webinars to introduce these.

Incentivized

I spent nearly two decades in IT and am happy to say that FreeAgent's user interface is one of the best interfaces I have ever used.

Based in a cloud and never had any issues with down time. I can access from any device

I have always had my questions and issues responded to very quickly and addressed in a timely fashion. Araize is good at notifying us when the support desk will be closed for company holidays and the like. They are responsive to suggestions for new features and in helping when we have questions.

Incentivized

Araize FastFund was already implemented when I joined the organization so I cannot comment on how it compares to other products or why it was selected.

Incentivized

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. FreeAgent best suited my requirements at the time.

Incentivized

• Our main users are in three different physical locations and Araize FastFund has allowed each user to easily have access to what they need.

Incentivized

• Professional and uniform offering providing great confident customer service. My clients love it, whether they use it a little or a lot. It's a great piece of software - while sophisticated, it's straightforward to use.
• Time saving and efficient use of my team's time. Being able to easily share and compare work / tasks.