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Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) vs. FreshBooks

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)

    Score8.3 out of 10
    N/AEmburse Enterprise is the enterprise expense and invoice-management product that replaces the former Chrome River name. Emburse states that the renaming does not change the product’s expense and invoice functionality, workflows, interface, or support; existing Chrome River customers use the same product under Emburse branding.N/A

    FreshBooks

    Score9.2 out of 10
    Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
    FreshBooks is an accounting service for small businesses. The solution enables users to send and manage invoices, track billable time and collect online payments. The vendor’s value proposition this that their solution provides a straightforward service that simplifies the billing process.

    $21

    per month

    Pricing
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)FreshBooks
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Lite
    $21
    per month
    Plus
    $38
    per month
    Premium
    $65
    per month
    Select
    Custom Pricing
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)FreshBooks
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsWe offer three cost-effective, subscription-based pricing models: A transaction-based model, priced according to expense report volume A submitter-based model, priced according to an average number of monthly submitters An enterprise-level model that includes unlimited expense reports. Pricing for this model is based on total employee headcount Feel free to contact us to discuss the best one for your organization.10% discount for annual pricing.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)FreshBooks
    Considered Both Products
    Emburse
    No answer on this topic
    FreshBooks
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    95%
    Would buy again
    19 Answers
    69%
    Would buy again
    9 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    15 Answers
    82%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    95%
    Happy with the feature set
    19 Answers
    54%
    Happy with the feature set
    7 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    82%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    64%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    62%
    Implementation went as expected
    8 Answers
    Features
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)FreshBooks
    Expense Management
    Comparison of Expense Management features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    8.5
    4 Ratings
    3% above category average
    FreshBooks
    -
    Ratings
    Employee Expense Reporting8.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Corporate Card Reconciliation9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Payment Management
    Comparison of Payment Management features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    7.9
    4 Ratings
    1% below category average
    FreshBooks
    -
    Ratings
    Customizable Approval Policies8.33 Ratings00 Ratings
    Financial Document Management7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Payment Status Tracking6.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Payment Audit Trail9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
    Duplicate Bill Detection8.33 Ratings00 Ratings
    Advanced OCR8.52 Ratings00 Ratings
    Electronic Funds Transfer8.01 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    9.1
    35 Ratings
    18% above category average
    API for custom integration00 Ratings9.330 Ratings
    Plug-ins00 Ratings9.026 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    10.0
    41 Ratings
    20% above category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings10.041 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    7.5
    57 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings9.057 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings8.855 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings4.82 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    7.5
    56 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Accounts payable00 Ratings8.041 Ratings
    Accounts receivable00 Ratings9.455 Ratings
    Cash management00 Ratings7.03 Ratings
    Bank reconciliation00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
    Expense management00 Ratings6.651 Ratings
    Time tracking00 Ratings7.642 Ratings
    Multi-currency support00 Ratings7.01 Ratings
    Regulations compliance00 Ratings6.021 Ratings
    Self-service portal00 Ratings9.13 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) and FreshBooks
    Feature
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)
    -
    Ratings
    FreshBooks
    9.5
    49 Ratings
    25% above category average
    Pricing00 Ratings8.839 Ratings
    Order entry00 Ratings9.337 Ratings
    Credit card processing00 Ratings9.741 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
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    User Ratings
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)FreshBooks
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.1
    (124 ratings)
    7.6
    (75 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.8
    (18 ratings)
    7.6
    (18 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (108 ratings)
    9.6
    (20 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (113 ratings)
    6.0
    (11 ratings)
    Online Training
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.8
    (7 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    CPA Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    6.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River)FreshBooks
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Emburse
    The Emburse Chrome River is well suited for tracking expenses and reimbursement. The compliance part of the software makes the task very easy to ensure all the reports that are being used within the company are updated and easy to verify. The Automating invoice processing makes some redundant task easy to execute.
    Incentivized
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    FreshBooks
    I recommend FreshBooks to anyone running a service-based business that needs invoicing, time reporting, and accounting tools. FB is adept in all three of these scenarios and isn't overly complicated like similar accounting packages I have used. I love how I can write estimates and proposals, manage the business development process from the software, and quickly convert prospects to invoiced clients.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Emburse
    • [Emburse] Chrome River listens to its customer's needs and does its best to match current products to those needs, or collaborate internally to determine if an enhancement can be made available that will not only benefit that customer, but will be a good use case for all Chrome River customers.
    • The [Emburse] Chrome River customer service team is great. Unlike most companies, you can speak to a liver person!
    • [Emburse] Chrome River's training offerings are relevant and pertinent to the day to day operations of the software.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    • Invoicing - FreshBooks basically ensures our accountants spend less time on invoices via its automated invoicing system, which sends invoices to our customers and clients alike and also send them regular reminders for them to pay up their bills.
    • Collecting business insights - FreshBooks enable our company analysts measure our business performances via data reports provided by FreshBooks' intuitive dashboard. Allowing us do a comparative analysis of key business metrics of a current month against past months and determine if the business is growing.
    • Expense tracker - We have recently embraced FreshBooks as an expense tracker for teams at our company branch. Thusfar, FreshBooks has performed very well, making our expense management a perfect operation; ensuring teams do not exceed their planned budget and also eliminating the need for tracking expenses on excel spreadsheets.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Emburse
    • Would be great to have pre-saved templates available to apply to line items at the expense report header level rather than having to go into each line.
    • Would be nice to have a mass upload functionality for things like cost codes, allocations, and credit card users.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    • I can brand invoices with my business logo, but I might like to change colours of the invoices themselves to match the rest of my business documents. That isn't a major point at all, but it's something that I'd like to see.
    • Freshbooks doesn't remember the categories that similar expenses were previously assigned to. It would be nice if Freshbooks would suggest a category for an already saved vendor, to ensure the consistency of expense reporting.
    • The home page of a Freshbooks account has a great graph display of expenses and income, but it only shows the last 6 months. This is still very useful, but I'd like to be able to see this kind of graph for different periods of time.
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Emburse
    Chrome River is easy to use. We needed little training for our users and instead pointed them to Chrome River's Help Guides which are clearly written and easy to understand. With tools SNAP and the ability to email receipts means we can be completely remote when submitting reports.
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    At the current needs of our business, FreshBooks suits us perfectly - it allows online access by our accountant to the system for GST purposes, easy input of expenses and tracking of Profit and Loss statements. FreshBooks customer service is great as well - very understanding and accommodating.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Emburse
    I would rate Chrome River Expense a 10 because, as I mentioned before, it is very simple and easy to use. This is important from an administrative point-of-view as well as for the field employee. Being a general contractor, it makes it all the better for our employees to use a program that is easy to understand and requires little time and effort. It has made tracking expenses very simple and has been well received by the entire company.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    FreshBooks is very easy to use even for novices. If you're looking for an online accounting software that is full of features, has great aesthetics and is user-friendly, then this is definitely the software for you. I've been using it for several years now and despite being tempted to switch by other vendors, I like the feel of FreshBooks and it's mobile features.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Emburse
    The software is always running effectively. I use many Cloud based systems and never had issues with Chrome River
    Incentivized
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    FreshBooks
    FreshBooks is easy to use and always works!
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Emburse
    System runs normal pretty much all the time. Does not slow any other systems down.
    Incentivized
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    FreshBooks
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Emburse
    This has been easy for me because we have a rep that contacts the supporters for this product to correct any issues we may have with the software or changes needed to help out employees use Chrome River easier. This from my understanding has been a hit or miss kind of interaction with our rep and Chrome River.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    I think the support level for FreshBooks is on par with a 6 because the folks behind this application do a fairly good job at providing support for their customer base. I still don't think they are at an elite level when it comes to supporting but are getting there although too slow in my opinion.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Emburse
    The software is very user friendly, so the online training was easy to pickup for everyone.
    Incentivized
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    FreshBooks
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    Emburse
    Before implementation begins, make sure you have a plan on how you would like your workflow and platform setup for a system like Chrome River. It will speed the process and eliminate the need to make changes when you go live.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    I haven't changed my mind since my first evaluation. Freshbooks is still meeting my needs, easy to use, etc.
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Emburse
    It's the [industry-leading] software for Enterprise level organizations with [large-scale] teams and financial responsibilities. The software has the most robust set of tools and pays for itself with the amount of time it saves. Many newer alternatives have sprouted up but I don't know that we would ever trust another software to do our Expense Tracking and Management.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    FreshBooks does very well in comparison, especially since it is free software for Barclays bank users. Sage software is much worse than FreshBooks. However, Xero and QuickBooks, the market leaders, are still ahead with usability, additional features, reporting, and connection with third-party software providers. We chose FreshBooks as it does everything we require from this type of software.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Emburse
    It's very easy software to design to your needs.
    Incentivized
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    FreshBooks
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Emburse
    • We have seen a return on approver time of nearly 60% meaning our approvers have tripled their output.
    • We have had feedback from our users that time spent creating expenses has gone from an average of 2 hours to perhaps 20 minutes, tops.
    • We have seen in our dashboards that the Emburse Certify Suite of tools has returned an average savings of over $500K a year.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    FreshBooks
    • In reality, we do not implement all of its use at the moment in order to determine an adequate ROI.
    • In our approach to the use of the system, it seems to us a considerable time saving by achieving the integration of the Mexican subsidiary with its parent located in the US.
    • Financial reports meet the necessary USGAAP requirements.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Emburse Expense Enterprise (formerly Chrome River) Screenshots

    Screenshot of A consistent experience across any screen size or operating systemScreenshot of Simple, customizable tiles for expense entryScreenshot of Approve expenses directly from your inbox with a single click

    FreshBooks Screenshots

    Screenshot of the dashboardScreenshot of an invoice overviewScreenshot of an example of a customizable invoiceScreenshot of an invoice appearing across devicesScreenshot of expensesScreenshot of time tracking