Expensify vs. FreshBooks

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Expensify
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Expensify automates the entire spend management process. Scan receipts, track mileage, submit and approve expenses, manage corporate cards, reimburse employees, pay bills, send invoices, and book travel. Built for individuals and companies of all sizes, anywhere in the world.
$5
per month per user
FreshBooks
Score 9.0 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
ExpensifyFreshBooks
Editions & Modules
Collect
$5
per month per user
Control
$9
per month per user
Lite
$21
per month
Plus
$38
per month
Premium
$65
per month
Select
Custom Pricing
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ExpensifyFreshBooks
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details10% discount for annual pricing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ExpensifyFreshBooks
Considered Both Products
Expensify
Chose Expensify
I haven't had too much experience with FreshBooks, but they were one of the solutions we evaluated before implementing Expensify. We ultimately chose Expensify because of its quick setup and ease of use.
Chose Expensify
This product is much better to use than fresh books. the user interface is very modern and very intuitive and easy to use. I wish the other organizations I worked at would have used this software instead and I could get my expenses paid timely. The reporting is excellent and …
Chose Expensify
We went with Expensify over others for a couple of reasons. Up-time and stability are very important to us. Expensify exhibits minimal downtime and it's always available for use when we need it, unlike newer alternatives. The pricing is competitive, allowing us to implement an …
Chose Expensify
Comparing Expensify and XpenseTracker is like comparing oranges and apples. The latter is better geared to freelancers.
FreshBooks
Chose FreshBooks
Freshbooks is an extra cost when used with Xero (or even QuickBooks) and I wouldn't suggest it. Freshbooks needs to find a pivot as they are known as invoicing software, but every other platform (that does more) has that feature built in. Time tracking was a good move, now they …
Features
ExpensifyFreshBooks
Expense Management
Comparison of Expense Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
9.7
154 Ratings
16% above category average
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Employee Expense Reporting9.8153 Ratings00 Ratings
Corporate Card Reconciliation9.666 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Management
Comparison of Payment Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
9.4
141 Ratings
16% above category average
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Customizable Approval Policies9.398 Ratings00 Ratings
Financial Document Management9.3103 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Status Tracking9.7114 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Audit Trail9.891 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Bill Detection9.0116 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced OCR9.095 Ratings00 Ratings
Electronic Funds Transfer9.578 Ratings00 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
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 Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
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 Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
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 Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
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 Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
Ratings
FreshBooks
9.5
49 Ratings
24% 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
Best Alternatives
ExpensifyFreshBooks
Small Businesses
Dext
Dext
Score 9.6 out of 10
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 6.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Precoro
Precoro
Score 9.5 out of 10
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Emburse Chrome River
Emburse Chrome River
Score 7.7 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 7.5 out of 10
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User Ratings
ExpensifyFreshBooks
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(239 ratings)
8.3
(75 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(14 ratings)
7.6
(18 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(140 ratings)
9.6
(20 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(45 ratings)
6.0
(11 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.5
(2 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
ExpensifyFreshBooks
Likelihood to Recommend
Expensify
I think it's really good for small businesses. At least in the way we use it. It's very good for keeping an eye on employee spending in nearly real time. I'm not sure how it works for larger companies when there is a larger number of people to keep track of.
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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.
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Pros
Expensify
  • Easy to access online portal whether using a mobile device or desktop app
  • Receipts can be uploaded in a breeze and automatically categorized
  • Expense Reports are submitted monthly on autopilot
  • Expenses for gas is calculated on the app by entering the starting/ending destinations.
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.
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Cons
Expensify
  • I wish that I could sync accounts on the back end kind of like with banking software, so that Expensify would automatically port over receipts for recurring expenses as soon as they're available
  • It would be nice to one-click submit an expense all the way through instead of having to attach it to a report
  • Wackier profile icons? :) Not a big deal. This software is pretty much amazing as it is now, and typically the urge to update and modify very good software leads to poor outcomes!
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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.
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Likelihood to Renew
Expensify
We like using the tool and we receive positive feedback from employees and management who use the tool. It saves time and helps us concentrate on the value adding activities so we are very likely to keep using Expensify in the future
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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.
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Usability
Expensify
My rating of 8 out of 10 for Expensify's overall usability reflects its strong performance in empowering individual users and streamlining core expense processes, while acknowledging that there are specific areas, particularly on the administrative or enterprise side, where the user experience could be further refined. Exceptional End-User Experience (for basic tasks).Automation & Time-Saving Features.Clear Workflow for Approvers. Why it's not a perfect 10 (areas for improvement that dock points): Limited corporate bank to choose from, limited multi-currency to pay to ( for instance, as a foreign corporatio,n i cannot pay with my US account to Israeli employees, or pay to our UK employees)
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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.
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Reliability and Availability
Expensify
No answers on this topic
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is easy to use and always works!
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Support Rating
Expensify
Our rep has been amazing. He has built custom reports for us that have been very time consuming and difficult. Our reps are also currently looking into new submission solutions for us that we are excited about. They came up with this and recommended it on their own without me complaining about an issue. They are about our success and are very excited about the product they offer.
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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.
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Implementation Rating
Expensify
The implementation process went rather smoothly, linking it to the bank and cards was handled easily. without too many unnecessary steps. Getting the accounts setup did take some time, but that would be true with any organization. All in all things went smoothly and I was very pleased with the setup and implementation process
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FreshBooks
I haven't changed my mind since my first evaluation. Freshbooks is still meeting my needs, easy to use, etc.
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Alternatives Considered
Expensify
It is definitely 10 times better than using an Excel spreadsheet. We are talking a digitized with AI type capabilities to do the work for you. It’s honestly a lifesaver. This beats manual calculations and data entry any day. Scanning 100 receipts and saving them to pdf files not only takes space on your storage but it is an extra unnecessary step
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.
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Return on Investment
Expensify
  • We went from paying credit card fees with no approval process to a no fees and complex approval processes.
  • I personally save time in not having to develop a spend report I just have my admin assistent fill in the details of the auto generated report and it is done. Went from an hour long process to 5- 10 minutes max to prepare a high quality audit ready report.
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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.
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ScreenShots

Expensify Screenshots

Screenshot of the dashboard used to manage expenses, book travel, reimburse employees, and create expense reports.Screenshot of corporate cards. The Expensify Card offers cash back on every US purchase.

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