FreeAgent vs. QuickBooks Desktop Premier

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreeAgent
Score 8.3 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.N/A
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Desktop Premier is an installed version of QuickBooks for general business, contractors, manufacturing and warehouse accounting, as well as nonprofits, professional services, and retail.N/A
Pricing
FreeAgentQuickBooks Desktop Premier
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreeAgentQuickBooks Desktop Premier
Free Trial
NoNo
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 Desktop Premier
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
FreeAgentQuickBooks Desktop Premier
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.6
13 Ratings
18% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
8.9
47 Ratings
21% above category average
Pay calculation8.012 Ratings7.046 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.56 Ratings10.020 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.92 Ratings8.036 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.86 Ratings9.927 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.78 Ratings9.529 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
6.3
12 Ratings
12% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
1.3
20 Ratings
138% below category average
API for custom integration4.59 Ratings1.315 Ratings
Plug-ins8.011 Ratings1.320 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.5
14 Ratings
8% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
7.5
49 Ratings
5% below category average
Single sign-on capability9.013 Ratings4.943 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.013 Ratings10.040 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
7.5
21 Ratings
0% below category average
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
6.9
57 Ratings
8% below category average
Dashboards9.019 Ratings4.948 Ratings
Standard reports9.019 Ratings7.956 Ratings
Custom reports4.410 Ratings7.954 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.8
23 Ratings
19% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
7.1
60 Ratings
3% below category average
Accounts payable8.018 Ratings7.058 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.020 Ratings7.059 Ratings
Cash management9.018 Ratings8.054 Ratings
Bank reconciliation9.019 Ratings8.057 Ratings
Expense management8.022 Ratings6.056 Ratings
Time tracking9.017 Ratings5.028 Ratings
Fixed asset management8.611 Ratings5.039 Ratings
Multi-currency support10.08 Ratings9.018 Ratings
Multi-division support9.05 Ratings7.033 Ratings
Regulations compliance8.78 Ratings1.819 Ratings
Electronic tax filing10.019 Ratings10.028 Ratings
Self-service portal9.011 Ratings8.017 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations8.01 Ratings7.014 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings7.06 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings9.08 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings7.16 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings9.93 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings4.37 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
7.4
4 Ratings
10% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
2.9
36 Ratings
79% below category average
Inventory tracking7.72 Ratings1.735 Ratings
Automatic reordering8.21 Ratings1.015 Ratings
Location management4.51 Ratings8.019 Ratings
Manufacturing module9.11 Ratings1.017 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.1
13 Ratings
11% above category average
QuickBooks Desktop Premier
7.0
38 Ratings
4% below category average
Pricing8.19 Ratings10.030 Ratings
Order entry6.82 Ratings10.031 Ratings
Credit card processing8.25 Ratings7.027 Ratings
Cost of goods sold9.13 Ratings6.334 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings1.04 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings5.01 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FreeAgentQuickBooks Desktop Premier
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Solopreneur
QuickBooks Solopreneur
Score 9.2 out of 10
QuickBooks Solopreneur
QuickBooks Solopreneur
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 7.0 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 7.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreeAgentQuickBooks Desktop Premier
Likelihood to Recommend
9.0
(23 ratings)
3.0
(63 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
1.3
(12 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(4 ratings)
7.0
(14 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(5 ratings)
8.9
(5 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
5.7
(4 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(12 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
7.2
(7 ratings)
Configurability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Ease of integration
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(1 ratings)
6.2
(4 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
-
(0 ratings)
7.0
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreeAgentQuickBooks Desktop Premier
Likelihood to Recommend
FreeAgent
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.
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Intuit
QuickBooks Premier is not well suited to manufacturing industries, as it cannot handle the complicated inventory requirements of raw materials, work in process, and finished goods. Retailers and Wholesalers can use QuickBooks Premier as long as they have an add-on inventory tracking program or Point of Sale system that integrates with QuickBooks. Likewise, restaurants would need specialized restaurant software that integrates with QuickBooks Premier. Non-profits can use QuickBooks Premier non-profit edition, but if they use fund accounting, it will require some complicated work-arounds. QuickBooks Premier is well-suited to most construction trades, personal and professional services providers, small retailers, and rental property owners.
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Pros
FreeAgent
  • 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.
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Intuit
  • The program is easy to learn and use. We can train our clients' personnel how to use the program with out difficulty.
  • It is easy for clients to generate bills and manage accounts receivable.
  • It is easy to manage accounts payable and allows clients to pay their bills electronically.
  • Transactions can be imported electronically for credit card and banking transactions.
  • It is easy to reconcile bank and credit card accounts.
  • We can import data generated by QuickBooks into our tax and accounting software.
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Cons
FreeAgent
  • 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.
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Intuit
  • I would like to be able to choose how i want to view accounts receivable aging. I would like some flexibility to sort and choose how to present the data.
  • For a seasoned accountant, I would like to see some of the restrictive controls that are in place for novices to be able to be relaxed so that I can easily make some entries and adjust some balances that ordinarily a regular user would not be able to do.
  • I would like to see an easy way to clear old outstanding checks that need to be reversed without affecting prior balances/history.
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Likelihood to Renew
FreeAgent
No answers on this topic
Intuit
Because we have been extremely happy with the product and our organization tends to be creatures of habit. We rarely leave a product that works this well for the latest and greatest. Typically we follow the "if it's not broken, don't fix it rule". While QB does make changes we typically just roll with it. If we do find something we don't like we work through it until we fully understand its functionality.
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Usability
FreeAgent
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.
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Intuit
QuickBooks is an amazing tool that provides all of the necessary features needed to run the finances of a company. I would like for QuickBooks to provide better resources for training. There are many features that go unused because of lack of knowledge. Procore offers chatting and calls on their platform and they make it easy and accessible to get answers and solutions.
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Reliability and Availability
FreeAgent
Based in a cloud and never had any issues with down time. I can access from any device
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Intuit
This is very reliable software, the desktop version is fast. If there is a problem, it is most likely on your own hardware!
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Performance
FreeAgent
No answers on this topic
Intuit
It takes forever to load.
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Support Rating
FreeAgent
No answers on this topic
Intuit
This is an awesome product and the support team is very knowledgeable. The product is mature, so there are not a lot of bugs and the support team really solves problems quickly. Usually it is a user error issue, but the support desk helps me out. I love the fact that it is US based support.
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Implementation Rating
FreeAgent
No answers on this topic
Intuit
It is important to do your research. There are tutorial videos online that could help new user of this accounting system. These tutorials are straightforward and easily understandable.
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Alternatives Considered
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. FreeAgent best suited my requirements at the time.
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Intuit
QuickBooks Premier handles most of my business functions efficiently in one package. It is not my "everything." I use Replicon for time rather than QuickBooks. I don't want my WIP data interfering with my accounting. I use PaySimple for it's web interface and back office processing. I don't have security issues since I don't have any credit card data in my possession. With today's identity theft environment, I have to protect myself as much as I can. Not having credit card data in my accounting software lets me sleep much better at night. Quicken will do basic accounting but does not have all the double entry accounting systems contained in QuickBooks. QuickBooks Online does much of the basic business functions but I don't like the pricing structure. As a professional accountant, that is very important to me. Bill.com provided a good service but the ability of QuickBooks to add bills and receipts to transactions makes it redundant.
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Scalability
FreeAgent
No answers on this topic
Intuit
They're getting better. Still room for improvement.
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Return on Investment
FreeAgent
  • 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.
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Intuit
  • Since our financials are kept very up to date, it helps us compare our financial results to prior years and it is used for our internal goal setting.
  • Due to the accountant copy function, we are able to provide better service since our clients are not waiting on us to fix historical data. They can continue their operations uninterrupted.
  • The import feature certainly speeds up the process of accounting for our payroll. As previously mentioned, it takes about a minute to do our entries for payroll and check them.
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