FreshBooks vs. Harpoon

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreshBooks
Score 6.1 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.
$15
per month
Harpoon
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Harpoon is a web-hosted accounting and finance app that helps freelancers and consultants set and meet their financial goals. In addition, Harpoon provides useful tools to help users collect revenue and manage finances. Features include time tracking, invoicing, expense tracking, project scheduling and more.  The vendor’s value proposition is that their solution that helps users boost their freelancing career.
$19
per month
Pricing
FreshBooksHarpoon
Editions & Modules
Lite
$15
per month
Plus
$30
per month
Premium
$55
per month
Select
Custom Pricing
Single User - Unlimited Everything
$19
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreshBooksHarpoon
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
FreshBooksHarpoon
Considered Both Products
FreshBooks

No answer on this topic

Harpoon
Chose Harpoon
These others accounting/invoicing platforms did a great job with the invoicing and bookkeeping, but at the time I used them, none of them had any goalsetting features. I also found the metrics dashboards a bit underwhelming.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
FreshBooksHarpoon
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
1.2
32 Ratings
142% below category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
API for custom integration1.227 Ratings00 Ratings
Plug-ins1.123 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
6.3
38 Ratings
24% below category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions2.738 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
4.5
52 Ratings
51% below category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
Dashboards4.652 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports4.150 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom reports4.82 Ratings00 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
4.6
51 Ratings
47% below category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
Accounts payable1.236 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounts receivable2.450 Ratings00 Ratings
Cash management7.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Bank reconciliation7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Expense management2.946 Ratings00 Ratings
Time tracking3.439 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-currency support7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Regulations compliance1.218 Ratings00 Ratings
Self-service portal9.13 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
3.9
44 Ratings
62% below category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
Pricing2.234 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry1.234 Ratings00 Ratings
Credit card processing2.136 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
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FreshBooksHarpoon
Small Businesses
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Score 9.1 out of 10
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Score 8.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 8.1 out of 10
TimeCamp
TimeCamp
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreshBooksHarpoon
Likelihood to Recommend
1.4
(70 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.6
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
4.8
(15 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
4.5
(11 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreshBooksHarpoon
Likelihood to Recommend
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is the perfect tool for businesses who have hundreds of clients and customers whom they invoice regularly. It removes the need to manually send invoices to clients and customers, by streamlining inputted information to create an automated invoicing system which keeps clients and customers up to date with their bills. It is also a great tool for managing expenses, especially for companies with different teams working on varying projects, ensuring these teams do not exceed the budget ceiling.
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Harpoon
I think Harpoon works best for freelancers, consultants, self employed people and smaller companies with less client to bill. For larger enterprises with hundreds or thousands of clients, there are larger, more intricate platforms in the market that are better suited for those needs.
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Pros
FreshBooks
  • FreshBooks is pretty intuitive to use. I did have some questions when I first started using the system, but it wasn't a long learning curve.
  • FreshBooks provides more capability than other billing applications such as PaySimple or BlinkSale. FreshBooks does provide an easy invoicing function. It's easy to create invoices that can be sent via email or snail mail to one or more individuals (for example, the decision-maker and the accounting dept). Clients can pay online or send a check and then I note that the payment has been received. If paid by credit card, the system automatically marks the invoice paid. Your business accounts such as bank accounts can be linked to FreshBooks. Then, the system can automatically draw in expenses and will create simple P&L reports, overdue invoices, client history, etc. If you don't have inventory and complex payroll, etc. FreshBooks provides just the right level of capability to make financial tracking simple.
  • FreshBooks integrates with a number of credit card companies. I use Stripe, which has fees similar to Paypal, but much more reliable processing. I can accept all credit cards, including American Express, for a reasonable fee.
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Harpoon
  • Makes Sending Invoices & Collecting Payment Easy, for Freelancers
  • Tracking Financial Goals (Monthly & Annual) & Projecting Future Results
  • Provides Insights On AR, Earned Income, Top Clients, and other helpful but highly relevant data points.
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Cons
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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Harpoon
  • Sometimes expense reporting bring up duplicate transactions, which may be more of a fault of the API that connects my account, which is Plaid
  • Would be nice if in the future, they can offer ACH as one of the payment options for invoices
  • There are some redundancies that pop up when setting time frames for client work and the projects attached to them. If they aren't aligned, it can cause inaccurate reporting. If it just sent it once and it took care of both functions, it would be easier
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Likelihood to Renew
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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Harpoon
No answers on this topic
Usability
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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Harpoon
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is easy to use and always works!
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Harpoon
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
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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Harpoon
The few times I've needed help or had questions about the platform, the founder got back to me. And fairly fast. The extra effort resonated well with me
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Implementation Rating
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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Harpoon
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
FreshBooks
We do not consider other options since our client wants the implementation of this platform in order to use it in the two countries where it has operations.

At the moment, full integration was not possible and we still share the information with a Mexican system to complete everything necessary.
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Harpoon
I've used Less Accounting and & Quickbooks Online. After Less Accounting was acquired, its development was mostly stopped. While the tool was a simple way to manage invoices and expenses, its directional philosophy changed with the new owners. Quickbooks Online was a solid tool, but the company support was unhelpful and hard to work with at times. Harpoon provides a great tool, with a company that cares about its users.
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Return on Investment
FreshBooks
  • Freshbooks saves me time compared to when I managed to invoice without an app.
  • Freshbooks make keeping my invoices organized which saves me time.
  • Freshbooks helps me to know who is late on payments. When I was doing this by hand, some invoices would get lost in the clutter and I would not find out I haven't been paid until much later.
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Harpoon
  • Clear and precise visibility of my financial status.
  • Projections of how I'm doing today, this month, and this year.
  • Clarity on what needs to happen with client development to reach my goals.
  • It shrinks the amount of time I spend on getting clients to pay my invoices.
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ScreenShots

FreshBooks Screenshots

Screenshot of DashboardScreenshot of Invoice OverviewScreenshot of Beautiful, Customizable InvoicesScreenshot of Invoice seamlessly across devicesScreenshot of ExpensesScreenshot of Time Tracking

Harpoon Screenshots

Screenshot of Harpoon's Dashboard showcases over a dozen crucial metrics to help you understand the health of your business. Enjoy the big picture view of your freelancing finances.Screenshot of Every business has expenses and Harpoon is the perfect place to track them. Assign expenses to your projects and easily add those expenses to invoices for reimbursement.Screenshot of You'll appreciate how simple it is to create invoices, and your clients will appreciate the one-click ease of making payments online. Harpoon's invoices are clean and beautiful, a perfect complement to the professional services and products you provide.Screenshot of All of a project's invoices, expenses, and recorded hours are grouped and organized in one convenient place ready for you to take action, or simply there for historical reference. Handy!Screenshot of Harpoon gives you powerful tools to track and organize your time. Simple one-click timers combined with flexible reporting puts you in total control of your business's tracked time.