FreshBooks vs. Harpoon

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreshBooks
Score 8.7 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
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
$21
per month
Plus
$38
per month
Premium
$65
per month
Select
Custom Pricing
Single User - Unlimited Everything
$19
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreshBooksHarpoon
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details10% discount for annual pricing.
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.
Features
FreshBooksHarpoon
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
9.1
35 Ratings
16% above category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
API for custom integration9.330 Ratings00 Ratings
Plug-ins8.926 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
10.0
41 Ratings
20% above category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions9.941 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
7.5
57 Ratings
4% below category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
Dashboards8.957 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.755 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
7.5
56 Ratings
2% below category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
Accounts payable8.041 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounts receivable9.455 Ratings00 Ratings
Cash management7.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Bank reconciliation7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Expense management6.651 Ratings00 Ratings
Time tracking7.642 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-currency support7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Regulations compliance6.021 Ratings00 Ratings
Self-service portal9.13 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
9.4
49 Ratings
21% above category average
Harpoon
-
Ratings
Pricing8.839 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry9.337 Ratings00 Ratings
Credit card processing9.641 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FreshBooksHarpoon
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 7.3 out of 10
Dayforce Powerpay
Dayforce Powerpay
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.1 out of 10
TimeClock Plus
TimeClock Plus
Score 9.5 out of 10
Enterprises
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
SAP S/4HANA Cloud
Score 8.5 out of 10
Zoho People
Zoho People
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreshBooksHarpoon
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(75 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.6
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.5
(20 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(11 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreshBooksHarpoon
Likelihood to Recommend
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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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
  • 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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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
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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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
  • 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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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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

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

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.