FreshBooks vs. HoneyBook

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
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
HoneyBook
Score 6.7 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
HoneyBook aims to help creative entrepreneurs and freelancers book more clients, manage projects and get paid all in one place. With HoneyBook, users can automate busy work and stay on top of to-dos, saving time and money, while growing a business. HoneyBook is designed to emulate a personal assistant. The vendor states that small business owners and freelancer customers have tripled their bookings and saved multiple hours a day using HoneyBook. They further state that a variety of small…
$36
per month
Pricing
FreshBooksHoneyBook
Editions & Modules
Lite
$21
per month
Plus
$38
per month
Premium
$65
per month
Select
Custom Pricing
Starter
$36
per month
Unlimited Plan - Monthly
$39
Month
Essentials
$59
per month
Premium
$129
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreshBooksHoneyBook
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.2 months free with annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
FreshBooksHoneyBook
Features
FreshBooksHoneyBook
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
9.1
35 Ratings
18% above category average
HoneyBook
9.0
10 Ratings
16% above category average
API for custom integration9.330 Ratings00 Ratings
Plug-ins9.026 Ratings00 Ratings
Custom fields00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Custom objects00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
10.0
41 Ratings
20% above category average
HoneyBook
6.5
11 Ratings
26% below category average
Single sign-on capability10.01 Ratings6.49 Ratings
Role-based user permissions10.041 Ratings6.710 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
7.5
57 Ratings
4% below category average
HoneyBook
-
Ratings
Dashboards9.057 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.855 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
1% below category average
HoneyBook
-
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
23% above category average
HoneyBook
-
Ratings
Pricing8.839 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry9.337 Ratings00 Ratings
Credit card processing9.741 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Sales Force Automation
Comparison of Sales Force Automation features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
HoneyBook
6.3
12 Ratings
22% below category average
Customer data management / contact management00 Ratings6.412 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings5.510 Ratings
Opportunity management00 Ratings5.011 Ratings
Integration with email client (e.g., Outlook or Gmail)00 Ratings8.711 Ratings
Contract management00 Ratings7.012 Ratings
Quote & order management00 Ratings5.310 Ratings
Interaction tracking00 Ratings6.59 Ratings
Customer Service & Support
Comparison of Customer Service & Support features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
HoneyBook
7.7
10 Ratings
0% above category average
Case management00 Ratings8.78 Ratings
Help desk management00 Ratings6.79 Ratings
Marketing Automation
Comparison of Marketing Automation features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
HoneyBook
4.7
10 Ratings
49% below category average
Lead management00 Ratings4.710 Ratings
CRM Project Management
Comparison of CRM Project Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
HoneyBook
7.0
12 Ratings
9% below category average
Task management00 Ratings5.712 Ratings
Billing and invoicing management00 Ratings7.011 Ratings
Reporting00 Ratings8.311 Ratings
CRM Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of CRM Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
HoneyBook
5.5
8 Ratings
33% below category average
Customizable reports00 Ratings5.58 Ratings
Platform
Comparison of Platform features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
HoneyBook
6.5
10 Ratings
15% below category average
Mobile access00 Ratings6.510 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FreshBooksHoneyBook
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 6.8 out of 10
Salesmate
Salesmate
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.1 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 7.6 out of 10
Creatio
Creatio
Score 9.1 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreshBooksHoneyBook
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(75 ratings)
6.3
(12 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.6
(18 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
9.5
(20 ratings)
5.7
(10 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(11 ratings)
2.6
(7 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreshBooksHoneyBook
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.
Read full review
HoneyBook
I would recommend Honeybook to other coaches, consultants, and small business owners. It may not be appropriate for a large team's use, but works for the size of organization I currently own and manage. It also integrates with QuickBooks and makes financial data management fairly seamless.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
HoneyBook
  • HoneyBook offers incredible resources to train users how to best use their system. It's informative and eye-opening to watch one of their training sessions.
  • I love how easy HoneyBook makes it to create highly professional materials that are beautiful. Its brochures and selling materials are stellar and I'm able to streamline the process without feeling like I actually have to sell my capabilities.
  • I'm thrilled with the billing system and how simple it is to automate. I love that I can see how my customers have engaged with the bills.
  • The app helps me feel connected to my leads and data while I'm away from my computer.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
HoneyBook
  • The online scheduling tool does not work with different time zones very well. It doesn't automatically adjust to my clients' timezones and it doesn't even have many international time zones as an option! I had 3 clients in a row schedule meetings at the wrong time when I first started using HoneyBook's scheduler. I had to switch to Calendly because HoneyBook's scheduling tool was causing me to lose business.
  • The transaction fees for instant deposits are expensive.
  • [I believe} many of the features on HoneyBook are half-baked. It's marketed as an all-in-one business management platform, but I'm still using Calendly, Google Drive, Typeform, Clockify, and ClickUp because HoneyBook's equivalent features aren't as sophisticated or as easy to use.
  • The notes section for client projects does not have much space or allow for any custom formatting such as hyperlinks, bold text, highlighted text, etc. Tools such as Teamwork, Pipedrive, Asana, and ClickUp do a much better job at displaying this type of information.
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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.
Read full review
HoneyBook
Since I do not use ALL the functionality in HoneyBook, I have wondered if the plan I am on is too much. That is why I rated a 9 rather than 10. I have definitely considered downgrading but not leaving HoneyBook.
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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.
Read full review
HoneyBook
This is now a copy-paste response since this platform is asking me to answer every single question. It is such a negative experience with Honeybook that they even upset me while I'm trying to warn others of all the horrible pitfalls in working with the platform.
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Reliability and Availability
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is easy to use and always works!
Read full review
HoneyBook
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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HoneyBook
They have ALWAYS been amazing when I needed any type of service or help. Their concierge service is also amazing vs other services I have used in the past. I have confidence when I ask for help - both through Chat or even on their Facebook group that I will get an answer quickly.
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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.
Read full review
HoneyBook
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.
Read full review
HoneyBook
Honeybook and Dubsado have a lot of similarities. I'd say the only big difference is that Dubsado still has more advanced workflow capabilities. Dubsado also is much harder to set up. Honeybook is simpler and easier to use right from the start.
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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.
Read full review
HoneyBook
  • HoneyBook was very cost effective which was great for ROI!
  • HoneyBook was easy to use which made for a quick employee on-boarding for new team members.
  • HoneyBook had some features that were not available on the platform that are considered standard for any other CRM such as data pull, platform integrations, and customization options.
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

HoneyBook Screenshots

Screenshot of BrochureScreenshot of GratuityScreenshot of Homepage PipelineScreenshot of HomepageScreenshot of ProjectScreenshot of Workflows