FreshBooks vs. Paddle

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreshBooks
Score 7.7 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.
$19
per month
Paddle
Score 5.6 out of 10
N/A
London-based Paddle offers an ecommerce and subscription management solution for software companies seeking a streamlined demonstration of their services and centralized management of their different service levels and cloud-based offerings.N/A
Pricing
FreshBooksPaddle
Editions & Modules
Lite
$19
per month
Plus
$33
per month
Premium
$60
per month
Select
Custom Pricing
Custom
custom pricing
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreshBooksPaddle
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Features
FreshBooksPaddle
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
8.3
35 Ratings
11% above category average
Paddle
-
Ratings
API for custom integration8.530 Ratings00 Ratings
Plug-ins8.226 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
9.5
41 Ratings
14% above category average
Paddle
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions9.141 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
7.1
57 Ratings
9% below category average
Paddle
-
Ratings
Dashboards8.357 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.155 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
7.3
56 Ratings
5% below category average
Paddle
-
Ratings
Accounts payable7.541 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.955 Ratings00 Ratings
Cash management7.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Bank reconciliation7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Expense management6.351 Ratings00 Ratings
Time tracking7.042 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-currency support7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Regulations compliance5.521 Ratings00 Ratings
Self-service portal9.13 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
8.8
49 Ratings
15% above category average
Paddle
-
Ratings
Pricing8.339 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry8.537 Ratings00 Ratings
Credit card processing8.541 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Online Storefront
Comparison of Online Storefront features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Paddle
6.3
6 Ratings
22% below category average
Product catalog & listings00 Ratings8.24 Ratings
Product management00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Bulk product upload00 Ratings7.43 Ratings
Branding00 Ratings8.05 Ratings
Mobile storefront00 Ratings7.45 Ratings
Product variations00 Ratings2.74 Ratings
Website integration00 Ratings8.66 Ratings
Visual customization00 Ratings4.94 Ratings
CMS00 Ratings1.03 Ratings
Online Shopping Cart
Comparison of Online Shopping Cart features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Paddle
8.2
6 Ratings
7% above category average
Abandoned cart recovery00 Ratings8.55 Ratings
Checkout user experience00 Ratings7.96 Ratings
Online Payment System
Comparison of Online Payment System features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Paddle
8.2
5 Ratings
1% below category average
eCommerce security00 Ratings8.25 Ratings
eCommerce Marketing
Comparison of eCommerce Marketing features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Paddle
6.2
5 Ratings
21% below category average
Promotions & discounts00 Ratings9.45 Ratings
Personalized recommendations00 Ratings4.43 Ratings
SEO00 Ratings4.92 Ratings
eCommerce Business Management
Comparison of eCommerce Business Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Paddle
6.1
6 Ratings
27% below category average
Multi-site management00 Ratings4.63 Ratings
Order processing00 Ratings8.66 Ratings
Inventory management00 Ratings7.84 Ratings
Shipping00 Ratings1.01 Ratings
Custom functionality00 Ratings8.73 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FreshBooksPaddle
Small Businesses
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.6 out of 10
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 7.4 out of 10
Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 6.8 out of 10
IBM Digital Commerce
IBM Digital Commerce
Score 9.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreshBooksPaddle
Likelihood to Recommend
7.3
(75 ratings)
7.0
(6 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.6
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.9
(20 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.1
(11 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreshBooksPaddle
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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Paddle
I wouldn't recommend them to anybody because their support is getting worse and worse and their business processes require you to contact support whether you want to or not. You will be forced to contact support and then wait for days to get any meaningful response that's not a copy/pasted sentence from FAQ.
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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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Paddle
  • Super easy to implement SDKs across supported platforms that support modern interface paradigms.
  • Real team members that provide backend support for merchant issues. We had issues addressed quickly and taken seriously whenever we needed anything.
  • Help with navigating VAT transparently. We never worried that we were messing up in this complicated area of international sales.
  • Great first line customer support reduces the need for an extensive customer support organization on our end. They dealt with all purchase related issues as well as lightweight technical issues (e.g pointing users to FAQs, update links, etc.).
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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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Paddle
  • Analytics could support more flexible analysis of reported data and better custom events.
  • More customization of the drop in purchase UI on the web without the need for a full custom site integration.
  • Sometimes communication from their front line support staff has gone to the wrong address.
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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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Paddle
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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Paddle
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is easy to use and always works!
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Paddle
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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Paddle
No answers on this topic
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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Paddle
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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Paddle
We tried using Stripe before Paddle, but it was a pain integrating it and it lacked the licensing. Paddle allows us just to add a payment button and don’t ever think about payment methods, we don’t have to make a separate button for card payments and another one for PayPal. Paddle does all this in their checkout process.
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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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Paddle
  • We wanted to grow faster, which was possible once we integrate recurring payment gateway. And we've got Paddle to do that.
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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

Paddle Screenshots

Screenshot of Padddle Payment Gateway