FreshBooks vs. Plate IQ

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreshBooks
Score 8.0 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
Plate IQ
Score 5.8 out of 10
N/A
Plate IQ is an automated accounts payable platform.N/A
Pricing
FreshBooksPlate IQ
Editions & Modules
Lite
$21
per month
Plus
$38
per month
Premium
$65
per month
Select
Custom Pricing
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreshBooksPlate IQ
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details10% discount for annual pricing.Conact vendor for pricing information.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
FreshBooksPlate IQ
Features
FreshBooksPlate IQ
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
8.8
35 Ratings
14% above category average
Plate IQ
-
Ratings
API for custom integration8.930 Ratings00 Ratings
Plug-ins8.626 Ratings00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
9.8
41 Ratings
19% above category average
Plate IQ
-
Ratings
Single sign-on capability10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Role-based user permissions9.641 Ratings00 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
7.3
57 Ratings
6% below category average
Plate IQ
-
Ratings
Dashboards8.657 Ratings00 Ratings
Standard reports8.455 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
7.4
56 Ratings
2% below category average
Plate IQ
-
Ratings
Accounts payable7.841 Ratings00 Ratings
Accounts receivable9.255 Ratings00 Ratings
Cash management7.03 Ratings00 Ratings
Bank reconciliation7.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Expense management6.451 Ratings00 Ratings
Time tracking7.442 Ratings00 Ratings
Multi-currency support7.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Regulations compliance5.821 Ratings00 Ratings
Self-service portal9.13 Ratings00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
9.1
49 Ratings
18% above category average
Plate IQ
-
Ratings
Pricing8.639 Ratings00 Ratings
Order entry8.937 Ratings00 Ratings
Credit card processing9.041 Ratings00 Ratings
Cost of goods sold10.01 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Management
Comparison of Payment Management features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Plate IQ
1.6
2 Ratings
129% below category average
Customizable Approval Policies00 Ratings1.62 Ratings
Financial Document Management00 Ratings1.02 Ratings
Payment Status Tracking00 Ratings1.62 Ratings
Payment Audit Trail00 Ratings1.72 Ratings
Duplicate Bill Detection00 Ratings1.62 Ratings
Advanced OCR00 Ratings1.72 Ratings
Electronic Funds Transfer00 Ratings1.62 Ratings
Accounts Payable
Comparison of Accounts Payable features of Product A and Product B
FreshBooks
-
Ratings
Plate IQ
1.4
2 Ratings
131% below category average
Automated Accounts Payable Processes00 Ratings1.62 Ratings
Vendor Management00 Ratings1.62 Ratings
Tax Form Preparation00 Ratings1.22 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FreshBooksPlate IQ
Small Businesses
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.0 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
Square 9 Softworks
Score 9.8 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 8.8 out of 10
Webexpenses
Webexpenses
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreshBooksPlate IQ
Likelihood to Recommend
7.4
(75 ratings)
5.5
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.6
(18 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.2
(20 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.6
(11 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreshBooksPlate IQ
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
Plate IQ
It is well targeted at restaurants and similar service organizations with complex COGS. It dovetails well with complementary systems like FinTech payments. It wasn't designed by accountants, so there is a bit of roughness. Reporting is very limited: would like to see some SQL / build your own report functionality. Lookups are reasonably robust (filter for amount, time, vendor, etc). It is occasionally unstable but recovers gracefully. From our use case, it would be preferable to have the user approving the invoice ALSO have the ability to attach documents. This is left to the payment approver, who in our case is the "check signer".
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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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Plate IQ
  • OCR
  • Workflow
  • Support
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.
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Plate IQ
  • Provide better analytics in terms of cost increases per item.
  • Provide the ability to create recipes and forward price increases to those recipes for accurate food cost projections.
  • Free Bill Pay
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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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Plate IQ
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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Plate IQ
No answers on this topic
Reliability and Availability
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is easy to use and always works!
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Plate IQ
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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Plate IQ
They have a dedicated support person for each customer who actually knows the product.
Turnaround is usually within an hour or faster.
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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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Plate IQ
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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Plate IQ
We used DocuWare first; great experience; however, it was not made specifically for restaurant clients like Plate IQ is. Plate IQ does a much better job of recognizing common items, and they've continued to add a function that is important for restaurant owners. Restaurant 365, we felt, was trying to be a complete package of accounting/AP/AR/inventory. After looking at each piece, we didn't feel that each of them was as strong as the other.
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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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Plate IQ
  • In my opinion, it has had zero impact on ROI now that we are paying for an additional year.
  • Another negative is that we've spent a lot of time discussing this issue with Plate IQ, to no avail. They feel it's appropriate to charge a company for an entire year of service even though said company emailed to cancel prior to the end of the first year of service.
  • We also wasted a lot of time onboarding this company only to find out that the software left a lot to be desired.
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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