FreshBooks vs Bench

Two accounting tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Short version

FreshBooks costs less for a six-person team.
Bench fits restaurant or café, online store.
FreshBooks fits service business, trades or contractor.
Bench suits teams past ten people.

Compare	FreshBooksFreshBooks	BenchEmployer.com
In one line	Invoicing and time tracking for service businesses	A bookkeeping team that does your books each month
Starting price	From $23/mo + $11/extra person	From $199/mo
Six-person team	$23/mo	$199/mo
Plans	Lite $23/mo (5 clients); Plus $43/mo (50 clients); Premium $70/mo (unlimited clients); the same billed yearly; first-year discounts common (Lite was $1/mo for the first year when checked); team members $11/mo each	Bookkeeping Light $199/mo (up to $250K revenue/yr); Bookkeeping $399/mo; Bookkeeping + Tax $649/mo; 20% off yearly; catch-up free on yearly plans
Pricing model	Free trial	Paid
Free trial	30 days	—
Users	1 included	n/a (service)
Both connect to	Gusto, Stripe Invoicing
Also connects to	Squarespace Commerce, Novo, Ecwid, Payoneer Workforce Management100+ listed by the vendor	Square POS, Shopify, BigCommerce, Shoeboxed
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US
Phone support	Plans not stated; Select only	Every plan
Live chat	Every plan	Every plan
Support hours	Phone: office hours · Live chat: 24/7	Phone: weekdays 7am to 5pm PST
Incidents posted	4 incidents posted on FreshBooks's status page, which covers all FreshBooks products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 0 marked major or critical by FreshBooks. Status page	We found no public status page for Employer.com.
Capterra score	4.5 / 5 from 4,529 reviews	Not listed
Trustpilot score	3.8 / 5 from 1,051 reviews	4.1 / 5 from 1,355 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	58	65
Fit: Restaurant or café	40	60
Fit: Service business	90	80
Fit: Agency or studio	88	80
Fit: Trades or contractor	80	70
Fit: Online store	45	75
Why people pick it	Best-looking invoices Time tracking built in	A bookkeeper you can message any time Free catch-up on yearly plans
Where it falls short	Per-user fees Client caps on lower plans	Costs far more than software Service paused in late 2024 before the sale
	Visit FreshBooks	Visit Bench

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. How we calculate prices

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FreshBooks vs Bench

Short version

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