FreshBooks vs Zoho Books

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

Compare	FreshBooksFreshBooks	Zoho BooksZoho
In one line	Invoicing and time tracking for service businesses	Free for small revenue, strong with the Zoho suite
Starting price	From $23/mo + $11/extra person	Free
Six-person team	$23/mo	$0/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	Free under $50k revenue; Standard $15/mo; Professional $40/mo; Premium $60/mo; Elite $120/mo; Ultimate $240/mo (billed annually)
Pricing model	Free trial	Free tier
Free trial	30 days	—
Users	1 included	1 on free; 3 on Standard
Both connect to	Stripe Invoicing, Payoneer Workforce Management
Also connects to	Gusto, Squarespace Commerce, Novo, Ecwid100+ listed by the vendor	Square POS, Ramp, Helcim, Zoho Expense, PayPal Invoicing, Wise Business
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US · UK · CA · AU
Phone support	Plans not stated; Select only	Standard and up
Live chat	Every plan	Standard and up
Support hours	Phone: office hours · Live chat: 24/7	Email: Monday to Friday, 9 am to 9 pm ET · Phone: Mon- Fri ( 9:00AM to 9:00PM ET )
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	Zoho has a public status page. Status page
Capterra score	4.5 / 5 from 4,529 reviews	4.4 / 5 from 681 reviews
Trustpilot score	3.8 / 5 from 1,051 reviews	Not listed
Fit: Retail shop	58	66
Fit: Restaurant or café	40	55
Fit: Service business	90	75
Fit: Agency or studio	88	72
Fit: Trades or contractor	80	65
Fit: Online store	45	70
Why people pick it	Best-looking invoices Time tracking built in	Generous free tier Deep Zoho ecosystem
Where it falls short	Per-user fees Client caps on lower plans	Fewer accountants know it UI is dense
	Visit FreshBooks ↗	Visit Zoho Books ↗

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

FreshBooks: partner link. We may earn a commission; it never affects rankings.