Frappe Books vs FreshBooks
Frappe Books
frappe.io
FreshBooks
freshbooks.comSide by side
| Figure | Frappe Books | FreshBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $4.60/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 7 |
| Spec score · Financial Management | 8.9 (#3) | 9.1 (#2) |
| Spec score · Bookkeeping Software | 8.7 (#22) | 9.2 (#7) |
| Accounting | It keeps double-entry books and includes a country-specific chart of accounts, journal entries, and financial reports. | Plus, Premium and Select include double-entry accounting, chart of accounts and financial reports such as profit and loss and balance sheet. |
| API | Frappe supplies REST and RPC HTTP APIs, including CRUD endpoints for documents and whitelisted Python method calls. | The public API exposes FreshBooks data as JSON for web and desktop integrations and uses OAuth2 access tokens. |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Praise: ease of use | One SourceForge reviewer called the interface intuitive and well designed for a small business. | Independent reviewers repeatedly describe invoicing, expense tracking and navigation as intuitive, modern and quick to learn. |
| Purpose | Frappe Books is accounting software for small businesses. | FreshBooks describes itself as accounting software for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small businesses. |
| System requirements | Documented requirements are Frappe Framework develop branch, Python 3.14, current LTS Node.js and Yarn, Redis, and MariaDB 11.8, PostgreSQL 18 or SQLite 3. | Supported browsers are the latest two Chrome, Firefox and Safari major versions and the latest Edge and Opera versions; current macOS or Windows is recommended. |
| What it does | Frappe Books is accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. | FreshBooks is cloud accounting software for small businesses that combines invoicing, payments, expenses, time tracking, projects and reports. |
Plans
FreshBooks
- Lite$23 a month
- Plus$43 a month
- Premium$70 a month
- Lite$4.60 a month
- Plus$8.60 a month
- Premium$14 a month
- SelectPriced on request
In their own words
Frappe Books
Frappe Books is accounting software for small businesses, available free under the AGPL-3.0 license. It supports quotes, invoices, payments, bills, supplier payments and returns, alongside double-entry bookkeeping, journal entries and financial reports. Inventory tools track stock across locations, including batches, expiry dates and serial numbers, and the software supports point-of-sale transactions. Businesses in India can produce GSTR-1 and GSTR-2 reports for GST returns. Books User, Books Manager and System Manager roles control access to records, reports and settings. Company data stays in the database of the customer’s Frappe site, and the software runs on the customer’s own server. It is listed for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, self-hosted use, web and Windows. On phones, it runs in a browser and can be added to the home screen, but an internet connection is required. The old desktop app is no longer supported. Frappe states that its quality and information security systems have ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications and SOC 2 Type II attestation.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is accounting software for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small businesses. It creates invoices with tracked time and expenses, calculates taxes, and offers configurable payment options. Users can track time against clients and projects, then generate invoices from those records. Projects organize client work, team members, time, invoices, and expenses, and include profitability views. Listed payment options include card and ACH payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and buy now, pay later options. FreshBooks also offers recurring invoices, expense tracking, and a client portal. Its API uses OAuth2 for integrations and account automation. The service runs on the web and has iOS and Android apps, but some features, including reporting, are desktop-only. Mobile apps require iOS 15 or later or Android 7.0 or later. Lite costs $23 a month and includes five billable clients; Plus costs $43 a month and includes 50. Premium costs $70 a month and includes unlimited clients. Double-entry accounting is available on Plus, Premium, and Select. There is no free plan, and the listed trial lasts 30 days.