Freshbooks is a cloud accounting and invoicing solution that is best suited for freelancers, sole proprietors, self-employed individuals and startups.
The interface is simple to use and allows you to easily manage clients and projects, send and receive invoices as well as accept online payments.
Other important features make Freshbooks a viable solution for managing your small business’ finances such as:
Freshbooks pricing is based on how many billable clients you’re looking to manage and starts at $19/month for up to 5 billable clients.
You can start a 30-day free trial to try out all the features of Freshbooks without revealing your credit card info.
Below, I’ll walk you through the sign up and on-boarding process so you can start invoicing clients for free over the next 30 days.
How To Start Freshbooks 30-Day Trial
Starting your Freshbooks 30-day free trial is simple and doesn’t require a credit card.
Freshbooks won’t bill you until the end of your 30-day trial if you do decide to enter your credit card info at any time.
Here’s how to start your Freshbooks free trial in some simple steps.
1. Choose a sign up option
The first step is to pick one option to sign up.
You can either sign up with email or choose to authorize your account with Apple or Google. My preferred way is to use one of the authorization methods just so I don’t have to remember a password.
Check the box to confirm that you’ve read and agreed to Freshbook’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy before you hit any of the authorization options.
2. Answer the set up questions
It’s common-place when you sign up for accounting software to encounter a questionnaire during set up. This is how they collect information on your business so that they could tailor the software to your needs.
There are four questions to answer about your business – they all have easy answers to choose from.
This part of the set up is optional and you can skip by clicking on the link at the top of the screen.
3. Enter your company information
This part of the set up is also optional and you can skip it and fill in the information later.
Here you will fill the form with your company info and this becomes your company profile inside your Freshbooks dashboard.
4. Add info about your team
The last part of the set up quiz is to add information about your business’ team.
Select how many members of your team you have and then add them here if it’s more than just you.
This is another step you can just skip and add it later if you want to.
5. How did you hear about Freshbooks?
This is the final step before you get to your Freshbooks dashboard.
Freshbooks would like to know how you heard about them. Just enter how you heard about them and click the button to continue.
I heard about Freshbook after doing a Google search so that is what I entered.
6. Go to your dashboard
You’re finally at your dashboard and your 30-day trial of Freshbooks has started. You can now explore everything that Freshbooks has to offer and start adding clients, expenses, send invoices and track whatever it is you need to track in your business.
How Much Does Freshbooks Cost After the Trial?
Freshbooks has four plans to choose from starting with their Lite plan which costs $19/month.
The plans are based primarily on how many clients you work with. The Lite plan offers basic features for managing up to 5 billable clients.
Their most popular plan is the Plus plan which offers more automation features and insights. You can also invite your accountant and work with up to 50 billable clients for $33/month.
To work with unlimited clients and access even more features that let you empower your employees, you would need the Premium plan which is $60/month.
A 4th plan is available for businesses with more complex needs and doesn’t have a set price. You’ll need to contact Freshbooks support to set up a demo.
Choosing a yearly subscription reduces the price of your plan and you’ll also find occasional discounts to get you going fast.
Your 30-day free trial should get you set up quickly and you could be billing clients within this time-frame allowing you to profit before paying for accounting and invoicing software.
