FreshBooks is a very good invoicing tool that grew accounting features later, and for a lot of service businesses that order of priorities is exactly right for the first couple of years. The problems start when the business needs the accounting half to be as good as the invoicing half: a report that answers a real question, a journal entry without a settings toggle, a bookkeeper who can log in without another seat fee.
If that’s where you are, this guide covers seven things to evaluate in a FreshBooks alternative before you move. It’s written for U.S. service businesses, consultants, agencies, and freelancers, since that’s who FreshBooks serves best and who tends to outgrow it.
Key Takeaways
- Confirm the replacement is full double-entry accounting with journal entries and the chart of accounts available on the plan you buy, not behind an “advanced” toggle.
- Check what happens when a client is also a supplier. FreshBooks keeps clients and vendors separate, and duplicates follow you into the new system if it does the same.
- Price the plan with every user you need. FreshBooks charges per additional team member and caps billable clients on lower tiers.
- Test the invoicing side as hard as the accounting side. FreshBooks sets a high bar there, and a replacement has to clear it.
1. Journal entries and the ledger, without a toggle
FreshBooks hides the chart of accounts and journal entries behind an “Advanced Accounting” setting, and those tools are only on its higher plans. If you need to post an adjustment, reclassify an expense, or record depreciation, you want direct access to the ledger from the first day.
Ask any alternative whether journal entries are a first-class transaction type or a buried option. In GlassJar a journal entry comes from the same screen as an invoice, a bill, or an expense. You choose the type from a list and fill in the form, and that’s the whole workflow.
2. Reports that answer a specific question
FreshBooks reports cover invoices, expenses, and time well, but customization is thin. The test is simple: try to answer “which client produced the most profit last quarter, after subcontractor costs?” If that takes an export to a spreadsheet, the reporting is not keeping up.
Look for reports that can be filtered by client, project, or tag, saved, and rerun. In GlassJar each user picks which reports sit on their dashboard, customizes them, and saves the result, and custom tags let you cut a profit and loss by client or engagement rather than only in total.
3. One contact, whatever roles it plays
Service businesses have unusually tangled relationships. You subcontract to a specialist who also refers you work. You invoice an agency you sometimes pay. FreshBooks keeps clients and vendors as separate records, so one relationship becomes two files you keep in sync by hand.
Look for a single contact record that can be a customer, a vendor, and a 1099 contractor at once. GlassJar’s contact management works that way, and it allows two contacts to share a name when two different businesses genuinely do.
4. Expense tracking with bank feeds and categories
Recording an expense is half the job. Categorizing it consistently is what makes the tax return and the profit and loss trustworthy. FreshBooks imports bank transactions but doesn’t split a single transaction across categories, which service businesses hit constantly with mixed receipts.
Check that the replacement connects to your bank, categorizes what it imports, lets you correct categories quickly, and applies tags across every transaction type. GlassJar’s bank integration imports and categorizes transactions and reconciles them against invoices, bills, and receipts from one screen.
5. Invoicing that’s at least as good
This is where FreshBooks earns its reputation, and a replacement has to clear the bar: quick invoice creation, online payment from the invoice, clear status on what is open and overdue, and the payment recorded against the invoice when it lands. Time tracking and proposals are FreshBooks strengths too, so if you bill by the hour, decide how you’ll handle time before you switch.
GlassJar’s invoicing sits in the same books as everything else, so the invoice, the payment, and the deposit never need matching by hand at month end.
6. Users and permissions on the plan you buy
FreshBooks offers team roles, but each additional user is a separate monthly charge, and lower plans cap the number of billable clients. If a bookkeeper, an accountant, and a business partner all need access, price that in before comparing.
Every GlassJar plan includes more than one user, and role-based permissions let you give an accountant limited access to the books, with an activity log showing who changed what.
7. Support you can reach
FreshBooks offers phone and chat support on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, which is better than much of the category. Any replacement should match that or beat it. GlassJar includes live chat on every plan, Foundation, Core, and Advanced, so help does not depend on which tier you bought.
Where GlassJar fits for service businesses
GlassJar is cloud accounting software for consultants, agencies, freelancers, and other service businesses. It’s double-entry underneath, with bank feeds, invoicing, bill management, expense tracking, budgets with variance reporting, check printing, custom tags, user roles, and 1099 contractor management, all included rather than added on. Every transaction type is entered from one screen, and one contact record can hold every role.
Plans are Foundation, Core, and Advanced, with a 14-day free trial. Early access opens October 1, 2026. The FreshBooks comparison goes through the differences feature by feature, and the pricing page has current plan details.
How to switch without losing history
Export clients, vendors, open invoices, expenses, and a trial balance as of the end of a closed month. Pick a cutover date at the start of the next month, bring opening balances into the new system, and run both for one close so you can compare the trial balances line by line. The migration guide walks through each step.
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest limitation of FreshBooks for a growing business?
The accounting half. Journal entries and the chart of accounts sit behind an advanced setting on higher plans, transactions can’t be split across categories, and reports are hard to customize. Businesses that need full ledger control usually move on.
Does GlassJar do invoicing as well as FreshBooks?
GlassJar’s invoicing is built into the same books as every other transaction, so the payment and the deposit are recorded in one place. If built-in time tracking or proposals are central to how you bill, test that workflow during the trial.
Can one contact be both a client and a vendor in GlassJar?
Yes. A single record can be a customer, a vendor, and a contractor at the same time, with one payment history.
What support does GlassJar include?
Live chat on every plan. You don’t need a higher tier to reach a person.
Is it hard to switch from FreshBooks?
Not if you reconcile first. Export your lists and a trial balance at a period end, bring in opening balances, and run both systems for one month. Keep FreshBooks accessible through the next tax filing.
