Head to head
FreshBooks vs Zoho Books
Both products assessed against the same checklist, with ratings drawn from 372 verified reviews.
- Rating gap
- 0.4
- Reviews behind this
- 372
- Monthly price gap
- US$21
- Features they share
- 1
Side by side
How they compare
Ratings computed from published reviews, and the specifications that change what a product costs to run. The washed column is the higher rated of the two.
| Compared on | FreshBooks | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| What reviewers say | ||
| Overall rating | 3.8 | 4.2, higher |
| Ease of use | 3.7 | 4.1, higher |
| Value for money | 3.7 | 4.3, higher |
| Customer service | 3.6 | 3.9, higher |
| Functionality | 3.8 | 4.2, higher |
| Verified reviews | 148 | 224 |
| What it costs | ||
| Starting price | US$21per month, from | Freefree plan available |
| VAT basis | Excl VAT | Excl VAT |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Published plans | 3 | 4 |
| Vendor and support | ||
| Vendor | FreshBooks | Zoho Corporation |
| Founded | 2003 | 1996 |
| Support channels | Telephone, Email, Live chat, Knowledge base | Email, Live chat, Telephone, Knowledge base, Community forum |
| Integrations listed | 7 | 11 |
| Local bank feeds | 1 | 4 |
The local yardstick
South African compliance
Amber marks a gap rather than a feature. This is usually where the decision is actually made.
FreshBooks
- No VAT201 support
- Generic tax rate configuration only
- No SARS eFiling workflow
- Data hosted outside South Africa
Zoho Books
- VAT201 at 15%
- Zero rated and exempt supply handling
- Manual eFiling capture, no direct SARS transfer
- POPIA operator agreement
- Data residency selectable by region
What they cost
Pricing, compared properly
Check the VAT basis on each. Vendors are not consistent, and the difference is 15%.
FreshBooks
Listed excluding VAT
- US$21/mo
Lite
1 user
- US$38/mo
PlusPopular
1 user, additional seats charged separately
- US$65/mo
Premium
1 user, additional seats charged separately
Billed in US dollars, so the rand cost moves with the exchange rate and carries a card forex fee. There is no South African VAT201 support.
Zoho Books
Listed excluding VAT
- Free
Free
1 user plus 1 accountant
- R380/mo
StandardPopular
3 users
- R760/mo
Professional
5 users
- R1 150/mo
Premium
10 users
Zoho publishes rand pricing excluding VAT and discounts annual billing heavily. The free plan is limited by annual revenue rather than by feature crippling.
Capability
The full feature matrix
Every feature either product offers, and whether the other one has it.
| Compared on | FreshBooks | Higher rated overall |
|---|---|---|
| 23 features across both products | ||
| Accountant access | Included | Not included |
| Bank reconciliation | Not included | Included |
| Budgeting | Not included | Included |
| Client portal | Not included | Included |
| Client retainers | Included | Not included |
| Custom functions with Deluge scripting | Not included | Included |
| Expense capture | Included | Not included |
| Full inventory management | Not included | Included |
| Invoicing and estimates | Included | Not included |
| Invoicing, quoting and retainers | Not included | Included |
| Mileage tracking | Included | Not included |
| Mobile app for iOS and Android | Included | Included |
| Multi currency | Not included | Included |
| Online payments | Included | Not included |
| Project profitability | Included | Not included |
| Project time tracking and billing | Not included | Included |
| Proposals | Included | Not included |
| Purchase and sales orders | Not included | Included |
| Recurring billing and payment reminders | Not included | Included |
| Time tracking | Included | Not included |
| VAT tracking and VAT201 report | Not included | Included |
| Vendor portal | Not included | Included |
| Workflow automation rules | Not included | Included |
Our verdict
Which one you should buy
We name a winner. Listing differences and leaving the decision to the reader is not a verdict.
We have not written a full verdict for this pairing yet, so here is the position from the data.
Zoho Books holds the higher rating at 4.2 against 3.8, from 224 reviews against 148. Reviewers rate it 4.1 for ease of use and 4.3 for value for money, against 3.7 and 3.7.
Read the compliance comparison below before deciding on the rating alone. A product that scores well overall can still be missing the one statutory output your business cannot do without.
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