FreshBooks vs TradesTimer
What FreshBooks is
A cloud-based accounting and invoicing platform designed for self-employed individuals and small teams to manage billing and expenses.
Best for: Small business owners who need to send professional invoices, track business expenses, and manage client communications from a centralized, desk-oriented workflow.
Pricing at a glance
$19 per month
Lite plan roughly $19/mo (client cap); higher tiers scale up. Often discounted — verify.
Verified 2026-06-08
$0 Free — full app
FreshBooks strengths
- Comprehensive invoicing and expense management
- Centralized platform for small team billing and client communication
Considerations for self-employed tradespeople
- Requires manually starting and stopping timers for every individual task
- Requires manual entry of trip distances or odometer readings for tax records
Experiences with FreshBooks
These quotes come from public discussions about FreshBooks. Each quote links to its source.
I've been using Freshbooks for years but have yet to find a good alternative that offers the really nice extras included with it, aside from just regular invoicing.
Bundles are sticky — that's the point of them. But FreshBooks' time tracking is still a start/stop timer; if the tracking half is what fails you on jobsites, swap that half for automatic capture and keep invoicing where you're happy.
Why I built a FreshBooks alternative
FreshBooks is accounting software with a timer attached — great if your work happens where your laptop is. Mine didn't. A painter's or framer's day is five addresses, a supply run, and no moment where starting a timer is the natural next move.
From my invoicing years at the electrical contractor: the books were only ever as good as the hours coming in from the field. TradesTimer fixes the field half for free and exports hours you can bill from FreshBooks or anywhere else.
What TradesTimer does differently
- Automatically detects jobsite stops and travel trips via background GPS
- Provides an automatic, exportable mileage log for tax time without manual input
Which app fits your needs?
FreshBooks is a robust accounting and invoicing suite for managing a complete business's finances, whereas TradesTimer is a free, specialized tool for solo tradespeople to automatically capture billable hours and mileage.
Page last verified 2026-06-08. If FreshBooks has changed pricing or features since then contact us at [email protected] to request a correction.
Free time tracking
Record stops and trips, review your hours, and export reports without a subscription.
- Automatic stop and trip recording
- Unlimited stops, drives, and days
- Review and edit stops and trips
- Rounded billable hours, exported as text or CSV
- Travel log with estimated distances
- 7-day summary view
- History stored on your phone
Control your location history
TradesTimer stores your history on your phone. Address lookups send coordinates to an address provider. You choose where to share your hours and travel exports.
See the privacy policy for details about address lookups, exports, and other data use.