FreshBooks
£16/mo est.
- Entry plan
- £16/mo (Lite)
- Users included
- 1
- UK payroll
- No
- VAT/MTD
- Yes
- Bank feeds
- Yes
- Est. monthly cost
- £16/mo
FreshBooks
Invoicing-led accounting popular with UK freelancers, with GBP pricing and MTD VAT filing but no payroll.
- Entry plan
- £16/mo (Lite)
- Users
- 1
- Payroll
- N/A
- Bank feeds
- Yes
Best for
UK freelancers and small service businesses that mainly need polished invoicing and time tracking with MTD VAT.
How much does FreshBooks cost per month?
FreshBooks plans cost from £16/mo (Lite) to £42/mo (Premium) in 2026. Payroll is an extra N/A (no payroll module).
Pricing breakdown
All prices in GBPLast verified 5 August 2026Every fee we track, grouped by where it applies.
Strengths and trade-offs
Pros
- Native GBP pricing with a low entry point
- MTD VAT returns filed directly to HMRC
- Excellent invoicing, quotes, and time tracking
- Strong project profitability for service businesses
Cons
- No payroll, no CIS, and no Self Assessment filing
- Billable-client caps on the lower plans
- Extra team members cost £8/user/mo
- Accountant access and receipt capture only from the Plus plan
About FreshBooks
FreshBooks is a platform built around invoicing and time tracking, popular with UK freelancers and small service businesses. It prices natively in GBP across tiered plans from Lite to Premium, files MTD VAT returns to HMRC on every plan, and offers strong project profitability tracking. It has no payroll module, no CIS, and billable-client caps on the lower plans.
FreshBooks was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
How FreshBooks compares
Side-by-side with the closest alternatives by estimated cost.
Subscription plus payroll add-on, based on the entry plan with no employees. Processing fees not included.
Xero
£16/mo est.
- Entry plan
- £16/mo (Ignite)
- Users included
- Unlimited
- UK payroll
- Yes
- VAT/MTD
- Yes
- Bank feeds
- Yes
- Est. monthly cost
- £16/mo
FreeAgent
£19/mo est.
- Entry plan
- £19/mo (Sole Trader)
- Users included
- Unlimited
- UK payroll
- Yes (included)
- VAT/MTD
- Yes
- Bank feeds
- Yes
- Est. monthly cost
- £19/mo
Sage
£20/mo est.
- Entry plan
- £20/mo (Accounting Start)
- Users included
- 1 (Start)
- UK payroll
- Yes (add-on)
- VAT/MTD
- Yes
- Bank feeds
- Yes
- Est. monthly cost
- £20/mo
Common questions about FreshBooks
The same questions UK merchants ask before signing up.
FreshBooks starts at £16/mo (Lite) for the Lite plan, which covers up to five billable clients. Plus is £30/mo (Plus) for up to 50 clients and Premium is £42/mo (Premium) for unlimited clients. Prices are billed in GBP. Note the pricing axis: FreshBooks caps you on CLIENTS, where most rivals here cap on users or invoice volume.
Yes for VAT. FreshBooks is Making Tax Digital compatible and can submit VAT returns to HMRC. It does not support MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment, Self Assessment preparation, or CIS, which is the narrowest UK compliance coverage on this table. If you subcontract in construction or want your Self Assessment handled in the same tool, look at QuickBooks instead.
No. FreshBooks has no payroll module (N/A), so PAYE, RTI submissions to HMRC and pension auto-enrolment all need separate software. That is the main reason it suits sole traders and service businesses without staff rather than employers.
FreshBooks includes 1 on all plans, with the option to add team members as collaborators for an additional monthly fee. Accountants can be invited at no charge.
Yes, that is precisely its market. FreshBooks is built for service-based sole traders and consultants who invoice clients and bill time, and its invoicing, time tracking and expense capture are the most polished here. It is a poor fit if you need stock, payroll, CIS or Self Assessment, and the client-count cap on the lower plans can bite as you grow.
FreshBooks is better at time tracking and project billing, which is why consultants and creatives like it. Xero covers far more UK compliance: payroll is included at N/A against FreshBooks having none, plus MTD for Income Tax and CIS support that FreshBooks lacks. Both cost £16/mo (Lite) to start. For a sole trader billing time, FreshBooks is the nicer tool; the moment you hire anyone, Xero is the more complete answer.
Only in limited form, which is worth knowing if you bill overseas clients. You can invoice in a client's currency, but the multi-currency handling is less complete than QuickBooks (from Essentials), Sage (from Plus) or Zoho Books (from Professional). If cross-border billing is central to your work, check the limits against your own workflow before committing.
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