Relentify vs FreshBooks: Pricing, Features, and Who Each Suits Best
Comparing Relentify to FreshBooks? Here's where this gets interesting. FreshBooks does invoicing well — genuinely well — and it's built specifically to feel less intimidating for freelancers and small business owners who'd rather not think about accounting. But the moment your client list grows past five or six names, FreshBooks' pricing model starts to penalise you for success. You'll find yourself paying substantially more for largely the same features. Relentify takes a different approach: offer unlimited clients, more features, and lower pricing on every plan. Let's compare the pricing, features, and functionality to help you figure out which platform actually suits your business best.
Pricing Model: Where FreshBooks Gets Expensive
FreshBooks charges based on the number of billable clients, which sounds reasonable until it doesn't. The Lite plan gets you five billable clients for £13 per month. Add one more client, and you're bumped to the Plus plan at £27 per month — a 108% price jump for one extra relationship.
Here's how the plans compare:
| Feature | Relentify (Small Business) | FreshBooks (Plus) |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | £19/month | £27/month |
| Billable clients | Unlimited | 50 |
| Users | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Invoices | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Expense tracking | Included | Included |
| Mileage tracking | Included | Plus plan only |
| Purchase orders | Included | Not available |
| Multi-entity | Included | Not available |
| Double-entry accounting | Full | Full |
Relentify never caps the number of clients on any plan. You can have 5, 50, or 500 billable relationships and the price stays the same. If you're a service business that wins new clients regularly, this matters enormously. By the time you have 20 clients, you're saving roughly £100–150 per month compared to FreshBooks' equivalent tier (and getting features FreshBooks doesn't include).
The other thing worth noting: FreshBooks' higher tiers add features like mileage tracking and multi-entity support that Relentify includes on every paid plan. You're not paying more for these — they're standard across the board. For a detailed breakdown of what's included, check our pricing page.
Invoicing and Core Features
FreshBooks' invoicing is polished — genuinely the best thing it does. The creation flow is intuitive, templates look professional, and payment reminders actually land in people's inboxes instead of disappearing into a void.
Relentify matches FreshBooks here. You'll get equally professional invoices, recurring schedules, and partial payment tracking that doesn't require a separate screen. We also add quote-to-invoice conversion in one click, credit notes management, and the ability to track deposits and partial payments directly from the invoice view.
Expenses: Both platforms include receipt capture. Relentify includes mileage tracking at current HMRC rates on every plan. FreshBooks? Only on Plus and above. If you're driving to client sites — plumber, electrician, consultant, property inspector — those miles compound into real money. Having them built in matters.
Payment processing is where the two diverge. FreshBooks uses its own payment processor, which means extra fees on every transaction. Relentify integrates with Stripe, so you keep your existing merchant rates and avoid a middleman taking a cut of every invoice.
Reporting and Accounting Depth
Here's where FreshBooks' freelancer-focused roots show. The reporting suite covers profit and loss, tax summaries, and expense reports. It's enough for a solo person filing a tax return. It's not enough for anything else.
FreshBooks is missing:
- Trial balance (your accountant will need this for year-end)
- General ledger (standard accounting, not fancy)
- Aged payables (who owes you what, and when it's due)
- Cash flow statements (showing cash movement vs. profit)
- Cash flow forecasts (planning ahead)
- Custom reports
If your accountant asks for a trial balance or general ledger, FreshBooks can't provide them natively. You'll export to a spreadsheet and spend an afternoon reformatting data they could have had in five minutes.
Relentify includes all standard accounting reports: profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow statements, trial balance, general ledger, aged payables, aged receivables, and custom reporting. We also add cash flow forecasting and financial health scores on the dashboard, so you can spot cash crunches before they happen.
On the double-entry side: FreshBooks added full double-entry accounting a few years ago, but accountants often note that the implementation still carries traces of the original single-entry system. Relentify was built as double-entry from day one, so journal entries, account reconciliation, and the chart of accounts all follow standard accounting conventions. For more on how accounting platforms compare on this dimension, see our Relentify vs Xero comparison.
The difference matters more as you grow. At £10K revenue, it's fine. At £100K, your accountant will appreciate having actual ledgers instead of invoicing records masquerading as accounting.
Multi-Entity and Growth Features
FreshBooks does not support managing multiple businesses from one account. If you have a consultancy and a product side business, you need two separate subscriptions (and two login screens).
Relentify supports multiple entities on one login with consolidated reporting, intercompany transactions, and instant switching between them. This becomes invaluable if you're growing beyond a single business or juggling multiple revenue streams.
Project tracking: FreshBooks includes basic time tracking. Relentify goes further with project profitability reporting — you see at a glance which projects are making money and which are losing it. This matters if you're bidding fixed-price work and need to know which project types are actually sustainable.
Purchase orders: FreshBooks has no purchase order system. If you need to issue POs to suppliers, track their status, and convert them to bills on receipt, you're using another tool. Relentify includes purchase orders on every paid plan with approval workflows and automatic bill conversion.
For more on how accounting tools compare on growth features, check out our Relentify vs QuickBooks comparison.
Who Should Choose Which
FreshBooks is best for: Solo freelancers with fewer than five regular clients who primarily need invoicing and time tracking, and who don't anticipate needing accounting depth or multiple team members submitting expenses. If that's you, FreshBooks is intuitive and will serve you well.
Relentify is built for: Service businesses and small teams that need more than invoicing — reporting your accountant can use, expense management that handles multiple people, unlimited clients without tier-based pricing jumps, and room to grow into features like multi-entity support and project profitability reporting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I migrate from FreshBooks to Relentify? How long does it take?
Yes. The process involves exporting your client list, chart of accounts, and financial history from FreshBooks, then importing them into Relentify using our import templates. Most small businesses complete the migration in a weekend. For a full walkthrough, see our FreshBooks migration guide.
Is Relentify actually cheaper, or just cheaper in comparisons?
Both. Relentify pricing starts lower than FreshBooks and doesn't jump up as your client list grows. If you're paying £27 for FreshBooks Plus and move to Relentify's Small Business plan at £19, you save £96/year immediately. Add in the fact that you're not paying transaction fees on payments (thanks to Stripe integration), and the savings compound.
Does Relentify have an app like FreshBooks?
Relentify's mobile experience is built as a responsive web app that works on any device. We also have a dedicated app for receipt capture and expense submission, so you can snap a photo of a receipt while you're at a supplier and it's waiting in your expense inbox when you get back to the office. It's different from FreshBooks' approach, but many users prefer it because they're not juggling multiple apps.
What if I need multiple team members, not just myself?
Relentify's pricing is per-plan, not per-user. Add as many team members as you need to the same subscription and they all get access to the same features. FreshBooks works similarly, but because Relentify's plans include more features and cost less to start, multi-user setups end up cheaper overall.
What about VAT and tax compliance? Is Relentify MTD-ready?
Yes. Both platforms support Making Tax Digital compliance for VAT. Relentify goes further: we support the flat rate scheme, reverse charge VAT, and partial exemption rules. If your accountant has asked about these things, Relentify handles them natively.
Can I create custom reports in Relentify?
Yes. While FreshBooks limits you to pre-built reports, Relentify includes a custom report builder on paid plans. You can slice data by client, project, time period, or account type without leaving the platform. This is one of those features that saves you dozens of hours a year if you're doing any kind of financial analysis.
Is there a free trial?
Relentify offers a 14-day free trial of the full platform. No credit card required, and you get access to all features during the trial so you can actually test multi-entity support, custom reporting, and whatever else matters to your business.
Making the Switch
If FreshBooks is feeling like a tool you've outgrown, Relentify is designed to be the platform you grow into. You'll get everything FreshBooks does on invoicing plus a comprehensive accounting feature set, reporting that your accountant can use, and unlimited clients without pricing surprises.
Ready to try it? Start a 14-day free trial, or if you want a detailed walkthrough of the migration process, check out our FreshBooks migration guide.