FreshBooks is accounting software organised around billing clients: invoices, estimates, proposals and tracked time are at its centre, with bookkeeping built around them. That makes it a natural fit for consultants, designers, agencies and other service businesses. This review covers its Canadian plans and prices, what each plan adds, and where it falls short. The best accounting software comparison sets it against Wave, Xero and QuickBooks, and the self-employed tax hub links the other small business guides.
Plans and prices
| Plan | Regular price (CAD/month) | Billable clients | Adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lite | $26 | 5 | Invoices, estimates, expenses, unlimited time tracking, automatic bank import, client portal |
| Plus | $42 | 50 | Proposals, retainers, double-entry accounting, bank reconciliation, receipt scanning, accountant access |
| Premium | $72 | Unlimited | Project profitability, custom email templates, automatic capture of bill line items |
| Select | By quote | Unlimited | Lower card fees, dedicated phone support, 2 team member accounts included |
Paying annually takes an extra 10% off. Additional team members cost $13 a month each on any plan. The client limit is the plan’s main constraint: a freelancer with more than 5 regular clients needs Plus.
Where FreshBooks is strong
Billable time. Every plan includes unlimited time tracking, and tracked time can be billed on an invoice. For anyone who charges by the hour, this removes the need for a separate timer app.
Client-facing billing. Estimates, proposals (on Plus) and retainers let a service business quote, get approval and bill from the same place, and clients can view and pay invoices through a self-service portal.
Project profitability. Premium reports whether each project made money once time and expenses are counted, which helps when pricing the next one.
Bookkeeping, bank feeds and GST/HST
All plans import bank transactions automatically; reconciling them against your statements, double-entry accounting and accountant access start on Plus. For GST/HST, you set the rates that apply to you, apply them to invoices and expenses, and use FreshBooks’ tax report when filing. The return itself is filed with the CRA by you or your accountant.
Payroll
FreshBooks doesn’t run Canadian payroll itself. It offers PaymentEvolution as its payroll partner in Canada, so a business with employees pays for and manages payroll in a second product. Wave, by contrast, sells payroll as an add-on inside its own software; see the Wave review for Wave’s payroll prices.
Who it suits
FreshBooks fits service businesses that bill by the hour or by project and want quoting, time and invoicing in one place. It suits a business holding inventory less well, since its inventory tracking is a basic stock count on the items you invoice, and a sole proprietor who only sends a few invoices may find Wave’s free plan enough. For a direct comparison with the more accounting-centred QuickBooks Online, see QuickBooks vs FreshBooks.
Related reading
Sources
The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on September 25, 2026. How we check facts.
- FreshBooks: FreshBooks Canada pricing