FreshBooks Alternatives for Solo Consultants (No Accounting Suite)

The best FreshBooks alternatives for solo consultants depend on how much of an all-in-one tool you want for your business. Wave, Zoho Invoice, and Invoice Ninja are free, pure invoicing tools. HoneyBook and Kiaro give you invoicing plus all the other features you need to run your consulting business from lead to client.

FreshBooks isn't "bad".

It's a well-built product, but it's not made with consultants in mind.

If you're not using all the accounting functionality, it's hard to justify the price when 80% of your usage is sending invoices.

Once you reach the 5-client limit on the Lite plan ($23 per month), you have to upgrade to the Plus plan ($43 per month). For a consultant running six to ten retainers, that's a massive cost jump. You're paying 87% more to unlock bookkeeping features you don't need, and you still have to bolt on other tools to complete your client workflow.

If you're at the point where you're shopping around, or you're new to consulting and building your tech stack from scratch, here are some of the best FreshBooks alternatives to build your consulting workflow.

Quick overview: FreshBooks alternatives

Short on time? Here is a side-by-side look at the best FreshBooks alternatives for consultants.

The Best FreshBooks alternatives for solo consultants

Wave

Maybe you're not a full-time consultant.

Yet.

You still have a 9-to-5 job keeping the lights on, and you're not ready to commit to working for yourself.

If that's the case, a tool like FreshBooks is going to do too much, and it's an overhead you don't need. A free tool like Wave gives you enough functionality to explore what it's like to run your own business.

The Starter plan covers the basics. You'll have access to invoicing, estimates, bills and light bookkeeping records. There's even an app to invoice on the go, and you can accept credit card payments.

But Wave doesn't have a time tracker, which means you'll need a second tool to capture your hours and then import each one into your Wave invoices manually.

That's not an ideal setup if you're looking to streamline your business and free up more billable hours.

What Wave does well

• Great entry-level free invoicing tool for US-based consultants
• Clean, fast invoice creation and expense tracking
• No accounting feature bloat
• Free mobile app for iOS and Android

Where Wave falls short

• Wave is available only to businesses located in the United States and Canada
• No built-in time tracking, proposals, contracts, or client portal
• Payment processing fees add up quickly, depending on invoice volume and billable amounts
• Recurring billing is only available on the paid plan at $19 per month

Zoho Invoice

If you're a consultant based outside of the US and Canada, Zoho Invoice is the next-best thing to Wave.

It pretty much does the same stuff, but it has no paid tier inside the product. Plus, Zoho Invoice one-ups Wave by offering consultants access to recurring invoices and time-tracking software.

Seems too good to be true?

Well, it is a good deal until your consultancy business starts to grow. The free plan caps the number of billable clients and the annual invoice volume.

When you reach that point, you only have two options:

1. Switch to Zoho Billing, a more robust billing solution for small businesses
2. Migrate to another FreshBooks alternative

While Zoho Invoice is a strong starting tool, it's a weak long-term one. That's something you need to consider when deciding which one is right for you.

What Zoho Invoice does well

• Available to international consultants
• No cost ever
• Time tracking, customer portal, recurring invoices, and expense tracking
• Multiple payment options are available on invoices

Where Zoho Invoice falls short

• You're capped at three projects and 500 invoices per year
• Doesn't grow with your business
• No proposals or contracts, so you'll need another tool in your stack

Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja does something no other FreshBooks alternative on this list can: it gives you full control over your data.

How?

It's open source and can run either as a hosted service or as a fully self-hosted setup on your own server.

If that's not enough to get you interested, its feature list on the free plan is loaded. You'll get access to payment gateways, invoices, time tracking, recurring billing, a client portal, e-signature quotes, and expense tracking.

There's even functionality to accept deposits and partial payments, which makes billing as a consultant a breeze.

The trade-off? It gives you control over your data.

If you go with the self-hosted option, you'll need to manage all the upkeep, run the updates, and maintain the server.

What Invoice Ninja does well

• Self-hosting gives you full control over your billing data
• The free plan has valuable features for a consultancy business
• 50+ payment gateways
• Comes with mobile and desktop apps for macOS, Windows, and Linux

Where Invoice Ninja falls short

• The free plan is capped at 5 clients with unlimited invoicing
• Self-hosting means you maintain it
• No proposals or contracts; you'll need another tool for complete workflow management

Harvest

Harvest does one thing well, and that's tracking time and turning it into an invoice.

So it's not surprising it's one of the best FreshBooks alternatives for consultants who bill by the hour. The app lets you log hours against a project, invoice, and process payments via Stripe or PayPal.

Plus, it's affordable, with paid plans starting at $9 per month.

However, the cracks start to appear if you're at a stage in your business where your tech stack is complicating your workflow. Harvest has no proposal builder, contracts, client portal, or e-signature functionality.

Similar to Invoice Ninja, its greatest strength is also its biggest weakness. Harvest's value begins and ends at invoicing and time tracking.

What Harvest does well

• Automatically copy invoices and payments to QuickBooks Online or Xero
• Intuitive time tracking from your browser, desktop, and mobile
• Recurring invoice functionality
• PayPal and Stripe integrations to streamline payments

Where Harvest falls short

• The free plan is capped at two projects and has no accounting or payment integrations
• No proposals, contracts, or client portal

Read more: Harvest alternatives for freelance consultants who have outgrown it

HoneyBook

Consultants don't leave FreshBooks because they need a "better invoicer". It's usually because that's all FreshBooks does.

There comes a point when it's too draining on your time and wallet to keep bolting on different services to manage your client workflow.

When that happens, Wave, Zoho Invoice and Invoice Ninja aren't going to cut it for you.

What you need is a different kind of FreshBooks alternative, one that gives you access to a client management platform.

One of the best options is HoneyBook. Instead of starting at billing, its value begins from the moment of enquiry. The app has you capture leads, schedule meetings, and send automated follow-ups to turn prospects into paying clients.

With your leads moving through your pipeline automatically, you have more free time to focus on lead generation or monetising more billable hours.

While HoneyBook offers a range of features for consultants, it still lacks a built-in time tracker. If you're looking for everything to live in one tool, it may not be the best option for you.

What HoneyBook does well

• Proposals, contracts, and e-signatures live in the same place as invoicing
• Has a built-in native booking scheduler
• Strong automation for follow-ups, bookings, and payments
• A branded client portal

Where HoneyBook falls short

• No free plan
• No built-in time tracking tool
• Only supports consultants based in the U.S., Canada, the UK, or Australia

Read more: HoneyBook vs Bonsai vs Dubsado: an honest comparison for solo consultants

Kiaro

Kiaro is similar to HoneyBook, but it's built different.

While HoneyBook has its roots in the creative and events space (photographers, event planners, coaches), Kiaro is made for consultants.

It's a business operating system with client management, projects, invoicing, contracts, and time tracking. The platform also has all the billing functionality you need as a consultant, whether it's hourly, incremental, recurring, or prorated.

No more bolting on other tools or exporting data between apps. From day one, you'll have access to the complete client workflow to turn a lead into a signed contract and a paying client.

While you do get free access to the full Kiaro platform, there are limits. You'll need to upgrade to the paid plan once you have more than 3 active clients, or if you want your own branding instead of Kiaro's on client-facing invoices and the portal.

What Kiaro does well

• The full client workflow in one product
• Built around the consultant-client billing relationship
• Intuitive time tracking and billing flexibility

Where Kiaro falls short

• No mobile app
• Newer to the market
• The free plan is capped at 3 clients
• No double-entry bookkeeping

Which FreshBooks alternative fits how you work?

Only need basic invoicing software for consultants? Skip the all-in-one workflows for now, and opt for Wave (if you're based in the US or Canada) or Zoho Invoice. Both are free and give you enough invoicing functionality to get your consulting business up and running.

But if you're at the stage where you want one tool that manages your entire client workflow from lead to client, HoneyBook and Kiaro are two of the strongest options. Both have paid plans that are cheaper than FreshBooks and provide the functionality and billing flexibility you need to keep your tech stack lean.

Try Kiaro today, for free, forever.

Frequently asked questions

What is better than FreshBooks?

FreshBooks alternatives include accounting tools, pure invoicing tools, and all-in-one client management software such as Zoho Invoice, Invoice Ninja, Harvest, and Kiaro. Each one differs in pricing, automation, scalability, and consultant-focused features such as time tracking, billing flexibility, and online payment options.

Do I need accounting software if I'm a consultant?

No. Most solo consultants only need to send invoices, take payments, and log expenses. At the end of the year, the books are handed over to an accountant. A full accounting platform means you'll end up paying for a bunch of features you'll never use.

Which FreshBooks alternative is best for tracking billable hours?

Harvest has one of the strongest time-to-invoice workflows on the market, but lacks billing flexibility. Kiaro has billable time-tracking features built for consultants, giving you access to hourly, incremental, recurring, and prorated options, all on a free plan.