You had clients. You did work. You needed to get paid and keep track of what was still outstanding. That was the whole job.

You searched for a small business invoicing tool. FreshBooks came up. Clean interface. Good reviews. Looked simple enough. You signed up.

Since then, you send invoices. Occasionally you check what is unpaid. Sometimes you record a payment when a client pays outside the system. That is roughly it.

What You Actually Open in FreshBooks

Invoices. The client list. The outstanding balance view.

Most small businesses that use FreshBooks open those three things. The expense tracking with receipt capture, the bank reconciliation feed, the project and time tracking tools, the client portal, and the retainer billing are mostly untouched.

FreshBooks does all of those things. It is a proper small business accounting platform with a full feature set. You pay for all of it. Most small businesses open three things.

What your FreshBooks subscription pays for
  • Double-entry accounting and financial reports
  • Expense tracking with receipt capture
  • Bank reconciliation and account feeds
  • Project and time tracking tools
  • Client retainer billing
  • Payroll add-on
  • Client portal for viewing invoices
  • Accountant access and collaboration
What most small businesses actually need
  • Client list
  • Invoices with line items and status
  • Record of payments received
  • View of what is outstanding

Who FreshBooks Is Actually Built For

FreshBooks is a serious tool for freelancers and small agencies that need proper accounting visibility. Designers and consultants billing by the hour, tracking time against projects, reconciling expenses at month end, and sharing reports with an accountant. Businesses where the accounting layer is part of the daily workflow.

If you run a trades business sending 15 invoices a month, or a small consultancy with 10 ongoing clients, or a services business that invoices in arrears and just needs to know what is unpaid, FreshBooks is built for a different kind of user. You are paying for an accounting platform and using the invoicing part of it.

The Cost of the Features You Do Not Open

FreshBooks Lite runs around A$35 a month. Plus runs around A$55 to A$60. Per-client limits on the Lite plan push many small businesses up to Plus anyway. The pricing is fair for what FreshBooks delivers. The question is whether you need what it delivers.

Picture a freelancer with 10 ongoing clients. They send around 12 invoices a month. They check the outstanding view weekly. They have never opened the time tracking tool. They have never used the bank reconciliation feed. They have been on FreshBooks for three years and spent around A$1,620 to access a fraction of the platform.

FreshBooks over 3 years
A$1,620
A$45/mo average. Recurring. Forever.
Merebase Merebase invoice tracker
A$499
Once. No monthly fee after that.

What a Merebase invoice tracker Includes

A Merebase invoice tracker is built for the invoicing job. You describe your clients, your line items, your tax setup, and how you track payment. The app is built to do exactly that.

What a Merebase invoice tracker includes:

Client list. Invoices with your line items and tax setup (GST, VAT, or no tax). Status tracking across draft, sent, paid, and overdue. Payment recording. Outstanding balance view. Data export. Unlimited users. A$499 once. You bring your own hosting. A basic plan runs A$5 to A$20 a month.

A note on scope: this replaces the invoicing and payment tracking part of FreshBooks. It does not replace bank reconciliation, expense tracking, or tax reporting. If you need those, you still need an accounting tool for that layer.

There is no time tracking panel you will never open. No expense receipt uploader. No bank feed to reconcile. The app does the invoicing job. That is all it does.

Your Data Is Already in FreshBooks

This is the most common reason people stay. Their client list and invoice history are in FreshBooks and starting over feels like a loss.

FreshBooks lets you export your client and invoice data as CSV files. The data is yours. A custom Merebase invoice tracker can import that data and continue from where FreshBooks left off. Your client list and invoice history come with you.

Once it is in your own app, the data stays there. No platform can reprice it, restrict access to it, or lock you out if you decide to leave.

Common questions
Is there a cheaper alternative to FreshBooks just for invoicing?
Yes. A Merebase invoice tracker built by Merebase does what most small businesses actually use FreshBooks for: creating invoices, recording payments, and seeing what is outstanding. A$499 once. No subscription fee. No per-seat pricing. You bring your own hosting.
Does a Merebase invoice tracker handle tax?
Yes. The invoice template is built with your tax setup (GST, VAT, or no tax) so every invoice calculates correctly. However, a Merebase invoice tracker does not replace accounting software for bank reconciliation or tax reporting. It handles the invoicing and payment tracking part, not the full accounting layer.
What does a Merebase invoice tracker include?
A Merebase invoice tracker from Merebase includes a client list, invoices with line items and your tax setup, status tracking (draft, sent, paid, overdue), payment recording, an outstanding balance view, and data export. Unlimited users. A$499 once, agreed in writing before payment.
Can I migrate my client list from FreshBooks?
Yes. FreshBooks lets you export your client and invoice data as CSV files. A custom Merebase invoice tracker can import that data and continue from where FreshBooks left off. The scope for how your data migrates is agreed in writing before any payment.