{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "freshbooks",
 "name": "FreshBooks",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "freshbooks.com",
 "category": "Financial Operations",
 "task": "Paying bills & getting paid",
 "summary": "Invoicing and accounting aimed at freelancers and service businesses, priced by billable clients.",
 "best_for": "freelancers and small service firms who bill time and want invoicing that chases payment for them — the client cap is generous enough at Plus for most one-person businesses",
 "skip_if": "you have more than a handful of clients and only need invoicing — the client cap is what pushes you up the ladder here, and flat-priced invoicing tools do not care how many clients you have",
 "honest_knock": "Two things multiply the number you first see. The promotional rates end: Lite is $1 a month for the first year and $23 after that, and Plus and Premium are 80% off for three months only. And the meter is billable clients, not invoices or revenue: Lite stops at five, which a freelancer with a handful of retainers passes in their first good quarter, and the step to fifty clients is $43. Then people cost extra on top at $11 each, so a two-person studio on Plus is $54 a month rather than $43. Payroll is a separate $40 plus $6 a head, which is the line most people miss when they compare this against a bookkeeping tool that includes it.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "public",
  "entry_price": "$1",
  "entry_price_terms": "per month for the first year on Lite, then $23/mo",
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": null,
  "plans_source": null,
  "notes": "(2026-10-07, read on their own pricing page) The regular rates have not moved since 1 August 2026 — Lite $23, Plus $43, Premium $70 a month — but the promotion in front of them changed. In August and September every tier showed 90% off for three months ($2.30, $4.30 and $7). On 7 October the page leads with 'The Solopreneur Offer: $1/month for your first year' on Lite ('Was $23.00 | Save $22.00'), while Plus is $8.60 and Premium $14.00 at 80% off for three months, with the page printing savings of $103.20 and $168.00. Lite allows 5 billable clients, Plus 50, Premium unlimited. Select is quote-only. Team members are $11 a month each on every tier, with 2 included on Select. Two add-ons sit in the fine print: Advanced Payments $20 a month (included on Select) and Payroll $40 a month plus $6 per user. A Yearly toggle marked 'Extra 10% Off' sits above the cards. Separately, there is a 30-day free trial, and FreshBooks promises a full refund if you contact them within 30 days of purchase.",
  "verified_at": "2026-10-07",
  "source_url": null
 },
 "free_plan": false,
 "free_plan_evidence": null,
 "cost_traps": [
  {
   "id": "per_seat",
   "label": "Per-seat pricing",
   "evidence": "Two add-ons sit in the fine print: Advanced Payments $20 a month (included on Select) and Payroll $40 a month plus $6 per user.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-07",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "renewal_jump",
   "label": "Renewal price jump",
   "evidence": "The promotional rates end: Lite is $1 a month for the first year and $23 after that, and Plus and Premium are 80% off for three months only.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-07",
   "source_url": null
  },
  {
   "id": "addons_extra",
   "label": "Key features are paid add-ons",
   "evidence": "Two add-ons sit in the fine print: Advanced Payments $20 a month (included on Select) and Payroll $40 a month plus $6 per user.",
   "verified_at": "2026-10-07",
   "source_url": null
  }
 ],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Xero or QuickBooks",
  "why": "the standing comparison — FreshBooks is friendlier for service billing, the other two are stronger accounting; compare on post-promotional price plus your team count"
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/freshbooks.json",
  "review": "https://officesoftwaremarketplace.com/freshbooks-review.html",
  "marketplace": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/marketplace/freshbooks/",
  "vendor_site": "https://freshbooks.com"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://www.freshbooks.com/",
  "affiliate": false,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Plan-by-plan prices are not structured in this record yet; pricing.notes has the full text.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product."
 ],
 "task_evidence": {
  "structured_checks": [],
  "sessions": [
   {
    "source": "session",
    "product_name": "FreshBooks",
    "product_id": "freshbooks",
    "run_date": "2026-09-07",
    "what": "Daan started the 30-day trial; everything after that was measured inside the account. The first question the protocol asked was whether the trial takes a card, because their pricing page does not say. It does not — but the answer is on the signup page, not the pricing page, which is a small lesson in where vendors put the reassuring sentence.",
    "findings": [
     "No card for the trial. The signup page states it plainly — “Try it free for 30 days. No credit card required. Cancel anytime.” — and the form asks only for an email address and a password. The pricing page, where you would actually look, says nothing about it.",
     "The prices inside the account are not the prices on the pricing page. The public page leads with the promotional rate, currently a limited-time 90% off for three months. The in-app upgrade screen quotes the real thing: Lite $23, Plus $43, Premium $70 a month, with a Yearly toggle marked “Save 10%”. Sign up on the strength of $2.30 and the first screen you see afterwards is $23.",
     "Two add-ons ride along on every tier, and they are easy to miss: Team Members at $11 per user a month, and Advanced Payments at $20 a month. They are listed under Lite, Plus and Premium alike.",
     "Removing FreshBooks branding from the emails your client receives is not a paid feature — it is a quote-only one. It appears only on the top “Let's Talk” tier, alongside lower card fees and two included team members. On Lite, Plus and Premium your invoice mail carries their brand.",
     "The client ceiling that decides the tier is not testable during the trial. Lite stops at 5 clients, Plus at 50, Premium unlimited — but the trial runs with full features, as the upgrade screen says in as many words (“Upgrade to a paid plan to continue using all of FreshBooks' great features”). We fed the client importer a six-client CSV and it accepted the file and moved straight to field matching, with no limit warning at the point where a Lite account would have stopped. So the meter that will actually bite you is the one you cannot feel while you are evaluating.",
     "Prices are shown in USD on a Netherlands account, and the plan screen carries the note “Features vary by region.”"
    ],
    "not_tested": null,
    "report": null,
    "result": "reported",
    "note": "Findings as written up after the session; no pass/fail per task was scored.",
    "in_catalog": true
   }
  ]
 },
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "freshbooks:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "freshbooks:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "freshbooks:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "freshbooks:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_found",
   "detail": "No explicit support for purchases by AI agents on the vendor's own pages.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}