FreshBooks vs SmartSuite: Complete Comparison (2026)
An in-depth comparison of FreshBooks and SmartSuite to help you choose the right tool for your business.
Last updated: November 2026
FreshBooks
5.8/10
Cloud accounting and invoicing software with built-in time tracking, project budgeting and client collaboration for freelancers and small service businesses.
SmartSuite
7.3/10
SmartSuite is a no-code work management platform that teams use to build project, process and operations solutions with views, automations and AI agents.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 5.8/10 | 7.3/10 |
| Cost | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| Ease of Use | 8/10 | 7/10 |
| Analytics | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Customization | 4/10 | 9/10 |
| Scalability | 3/10 | 7/10 |
| Support | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 6/10 | 9/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | No | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | $23/mo Lite | $20/user/mo Team |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | $23/mo Lite | $200/mo Team |
| Features | ||
| Gantt charts | ||
| App integrations | ||
| Client collaboration | ||
| Collaboration tools | ||
| Dashboards | ||
| File sharing | ||
| Reporting | ||
| Time tracking | ||
| Databases | Not listed | |
| Docs | Not listed | |
| Kanban boards | Not listed | |
| Scheduling | Not listed | |
| Spreadsheet interface | Not listed | |
| Task lists | Not listed | |
| Task management | Not listed | |
| Team messaging | Not listed | |
| Timeline view | Not listed | |
| Whiteboards | Not listed | |
| Workflow automation | Not listed | |
FreshBooks vs SmartSuite cost by team size
FreshBooks costs less from 5 users.
| Team size | FreshBooks | SmartSuite |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | $23/moLite | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | $23/moLite | $100/moTeam |
| 10 users | $23/moLite | $200/moTeam |
| 25 users | $23/moLite | $500/moTeam |
| 50 users | $23/moLite | $1,000/moTeam |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose FreshBooks
- Lower estimated cost for 10 users: $23/mo vs $200/mo
- Higher Ease of Use score (8/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for freelancers (9/10 vs 3/10)
- Better fit for startups (6/10 vs 4/10)
Why choose SmartSuite
- Higher Customization score (9/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Scalability score (7/10 vs 3/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (7/10 vs 2/10)
- Better fit for mid-market (8/10 vs 3/10)
- Includes Gantt charts, which FreshBooks lacks
Pros & Cons
FreshBooks
Pros
- The pop-up timer turns billable hours into an itemized client invoice in one click.
- Project budgets and profitability tracking sit next to the accounting data, so there is no separate sync.
- The project Discuss area lets teams and clients share files and comments.
- Reviewers repeatedly praise the clean, simple interface.
- Accountant access is free on all plans.
Cons
- There are no Gantt charts, project diagrams or advanced task planning.
- Every plan caps or prices by billable clients, and Lite allows only 5.
- Each extra team member costs $11 a month, which adds up for growing teams.
- Project management cannot be bought separately from the accounting suite.
- Reviewers say collaboration is more limited than in dedicated tools like Asana or Monday.
SmartSuite
Pros
- The same records can be shown as grid, Kanban, Gantt, timeline, calendar, map and dashboard views without duplicating data.
- Its compliance coverage is unusually strong for the category, with ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA and GDPR audits plus a choice of US or EU data residency.
- Read-only users, commenters and form submitters are free, which lowers the cost of involving stakeholders.
- It ships more than 200 templates and an AI solution builder to speed up setup.
- Reviewers describe the support team as responsive.
Cons
- Team, Professional and Enterprise carry 3-, 5- and 25-seat minimums, and there is no free plan.
- The Team plan allows only 5,000 records per solution, and automation runs plus API calls are hard-capped each month.
- SAML SSO and SCIM are available only on Enterprise and Signature plans.
- There is no team chat or whiteboard, and external access is limited to read-only shared views.
- Reviewers say complex workflows and large data imports take real setup effort, and there are no native desktop apps.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
SmartSuite scores higher on our Project Management criteria: 7.3/10 against 5.8/10 for FreshBooks. The largest gap is in Customization: 4/10 for FreshBooks and 9/10 for SmartSuite.
FreshBooks costs less for 10 users: about $23/mo on its Lite plan, against about $200/mo on its Team plan for SmartSuite, billed monthly.
No, neither FreshBooks nor SmartSuite lists a free plan.
FreshBooks is the better fit for freelancers: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 3/10 for SmartSuite.
SmartSuite has Gantt charts, which FreshBooks lacks.
