bexio vs. FreshBooks

At a glance

Best for

Best for Swiss SMEs and the self-employed that want quotes, invoices, bookkeeping, banking and payroll in one system built for Swiss rules.

Freelancers
Small and mid-sized

FreshBooks

Best for

Best for freelancers and small service businesses that want invoicing-first accounting with time and expense tracking, double-entry books and a simple plan lineup.

Freelancers
Small and mid-sized

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion	bexio	FreshBooks
Starting price	From CHF 35 / month The Basic package on annual billing, for one user. Monthly billing costs CHF 10 more per month on every package. The list rates on annual billing are CHF 35 for Basic, CHF 42 for Advanced, CHF 69 for Optima and CHF 119 for Ultimate. A 30 percent first-year discount on Advanced and above was running at the time of writing.	From $23 / month Lite plan at its regular monthly price, for up to five billable clients.
Free trial	30 days without obligation, on the Ultimate package excluding the document archive and bexio Pay	Free for 30 days
Team size	1 user on Basic, 2 on Advanced, 5 on Optima and 25 on Ultimate	Not stated
Users	More than 100,000 companies, per the vendor	Not stated
API	Yes, a REST API authenticated over OpenID Connect, plus a marketplace of more than 120 apps	Yes, a JSON API with OAuth2, plus more than 100 integrations
Hosting	Cloud (SaaS), stored in Swiss data centres	Cloud (SaaS)
Made in	Switzerland	Not stated
Invoicing and quotes	Yes, quotes and orders from stored products and services, QR invoices from multilingual templates, and project time carried into the invoice	Yes, professional invoices that auto-add tracked time and expenses and calculate taxes, plus estimates and proposals
Bookkeeping and bank feeds	Yes, single-entry or double-entry bookkeeping with pre-configured Swiss charts of accounts and VAT rates, and automatic reconciliation against more than 65 Swiss banks	Yes, double-entry accounting with a general ledger and bank reconciliation via bank connection or CSV upload
Expenses and receipts	Yes, supplier invoices and receipts posted against selected ledgers, with AI receipt scanning in the bexio Go app, metered per package	Yes, mobile receipt scanning, bank imports and automatic expense categorization
Tax and compliance	Yes, VAT statements in several methods and the year-end close, plus a GeBüV-compliant document archive with tamper-proof timestamps in Swiss data centres (Switzerland)	Yes, sales tax applied to invoice line items, posted to a Taxes Payable account, with tax reports
Payroll	Yes, certified to Swissdec 5.3 with automatic reporting to the authorities; a paid add-on on Advanced and included from Optima upwards	Available as a paid add-on at $40 per month plus $6 per user per month
Reports and exports	Yes, balance sheet and income statement with year-on-year comparison, plus a dashboard of financial key figures	Yes, financial and accounting reports, including profit reports and the general ledger
Integrations and API	Yes, a REST API over OpenID Connect covering sales, contacts, accounting, purchasing, items, projects, banking, files and payroll, with a marketplace of more than 120 apps	Yes, a JSON API authenticated with OAuth2, plus more than 100 integrations
AI features	stated Yes	No
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based
Support	Phone, Email helpdesk	Not stated
Onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base	Not stated
Company size	Freelancers, Small and mid-sized	Freelancers, Small and mid-sized

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Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

Starting price bexio From CHF 35 / month FreshBooks From $23 / month
Free trial bexio 30 days without obligation, on the Ultimate package excluding the document archive and bexio Pay FreshBooks Free for 30 days
Hosting bexio Cloud (SaaS), stored in Swiss data centres FreshBooks Cloud (SaaS)
AI features bexio Yes FreshBooks No
API bexio Yes, a REST API authenticated over OpenID Connect, plus a marketplace of more than 120 apps FreshBooks Yes, a JSON API with OAuth2, plus more than 100 integrations

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

bexio

Strengths

Swiss specifics built in: QR invoices, Swissdec 5.3 payroll, VAT statements and a GeBüV-compliant archive in Swiss data centres
Free live access for the fiduciary, with around 1,000 certified Swiss partners already working in the system
Automatic reconciliation with more than 65 Swiss banks
REST API over OpenID Connect and a marketplace of more than 120 apps

Limitations

Packages are cut by user count, so one extra login can mean the next tier
Payroll is absent from the Basic package and a paid add-on on Advanced
AI receipt scanning in the mobile app is metered on every package except Ultimate
Built for Switzerland, so the tax, banking and payroll work does not transfer to other markets

FreshBooks

Strengths

Invoices automatically pull in tracked time and expenses
Double-entry accounting with bank reconciliation and a general ledger
JSON API with OAuth2 and more than 100 integrations
Unlimited billable clients from the Premium plan

Limitations

Plans are capped by billable client count on the lower tiers
Payroll is a paid add-on rather than part of the plan

Plans

Pricing

bexio

Basic CHF 35 / month On annual billing, CHF 45 per month billed monthly. One user. Contacts, invoices, accounting, products, expenses, e-banking, document archive, projects, time tracking and stock management. No payroll and no bexio Pay.
Advanced CHF 42 / month On annual billing, CHF 52 per month billed monthly. Two users. Adds payroll as a paid add-on (CHF 7 to 25 per month), bexio Pay for CHF 14 per month, 50 AI receipt scans per month and more than 90 marketplace apps.
Optima CHF 69 / month On annual billing, CHF 79 per month billed monthly. Five users. Payroll for five employees included, bexio Pay for CHF 14 per month, 100 AI receipt scans per month.
Ultimate CHF 119 / month On annual billing, CHF 129 per month billed monthly. 25 users. Payroll for 25 employees included, bexio Pay included, unlimited AI receipt scans.

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FreshBooks

Lite $23 / month Up to five billable clients; invoicing, expense tracking, estimates, payments and tax reports.
Plus $43 / month Up to fifty billable clients; adds proposals, accounting reports, receipt scanning and accountant access.
Premium $70 / month Unlimited billable clients; adds project profitability, bill receipt scanning and automated client emails.
Select Not stated Custom pricing; adds lower card fees, data migration, two team members, dedicated phone support and removes FreshBooks branding.

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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

bexio

Ease of use: Not rated yet
User interface: Not rated yet
Onboarding: Not rated yet
Support and service: Not rated yet
Value for money: Not rated yet
Features: Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

FreshBooks

Ease of use: Not rated yet
User interface: Not rated yet
Onboarding: Not rated yet
Support and service: Not rated yet
Value for money: Not rated yet
Features: Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Where this comes from

bexio https://www.bexio.com · no check date recorded yet

FreshBooks https://www.freshbooks.com · checked against the official source on 2026-08-19

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.