FreeAgent

FreeAgent is a cloud-based accounting software solution that is tailored to meet the unique accounting requirements of freelancers, small businesses, solo entrepreneurs, and their accountants.

The online accounting platform is purpose-built to facilitate the day-to-day administrative tasks and processes of small businesses and startups, from monitoring company expenses and managing RTI-compliant payroll to creating and distributing professional quotes, estimates, and invoices. FreeAgent also enables entrepreneurs and small business owners to keep track of their profitability and cash flow by providing them with detailed information on payments to make and receive, including who owes them money and how much.

FreeAgent also provides users with a personalized tax timeline which lets them view upcoming tax amounts due and deadlines. It also comes with a feature that helps them file VAT, RTI payroll, and self-assessment tax returns directly to HMRC. Filing for self-assessment tax returns applies only to sole traders and limited company directors, making this online accounting software even more suitable for small and limited operations.

FreeAgent is tailor-made for freelancers, contractors, and small business owners operating in the service sector or working as a project-based company. The online accounting software provides users with features and tools to help streamline workflows and processes associated with business expense management, invoicing, receipts, and other accounting tasks that involve spreadsheets. It comes with all the functionalities that one would expect from a well-designed online accounting solution such as time tracking, billing and payment reminders, and project management.

FreeAgent Features

FreeAgent is a robust and feature-rich accounting platform that empowers small business owners and freelancers to efficiently manage their financial requirements from anywhere at any time, using any internet-enabled device.

FreeAgent offers a respectable selection of features that deliver just enough functionality and usability to any small business, specifically for project-based operations, contractors, and freelancers.

Visually appealing and informative dashboard

The FreeAgent dashboard is well-designed, featuring various graphs and charts that display all relevant data and business activities to help a small business owner or freelancer make effective decisions. With the dashboard, users can easily view the key aspects and metrics of their operation, such as their banking activity, cash flow, expenses, invoices, and recent profits and losses.

Intuitive contact management solution

FreeAgent has an intuitive contact management feature that enables you to manage both your customer contacts as well as your vendors. It allows you to save basic contact information, sales tax registration, default tax settings, and custom notes. The software also gives you the option to set a default language and arrange the contacts to look and feel like a typical address book. The system will automatically mark any contact as a customer once an invoice is created and sent to them, or as a supplier once a bill is created.

To get a detailed view of any contact, you only have to click on their name, and you should be able to access their full history, including any unsettled payments, active projects, estimates, invoices, or bills associated with that particular contact. The tool also allows you to send detailed account statements instantly and effortlessly to your contacts and customers.

Decent invoicing capability

FreeAgent’s invoicing feature is quite reasonable, especially for small businesses and freelancers. It comes with a small selection of invoice templates, and while the designs are appealing and professional-looking, the customization aspect could certainly use a few improvements. For example, the software allows you to add your company logo and header to the invoice template. However, if you wish to make any other customizations to the invoice—for example, changing the color scheme—you might have to learn CSS or HTML coding to pull it off.

One of the best aspects of FreeAgent’s invoicing is that it supports up to 28 languages. It also allows users to easily write off unpaid invoices as well as set recurring invoices and invoice reminders.

Expense tracking and claims management

With FreeAgent, small business owners, entrepreneurs, and freelancers can easily track their expenses by using live bank feeds or importing up-to-date bank statements. Users also have the option to manually enter their expenses directly into the system. The cloud-based software is designed so that it is quicker and easier to attach expenses to individual projects and bill them to clients.

FreeAgent also supports expense claims, in addition to real-time expense tracking. It allows solo entrepreneurs, small business owners, and managers to manage and reimburse any out-of-pocket expenses incurred by field reps and remote workers.

Inventory management system

Price List & Stock is FreeAgent’s inventory feature and can be accessed through Settings. The price list portion of this feature is where you’ll find your item list, while the stock portion is where you’ll be able to track your inventory. The feature can display the current quantity on hand for all your stock items, but it doesn’t allow you to add purchase price information or stock descriptions.

Basic job costing and project management

One of the main reasons FreeAgent is well-suited for project-based freelancers and contractors is the project management and job costing feature. When creating a new project, users have the ability to create and add tasks, start and end dates, budget and billing rates, custom notes, and even a default currency.

In addition, users can attach expenses as well as billable and unbillable time to their projects to efficiently invoice these costs to their clients. The project management software also has the capability to calculate and provide the overall profitability of each project.

FreeAgent Benefits

FreeAgent is a user-friendly online accounting software solution designed for small businesses, freelancers, and contractors. It is a simplified financial management platform that is heavily influenced by the traditional double-entry accounting logic and is designed specifically for importing manual transactions and managing associated mileage.

The main purpose of this accounting software is to help small businesses manage the more complicated aspects of their accounting and expense operations. This is why the platform is hosted in the cloud and implements a rather common navigation system. There are many benefits to choosing FreeAgent for accounting and expense management.

It is a small business-friendly accounting platform

FreeAgent is primarily designed to serve small business owners and project-based operations. It provides them with all the tools and functionalities they need to effectively manage complex accounting and financial management processes. The cloud-based software also greatly benefits small contractors and freelancers, thanks to its wide variety of features. FreeAgent even offers VAT support for UK-based limited companies, partnerships, and sole traders.

It is a user-friendly online accounting solution

FreeAgent is well-known in the industry for being highly intuitive and easy to use. One of the biggest reasons for this is the availability of resources that are designed to support all types of users. The vendor has made support resources easily accessible to guide newer users. The platform’s user interface is also easy to navigate. It has a clean and well-designed dashboard that displays critical business data through graphs and charts. With the software, it’s also easier to view cash flow, time slips, expenses, and invoices, as well as profits and losses.

Simplified tax management process

FreeAgent enables small business owners, contractors, and freelancers to use their reference schedules to easily prepare their taxes. This is mainly because all the categories supported by the system coincide with those of the IRS. Users can view their debit and credit reports as well as access their journal entries and copy the tax preparation totals to gain access to their tax returns.

Tax Management and many other related processes are handled by professional accountants and accounting firms. However, FreeAgent has simplified most of the core processes so much that even small business owners with limited accounting experience can easily manage their taxes or even lead their very own taxation program.

FreeAgent Pricing

FreeAgent offers different pricing plans for UK, US, and international businesses. For UK-based limited companies, pricing starts at £14.50/month + VAT for the first six months and £29/month + VAT after that. UK-based partnerships and LLPs can expect a £12 + VAT monthly payment for the first six months and £24 + VAT afterward. FreeAgent for UK-based sole traders is available at £9.50/month + VAT for the first six months and then £19/month + VAT after six months.

For US businesses, FreeAgent is available for only $12/month for the first six months and then just $24/month afterward. For businesses outside the United Kingdom and the US, pricing starts at US$10/month for the initial six months and then at US$20/month after that. All pricing plans come with a 30-day free trial. Interested parties can visit the vendor’s official website and pricing page for more information.

Conclusion

FreeAgent is a solid accounting solution and a satisfactory entry into the online accounting and bookkeeping market. It is arguably one of the better options for small business owners, contractors, and freelancers looking for a robust and user-friendly accounting platform. It allows international invoicing, with multiple languages supported. The cloud-based accounting software also offers unlimited users, time and expense tracking, project management, and contact management, among many other features.

For small businesses that have outgrown the basic spreadsheet for bookkeeping, FreeAgent is certainly a sufficient choice, especially when it comes to handling basic accounting requirements.