As I do before making any decision, I turned to the internet to read comparisons of the two programs. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any that were from the perspective of another designer/creative freelancer. It was hard to read the comparisons that are out there already from my perspective who values good, simple design and was also already familiar with the Intuit user experience. Honestly, I was really looking for someone to convince my why NOT to just stick with the familiar experience and tell me that Freshbooks was better. Not finding it on my own, I decided to sign up for the 30 day free trial for both Quickbooks Self-Employed and Freshbooks and decided at the end of the trials which program I preferred for my freelance needs. This included using both mobile apps as well.

Here are my thoughts so far and I’ll continue to update this list as I go and declare my final decision after 30 days. Take a look at the list of Pros and Cons below, and keep in mind what you most need and value (personal branding on everything vs. help at tax time, or time tracking and client management, vs. a more sexy interface) from an accounting program before deciding. I hope it helps!