FreeAgent Reviews

Pros

I think FreeAgent does its job well. I've never run into technical faults or found anything I needed to do that it couldn't do. My favorite thing about FreeAgent is that my accountant can access the platform and see everything I can. That makes getting information to my accountants or asking questions incredibly slick.

Cons

I moved to FreeAgent from Xero because it's what my accountant knew how to use. I think Xero has slightly better tech and integrations so I would say I don't find FreeAgent as engaging to use. It's hard to criticize for that though because although it's nice to integrate with other systems, I haven't had any major issues getting information into FreeAgent as required.

Pros

The best thing about FreeAgent is the dashboard view. From here I can see at a glance how my business is running, with clear visuals giving trends over time for cashflow, invoicing timeline, bank balances, expenses, bills, profit and loss and tax.

Cons

When entering an expense (not using smart capture) it is really easy to put the wrong date in.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Switching to FreeAgent

Accountants supported FreeAgent but not QuickBooks.

Pros

Ease of use. It is a user friendly software.

Cons

The report quality could have been better. The format used in reports could be improved.

Pros

Free Agent came bundled with my NatWest account. It is easy to use with a clear interface and integrates well with my bank accounts. The mobile app is excellent and the support (both technically and professionally) is clear and of good standard. I find their email updates helpful.

Cons

I would like them to be able to import transactions directly from Stripe as a ‘bank account’ as currently you have to manage this manually.

Pros

Easy to learn: I could start from recording basic expenses to manage my bills and invoices.

Cons

Not sure. I found harder to understand reports and some initial set-ups because I don't have a background in accounting, but it all made sense whith the help of customer support and later my accountant.

Alternatives Considered

Xero

Reasons for Choosing FreeAgent

Freeagent gave me more features and was easier to manage complex projects

Switched From

QuickBooks Solopreneur

Reasons for Switching to FreeAgent

Price, features, easier learning curve, customer support.

Pros

Freeagent has a great invoice design. I like the fact that for a small business - you can get this software and an online bank account at a very reasonable price. I've used the accounts filing option - and it worked. I was delighted and it has saved me so much time!

Cons

Sometimes, I just think its a bit clunky and could be smoother. It does things I don't like e.g. when a sum is received in and is paying 2 invoices - I don't like the way it split payments. I think the chart of accounts could just be a little bit more user friendly, but for a sole trader, if your books are simple - it does the job nicely.

Pros

Freeagent covers all my needs. I'm no accountant or don't have a big business so maybe it's missing some features, but for me it's great. (For transparency I get it for free as I'm with Natwest). Being able to use this on my phone or desktop is great. It picks up all of my Natwest transactions and automatically categorises them into different types of expenses or income (ie advertising, Web hosting, office equipment...) and applies standard VAT and adds a description. You just have to go through the list and approve them to make sure its filled in properly (which most are correct).

Cons

Again for me it does meet all of my needs. I suppose one thing I didn't quite understand as it uses many accounting terminologies, however they do have a breakdown of what certain things mean, it just means having to read up on it.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Switching to FreeAgent

It was included with my business bank account. I looked at quickbooks but decided to give this a go and I've like it so far.

Pros

The best thing about FreeAgent is that you can get it for free if you use their offer to set up and use "Mettle" bank account. Also, their menu is perfectly minimalistic to make it fully functioning for our purposes and not making it overwhelming to use.

Cons

Bank reconciliation lacks automation. There is "guess" rules function but you can't modify how it works and it often makes mistakes.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Switching to FreeAgent

FreeAgent offered a free plan if you have a Mettle bank account.

Pros

I've used FreeAgent for years and always found it to be a solid and reliable accounting product. It handles everything, from sending invoices to clients, to reconciling payments, to helping with taxes.

Cons

It could be better at reconciling bank transactions and uploading the same receipts every month could be easier. It's a lot of manual labour.

Alternatives Considered

Sage Accounting and QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Switching to FreeAgent

It appeared to deal better with multiple currencies.

Pros

I really found this software useful when setting up my first business

Cons

It was limited with regard managing jobs and scheduling

Pros

It basically does all the required accounting without having to pay for an accountant to do it for you. The biggest benefit when it comes to tracking business tax and completing a tax return as it pretty much does it all for you.

Cons

Sometimes it's tricky to work out how something works and you have to go and get help from customer support, but this may be more user incompetence than anything wrong with the software!

Alternatives Considered

Xero

Reasons for Choosing FreeAgent

I was getting to the point of needing to pay for some of the options (I honestly can't remember the name of the software used previously and don't want to put the wrong one in!)

Reasons for Switching to FreeAgent

NatWest provided the service free and it appeared to have everything needed.

Pros

Very easy to onboard clients; Linking bank accounts through open banking is straightforward and facility works well; Simple user interface makes it easy for novices to use; Very good customer support; Can be had for free of you use and RBS group bank account including Mettle; On the go invoicing is nice for some business as well as the expense logger

Cons

Not as flexible as some accounting packages; a few of the facilities are still a work in progress and you need to do a workaround

Alternatives Considered

Sage Construction Suite, QuickBooks Enterprise and Xero

Switched From

Sage Construction Suite, QuickBooks Enterprise and Xero

Reasons for Switching to FreeAgent

The cost-free option makes it an easy sell to help clients transition to the cloud accounting world. I still use Xero and others to give clients a choice

Pros

I have been using FreeAgent since I registered my company. It handles all my accounting needs. Saves me so much time.

Cons

Categorisation of expenses can be improved. It works so far but wish they had simpler naming.

Pros

The customer service is one of the best in the industry and a great user interface.

Cons

Lack of features such as reports and 3rd party integrations

Pros

It's very intuitive and has amazing support and training for us and our clients. We use this software for our smaller sole traders who find it really easy to use. We do most of the setup and they basically just invoice their clients using the mobile app :)

Cons

Integrations are pretty non existent for a lot of apps. For example merging eBay or most till sales with FreeAgent can be quite difficult however this is overcome by using Zapier

Pros

I no longer have to nominate which computer is the one that the accounts is on.
I can open a web browser on the PC in my home office and enter my hours, mileage, upload photos of receipts, automatially let it reconcile the bank and credit card statements, and let it get on with doing the calcuations.
I no longer have to set aside a weekend each month for doing invoices and expenses.
or the last weekend of each quarter for doing the VAT return
or various days of the last month of each financial year for doing the annual return.

Cons

Now that the company has made enough money to be able to purchase three cars, it would be nice if the mileage drop down had options for company owned vehicles and the AFR mileage rates, but it only has AMAP rates for personally owned bike, motorcycle or car.

Pros

I hate taxes and book keeping work. Using just common sense, you can immediately do 90% of tasks within FreeAgent, quickly and easily. FreeAgent staff are on standby to help you with the other 10%. It's fantastic.

Cons

Some of the features are not intuitive, and take a bit of practice to get right. The one time I have had to use a work around is the system does not have a function allowing you to remove partner drawings directly from a foreign currency PayPal account. Hardly a deal-breaker.

Pros

We use it where I work as a way to track work hours. Usage is pretty simple and the features are sufficient. If you need to track time precisely, there's a nice start/stop function, and if you don't, there are means to insert a whole week in a row. If you're a developer, you'll appreciate the APIs that allow building customized reports for accounting.

Cons

If you don't need precise time tracking, but need to split hours on different activities, data entering becomes pretty slow. You can generate monthly reports to check what to expect from the paycheck, but checking if you made mistakes in the data entry is as difficult as it is entering it.

Pros

Great customer support- all from trained accountants in the UK that are able to walk you through any problems you might encounter when doing you tax and vat returns

Cons

None- inpeciable and consistent service at all times.

Pros

Pros: ability to photograph receipts and store them within expenses
All the main categories of expenses are there
Links to your business bank account

Cons

Con: One major drawback is that you can't print out a consolidated tax return before or after filing. For sole traders a tax return is often the only way to prove income when applying for loans, etc, and HMRC doesn't offer this service either.

Pros

Integrates with my bank accounts and PayPal.
Does bookkeeping without me having to know how to do bookkeeping.
Great referral program!
Good support when I've needed it.

Cons

Reports and accounts set up is skewed to the UK market (my American CPA is used to seeing certain things set out differently).
Bank feeds can be slow to update.

Pros

FreeAgent has enabled me to free up so much of my time because i can schedule and manage invoices individually or on repeat. Also helps when preparing tax and vat returns.

Cons

The function to connect credit card accounts does not always work that well but i think we have cracked it.

Pros

A great product which is very easy to use. I like the fact that it learns from previous accounting entry explanations to offer good suggestions.

Cons

I wish I could use it with more than one business to lower the cost of paying twice.

Pros

It allows me to keep on top of the financial position of my company allowing me to make decisions with up to date knowledge. Compared to my peers who don't use the software I am saving time and money doing my accounting.

Cons

The mobile app is not as feature rich and some of the functionality that it does have does not share the same options as the web version e.g. split transactions

Pros

I love free agent. It makes invoicing, book keeping and automating reminders very easy. It's also very easy to modify your invoice designs. Customer support has always been good on the few occasions I've needed them.

Cons

I'd like to be able to do reports on a monthly basis rather than the preset options. Little bit more expensive than it's rivals.