FreshBooks

FreshBooks is double-entry accounting wearing a friendly invoice app, which is the right shape for somebody who bills a handful of clients and dreads January. Time tracking and expenses feed the invoice directly. Client limits on the cheap plan are the thing that pushes people up a tier.

Lite is $23 a month for five billable clients, Plus is $43 for fifty, Premium is $70 for unlimited, and Select is quoted. Yearly billing takes another 10 percent off, team members are $11 each a month, and payroll is a $40 add-on. There is a 30-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee. The client count, not the feature list, is what forces most upgrades.

A freelancer or small studio billing clients by project or by hour, who wants proper accounting without learning it. A creator earning from platforms and sponsorships rather than invoices will find Wave covers the same ground for nothing.