FreeAgent vs ScaleFactor

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Our analysts compared FreeAgent vs ScaleFactor based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Accounting Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

FreeAgent Software Tool
ScaleFactor Software Tool

Product Basics

FreeAgent is a cloud-based accounting software designed for small businesses and freelancers. It streamlines tasks like invoicing, expense tracking, and tax filing, offering a user-friendly interface and mobile app for on-the-go management. FreeAgent shines for its intuitive design and automation features, making it ideal for those with limited accounting knowledge. Key benefits include automatic bank feeds, expense categorization with receipt scanning, and HMRC-compliant VAT returns. Popular features like project tracking and time billing further cater to freelancers and service-based businesses. Compared to similar products, user reviews praise FreeAgent's ease of use and excellent customer support. However, its focus on simplicity may lack the advanced features sought by larger businesses or those with complex accounting needs. Pricing starts at a monthly subscription fee, with additional costs for features like multiple users or payroll. FreeAgent offers a free trial to allow potential users to test its capabilities before committing.

Pros
  • Easy to use
  • Mobile app access
  • Automated tasks
  • Freelancer-friendly
  • Good customer support
Cons
  • Limited features for complex needs
  • Higher cost for multiple users
  • Not ideal for large businesses
  • Invoice customization limited
  • Reporting could be more robust
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ScaleFactor provides an intuitive module that runs accounting, tax and finance tasks to provide accurate data to businesses and make strategic decisions. Accounting and finance solve how modern companies operate by automating complex accounting tasks and converting financial information into valuable data. It allows capturing expense details and categorizing them. It tracks regular cash flow and keeps a tab on the patterns to identify any abnormalities and notifies the accountants of the same. It seamlessly integrates and syncs information across applications in real time and keeps a tab on the entry to avoid any duplication.
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$6.50 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$399 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

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Product Insights

  • Effortless Time Saving: Automate tasks like invoicing, expense tracking, and tax filing, freeing up time for what matters most.
  • Simplified Organization: Stay on top of your finances with a clear overview of income, expenses, and cash flow, all in one place.
  • Enhanced Accuracy and Compliance: Reduce errors and ensure compliance with automatic bank feeds, VAT returns, and HMRC filing.
  • Mobile Access on the Go: Manage your finances from anywhere with the convenient mobile app, perfect for busy freelancers and entrepreneurs.
  • Streamlined Collaboration: Easily share invoices, track project progress, and collaborate with clients and team members.
  • Peace of Mind and Support: Gain confidence knowing your finances are in order, backed by excellent customer support whenever you need it.
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  • Tax Season Ready: Avoid mismatched transactions and forgotten expenses with books updated in real time. Keep the businesses ready for the tax season. 
  • Better Accuracy: Ensure all data is accurate and the bookkeeping process gets done in a secure and reliable manner with the help of certified accounting experts. 
  • Comprehensive Management: Manage back-office operations like reviewing the team’s expenses, paying bills and double-checking payrolls to ensure everything runs smoothly. 
  • Live Dashboard: Access information that the business needs regarding bookkeeping, be it classifying transactions, updating a general ledger or seeing mobile alerts and notifications via a live dashboard. 
  • Reports: Recognize revenue and account transactions accurately. Use data to help make the right decisions for profit and loss statements, journal entries and balance sheets. 
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  • Estimates: Send estimates and invoices via email and keep a tab on the approval and rejection. Convert accepted estimates into invoices. Manage outstanding amounts with the Invoice Timeline. 
  • Expenses: Save photos of the receipt directly from the mobile phone. Keep a tab on the running balance for reimbursement by tracking employee expenses. Track payments using live bank feeds or by importing bank statements.  
  • Tracking: Keep a record of when work was completed. Create an invoice for unbilled time and send it to the client. Check where time is spent across the active projects with timesheet reports.Payment tracking can be done by uploading a picture of the receipt through the mobile app. Reminders for making payments are sent automatically by setting up recurring invoices. Track invoices, taxes, estimates, alongside expenses. 
  • Dashboard: Monitor profit and loss with cash flow reports and the invoice timeline. 
  • Project Management: Create a project by adding billing rates, tasks, default currency, budget, start and end date. Attach charges and billable and non-billable time to projects and invoice the cost to customers. 
  • Expense Management: Categorize charges by currency and link them to a particular activity. Track and document expenses once the invoice is settled. Forgo the need to upload bank statements with the feed enabled. Include bank statements in the reporting after uploading. 
  • Navigation: Display data and keep track of the business’s financial health. Access invoices, time slips, estimates and projects from the dashboard. 
  • Payment: Integrate with PayPal, Stripe and GoCardless to pay bills easily. Make direct payments and add links to the payment system in the invoice templates. Conduct transactions in more than 80 countries around the globe. 
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  • Seamless Integration: Integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero to significantly reduce the time spent on accounting. Give the business time to spend on tasks that matter by eliminating financial bottlenecks. 
  • Virtual Bookkeeping Software: Categorize transactions across the account that are awaiting review or approval. Send them to the designated recipient so the business is up to date with the accounting tasks. 
  • Dashboard: Help the company understand where the money is coming from and where it’s going with an easy-to-navigate dashboard. Give a quick overview of the business’s financial health to devise effective strategies to steer ahead. 
  • Payroll: Leverage Gusto, a full-service payroll processor that runs operations on the same page where the books get managed. Set multiple pay schedules and add all types of employees. Adjust payroll where needed. 
  • Bill Payment: Simplify paying the bills. Forgo entering all details in the payment system. Powered by bill.com, it efficiently manages all payments from the same place where the book gets processed. 
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Product Ranking

#86

among all
Accounting Software

#147

among all
Accounting Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

FreeAgent
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Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Banking And Cash Management Budget And Expense Management Financial Statements And Revenue Management General Ledger And Chart Of Accounts Integration And Extensibility Inventory Management Journal Entries Mobile Support Multi-company Accounting And Asset Management Platform Capabilities Project Accounting Reporting And Analytics Tax Management 89 84 79 68 98 88 85 78 81 97 70 89 97 70 95 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 200 reviews
Great User Sentiment 17 reviews
87%
of users recommend this product

FreeAgent has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 87% when considering 200 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

84%
of users recommend this product

ScaleFactor has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 84% when considering 17 user reviews from 1 recognized software review sites.

4.3 (29)
n/a
4.4 (125)
4.18 (17)
4.3 (46)
n/a

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Intuitive interface: Users consistently praise FreeAgent's user-friendly design, making it easy to navigate and find features even without accounting expertise.
Automated tasks: FreeAgent automates many time-consuming accounting tasks, such as bank reconciliation, VAT calculation, invoice creation, and mileage tracking.
Comprehensive features: The software offers a wide range of features to manage all aspects of accounting, including invoicing, expenses, projects, taxes, and payroll.
Mobile app: FreeAgent's mobile app allows users to manage finances on the go, access key features, and capture receipts with ease.
Excellent customer support: Users consistently rate FreeAgent's customer support highly, with quick and helpful responses to queries.
Integrations: FreeAgent integrates with various popular business tools, such as bank accounts, payment gateways, and expense management apps.
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Automated Bookkeeping: ScaleFactor can automatically categorize transactions, reconcile accounts, and generate financial reports, saving businesses time and reducing the risk of errors.
Real-Time Insights: The platform provides real-time financial data, allowing businesses to track their performance and make informed decisions.
Bill Pay: ScaleFactor offers a bill pay feature that allows businesses to easily pay bills electronically, streamlining the accounts payable process.
Tax Compliance: The platform helps businesses stay compliant with tax regulations by automatically calculating and filing sales tax returns.
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Limited customization options: While FreeAgent offers some customization, users report feeling restricted in terms of branding and layout compared to other accounting software.
Learning curve for complex features: Some users find FreeAgent's advanced features, like inventory management or project accounting, have a steeper learning curve compared to basic functionalities.
Higher pricing for larger businesses: FreeAgent's pricing scales with the number of users and features needed, making it potentially expensive for larger businesses with complex accounting requirements.
Limited integrations with some industry-specific tools: While FreeAgent integrates with popular business tools, some users in specific industries might miss integrations with specialized software they rely on.
Occasional bugs and glitches: Some users report encountering occasional bugs or glitches within the software, although FreeAgent's customer support is generally praised for responsiveness.
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Inaccurate Data: Some users have reported that ScaleFactor sometimes pulls in inaccurate data, leading to incorrect financial reports.
Limited Functionality: ScaleFactor may not have all the features that some businesses need, such as advanced inventory management or project accounting.
Customer Support Issues: Some users have expressed frustration with ScaleFactor's customer support, citing slow response times and difficulty getting issues resolved.
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FreeAgent carves a niche for itself in the accounting software world, earning enthusiastic praise from users seeking an intuitive and automated solution to manage their finances. Its user-friendly interface and wealth of automated features like bank reconciliation and VAT calculation, often cited as lifesavers, make it ideal for solopreneurs and small businesses who want to ditch spreadsheets and manual data entry. This convenience, however, comes with a trade-off: some users feel limited by FreeAgent's customization options, especially compared to the robust branding and layout control offered by competitors like Xero. FreeAgent's strengths truly shine in its mobile app and excellent customer support. Users adore the on-the-go access and quick, helpful resolutions to queries. This agility differentiates FreeAgent from some software giants notorious for sluggish mobile experiences and frustratingly long wait times for assistance. However, power users with complex accounting needs might find FreeAgent's advanced features, like project accounting, less intuitive than Xero's, requiring a steeper learning curve. Ultimately, FreeAgent's user reviews paint a picture of a friendly, efficient, and mobile-first accounting solution. It excels at simplifying finances for non-accountants and automating tedious tasks, but its customization limitations and potential learning curve for advanced features might make larger businesses or those seeking extensive control look elsewhere. In the quest for simplicity and time-saving automation, FreeAgent stands out as a top contender, especially for solopreneurs and small businesses just starting their financial journey.

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Is ScaleFactor a major player or small fry in the accounting software game? Based on user reviews from the past year, ScaleFactor seems to be a bit of a mixed bag. Users appreciate its user-friendly interface, making it a breeze for those without an accounting background to navigate. The software's flexibility is another plus, as it can be tailored to fit the needs of businesses of all shapes and sizes. However, ScaleFactor's price tag is a major drawback, with many users finding it pricier than its competitors. Additionally, the software's limited integration with other business tools can be a dealbreaker for those who rely on a connected ecosystem of applications. ScaleFactor appears to be best suited for small to medium-sized businesses that prioritize ease of use and flexibility in their accounting software and are willing to pay a premium for these features. However, for businesses on a tight budget or those that require seamless integration with other software, ScaleFactor may not be the best fit. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to use ScaleFactor comes down to weighing its strengths and weaknesses against your specific business needs and budget.

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