Miru vs FreshBooks
FreshBooks is great at invoicing. But at $17-$55/month flat — before you even add team members — the price adds up fast. Miru does the same job for a fraction of the cost.
Quick verdict
FreshBooks is designed for freelancers who need polished invoicing. But if your team has more than one person, the math gets ugly. FreshBooks Plus is $30/month + $11/user. A 10-person team pays $140/month. On Miru Pro, that same team pays $10/month. And Miru includes a CLI, dark mode, self-hosting, and the full source code under MIT license.
Feature-by-feature comparison
| Feature | Miru | FreshBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (5 users) / $1/member/mo | $17/mo (Lite) / $30/mo (Plus) / $55/mo (Premium) |
| Time Tracking | Timer + manual + CLI | Basic timer (Plus & up) |
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ (strong) |
| Expenses | ✓ | ✓ (with receipt scanning) |
| Reports | 6 report types | Basic financial reports |
| Team Management | 5 roles + leave tracking | Team features on Plus & up |
| CLI | ✓ | ✗ |
| Open Source | ✓ MIT licensed | ✗ |
| Self-Hostable | ✓ | ✗ |
| Dark Mode | ✓ | ✗ |
| API Access | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stripe Payments | ✓ One-click pay | FreshBooks Payments + Stripe |
Key differentiators
Massively cheaper
FreshBooks charges a flat base fee plus per-user costs. Miru is free for up to 5 users and $1/member/month after that. No base fee. No surprise tiers.
No vendor lock-in
FreshBooks owns your data. If they raise prices or shut down, you're stuck. Miru is open source — self-host it, export everything, and own your business data forever.
All features, every plan
FreshBooks gates time tracking behind the Plus plan ($30/mo). Miru includes time tracking, invoicing, expenses, and the CLI on every plan — including Free.
Switch from FreshBooks today
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