If you're a freelancer or solo operator searching for invoicing and finance tools, FreshBooks is probably on your radar. It's been around since 2003 and has built a solid reputation among small businesses. But here's the thing: FreshBooks was designed for growing teams with bookkeepers and accountants on speed dial. If you're a one-person operation trying to keep overhead low, you might be paying for a lot of features you'll never touch.
That's where Stintly comes in. It's a free, offline-first app built specifically for solo operators who need to track time, manage invoices, and stay on top of their finances without monthly subscriptions or mandatory cloud accounts. Let's break down how these two apps actually compare so you can decide which one fits your workflow.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Stintly | FreshBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $19–$60/month |
| Works Offline | Yes — 100% offline | No — requires internet |
| Account Required | No | Yes — email and payment info |
| Best For | Solo freelancers & micro-businesses | Small teams & growing businesses |
| Platform | iOS (iPhone & iPad) | Web, iOS, Android |
| Key Features | Invoicing, time tracking, expense logging, financial reports | Invoicing, accounting, payroll, proposals, payments, reports |
| Data Privacy | All data stays on your device | Cloud-hosted on FreshBooks servers |
Pricing
This is where the difference hits hardest. FreshBooks uses a tiered subscription model, and the costs add up quickly. Their Lite plan starts at $19 per month but limits you to five billable clients. If you outgrow that, you jump to the Plus plan at $33 per month, or the Premium plan at $60 per month. And that's before any add-ons for things like advanced payments, team members, or payroll.
Stintly is free. Not "free trial for 30 days" free. Not "free with a watermark on your invoices" free. Actually, genuinely, permanently free. There's no subscription, no hidden tier, and no credit card required to get started.
Here's what that looks like over time:
| Time Period | Stintly | FreshBooks Lite | FreshBooks Plus | FreshBooks Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 | $19 | $33 | $60 |
| 1 Year | $0 | $228 | $396 | $720 |
| 3 Years | $0 | $684 | $1,188 | $2,160 |
Over three years, even FreshBooks' cheapest plan costs you nearly $700. That's real money for a solo freelancer — money that could go toward equipment, marketing, or simply staying afloat during a slow month. If you're curious about how to manage those slow periods, our guide on cash flow forecasting for freelancers walks through practical strategies.
Save money. Try Stintly free today. Download Stintly for Free — no account needed, works 100% offline.
Features
Let's be fair: FreshBooks has a broader feature set. It offers double-entry accounting, automated bank feeds, payroll processing, project proposals, team time tracking, and integrations with hundreds of third-party tools. If you're running a small agency with employees and need your invoicing software to double as your accounting system, FreshBooks can handle that.
But breadth isn't the same as fit. Many solo freelancers sign up for FreshBooks and find themselves navigating dashboards, toggles, and menu options they'll never need. The interface is designed for businesses that are scaling, which means complexity is baked in even for users who just want to send an invoice and track their hours.
Stintly focuses on the features that solo operators actually use every day:
- Invoicing — Create professional invoices in seconds. No templates to configure, no payment gateway to connect. Just fill in the details and send.
- Time tracking — Start and stop timers from your phone, whether you're at your desk or on-site with a client. For more on why this matters, check out our time tracking guide for freelancers.
- Expense tracking — Log business expenses on the go, categorize them, and have them ready when tax season arrives. That includes things like mileage and travel expenses that are easy to forget.
- Financial reports — See where your money is going without needing an accounting degree. Simple, clear summaries that help you make better decisions.
Where FreshBooks excels is in its ecosystem. It connects to Stripe, PayPal, Gusto, and dozens of other services. If you need automated payment collection, bank reconciliation, or multi-currency support, FreshBooks delivers. Stintly doesn't try to be an accounting suite — it's a lean, focused tool for the essentials.
Want to try Stintly for free? Download Stintly for Free — no subscription required.
Offline & Privacy
This is Stintly's strongest advantage, and it's not close. Stintly works entirely offline. You can create invoices, track time, and log expenses from anywhere — a coffee shop with terrible Wi-Fi, a client's basement with no signal, or an airplane at 35,000 feet. Your data lives on your device and stays there.
FreshBooks requires an internet connection for virtually everything. If you lose connectivity, you lose access to your invoices, your client list, and your financial data. For freelancers who work remotely or travel frequently, this isn't a minor inconvenience — it's a real productivity blocker.
The privacy angle matters too. With FreshBooks, your financial data, client information, and business details are stored on their servers. That's standard for cloud software, and FreshBooks handles security responsibly. But if you prefer to keep sensitive business data under your own control — especially client billing information and income records — Stintly's local-only approach eliminates that concern entirely. There's no account to hack because there's no account.
This is particularly relevant if you're a freelancer working with clients who have strict data handling requirements, or if you simply value the principle that your business data shouldn't live on someone else's servers.
Who Should Use FreshBooks
FreshBooks is genuinely a good product for the right user. You should consider it if:
- You have a growing team — FreshBooks handles multiple users, roles, and permissions well. If you're managing subcontractors or employees, it scales with you.
- You need full accounting — Double-entry bookkeeping, bank reconciliation, and automated financial reports make tax time easier if your finances are complex.
- You want automated payment collection — FreshBooks integrates directly with payment processors so clients can pay invoices online with a click. If chasing payments is your biggest headache, this feature alone might justify the cost. That said, a good invoice payment terms strategy can solve a lot of that problem for free.
- You rely on integrations — If your workflow depends on connecting your invoicing tool to Zapier, Slack, Google Workspace, or other platforms, FreshBooks has you covered.
- You work on Android or primarily on desktop — FreshBooks offers a web app and Android support, while Stintly is currently iOS only.
If these describe your situation, FreshBooks may be worth the investment. It's a mature platform that does a lot of things well.
Who Should Use Stintly
Stintly is built for a different kind of user — the solo freelancer or micro-business owner who needs something fast, simple, and free. You'll love Stintly if:
- You work alone — You don't need team management, permission levels, or multi-user features. You need a tool that gets out of your way.
- Budget matters — Whether you're just starting out or you've been freelancing for years, paying $19 to $60 per month for invoicing software eats into your margins. Stintly costs nothing. If you're working on pricing your freelance services, keeping your tool costs at zero helps your numbers work.
- You value offline access — Working from co-working spaces, client sites, or on the road means you can't always guarantee internet access. Stintly doesn't care — it works everywhere.
- Privacy is a priority — Your client data and financial records never leave your device. No cloud servers, no data sharing, no account to compromise.
- You want simplicity — You don't need 200 features. You need to send invoices, track your time, and know where your money is going. Stintly does that without a learning curve.
Stintly is especially popular with service-based freelancers and sole proprietors. If you run a lawn care business, LawnBook is built specifically for landscaping operations. Cleaning professionals often pair their financial tracking with ShineBook for managing residential and commercial cleaning jobs. Landlords who freelance on the side use KeyLoft to manage rental properties while tracking their freelance income in Stintly. And contractors handling construction projects find TrestleBook useful for job costing and project management alongside Stintly's invoicing.
The common thread is simple: solo operators who want focused tools that do one thing well, without paying enterprise prices.
The Bottom Line
FreshBooks and Stintly serve different needs, and being honest about that is more useful than pretending one is universally better than the other.
FreshBooks is a full accounting and invoicing platform. It's feature-rich, well-supported, and a solid choice for small businesses that need depth, integrations, and team collaboration tools. You pay for that capability — $228 to $720 per year — but for the right user, it delivers value.
Stintly is a focused, free alternative for solo operators who don't need all that. If you're a freelancer, consultant, or one-person business that wants to track time, send invoices, and manage expenses without a subscription, without an internet connection, and without handing your data to a third party, Stintly was built for exactly your situation.
The best tool isn't the one with the most features — it's the one that matches how you actually work.
If you're spending more on software than you need to, or if you've been frustrated by FreshBooks' complexity for what should be simple tasks, give Stintly a try. It's free, it's fast, and it respects your independence as a solo operator. You might also want to explore our guides on quarterly tax payments and managing freelance finances to make the most of your setup.
Ready to switch? Download Stintly for Free — it takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.