FreeAgent Review

TL;DR 👌

Too Long; Didn't Read

If you don’t have the time to read this whole FreeAgent review, and that’s ok, here’s the summary.

👍 Yes, it is good. FreeAgent is reliable accountancy software for small businesses and the self-employed. It’s particularly great for UK Soletraders, Limited Companies, and Partnerships & LLPs.

💷 Yes, it is worth the money. From just £19 a month + VAT, it will save you a lot of time when doing your annual self-assessment yourself or getting your company books ready for your accountant to work their magic.

🇬🇧 It’s designed for UK businesses. This one cannot be understated. There are a few small business accountancy software on the market but FreeAgent is just for UK businesses so it’s geared completely to cut out hours of hassle looking after your books and is streamlined for UK tax.

💳 Save 10% off your subscription for life. Use code 430q4hro to get 10% off your monthly or annual subscription to FreeAgent. Or sign up using this link to activate your 10% lifetime discount.

🤩 Why listen to my review? I’ve been a FreeAgent user since 2013 and have 3 subscriptions. 1 as a Soletrader for my self-employment and 2 for my Limited Companies. It’s the only accountancy software I use. I’ve used Xero and QuickBooks but they didn’t cut it for me personally. QuickBooks was a tad clunky and I didn’t get on with the dashboard. Xero is a good product and has incredible coverage for different tax systems around the world but having a product that’s just built for UK businesses makes FreeAgent superior.

Your lifetime FreeAgent discount

Save 10% off your monthly and annual FreeAgent subscription

You can save 10% off your FreeAgent subscription for life when you use this exclusive FreeAgent code.

Just copy the code and enter when you sign up. It’s that easy.

Alternatively use the code “430q4hro” or use this link.

My honest FreeAgent review

Let's see if I can help you decide if its worth it for you

Ok, so I have been using FreeAgent since 2013 (and yes, it’s now 2023) so I have been with them for a long time now.

I signed up to FreeAgent as a soletrader way back in 2013 when it got recommended to me by my brother. Who got it recommended to him from the Bright Ideas Trust (yes, that’s the incredible business charity set up by Tim Campbell MBE, the winner of the first ever BBC’s The Apprentice).

Since then I have signed up 2 of my Limited Companies to use FreeAgent both with an accountant who specialises in using FreeAgent.

So that’s the groundwork. Is FreeAgent any good? Is it worth it?

So in this FreeAgent review I hope to give you an insight into my personal and business experience of using FreeAgent as a Soletrader and a Director of two Limited Companies.

Soletraders and Limited Companies are make up most of the structures of businesses in the UK so hopefully these insights help.

Why choose FreeAgent?

Quickfire list of why FreeAgent is worth it

Everyone loves a list. Here is quickfire list of the reasons self-employed soletraders and limited company directors should pick FreeAgent as their small business accountancy software.

⏰ Saves time. Business admin sucks. Let’s be honest. The annual self-assessment is a ball ache. Getting the books ready for your accountant is always more effort than it needs to be. FreeAgent, luckily, takes the edge of this and speeds the whole process up.

🇬🇧 Designed for UK businesses. The best accountancy software for small businesses is one that is streamlined to help you get your books done as quickly and as accurately as possible while shouldering as much of the admin burden as possible. FreeAgent is designed for the UK and that’s it. It doesn’t try to serve lots of markets. So you know when you open FreeAgent, what you are getting is accountancy software designed specifically for you to meet your legal obligations and make the process as simple as possible.

💷 Connect your bank accounts and PayPal. This is one of my favourite features of Freeagent. You can sync your payments in and out of your bank and PayPal accounts. Then by highlighting each payment, you can sort into income and expenses. One unexpected plus that comes from this feature is that you can see everything that is leaving your account. As our work involves purchasing of third-party software, it can sometimes get out of hand especially when you have 10 to 15 subscriptions each of over £150. With this income and expense tracker feature of FreeAgent, I managed to slash some of the subscriptions I forgot I was still paying for.

🤝 Helps you track your customers and projects. Simply put, you can track all your projects, helping you to work out what you did when.
Invoice straight from FreeAgent. This is one of the strongest added features that FreeAgent has up its sleeves. You can create and schedule invoices to be sent directly to customers with an auto-reminders setup to nudge clients in the right direction to make timely payment. There is also the option to link up PayPal so that your customers can make speedy payment securely online via the invoice.

⚡ Fill in and send your Self-Assessment to HMRC. How much time will this save you as a freelancer? A lot I suspect. A single place to do all your paperwork and submit the results direct to HRMC. That is a great time saver. As they say, time is money.

💳 Excellent value for money. FreeAgent has one of the most competitive pricing schemes I have found for similar sorts of packages. With monthly prices starting from as little as £19+VAT for freelancers, £24+VAT for partnerships, and £29+VAT for limited companies. An excellent set of tools for the price of a few lunches per month. It’s even better value when you use our FreeAgent Discount Code or our FreeAgent referral code.

Your lifetime FreeAgent discount

Save 10% off your monthly and annual FreeAgent subscription

You can save 10% off your FreeAgent subscription for life when you use this exclusive FreeAgent code.

Just copy the code and enter when you sign up. It’s that easy.

Alternatively use the code “430q4hro” or use this link.

FreeAgent Review

Ok, back to the review...

Here is my honest FreeAgent review on why I think FreeAgent is the ultimate accountancy software from start-ups to small businesses whether you’re a freelancer, self-employed or director of a limited company.

This review is from my personal experience of using FreeAgent day in, day out.

What is FreeAgent?

FreeAgent is a digital accountancy software company based in Edinburgh, and this is what they say about themselves:

“FreeAgent launched in 2007, hewn from the frustration that managing company finances was just too damn hard for most small businesses and freelancers. Since then I’ve doggedly stuck to our mantra of demystifying accounting and redefining the relationship people have with their finances.”

That statement from FreeAgent pretty much sums up the problems faced by freelancers and small businesses when it comes to managing their money, their invoices, and their customers.

Is FreeAgent any good?

Yes. We are a digital marketing agency, and it has turned our financial admin world upside down. All our clients now use FreeAgent after our referral. From clearance companies to online clothing retailers to house refurbishment companies – all have their unique reason as to why FreeAgent has bettered their business, saved them time, and ultimately saved them money!

FreeAgent offers different plans for different business structures – sole traders, partnerships and limited companies.

The cost of a FreeAgent subscription for Limited Companies, Partnerships, and Soletraders are different, by about £5 per month. If you used the FreeAgent discount code, you’d save 10% every month on your subscription.

How has FreeAgent helped our business?

This is an easy one. The invoicing function is our most used and most loved part of FreeAgent. It makes sending out invoices a breeze plus the inbuilt CRM helps us keep track of our clients (and most importantly whether they have paid up or not).

Staying on top of the money coming in is one of the most important aspects of a business. For freelancers, for small companies and any startup entrepreneur, this is the pinnacle of running a business. If you have a terrible handle on the money coming in, then you don’t have a business.

Not only that but keeping a tight grip on the money going out of our bank account is just as fundamental. We could be earning millions, but if we are spending all our income then we don’t make any profit and we won’t survive as a business. FreeAgent helps track your expenses using automated bank feeds that match up expenses; it also helps us log single cash expenses and recurring costs. It does this neatly and semi-automatically, providing control while doing all of the heavy lifting for us.

Keeping on top of taxes

FreeAgent is the closest thing to a virtual accountant that I have found. Plus by being British it means that I don’t have to worry about the services being provided being for the wrong country, so all are accurately calculated and help us to keep our taxes in order and with as little effort as possible. Lovely!

The FreeAgent Blog

One hidden gem is the FreeAgent blog (and its customer service/support team). It’s one of the best freelance advice and support blogs I have found on the internet. The level and quality of the articles produced are excellent.

Personally, I have learnt quite a bit about tax, finances, and the money side of running a business from FreeAgent. The support itself is worth the money.

I wanted to add this to the review as most people overlook this sort of thing. Yes, it’s value-added but it’s more than that. It’s crucial advice to help startups and small businesses to grow efficiently. Worth checking out.

FreeAgent will hold your hand with top notch support

If you aren’t computer savvy, or you feel FreeAgent may be a step too far, don’t worry as they provide fantastic support. Not only is it easy to get in touch with their support team by email or by phone. There are also is a full knowledge basis full of guides on how to use Freeagent and get the best out of it.

Free webinars

Now, to be completely honest with you, I haven’t tried their webinars. But they run quite regularly – looks like every other week – and here is what they say about their free webinar offer:

“Our 30-minute webinar is a guided tour of all that FreeAgent has to offer with one of our Support Accountants. They’ll take you through key features including invoicing, bills, expenses, banking, reporting and VAT (minus the jargon) and give you helpful advice on how to set up your FreeAgent account.

One of our Support Accountants will also be live on chat to answer your questions. So go ahead and join one – you know you want to.”

FreeAgent Video

FreeAgent has an excellent YouTube channel. Here is a quick video guide from FreeAgent about sorting out your Self Assessment.

Introducing the FreeAgent app

Updated Monday 13th April 2015: FreeAgent has launched a new iOS app. Yes, that’s right you can now have FreeAgent right where you want them, in the palm of your hand. The new iPhone, iPad, etc., app, called FreeAgent Mobile, should make your life as a freelancer, business owner or director just that little bit easier. At the moment, it will be limited to a few features with more being released in the coming months. Oh, and what about Andriod I hear you say, well they are working on that too. Expect more from FreeAgent Mobile shortly but for now let’s celebrate.

Find out more about FreeAgent Mobile on the FreeAgent blog.

Save with lifetime discount

So, that wraps up this piece providing a discount code and review of FreeAgent. If you decide to go with FreeAgent, make sure you sign up and start sharing your FreeAgent referral code. For every single sign-up through your referral code, you will get 10% off your price plan. After ten sign-ups, you will have 100% off! Yes, that’s completely free!!!

My top tip for the FreeAgent referral code is to stick it on your business cards and in the bottom of your email signature. If you are a B2B business or deal with other freelancers, startups and SMEs on a regular basis then it’s worth it.

Become a shareholder in FreeAgent

Update: In June 2015 FreeAgent has raised 50% of the investment sought during a Seedr campaign. You can find out more information about the FreeAgent investment round here.

My opinion of FreeAgent

Ok, now to sum everything up. I would recommend FreeAgent for all start-ups and small businesses whether you’re a freelancer, self-employed or a director of a limited company. I recommend FreeAgent on the basis that it makes life easier when running your own business. Managing money can be a headache. Whether you feel awkward about asking for money or trying to get an overdue payment, then FreeAgent with its invoicing system can help lighten that load. Not only that but doing your self-assessment return becomes a doddle with the automatic submission to HMRC.

It’s worth the money, it will quickly pay for itself, and make your life so much easier.