QuoteCloud and FreshBooks: your questions answered
How the connection works, what reaches FreshBooks from a signed proposal, deposits and retainers, and what it costs, for freelancers, studios and consultants who bill in FreshBooks.
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QuoteCloud connects to FreshBooks through QuoteCloud's Zapier app on the Essentials plan and up, or through Make as a bring-your-own setup. Signed and paid QuoteCloud documents can create FreshBooks clients, invoices, projects, recurring invoices and payments. Each Zap runs one way, and these recipes carry no QuoteCloud per-document fee.
Last reviewed by the QuoteCloud team
How does the FreshBooks connection work?
How does QuoteCloud connect to FreshBooks?
Through Zapier, with QuoteCloud's Zapier app on the Essentials plan and up. Each Zap starts from one event, such as a QuoteCloud document being signed or paid, and runs steps in FreshBooks. Teams that build their own can use Make instead, with QuoteCloud's API.
Is there a native or built-in FreshBooks integration?
No. QuoteCloud has no native FreshBooks connection on any plan. Every job on this site is a Zap you build in Zapier, or a scenario you build yourself in Make with QuoteCloud's API. Nothing is connected until you build and switch it on.
Do edits in one app reach the other?
No. Each Zap runs one way when its trigger fires. A signed proposal can create an invoice, and a payment can be added to it, but editing the invoice in FreshBooks doesn't change the proposal, and editing a contact isn't copied unless you build a Zap for it.
Can I use Make instead of Zapier?
Yes, as a bring-your-own setup. QuoteCloud has no ready-made app on Make: you connect Make to QuoteCloud with Make's built-in OAuth connection, then call QuoteCloud's API or Zapier endpoints from a scenario, beside Make's FreshBooks modules. API access is on Essentials and up.
Invoices, projects and retainers
Can a signed proposal create a FreshBooks invoice?
Yes. QuoteCloud's Document Signing Complete trigger carries the document's line items, totals and signer details. FreshBooks' Find or Create Client finds or creates the client, and Create Invoice adds the lines and tax, with the QuoteCloud reference as the invoice number.
Can a signed statement of work open a FreshBooks project?
Yes. After Find or Create Client, FreshBooks' Create Project opens the project with the SOW's title, the client, the project type, the fixed price or hourly rate and the due date. Tasks and the team are added in FreshBooks.
Can a signed retainer become a FreshBooks recurring invoice?
Yes. FreshBooks' Create Recurring Invoice takes the client, the monthly lines, the tax, the first date of issue and whether it runs indefinitely. QuoteCloud shows the monthly charges in the agreement; FreshBooks bills them.
Do our FreshBooks time entries come from QuoteCloud?
No. QuoteCloud holds the proposal or estimate your client signed, not your timesheets. Your team logs time in FreshBooks against the project the Zap opened, and you invoice it from FreshBooks.
Can a Zap choose what goes in the proposal?
No. A Zap never ticks a proposal's options or chooses its content blocks. Your client ticks the options and signs; the FreshBooks Zaps then read what they signed.
Deposits and payments
Can clients pay a deposit on the proposal?
Yes. With QuoteCloud Payments, on Essentials and up, your client pays a deposit, a percentage or a fixed amount, or the full amount on the document through Stripe or PayPal as they sign. The money goes to your own Stripe or PayPal account.
Will the deposit show in FreshBooks?
Yes, with a Zap. QuoteCloud's Document Part Paid trigger fires for a deposit or part payment; FreshBooks' Find Invoice finds the invoice by its number and Add Payment to Invoice records the amount and date. Use Document Paid for payment in full.
Does QuoteCloud send payment reminders or take instalments?
Yes. QuoteCloud has automated payment reminders, and PayPal instalment plans are available; both are set up in QuoteCloud, as the user guide describes. Check in your test which payment trigger each instalment fires before you rely on a Zap for it.
Plans and cost
Which QuoteCloud plan do I need?
Essentials or higher, from US$39 per user per month: the Zapier app, the API and QuoteCloud Payments are all on Essentials and up. eSignatures are on every plan. None of the FreshBooks Zaps needs the Business plan.
Is there a per-document fee for the FreshBooks Zaps?
No. The fee of US$2.00, $1.80 or $1.60 by volume is for documents created through Zapier or the API. The FreshBooks recipes read signed and paid documents and create FreshBooks records, so they don't create QuoteCloud documents.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. QuoteCloud has a free 14-day trial with no credit card required, long enough to connect FreshBooks through Zapier and test the Zaps with your own templates and @example.com test signers.
Still deciding?
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Every use case on this site
Signed to invoice
Document Signing Complete → Find or Create Client → Create Invoice.
See itProposal to project
Document Signing Complete → Create Project, fixed price, plus the first invoice.
See itTime & materials
Document Signing Complete → Create Project, hourly at the agreed rate.
See itDeposits & payments
Document Part Paid → Find Invoice → Add Payment to Invoice.
See itRetainers
Document Signing Complete → Create Recurring Invoice with the monthly lines.
See itClients matched
New Contact Created → Create or Update Client, and New Client → Find or Create Contact.
See it
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