- Unlimited Invoicing: Create and send unlimited professional invoices with customizable templates, supporting multiple currencies and direct email delivery to clients.
- Expense Tracking: Monitor and categorize business expenses to manage cash flow, though limited compared to advanced platforms.
- Basic Financial Reporting: Generate simple reports like profit and loss, aged debtors, and sales summaries for basic financial insights.
- Multi-User Support: Allow multiple users to access the platform with selective permissions for secure collaboration.
- Bank Statement Import: Import bank statements to track income and expenses, though automatic bank reconciliation is not supported.
- MTD Compliance (UK): Integrate with HMRC for seamless VAT return submissions in line with Making Tax Digital requirements.
- PayPal Integration: Facilitate smoother payment collection through PayPal support for invoices.
- Quote-to-Invoice Conversion: Create quotes and easily convert them to invoices with a single click for streamlined billing.
- Recurring Invoices: Set invoices to recur automatically by checking a box, simplifying repetitive billing tasks.
- OpenInsight Module: Compare your invoices and bills with industry peers for basic benchmarking, though limited in scope.
- Bank-Level Security: Utilize high-level encryption and security protocols to protect user data.
- Cloud-Based Access: Access the platform anytime, anywhere via an internet-connected device, ideal for remote management.
Brightbook
Brightbook is free, cloud-based accounting software for small businesses, freelancers, and contractors to manage invoicing, expenses, and basic financial reporting.
Updated July 29, 2026
Brightbook Overview
Brightbook is a free, cloud-based accounting software designed for freelancers, contractors, and small businesses. It simplifies bookkeeping with an intuitive interface, offering unlimited invoicing, basic expense tracking, and financial reporting.
Users can create and send branded invoices, manage cash flow, and access the platform anywhere online. While lacking advanced features like double-entry accounting, its affordability and ease of use make it ideal for basic financial management.
Key Features
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Brightbook | Free | Brightbook bills itself as the world’s most loved free online accounting system. Unlimited invoices, bills and users, no credit card required, and the site advertises no paid tiers. |
Pricing source: https://mybrightbook.com/
Pros
| Competitor | Pros of Brightbook |
|---|---|
| Wave Accounting | Brightbook is free with no paid tier at all: unlimited invoices, unlimited bills and payments, unlimited users per account, and several companies under a single login. Wave’s Starter plan is free too, but Pro is $19 a month and card payments are charged separately at 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction on Starter. Brightbook also invoices in any currency and converts back to your home currency at no cost. |
| QuickBooks Online | QuickBooks Online starts at $38 a month on Simple Start and runs to $275 on Advanced; Brightbook asks for no card at signup. You still get branded quotes that convert to invoices, bank statement import with reconciliation against payments and bills, Profit and Loss plus tax reports for your accountant, and PayPal links inside chase emails. UK users can submit quarterly VAT returns to HMRC through its Making Tax Digital integration. |
| Xero | Xero’s entry plan, Early, is $25 a month and limits you to 20 invoices and 5 bills; Brightbook has no invoice ceiling and no tier to outgrow. Users can be added with selective access, so clients and your accountant see only what you choose, and scanned receipts and supplier bills upload for reference. Data can be exported at any time, and backups run daily. |
Cons
| Competitor | Cons of Brightbook |
|---|---|
| Wave Accounting | Wave funds active development with a paid tier and sells payroll and payment processing that Brightbook does not offer in any form. Its Pro plan also folds in unlimited receipt capture and automatic bank imports. Brightbook has no payroll, no payment processing of its own and no paid support channel, and its reporting stops at Profit and Loss plus tax reports. |
| QuickBooks Online | QuickBooks Online sells four tiers up to $275 a month, so a growing business buys more capability instead of changing product. Brightbook has exactly one tier and nothing to upgrade to: no inventory, no time tracking and no job costing anywhere in its feature list. Its VAT filing is UK only, so a business elsewhere gets no compliance help from it. |
| Xero | Xero runs from $25 to $90 a month with unlimited users, live bank feeds and a large app marketplace; Brightbook imports bank statements manually and integrates with little beyond PayPal payment links. Its interface is visibly older, and invoice branding runs to your own logo and business details rather than designed templates. For a growing team, free stops being the deciding factor. |
Reviews
- G2 Review (Rating: 4.5/5, based on a single review): A verified small-business user described Brightbook as a “good web based application for book keeping,” praising its free access, easy invoicing, and alignment with “globally accepted accounting principles.” The reviewer noted an initial learning curve but recommended it for beginners who want to track expenses and resolve invoice balancing issues. One rating is not a verdict, and G2 currently shows no other reviews on the profile.
