Sage Timeslips vs FreshBooks: Which is a better fit?

Paul: Hi, my name is Paul. I'm an attorney, a solo attorney in Los Angeles, California. I have been using Timeslips since 1992, and I would give it the highest rating possible, which is a five. Over the years, I have looked at virtually every law firm software, both just the timekeeping function software and the overall software that gets marketed to lawyers all the time. I don't think anything comes close to the functionality and the usability of Timeslips. I am loyal to Timeslips because obviously it's something I've been used to using my entire legal career, at least since computers. Before computers, you kept track of your time manually of course, and that's how I started back in the 1980s, but as soon as computers started to be used by lawyers, I jumped on board and got the almost first version of Timeslips and have been using it ever since. Over the years, like I said, I've compared it to other products that are out there, and I don't think anything else comes close. Back in 1992, Timeslips was almost the only game in town. I remember evaluating a couple of other products, but again, even then, nothing came close and its ability to... Back then, there were various levels of Timeslips. There was a Timeslips for a solo lawyer like me, and then there was a Timeslips version for a small firm and larger firms, et cetera, which is one of the many things that I liked about it, because it was adaptable. If I ever wanted to expand my law firm and take on or partner with other lawyers, I could do that, but it served my purpose very well, kept track of my clients. It was one, or it is one common database of client information, name, address, phone numbers, all the contact information, et cetera and of course, enables me to keep track of the time that I spend on each client's matter and also, yes, the ability to have various matters for a given client by using client name dot matter was something that I haven't seen elsewhere and that's great because I have lots of clients who have asked me to do various things over the years and sometimes even simultaneously and so the ability to keep track of each matter for a given client separately and then also combine all of those matters for the one client is unique to Timeslips as far as I know. For a first time user of Timeslips, Timeslips makes it very easy. There are tutorials, there are user notes. The support for installing and setting it up is very, very good. You can get as sophisticated or as simple as you want. I often think of Timeslips as one of those old fashioned pigeonhole things. I'm not sure what they're called, little boxes on a wall where you put slips of paper in each of the boxes. Timeslips is a very elaborate version of that, but if you think of it that way, it makes Timeslips easy to use. So for starting out lawyers, for lawyers who are dissatisfied with whatever timekeeping software they've been using, et cetera, again, Timeslips is easy to set up and use. Their resources both on the website and on the phone from support are extraordinarily good. There's also a Timeslips user group, et cetera. Virtually any issue that you encounter can be handled easily and like I said, the functionality and the way it's set up is very easy and user-friendly.

Andrew T.: Hi, my name is Andrew. I'm the Chief Executive Officer at ATS Group. I give FreshBooks a rating of four. All right, so we used quite a lot of different softwares, FreshBooks being one of those softwares. Before we moved to FreshBooks, we were using a software known as Ways. We moved to FreshBooks because FreshBooks was designed to be for clients who want to do their own bookkeeping with us. Just providing them with guidance on doing so. It was more ideal for those kind of clients. FreshBooks is a pretty easy software to use. That's one of the reasons why we decided to use it for our clients who wanted to do their own bookkeeping. It's a very simple, very user-friendly. It allows for our clients to be able to do their books with little or no assistance from us, and it's quite ideal for entrepreneurs or business owners that wish to do their own accounting. Plus, they get very great support from the FreshBooks team. The process to get started using with FreshBooks was pretty simple. First of all, we were contacted by one of the reps at FreshBooks. They gave us a tutorial on the product, how it's used, the benefits of the product, and things like that. And then they guided us in setting up the product and they offer a lot of training. Their portal provides you with ongoing training and ongoing support. So the setup and use of the FreshBooks was quite easy and simple. So my advice to anybody looking for any new software, FreshBooks, or any other software out there is first of all, do your research. Read reviews such as this one right now so you can compare. Not every software is ideal for everyone, so what's ideal for me may not necessarily ideal for you, but once you compare the software, see what they offer, know the advantages, disadvantages, the pros and the cons, and that's one of the most important things to do. Then of course, all of these companies, FreshBooks included, normally give you a trial period. So you can actually try the software out. So you can do a test run and you can do side-by-side trials. So you can be using FreshBooks on one side, another accounting software on the other side. Compare both of them to see which one works best for you. And then after that you can go ahead and make a decision as to which one you want to move forward with.