{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "freeagent", "name": "FreeAgent API", "vendor": "FreeAgent", "vendorUrl": "https://dev.freeagent.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "accounting", "summary": "REST API for FreeAgent, the UK small-business accounting product owned by NatWest Group.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freeagent", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freeagent.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freeagent.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/freeagent.json", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.freeagent.com/v2", "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "OAuth 2.0 authorisation code. Register an app in the developer dashboard for an OAuth identifier and secret. Access tokens last one hour, and each refresh returns a new access token and a new refresh token, so store the replacement. One token per FreeAgent user who authorised the app. The same flow works against the sandbox at api.sandbox.freeagent.com.", "pricing": "byo-plan", "pricingNotes": "The API is free under section 4.1 of the API terms, with 30 days' notice before any fee is introduced. A live company needs a FreeAgent subscription, listed at £33 a month for a limited company on freeagent.com, or free with a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account. The sandbox is a free temporary account at signup.sandbox.freeagent.com (https://dev.freeagent.com/docs/api_terms).", "priceSummary": "Your plan", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://dev.freeagent.com/docs", "capabilities": [ "accounting.ledger", "accounting.invoices", "accounting.bills", "accounting.reports" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "byo-plan", "free-tier", "oauth", "uk", "status-page", "closed-source" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 57.6, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 291, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 452, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.3", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 55, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 30, "reliability": 85, "schema": 50, "security": 44, "transparency": 78 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Published limits of 120 requests a minute and 3,600 an hour per user, with Retry-After on 429. No OAuth scopes, so a token can do anything the authorising user can.", "strengths": [ "Published limits of 120 requests a minute and 3,600 an hour per user, with Retry-After on 429", "X-RateLimit-Test header that lowers the sandbox to 5 requests a minute for testing back-off", "API free under section 4.1 of the terms, with 30 days' notice before any fee", "Free sandbox with its own sign-up and API host", "Valid security.txt, a disclosure policy and Cyber Essentials Plus" ], "weaknesses": [ "No OAuth scopes, so a token can do anything the authorising user can", "No OpenAPI spec, SDK, llms.txt or official MCP server", "Error responses aren't documented beyond the 429", "UK only, so VAT, MTD and HMRC filings are the tax model", "API terms bar migrating data to a competitor and using the API for benchmarking or comparison" ], "agentNotes": [ "Store the new refresh token from every refresh response. The old one stops working", "Create the invoice, then PUT /v2/invoices/:id/transitions/mark_as_sent. A draft isn't visible to the customer", "Record a customer payment by explaining the bank transaction against the invoice. There's no invoice payments endpoint", "Send X-RateLimit-Test: true in the sandbox to see the 429 and Retry-After path before production does it to you", "Use view= and updated_since= on list calls and per_page up to 100 to stay under 120 requests a minute" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 2.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.3", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 57.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 55, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 30, "reliability": 85, "schema": 50, "security": 44, "transparency": 55 }, "provenanceScore": 100 }, "connect": { "http": "curl \"https://api.freeagent.com/v2/invoices?view=open\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $FREEAGENT_ACCESS_TOKEN\" -H \"Accept: application/json\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/accounting.ledger", "tool": "https://letme.dev/freeagent" }, "area": "domain-data", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "FreeAgent Central Limited", "domain": "freeagent.com", "domainRegistered": "1999-04-15", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://dev.freeagent.com/docs/api_terms", "privacy": "https://www.freeagent.com/privacy/", "statusPage": "https://status.freeagent.com", "changelog": "https://dev.freeagent.com/docs/changes", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "The API terms name FreeAgent Central Limited, registered in Scotland (SC316774) at One Edinburgh Quay, 133 Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, wholly owned by NatWest Group.", "security.txt at www.freeagent.com expires 2027-04-17 and points to a disclosure policy.", "The terms let FreeAgent introduce API fees on 30 days' notice." ], "score": 100 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freeagent.json", "live": { "slug": "freeagent", "probe": { "target": "https://api.freeagent.com/v2", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-04T23:32:47.657668028Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 400, "lastMs": 59, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 64, "p95ms24h": 97, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 895, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 109, "ok": 109 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 267, "ok": 267 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.freeagent.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T23:27:48.847257394Z" }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://freeagent.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-04-17T12:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:16:05.554333751Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "freeagent.com", "registered": "1999-04-15", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/freeagent.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:09:45.721300128Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://dev.freeagent.com/docs/changes", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:42:25.757492175Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "bcc7787d161d" }, { "url": "https://www.freeagent.com/privacy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:50:18.517205932Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "12e01f7684e7" }, { "url": "https://dev.freeagent.com/docs/api_terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:42:23.701205568Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "ca4e227eec74" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-04T23:32:47.657668028Z" } }, "b": { "slug": "freshbooks", "name": "FreshBooks API", "vendor": "FreshBooks", "vendorUrl": "https://www.freshbooks.com/api/start", "kind": "http-api", "category": "accounting", "summary": "REST API for FreshBooks, the invoicing-first accounting product for freelancers and small firms.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freshbooks", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freshbooks.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freshbooks.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/freshbooks.json", "repo": "https://github.com/freshbooks/freshbooks-python-sdk", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.freshbooks.com", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@freshbooks/api" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "freshbooks-sdk" } ], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "OAuth 2.0 authorisation code with scopes such as user:invoices:read and user:journal_entries:write. Access tokens are JWTs that expire (check the expiry in the token). Refresh tokens never expire but are single use, and only one is alive per user per app, so a refresh invalidates the old one. Call GET /auth/api/v1/users/me for the account_id used by /accounting endpoints and the business_id used by projects and time tracking.", "pricing": "byo-plan", "pricingNotes": "The API comes with any FreshBooks plan under section 12 of the terms, with no separate developer fee. Plans are Lite at $23 a month (5 billable clients), Plus at $43 (50 clients), Premium at $70 (unlimited) and Select on request, with introductory discounts. Double-entry accounting reports and bank reconciliation start at Plus (https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing).", "priceSummary": "Your plan", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 11, "npmWeekly": 685, "pypiWeekly": 415, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://www.freshbooks.com/api/start", "capabilities": [ "accounting.ledger", "accounting.invoices", "accounting.bills", "accounting.reports" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "byo-plan", "oauth", "typescript", "python", "webhooks", "status-page", "closed-source" ], "lastRelease": "2024-09-11", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 45.6, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 397, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 452, "categoryRank": 8, "methodology": "0.3", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 61, "maintenance": 14, "payments": 30, "reliability": 35, "schema": 48, "security": 57, "transparency": 68 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "OAuth scopes split read and write per resource, such as user:invoices:read. Rate limits have no numbers, status code or headers.", "strengths": [ "OAuth scopes split read and write per resource, such as user:invoices:read", "Journal entries, chart of accounts, trial balance and general ledger through the API", "Numbered error codes such as 1001 RequiredField and 1012 UnknownResource", "30-day product trial with no card", "PCI DSS Level 1 with an annual third-party audit" ], "weaknesses": [ "Rate limits have no numbers, status code or headers", "No sandbox, so testing happens in a trial account", "Official SDKs last released in April 2023 (Python) and September 2024 (Node)", "Changelog holds a single entry, the move to JWT tokens", "About two hours of full outage on 4 August 2026, and no API component on the status page" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call /auth/api/v1/users/me first and keep both ids. Accounting endpoints take account_id, projects and time tracking take business_id", "Serialise token refreshes. Issuing a new refresh token kills the old one at once", "Mark an invoice as sent (action_mark_as_sent) or email it. Reports ignore drafts", "Send x-api-version: 2023-09-25 on journal entry calls", "Back off on any throttling response yourself. There's no Retry-After to read and no published limit" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.3", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 45.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 61, "maintenance": 14, "payments": 30, "reliability": 35, "schema": 48, "security": 57, "transparency": 56 }, "provenanceScore": 80 }, "connect": { "http": "curl \"https://api.freshbooks.com/accounting/account/$FRESHBOOKS_ACCOUNT_ID/invoices/invoices?per_page=10\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $FRESHBOOKS_ACCESS_TOKEN\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/accounting.ledger", "tool": "https://letme.dev/freshbooks" }, "area": "domain-data", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "2NDSITE Inc.", "domain": "freshbooks.com", "domainRegistered": "2004-03-23", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.freshbooks.com/policies/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://www.freshbooks.com/policies/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.freshbooks.com", "changelog": "", "securityTxt": "unknown", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "The terms name 2NDSITE Inc., 225 King St W, Suite 1200, Toronto, under Ontario law, effective 29 October 2025 for new accounts.", "The API terms are section 12 of the general terms. There's no separate developer agreement.", "The API changelog page has a single entry, the 2021 to 2023 move from fixed-length bearer tokens to JWTs.", "www.freshbooks.com/.well-known/security.txt returned 403 to our fetch." ], "score": 80 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freshbooks.json", "live": { "slug": "freshbooks", "probe": { "target": "https://api.freshbooks.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-04T23:32:47.668036408Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 143, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 137, "p95ms24h": 186, "samples24h": 272, "samples30d": 895, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 109, "ok": 109 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 267, "ok": 267 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.freshbooks.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T23:27:49.091328932Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "freshbooks/freshbooks-python-sdk", "version": "release/1.2.1", "released": "2023-04-24", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:27:33.686534225Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@freshbooks/api", "version": "4.1.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:27:30.852425352Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "freshbooks-sdk", "version": "1.3.0", "released": "2024-10-08", "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:27:33.500867221Z" } ], "githubStars": 11, "npmWeekly": 905, "pypiWeekly": 246, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://freshbooks.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "unknown", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:40.438598204Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "freshbooks.com", "registered": "2004-03-23", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/freshbooks.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:03:59.146069659Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:50:23.777400508Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "98986299b19f" }, { "url": "https://www.freshbooks.com/policies/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:50:19.717552449Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "12e269175e94" }, { "url": "https://www.freshbooks.com/policies/terms-of-service", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:50:21.795401021Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "ca7450fe9735" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-04T23:32:47.668036408Z" } }, "summary": "FreeAgent API has a score of 57.6 (C) against FreshBooks API's 45.6 (E). Both do accounting ledger. The largest gap is reliability, 50 points." }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks.min.md" }, "markdown": "FreeAgent API has a score of 57.6 (C) against FreshBooks API's 45.6 (E). Both do accounting ledger. The largest gap is reliability, 50 points.\n\n- FreeAgent API: grade C, 57.6/100, rank #291 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freeagent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/freeagent.json\n- FreshBooks API: grade E, 45.6/100, rank #397 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freshbooks.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/freshbooks.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\nPick FreeAgent API for reliability (+50), maintenance \u0026 community (+46), transparency \u0026 trust (+10).\n\nPick FreshBooks API for agent ergonomics (+6), security \u0026 auth (+13).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | FreeAgent API | FreshBooks API | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 35 | FreeAgent API +50 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 50 | 48 | FreeAgent API +2 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 55 | 61 | FreshBooks API +6 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 57 | FreshBooks API +13 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 14 | FreeAgent API +46 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 68 | FreeAgent API +10 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **57.6 · C** | **45.6 · E** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | FreeAgent API | FreshBooks API |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | FreeAgent | FreshBooks |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.freeagent.com/v2` | `https://api.freshbooks.com` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Your plan | Your plan |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | MIT |\n| Tools exposed | none | none |\n| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |\n| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | no |\n| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |\n| Last release | 2026-09-01 | 2024-09-11 |\n| Popularity | none | 11 stars, 685 npm/wk, 415 PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**FreeAgent API.** Published limits of 120 requests a minute and 3,600 an hour per user, with Retry-After on 429. No OAuth scopes, so a token can do anything the authorising user can.\n\n**FreshBooks API.** OAuth scopes split read and write per resource, such as user:invoices:read. Rate limits have no numbers, status code or headers.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### FreeAgent API\n\n1. Store the new refresh token from every refresh response. The old one stops working\n2. Create the invoice, then PUT /v2/invoices/:id/transitions/mark_as_sent. A draft isn't visible to the customer\n3. Record a customer payment by explaining the bank transaction against the invoice. There's no invoice payments endpoint\n4. Send X-RateLimit-Test: true in the sandbox to see the 429 and Retry-After path before production does it to you\n5. Use view= and updated_since= on list calls and per_page up to 100 to stay under 120 requests a minute\n\n### FreshBooks API\n\n1. Call /auth/api/v1/users/me first and keep both ids. Accounting endpoints take account_id, projects and time tracking take business_id\n2. Serialise token refreshes. Issuing a new refresh token kills the old one at once\n3. Mark an invoice as sent (action_mark_as_sent) or email it. Reports ignore drafts\n4. Send x-api-version: 2023-09-25 on journal entry calls\n5. Back off on any throttling response yourself. There's no Retry-After to read and no published limit\n\n## Other comparisons with FreeAgent API or FreshBooks API\n\n- [Apideck Accounting API + MCP vs FreeAgent API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apideck-accounting-vs-freeagent.md)\n- [Apideck Accounting API + MCP vs FreshBooks API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apideck-accounting-vs-freshbooks.md)\n- [FreeAgent API vs Merge Accounting API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-merge-accounting.md)\n- [FreeAgent API vs QuickBooks Online API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-quickbooks-online.md)\n- [FreeAgent API vs Rutter Accounting API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-rutter.md)\n- [FreeAgent API vs Xero API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-xero.md)\n- [FreshBooks API vs Merge Accounting API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-merge-accounting.md)\n- [FreshBooks API vs QuickBooks Online API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-quickbooks-online.md)\n- [FreshBooks API vs Rutter Accounting API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-rutter.md)\n- [FreshBooks API vs Xero API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-xero.md)\n- [FreeAgent API vs Invoice Ninja API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-invoice-ninja.md)\n- [FreshBooks API vs Invoice Ninja API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-invoice-ninja.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-04", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.3", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "FreeAgent API vs FreshBooks API", "url": "" } ], "description": "FreeAgent API has a score of 57.6 (C) against FreshBooks API's 45.6 (E). Both do accounting ledger. The largest gap is reliability, 50 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "FreeAgent API C 57.6", "FreshBooks API E 45.6", "scores" ], "h1": "FreeAgent API vs FreshBooks API", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-freeagent-vs-freshbooks.png", "path": "/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "FreeAgent API vs FreshBooks API for AI agents, C 57.6 vs E 45.6", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-04", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 1500, "slim": 330 }, "version": 1 }