{ "data": { "a": { "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": 45.4, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 657, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 11, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 61, "maintenance": 14, "payments": 30, "reliability": 35, "schema": 48, "security": 57, "transparency": 65 }, "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.", "bestFor": "An agent that bills clients, chases invoices and reads the books for a freelancer or small service firm already on FreshBooks.", "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": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 45.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 61, "maintenance": 14, "payments": 30, "reliability": 35, "schema": 48, "security": 57, "transparency": 56 }, "provenanceScore": 73 }, "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": 73 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freshbooks.json", "live": { "slug": "freshbooks", "probe": { "target": "https://api.freshbooks.com", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:10.848210556Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 133, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 143, "p95ms24h": 204, "samples24h": 271, "samples30d": 1955, "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": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 239, "ok": 239 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.freshbooks.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T21:06:05.821073377Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "freshbooks/freshbooks-python-sdk", "version": "release/1.2.1", "released": "2023-04-24", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:12:23.376590552Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@freshbooks/api", "version": "4.1.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:12:17.456676262Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "freshbooks-sdk", "version": "1.3.0", "released": "2024-10-08", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:12:23.186763622Z" } ], "githubStars": 11, "npmWeekly": 925, "pypiWeekly": 193, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://freshbooks.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "unknown", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:51.609487724Z" }, "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": "2026-10-08T18:27:54.316439511Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:11:59.395322104Z", "fingerprint": "4803a26e7245" }, { "url": "https://www.freshbooks.com/policies/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:27:49.805877308Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:27:49.805877308Z", "fingerprint": "5f9c94f6bd5a" }, { "url": "https://www.freshbooks.com/policies/terms-of-service", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:27:52.104944649Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:27:52.104944649Z", "fingerprint": "1b34cd7eae1e" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:10.848210556Z" } }, "answer": "Zoho Books scores 61.1 (C) on agent readiness against FreshBooks API's 45.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. FreshBooks API leads on agent ergonomics.", "b": { "slug": "zoho-books", "name": "Zoho Books", "vendor": "Zoho", "vendorUrl": "https://www.zoho.com/books/", "kind": "http-api", "category": "accounting", "summary": "Zoho Books is hosted accounting software from Zoho for small and mid-sized businesses. Agents reach it through the REST API v3, covering invoices, bills, payments, banking, journals and the chart of accounts behind OAuth 2.0.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zoho-books", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zoho-books.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zoho-books.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zoho-books.json", "license": "Proprietary service under Zoho's Terms of Service", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3", "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "OAuth 2.0 only. A person registers a client in the Zoho developer console (a server-based application, or a self client for one's own organisation) and approves scopes, which narrow to one module and one operation. The access token lasts one hour and goes in `Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken \u003ctoken\u003e`. The refresh token lasts until revoked. Every call also needs `organization_id`. Each data centre has its own accounts host and API domain. Registration is self-serve, with no app review or sales approval found for use inside one's own organisation.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free plan for one user and one accountant with 1,000 API requests a day, open to businesses with yearly revenue under $50,000. Paid plans cost $15 to $240 an organisation a month billed yearly in the US edition ($20 to $275 monthly) and have a 14-day trial. The plan sets the daily API cap, up to 10,000. No sandbox organisation was found, so an agent starts on the Free plan or a trial (https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/, checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$15 / mo", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the API docs, the OpenAPI files or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/introduction/", "llmsTxt": "https://www.zoho.com/us/books/help/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://www.zoho.com/books/api/v3/openapi-all.zip", "capabilities": [ "accounting.ledger", "accounting.invoices", "accounting.bills" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "oauth", "openapi", "mcp", "webhooks", "free-tier", "status-page", "bug-bounty", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-07", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 61.1, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 377, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 722, "categoryRank": 5, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 51, "maintenance": 56, "payments": 30, "reliability": 71, "schema": 71, "security": 68, "transparency": 75 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "The public OpenAPI files cover 885 operations with OAuth scopes per module and operation, and the Free plan allows 1,000 API requests a day. No report endpoint, official SDK, SLA or dated API changelog was found, and the documented token calls put the client secret in the URL.", "bestFor": "Small businesses already on Zoho that want an agent to raise invoices, record bills and payments, reconcile bank transactions and post journals with narrow scopes.", "strengths": [ "OpenAPI 3.0.0 files for 45 resources and 885 operations download from the docs as `openapi-all.zip`", "OAuth scopes narrow to one module and one operation, such as `ZohoBooks.invoices.READ`", "Every API reference operation has a Markdown twin, such as `/books/api/v3/invoices/create-an-invoice.md`", "The Free plan includes 1,000 API requests a day per the plan comparison", "The API Usage dashboard lists recent calls by user, module, IP address and application" ], "weaknesses": [ "No profit and loss, balance sheet or other report endpoint appears in the API docs or the OpenAPI files", "The documented token and refresh calls put the client secret and refresh token in the URL query string", "Daily caps are low, 1,000 requests on Free and 10,000 on the top three plans", "No official SDK, SLA, API deprecation policy or dated API changelog found in the reviewed pages", "429 is documented without a Retry-After header or backoff guidance" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `organization_id` as a query parameter on every call. Read it from `GET /organizations` first", "Use the `api_domain` returned with the token, since each of the nine data centres has its own host (zohoapis.com, zohoapis.eu, zohoapis.in and others)", "Send `Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken \u003ctoken\u003e` and refresh hourly. Each user keeps at most 20 refresh tokens and the oldest is deleted", "Stay under 100 requests a minute and the plan's daily cap. Codes 44, 45 and 1070 on a 429 mean minute, day and concurrency limits", "To repeat an update safely, send `X-Unique-Identifier-Key`, `X-Unique-Identifier-Value` and `X-Upsert` with a unique custom field. Creates have no idempotency key" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 61.1 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 51, "maintenance": 56, "payments": 30, "reliability": 71, "schema": 71, "security": 68, "transparency": 54 }, "provenanceScore": 95 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X GET 'https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3/organizations' \\\n -H \"Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken $ZOHO_ACCESS_TOKEN\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/accounting.ledger", "tool": "https://letme.dev/zoho-books" }, "sameCompany": [ "zoho-zeptomail", "zoho-crm", "zoho-recruit", "zoho-people" ], "area": "domain-data", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Standard", "unit": "month", "usd": 15, "note": "per organisation, billed yearly; $20 billed monthly; 3 users, 2,000 API requests a day" }, { "item": "Professional", "unit": "month", "usd": 40, "note": "per organisation, billed yearly; $50 billed monthly; 5 users, 5,000 API requests a day" }, { "item": "Premium", "unit": "month", "usd": 60, "note": "per organisation, billed yearly; $70 billed monthly; 10 users, 10,000 API requests a day" }, { "item": "Elite", "unit": "month", "usd": 120, "note": "per organisation, billed yearly; $150 billed monthly; 10 users, 10,000 API requests a day" }, { "item": "Ultimate", "unit": "month", "usd": 240, "note": "per organisation, billed yearly; $275 billed monthly; 15 users, 10,000 API requests a day" }, { "item": "Additional user", "unit": "seat-month", "usd": 2.5, "note": "billed yearly; $3 billed monthly; paid plans only" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Zoho Corporation Private Limited", "domain": "zoho.com", "domainRegistered": "2004-01-16", "domainNote": "API calls go to www.zohoapis.com and its regional equivalents, a Zoho domain other than zoho.com.", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.zoho.com/terms.html", "privacy": "https://www.zoho.com/privacy.html", "statusPage": "https://status.zoho.com", "changelog": "https://www.zoho.com/books/whats-new.html", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The Terms of Service (last updated 2 March 2022) are the service agreement for Zoho's online services. The contracting entity depends on the customer's region, Zoho Corporation Private Limited for India and Zoho Corporation for the United States (https://www.zoho.com/legal/zoho-contracting-entities.html).", "A separate Zoho Developer Agreement at https://www.zoho.com/developer/terms.html covers the developer tools.", "The privacy policy was last updated on 22 December 2025 and covers Zoho's websites and the products on them.", "security.txt at www.zoho.com gives a bug bounty contact, security@zohocorp.com, a policy link and an expiry of 30 June 2028.", "The changelog link is the product What's New page, newest entry 31 July 2026. No dated API changelog was found.", "RDAP for zoho.com gives a registration date of 2004-01-16." ], "score": 95 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zoho-books.json", "live": { "slug": "zoho-books", "probe": { "target": "https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:26.720239875Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 427, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 448, "p95ms24h": 486, "samples24h": 21, "samples30d": 21, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 21, "ok": 21 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.zoho.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T19:39:22.344999716Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T21:12:26.720239875Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "FreshBooks", "b": "Zoho", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.freshbooks.com", "b": "https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth", "b": "OAuth", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Your plan", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "MIT", "b": "Proprietary service under Zoho's Terms of Service", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "no", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2024-09-11", "b": "2026-10-07", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-10-07", "b": "2022-03-02", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-10-05", "b": "2025-12-22", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "11 stars, 685 npm/wk, 415 PyPI/wk", "b": "none", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Zoho Books scores 61.1 (C) on agent readiness against FreshBooks API's 45.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. FreshBooks API leads on agent ergonomics.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, FreshBooks API or Zoho Books?" }, { "answer": "Both use an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do FreshBooks API and Zoho Books need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. FreshBooks API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.freshbooks.com and Zoho Books at https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3.", "question": "Can an agent call FreshBooks API and Zoho Books without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 61 against 51" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "An agent that bills clients, chases invoices and reads the books for a freelancer or small service firm already on FreshBooks.", "slug": "freshbooks", "watchFor": "Rate limits have no numbers, status code or headers" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 71 against 35", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 71 against 48", "Security \u0026 auth, 68 against 57", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 56 against 14", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 65" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Small businesses already on Zoho that want an agent to raise invoices, record bills and payments, reconcile bank transactions and post journals with narrow scopes.", "slug": "zoho-books", "watchFor": "No profit and loss, balance sheet or other report endpoint appears in the API docs or the OpenAPI files" } ], "job": { "capability": "accounting.ledger", "name": "Accounting ledger" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apideck-accounting-vs-freshbooks.json", "title": "Apideck Accounting API + MCP vs FreshBooks API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apideck-accounting-vs-freshbooks" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apideck-accounting-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "Apideck Accounting API + MCP vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apideck-accounting-vs-zoho-books" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/codat-vs-freshbooks.json", "title": "Codat vs FreshBooks API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/codat-vs-freshbooks" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/codat-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "Codat vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/codat-vs-zoho-books" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks.json", "title": "FreeAgent API vs FreshBooks API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "FreeAgent API vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-zoho-books" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-merge-accounting.json", "title": "FreshBooks API vs Merge Accounting API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-merge-accounting" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-odoo.json", "title": "FreshBooks API vs Odoo External API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-odoo" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-quickbooks-online.json", "title": "FreshBooks API vs QuickBooks Online API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-quickbooks-online" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-rutter.json", "title": "FreshBooks API vs Rutter Accounting API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-rutter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-xero.json", "title": "FreshBooks API vs Xero API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-xero" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/merge-accounting-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "Merge Accounting API vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/merge-accounting-vs-zoho-books" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/odoo-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "Odoo External API vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/odoo-vs-zoho-books" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quickbooks-online-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "QuickBooks Online API + MCP vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quickbooks-online-vs-zoho-books" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rutter-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "Rutter Accounting API vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rutter-vs-zoho-books" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/xero-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "Xero API + MCP vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/xero-vs-zoho-books" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-invoice-ninja.json", "title": "FreshBooks API vs Invoice Ninja API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-invoice-ninja" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/invoice-ninja-vs-zoho-books.json", "title": "Invoice Ninja API vs Zoho Books", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/invoice-ninja-vs-zoho-books" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 36, "edge": "zoho-books", "freshbooks": 35, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16, "zoho-books": 71 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 23, "edge": "zoho-books", "freshbooks": 48, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13, "zoho-books": 71 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "freshbooks", "freshbooks": 61, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13, "zoho-books": 51 }, { "by": 11, "edge": "zoho-books", "freshbooks": 57, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14, "zoho-books": 68 }, { "by": 0, "edge": "", "freshbooks": 30, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10, "zoho-books": 30 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 42, "edge": "zoho-books", "freshbooks": 14, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7, "zoho-books": 56 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "zoho-books", "freshbooks": 65, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7, "zoho-books": 75 } ], "summary": "Zoho Books scores 61.1 (C) on agent readiness against FreshBooks API's 45.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. FreshBooks API leads on agent ergonomics. Both do accounting ledger.", "verdicts": { "freshbooks": "OAuth scopes split read and write per resource, such as user:invoices:read. Rate limits have no numbers, status code or headers.", "zoho-books": "The public OpenAPI files cover 885 operations with OAuth scopes per module and operation, and the Free plan allows 1,000 API requests a day. No report endpoint, official SDK, SLA or dated API changelog was found, and the documented token calls put the client secret in the URL." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books.min.md" }, "markdown": "Zoho Books scores 61.1 (C) on agent readiness against FreshBooks API's 45.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. FreshBooks API leads on agent ergonomics. Both do accounting ledger.\n\n- FreshBooks API: grade E, 45.4/100, rank #657 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/freshbooks.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/freshbooks.json\n- Zoho Books: grade C, 61.1/100, rank #377 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zoho-books.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zoho-books.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### FreshBooks API (E)\n\nGood for: An agent that bills clients, chases invoices and reads the books for a freelancer or small service firm already on FreshBooks.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 61 against 51\n\nWatch for: Rate limits have no numbers, status code or headers\n\n### Zoho Books (C)\n\nGood for: Small businesses already on Zoho that want an agent to raise invoices, record bills and payments, reconcile bank transactions and post journals with narrow scopes.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 71 against 35\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 71 against 48\n- Security \u0026 auth, 68 against 57\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 56 against 14\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 65\n\nWatch for: No profit and loss, balance sheet or other report endpoint appears in the API docs or the OpenAPI files\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | FreshBooks API | Zoho Books | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 35 | 71 | Zoho Books +36 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 48 | 71 | Zoho Books +23 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 51 | FreshBooks API +10 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 68 | Zoho Books +11 |\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) | 14 | 56 | Zoho Books +42 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 75 | Zoho Books +10 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **45.4 · E** | **61.1 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | FreshBooks API | Zoho Books |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | FreshBooks | Zoho |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.freshbooks.com` | `https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Your plan | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under Zoho's Terms of Service |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| Last release | 2024-09-11 | 2026-10-07 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-10-07 | 2022-03-02 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-05 | 2025-12-22 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 11 stars, 685 npm/wk, 415 PyPI/wk | none |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\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**Zoho Books.** The public OpenAPI files cover 885 operations with OAuth scopes per module and operation, and the Free plan allows 1,000 API requests a day. No report endpoint, official SDK, SLA or dated API changelog was found, and the documented token calls put the client secret in the URL.\n\n## Before you call either\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### Zoho Books\n\n1. Send `organization_id` as a query parameter on every call. Read it from `GET /organizations` first\n2. Use the `api_domain` returned with the token, since each of the nine data centres has its own host (zohoapis.com, zohoapis.eu, zohoapis.in and others)\n3. Send `Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken \u003ctoken\u003e` and refresh hourly. Each user keeps at most 20 refresh tokens and the oldest is deleted\n4. Stay under 100 requests a minute and the plan's daily cap. Codes 44, 45 and 1070 on a 429 mean minute, day and concurrency limits\n5. To repeat an update safely, send `X-Unique-Identifier-Key`, `X-Unique-Identifier-Value` and `X-Upsert` with a unique custom field. Creates have no idempotency key\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, FreshBooks API or Zoho Books?\n\nZoho Books scores 61.1 (C) on agent readiness against FreshBooks API's 45.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. FreshBooks API leads on agent ergonomics.\n\n### Do FreshBooks API and Zoho Books need an API key?\n\nBoth use an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call FreshBooks API and Zoho Books without installing anything?\n\nYes. FreshBooks API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.freshbooks.com and Zoho Books at https://www.zohoapis.com/books/v3.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"freshbooks\", \"b\": \"zoho-books\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare freshbooks zoho-books`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/freshbooks.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zoho-books.json\n\n## Other comparisons with FreshBooks API or Zoho Books\n\n- [Apideck Accounting API + MCP vs FreshBooks API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apideck-accounting-vs-freshbooks.md)\n- [Apideck Accounting API + MCP vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apideck-accounting-vs-zoho-books.md)\n- [Codat vs FreshBooks API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/codat-vs-freshbooks.md)\n- [Codat vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/codat-vs-zoho-books.md)\n- [FreeAgent API vs FreshBooks API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-freshbooks.md)\n- [FreeAgent API vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freeagent-vs-zoho-books.md)\n- [FreshBooks API vs Merge Accounting API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-merge-accounting.md)\n- [FreshBooks API vs Odoo External API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-odoo.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- [Merge Accounting API vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/merge-accounting-vs-zoho-books.md)\n- [Odoo External API vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/odoo-vs-zoho-books.md)\n- [QuickBooks Online API + MCP vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/quickbooks-online-vs-zoho-books.md)\n- [Rutter Accounting API vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/rutter-vs-zoho-books.md)\n- [Xero API + MCP vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/xero-vs-zoho-books.md)\n- [FreshBooks API vs Invoice Ninja API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-invoice-ninja.md)\n- [Invoice Ninja API vs Zoho Books](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/invoice-ninja-vs-zoho-books.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-08", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "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": "FreshBooks API vs Zoho Books", "url": "" } ], "description": "Zoho Books scores 61.1 (C) on agent readiness against FreshBooks API's 45.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. FreshBooks API leads on agent ergonomics. Both do accounting ledger. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "FreshBooks API E 45.4", "Zoho Books C 61.1", "scores" ], "h1": "FreshBooks API vs Zoho Books", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-freshbooks-vs-zoho-books.png", "path": "/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "FreshBooks API vs Zoho Books for AI agents, E 45.4 vs C 61.1", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-08", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-zoho-books" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2150, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }