If your clients pay after the first or second email, FreshBooks covers you. If they do not, you need something that keeps working past day 7.
What FreshBooks gives you for payment reminders
FreshBooks is a full invoicing and accounting platform with invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, and financial reports. Payment reminders are one feature inside that suite, included on every plan.
The reminder system works like this:
- Up to 3 automated emails per invoice, configurable to send before or after the due date
- One default schedule applied to all clients, with the option to override it per client or per invoice
- Late fee support: percentage of invoice value, percentage of outstanding balance, or a flat fee, applied after a set number of days past due
- Email only. No SMS channel.
Three touches covers roughly the first two to three weeks of a standard net-30 invoice cycle. Clients who pay within that window never expose the limit.
Where FreshBooks stops and the problem begins
The third automated reminder fires. The client still has not paid. FreshBooks lets you send additional manual reminders through the invoice comment field, which emails your client the message along with a link to the invoice. But there is no continued automation. No SMS fallback. No escalation in tone. No scheduled follow-up at 14, 30, or 60 days overdue.
A contractor with 15 open invoices at any given time would need to check each one manually to know which needs a follow-up and when. That is the work Nudge automates.
How Nudge handles the same job
Nudge supports up to 9 fixed due-date-based reminder stages per invoice. You can enable or disable individual stages and choose email, SMS, or both for the invoice. Built-in messages become firmer as invoices age; Pro users can customize reminder message templates. It does not do invoicing, expense tracking, or accounting.
A few details worth noting:
- Per-invoice control. Toggle individual due-date-based reminder stages on or off and choose email, SMS, or both for the invoice.
- Daily processing at 9 AM Eastern Time. Enabled due reminders are processed once per day automatically.
- Stops on payment. Mark an invoice paid and all reminders stop immediately.
- SMS consent required. Nudge includes consent-recording and opt-out controls, but businesses remain responsible for obtaining appropriate consent. Recipients can reply STOP to opt out.
Side-by-side: the key differences
| Feature | FreshBooks | Nudge |
|---|---|---|
| Reminders per invoice | 3 (automated) + manual | 9 (automated) |
| Channels | Email only | SMS and email |
| Message tone | No (same tone each reminder) | Yes, user-configured |
| Schedule controls | Override from default | Configured per invoice |
| Per-invoice step control | No | Toggle steps on/off |
| Late fee support | Yes (%, flat, or balance %) | No |
| Overdue coverage | Varies (up to 3 touches) | Up to 60 days overdue |
| QuickBooks integration | N/A | One-click sync |
| TCPA/SMS consent | N/A (no SMS) | Required before SMS sends |
Pricing: what each costs
FreshBooks charges based on the number of clients you invoice. Reminders are included on every plan:
- Lite: $23/month, up to 5 clients
- Plus: $43/month, up to 50 clients
- Premium: $70/month, unlimited clients
At $23/month (Lite), FreshBooks costs more than twice Nudge Basic ($9.99) for a contractor who only needs reminders and does not use the accounting features.
Nudge is priced for the reminder function alone:
- Basic: $9.99/month. Email reminders, 200 SMS credits/month, up to 100 active customers.
- Pro: $19.99/month. 750 SMS credits/month, unlimited customers.
Both plans include a 14-day free trial.
If you already use FreshBooks for invoicing and accounting, adding Nudge means paying for a second tool. The combined cost of FreshBooks Lite ($23) plus Nudge Basic ($9.99) is $32.99/month, and you get 9 multi-channel reminders instead of 3 email-only ones. If you use QuickBooks instead, Nudge connects in one click and syncs your invoices and customers. It also works standalone with manually added invoices if you do not use either platform.
Which setup fits which contractor
FreshBooks alone works if your clients reliably pay within the first few email touches. You send the invoice, the reminder fires, they pay. The 3-email ceiling never becomes a problem because you rarely need a fourth.
Add Nudge when the emails stop getting responses. Specifically:
- Clients regularly go 14, 30, or 60+ days past due
- You have clients who respond to text messages faster than email
- You want follow-up to continue automatically past the third touch without manually writing messages through FreshBooks' comment field
- You need the tone to shift from friendly to firm without you deciding when
Nudge with QuickBooks suits contractors already on QuickBooks for accounting. You get QuickBooks' invoicing and reporting plus Nudge's 9-step SMS and email reminder sequence, connected through a one-click sync.
Nudge standalone fits contractors who do not use accounting software at all. Add invoices manually, and Nudge handles the follow-up.
One compliance note if you are considering SMS reminders: Nudge provides consent-recording and opt-out controls, while businesses remain responsible for obtaining appropriate consent before sending texts. Recipients can reply STOP to opt out.
For more on how SMS and email reminders compare as collection channels, see our breakdown of SMS vs email invoice reminders. And if you are evaluating other tools in this space, our invoice automation tools comparison covers seven options side by side.