FreshBooks is great accounting software for solopreneurs, consultants, and small service businesses. It’s never had built-in signature capture and probably never will, since FreshBooks has consistently chosen to focus on invoicing and time tracking rather than signed-document workflows.
If you’re a FreshBooks user who needs a customer’s signature on an invoice or estimate, here are the three working options in 2026 and a step-by-step walkthrough for the one most shops settle on.
Option 1: A standalone e-signature tool
DocuSign or PandaDoc both have FreshBooks integrations of varying quality. The flow:
- Send a FreshBooks invoice or estimate.
- Open the e-sign tool.
- Upload the PDF.
- Add signature fields.
- Send to the customer.
- Wait.
- Manually attach the signed copy back to FreshBooks when it comes back.
It works. It’s also pricey. DocuSign starts at $35 per user per month, PandaDoc at $19. For a freelancer sending five signed estimates a month, that’s a heavy fixed cost.
Option 2: Print, sign, scan
Print the document, hand it over (or mail it), scan the signed copy, attach it to the FreshBooks record manually. This is what a lot of FreshBooks-only solopreneurs default to. It’s free in dollars but costs you time, and there’s no GPS proof, no timestamp accuracy, and no audit trail.
Option 3: A signature app that talks to FreshBooks directly
This is what Billet was built for. The app connects to FreshBooks over the official API, so when a customer signs, the matching FreshBooks invoice or estimate gets stamped automatically. $5 per active user per month, unlimited sends.
For most FreshBooks shops doing more than two or three signatures a month, Option 3 pays for itself almost immediately on time saved.
Walkthrough: signing your first FreshBooks invoice with Billet (5 minutes)
You’ll need:
- A FreshBooks account (any tier).
- A Billet account (14-day free trial, no card required).
- An iPad, an Android tablet, or just a laptop browser.
Step 1: Connect FreshBooks
Sign in to Billet, go to Integrations, and click Connect on the FreshBooks card. The standard FreshBooks OAuth screen appears. You approve and Billet drops you back about three seconds later. Your clients, items, and tax rates start syncing in the background.
Step 2: Pick or create the invoice
Open the Tickets page and either:
- Pull in an existing FreshBooks invoice via the Upload page, or
- Create a new one directly in Billet, which pushes to FreshBooks when you send it.
Step 3: Send for signature
On the invoice row in Active Tickets, click the Send icon. Confirm or edit the customer’s email. The customer gets an email with a magic link. They sign in their browser, no app install required.
If you’re with the customer in person, hand them the iPad. They sign on the screen, GPS coordinates are captured, and the signed PDF is generated on the spot.
Step 4: Done
The FreshBooks invoice is automatically stamped with the signed status, the signature image, the timestamp, and (for in-person signs) the GPS location. The signed PDF is stored in Billet and attached to the FreshBooks record. You don’t have to touch the FreshBooks UI.
Common questions
Does this work for estimates as well as invoices? Yes. Estimates work the same way. The customer signs to approve, and the signed estimate gets stamped back into FreshBooks. You can convert it to an invoice with one click in Billet, which pushes the new invoice to FreshBooks.
What if I’m a solo freelancer? Is $5 worth it? $5 per active user per month is a rounding error for a one-person shop. If you send even one signed estimate a month and skip an hour of scanning and uploading, it pays for itself.
Does FreshBooks see Billet as an attachment or as a replacement? Neither. Billet sits alongside FreshBooks. The signed PDF lives in Billet permanently and is also attached to the FreshBooks invoice as a regular attachment. FreshBooks treats it like any other attached document.
What happens if FreshBooks is down? Billet queues the sync and retries when FreshBooks’ API comes back. The signed PDF is generated and saved regardless, so you don’t lose data.
Try it free for 14 days
Start a free trial, connect FreshBooks during signup, and capture your first signed invoice the same day. No credit card required.