In FreshBooks, Auto-Billing is a feature you can add to a recurring profile so that your client’s credit card is automatically charged whenever an invoice gets sent out from the recurring profile. 

How can I start using Auto-Billing?

The first thing you will need is an account with one of our auto-bill capable payment gateways. The gateways listed here can be used to auto-charge your client’s credit card on a recurring basis:

• Authorize.Net
• LANDMARK Merchant Solutions
• PayPal Payflow Pro
• iTransact
• Linkpoint
• PSiGate

Once set up with an auto-bill capable gateway, there are only two scenarios possible - either you have your client’s credit card information and their permission to automatically charge their card or you don’t.

You Have Your Client’s Credit Card Info:

1. Navigate to the Invoices tab of your FreshBooks account.
2. Click on the sub-tab Recurring
3. You can either create a new recurring profile or edit an existing one.
4. In the Auto-Billing section of the recurring profile, choose your auto-bill capable gateway, enter your client’s credit card info and save the profile.

You Do Not Have Your Client’s Credit Card Info:

When an invoice from your recurring profile gets sent to your client and they have chosen to pay through your auto-bill capable gateway, they will be presented with a drop-down menu with the option to have their credit card automatically charged for future invoices sent from that recurring profile. If they choose this option, your recurring profile will be updated with their credit card information and they will be auto-billed from that point onward.

Auto-bill Limits


In every account, there is an auto-bill limit. This limit is the number of recurring profiles that you can have auto-billing with.  Every new account comes equipped with five free auto-bills.  If you require more than these, you will need to upgrade to a paying package and add extra auto-bills.  Here is the pricing structure: