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Introduction

FreeAgent is cloud accounting and tax software for freelancers, small businesses and their accountants in the UK. It covers invoicing, expenses, time tracking and UK tax compliance, including VAT, Corporation Tax and Self Assessment.

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Activate FreeAgent

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Partner keys

You’ll need your own OAuth2 app, registered with FreeAgent. No approval from FreeAgent is needed; access is ready in about 10 minutes.
1

Register your app

Sign in to the FreeAgent Developer Dashboard and create an app.To connect accountancy practices, check Enable Accountancy Practice API. Leave it unchecked to connect single companies.
The choice is exclusive: you’ll need different API apps to access both. An app with Accountancy Practice API enabled cannot connect single-company clients. An app without it cannot connect a Practice Dashboard.
2

Configure the app

Set the OAuth2 redirect URI to:
Copy the OAuth identifier, which is the Client ID, and the OAuth secret, which is the Client Secret.

Activate FreeAgent in your Chift account

In Connectors, enter your Client ID and Client Secret, select the environment, and confirm the connection type: Free Agent or Practice Dashboard.

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Connector settings

The Application Type setting in the Chift connector settings, with its options Free Agent and Practice Dashboard
Application Type sets whether the connection targets a single FreeAgent company or a Practice Dashboard covering several client folders.
  • Free Agent (default): the connection covers a single company.
  • Practice Dashboard: after connecting, the end user, an accountant, selects which client folders to grant access to.
Choose Practice Dashboard only if your FreeAgent app has Enable Accountancy Practice API checked, and Free Agent otherwise.

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Test FreeAgent

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Vendor fees

No vendor fees, for you or your end users.

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Connect FreeAgent

FreeAgent setup guide for end users

The full step-by-step, with screenshots.
Before they start, your end users need:
  • a FreeAgent account matching your app’s connection type (a single company for Free Agent, or a Practice Dashboard for accountants)
  • for Practice Dashboard, a practice user with access to the client’s FreeAgent account
To connect, they:
  • name the connection (optional)
  • sign in to FreeAgent and authorize the connection
  • if using Practice Dashboard, select the client folder to connect

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Rate limits

FreeAgent applies a fixed quota, per user:
  • 120 requests per minute
  • 3,600 requests per hour
  • 15 token refreshes per minute
When a limit is exceeded, FreeAgent returns HTTP 429 Too Many Requests with a Retry-After header. Chift automatically manages these limits to optimize performance and prevent interruptions. However, once the API rate limit is reached, Chift cannot bypass these limitations. For Practice Dashboard connections, the limits apply per client, not to the practice as a whole. See FreeAgent’s API documentation.

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Limitations & specificities

A customer invoice in a foreign currency cannot be dated in the future; use the current or past date.
A journal entry in a foreign currency needs an exchange rate, and it cannot be 0 or 1.
An invoice can carry only one analytic account. In FreeAgent, an analytic account is a project.
A bank transaction already explained, or matched, elsewhere in FreeAgent cannot be sent again. Check it has not already been processed before resending it.
Rules for a matching request:
  • It cannot mix document types such as invoices, bills and bank transactions. Use one request per type.
  • It cannot match multiple bank transactions against multiple invoices or bills. Split it into separate requests.
  • It needs at least one bank transaction.
  • Only sale invoices and refunds, purchase invoices and refunds, and bank transactions can be matched.

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Coverage

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Troubleshooting

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Specific errors for FreeAgent: