Finance is the center of every business, and invoicing plays a vital role in the cash flow. Without proper cash flow/ payments, no company or individual freelancer can survive. Whether you are an individual freelancer, a contractor working remotely, or a small business, invoicing management plays a vital role.
Email, face-to-face transactions, and hard copies are some of the traditional methods of invoicing. The conventional methods lead to several challenges ranging from the hard copy going untraceable to the payer losing track of payments to multiple freelancers/ contractors.

Thanks to the invoicing software providers invoicing is not a challenge anymore. Freelancers manage various roles, invoicing multiple clients, and following up for payments may get overwhelming to manage.
Manual methods of raising invoices or creating reports and making cash-based payments led to multiple challenges like erroneous payments and billing.
The modern invoicing techniques like electronic transfers, card payments, and online invoicing help reduce errors and enable users to create professional looking invoices and thereby improve their branding and get paid faster. It also helps to maintain cash reports evading any unwanted errors.
Benefits And Features
Benefits and features of an invoicing software
Using online invoicing software can reduce late/ missed payments, fraudulent activities, and enable businesses and individuals to manage their professional image and streamline the accounting process. It allows you to manage everything from exactly one unified dashboard.
Customized invoicing templates, new invoice creation, transfer, multiple currency setting, invoicing, payment, and tax reporting are some of the salient features of invoicing software.
An invoicing software enables users to generate invoices from any location, create invoices effortlessly, and more accurately, and integrates the invoicing system with an existing business system.
Invoicing software is available with online and cloud-based versions with tons of exciting features and suitable pricing plans. Share on XFactors To Consider
Factors to consider when deciding on an invoicing software
There are several factors to be considered and you should research while deciding on invoicing software.
Easy to use –
Invoicing software is operated by a small business / individual freelancer to reduce the haphazard billing methods and reduce manual work. So the most crucial factor to be considered while choosing an excellent invoicing software would be whether it is easy to use.
Fits your business requirements –
Making a report or list of the challenges you face with invoicing/ listing out your concerns would be a great start while shopping for invoicing software. Also, research well if it will integrate with the key software tools you use.
Features and pricing –
There are several invoicing software providers in the market. Each of these invoicing software providers offers a variety of features and pricing plans. It is essential to list out the most useful features and choose carefully after ensuring that it will help you raise a professional-looking invoice and does not burn a hole in your pocket with its cost.
Safety – It is vital to choose an invoicing software provider that has a good reputation for system security in the market because the invoices comprise essential data about your business, teams and customer.
While most invoicing software providers offer training material to the users, it is essential to understand that bugs and other technical glitches usually accompany software technology.
It is vital to choose an invoicing software provider with easily accessible customer care through a dedicated support , tutorials, manuals, training materials, and webinars.
Best Software For Invoicing
What is the best software for invoicing?
Numerous providers are offering invoicing software, and each one of them has some fantastic features that help users ease their pain of invoicing and other related tasks. They also integrate with some of the essential software tools that make everything much simpler.
- Fresh Books is one of the easiest to use invoicing software, one of the best with its overall features. The Android and ios apps make the invoice-making process painless.
- Square invoices is another invoicing software that is best suitable for low volume/ individual freelancers.
- Wave is another invoicing software that is not very pricey and offers accounting integrations.
- Xero is a complete accounting alternative.
- Hiveage is another invoicing software that offers the highest number of payment options.
- Quickbooks has excellent features and the best transaction fees.
- Sage is an excellent invoicing software with excellent accounting and reporting features useful for freelancers/ contractors with multiple clients.
- Zoho invoice offers excellent automation other than the invoicing features.
- Free-agent is another invoicing software that offers excellent pre-designed templates.
However, it is impossible to decide on the best invoicing software because it solely depends on the business requirements. The best thing is that it allows you to manage everything from your one dashboard.
Best Free Invoice Software
What is the best free invoice software?
- QuickBooks by Intuit is one of the best invoicing software with millions of users that also help to grow your business. QuickBook is a complete package for all your accounting and invoicing needs.
- PayPal offers an excellent invoicing solution that enables users to transfer money, create invoices on the go with its mobile apps.
- Square is a great invoicing software that enables users to accept payments, both in-person and online.
- Invoice Ninja is another invoicing software that is easy to use, an excellent fit for small businesses, and customizes users.
There are many other free invoicing software providers in the market. Each has a unique feature that might be suitable for freelancers/ small businesses. They are a simple and intitive way to keep a record of your past and present finance related records.
About Invoicing Software
What is the invoicing software?
A software tool that is intuitive and enables individual freelancers/ contractors and small businesses to generate invoices for their clients’ products/ services.
Invoices are created in the invoicing software to the client through email, post, or any other chosen method. You can send invoices whenever it is needed to be sent and the process is much easier than creating an in
Pre-designed invoicing templates, customer records, new invoice creation point, enables managing invoicing, payments through credit cards, multi-currency setting, and tax reporting are a few features offered by any invoicing software.
Does QuickBooks do invoicing?
Quickbooks enable its customers to record sales transactions and generate invoices to keep track of the accounts receivables.
QuickBooks Online also allows a pay now button to help customers pay directly through the invoicing features.
Quickbooks charge 2.9% plus $0.25 per invoice paid online which makes it one of the affordable solutions.
KS Digital, Digital Craft Co, Design Couch, K Glyphics, and many other top companies use invoice software for their invoicing, accounting, and taxation needs.
Invoicing Applications
Some of the invoicing applications
Let us look at the features, advantages, customers, use cases, integrations, and pricing for some of the best invoicing software providers:
Wave Accounting
Wave accounting is one of the easiest to use invoicing software solutions that enables users to connect it to their bank accounts, manage payment reminders and schedule , stay updated on the cash flow, and helps expense tracking.
Wave accounting works as excellent invoice software and accounting software solutions whose services are on point and best suitable for small businesses.
Features
Invoicing | Integrations |
Payroll | tax calculations |
Receipts | accounting |
Advantages
- It is free to use so every affordable.
- Works as a great invoicing and accounting software for individual freelancers and small businesses.
- Billing and invoicing is effortless.
- It helps users to accept payments through credit cards.
- It helps users to track expenses and manage taxes without any hassle.
Use cases
- Accounting firms
- Technology-based start-ups
- A small business like a nonprofit organization
Customers
- KS Digital
- Jessica Today
- Calgary Boiler Clean
Integrations
Square | Google sheets |
Stripe | Slack |
Shopify |
Pricing
- Free Trial is available.
- Wave Accounting offers free invoicing and receipt scanning for free.
- Payroll software costs at $16 per month in Pro Plan
- First 10 credit card transactions per month starting at 2.9% + $0*
InvoiceNinja
Invoice ninja offers software with features and tools that perform particular tasks such as billing and invoicing, and payments management.
Users can craft professional-looking invoices available for their clients to both views online or print/ download on paper.
Payments can also be made directly on the software through credit cards or other means of payments.
Features
Real-time invoicing | 40+ payment options |
Customized invoicing with logo | Customized URL link |
Accept credit card payments | Create recurring billing |
Advantages
- The professional-looking invoicing with logos helps to improve branding.
- The time tracking feature helps to create billing to be built in real-time.
- Time tracking helps users to send a billing to the client based on the per hour rate effortlessly.
- Recurring billing and invoicing are a lot easier with the invoice ninja software.
Use cases
- Writing & editing
- Internet
- Motion pictures & Films
- Freelancers
Customers
- Filmmaker
- Web developer
- Video storyteller
Integrations
- Zapier
- Integromat
- API Gum
- PieSync
Pricing
A free trial is available.
The free forever plan has services that cover unlimited invoices, four templates for invoice and quotation, recurring billing and invoicing, branding with a logo, integration with up to forty payments gateway, time tracking based invoicing, alerts for invoices sent, paid, and viewed.
It is definitely one of the options to consider if you want an affordable tool that is capable of performing all the basic invoicing tasks.
Tax settings, accept payments, through credit cards and other modes of payments, real-time invoice creation, and google analytics.
The Ninja Pro subscription costs $12 per month and $120 when paid annually. All the features in the forever free plan are available in this plan.
Password protected client-side portal, personalized branding, unlimited – quotes, clients, invoices, watermark removal, auto-reminder schedule set up for recurring invoices, multiple customized invoice design, reporting, and client statements are all a part of this plan.
- The enterprise subscription costs $16 per month for up to two users.
- It costs $28 per month for up to five users.
- It costs $40 per month for up to ten users and $48 per month for up to twenty users.
All the Ninja pro features are available in this plan and it also has additional features like additional users, access permissions, quotations, and attaching third-party files to invoices are also a part of this plan.
Zipbooks
Zipbooks are complete and excellent free invoicing software for small businesses, individual freelancers, and contractors for their bookkeeping and invoicing needs.
The software enables users to execute various tasks such as accept payments, helps to get payments faster through credit cards, time tracking, expense tracking, recurring invoices management, and insights also on a single platform effortlessly.
Features
Time tracking | Team management |
Invoicing | Accounting software |
Recurring invoices |
Advantages
Free accounting software | Integrations |
Accounting reports | Analytics & reporting |
Expense tracking | Real-time billing with time tracking |
Use cases
Nonprofit organization | Publishing |
IT software | Marketing |
Customers
- Digital Craft Co
- Illuminate design
- Quirky Print & Design Studio
Integrations
Asana | Google Apps |
Google Chrome | Google Drive |
Slack |
Pricing
The free plan covers unlimited – invoicing, vendors, bookkeeping, and customers accept payments through pay pal and credit cards, connect and manage with a single bank account.
The Smarter plan costs $15 per month and covers all the features in the free plan.
Unlimited recurring invoices, bank connections, time tracking, advanced accounting & bookkeeping, auto-import of time, and expense tracking to invoices are all a part of this plan.
The Sophisticated plan costs $35 per month and covers all the features in the smarter plan.
Secured document sharing, advanced reporting, bank reconciliation, customized labeling, and smart tagging to track based on location and project are some of the available features in this plan.
The accountant plan is available by-quote and covers all the sophisticated features.
Time tracking, a single dashboard for client management, data migration of accounting from existing accounts, texting clients, and bulk transaction editing are some of the other features available in this plan.
Hiveage
Hiveage is an excellent choice of comprehensive and powerful invoicing software for small business owners and individual freelancers. All the features are on point catering to the needs of small businesses.
Personalized invoicing templates enable improving branding, payment reminders, recurring billing and invoicing, and payments through multiple payment gateways.
Features
Online invoicing | Recurring billing |
Time tracking | Expense tracking |
Estimation | Financial reports |
Personalized invoice templates | Multiple payments gateway integrations |
Advantages
- Accounting features and advanced reporting helps users manage their accounts effortlessly.
- Manage to bill and invoicing for multiple businesses with a single login.
- Multiple touchless payment options
- It also offers features that are Cost-effective and access on the go with mobile apps.
Use cases
- Accounting
- Billing
- Taxation
Customers
- Design Couch
- Panavision
- Apex Virtual Solutions
Integrations
- PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, quick books online, Zapier and integrations with tons of other platforms are available.
Pricing
The free subscription covers up to five clients and is an excellent choice for small business/start-ups.
Unlimited expense tracking & even time tracking, unlimited invoice, quotation, and estimates are a part of the free subscription plan.
The Basic subscription costs $19 per month and $16 when billed annually.
If you are a freelancer looking for compact invoicing software, then the Hiveage Basic plan would be exactly an excellent fit.
Along with all the free plan features, integrations with multiple payment gateways and financial summary reports are a part of this plan.
The Pro plan costs $25 annually and $29 per month. All the Basic plan features are a part of this plan.
Up to two hundred and fifty clients, five team members, instant payment reminders, personalized email notifications, and email from a single domain.
The plus subscription costs $49 per month and $42 when billed annually. All the Pro plan features plus up to ten team members, and a thousand clients are all a part of this plan.
Invoicera
Invoicera is user friendly , simple, and an excellent choice for small businesses, freelancers, and contractors. No more writing and formatting invoice issues as this tool have you sorted.
Online invoicing, recurring billing, time tracking, automated workflows, and much more are all made effortlessly.
Features
Automated billing, expense tracking, options to customize, recurring billing, reporting, time tracking, instant payments, estimation, payment reminders, and multi-language and currency support are some of the best features of Invoicera.
Advantages
- Enables to track payments.
- Multiple payment gateways
- Trade in multiple currency setting
- Mobile apps support invoice creation on the go.
Use cases
- Accounting
- Fintech
Customers
- G Spotter Antennas (Australia)
- Mindig Company (Netherlands)
Integrations
Paymate | Braintree |
Google Apps | PayPal |
IPhone | Magento |
Pricing
A free trial is available
The free plan covers unlimited estimates & invoices and offers up to three clients, one recurring profile, projects, and timesheets are available.
Classic subscription costs $19.95 per month. It covers five staff, up to a hundred clients, hundred recurring profiles, and up to fifteen auto-recurring bills.
The Business plan costs $39.95 per month—unlimited clients and recurring profiles, up to ten staff, and a hundred auto-recurring bills.
Infinite plan costs $99.95 per month. It costs unlimited – clients, staff, recurring profiles, and auto bill recurring.
In case of any issue, one can always contact their customer care office.
Invoicely
Invoicely is a cloud-based invoicing software that works well for freelancers and small business owners. It is available both on Android as well as iOS so you do not have to worry about access through apps is possible or not.
The free plan allows for unlimited invoices and customers.
Billing/ invoice creation, payment reminders, time tracking, expense tracking, multi-currency, and accounting management are all a part of Invoicely.
Features
Expense tracking | customized email |
billing and invoicing | automatic payment reminders |
estimation | multi-currency support |
sales tax | reporting, and accounting integration |
Advantages
- Easy to use
- Payment gateways
- sales tax reporting
Integrations
- Wave
- Expensify
Use cases
Small Business
Customers
- K Glyphics
- Conscious Comms
- Tuts Plus
Integrations
PayPal | Stripe |
WePay | Molie |
Paylane | Authorize.net |
Pricing
A free trial is available
The Free plan covers unlimited invoices, PayPal as a payment gateway, multiple businesses, limited branding, and billing in any currency.
The Basic Plan costs $9.99 per month and covers unlimited invoices, up to two team members, time tracking, expense tracking, recurring statements, multiple businesses, estimates, and online payments.
The professional plan costs $19.99 per month and covers all the basic plan features and up to ten team members.
The enterprise plan costs $29.99 per month and covers all Basic plan features and up to twenty-five team members.
Check the below option where a user has reviewed this software :
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is complete accounting software and platform that enables users to manage multiple accounts. You don’t have to spend much time managing your finance as you’ll just need to log in to view your past as well as present transactions.
Capabilities of this tool allow users to stay updated on the taxation, enable time tracking and expense tracking, help users to keep their cash flow intact, raise professional looking invoices, and get paid faster. QuickBooks is a complete business/ project management software for all sizes of business.
Features
Bank reconciliation | Analytics |
Automated recurring billing | Payment reminders |
Cash flow management | Accounting |
Expense tracking | Time tracking |
Advantages
- Accounting management
- Expense tracking
- Sales invoicing
- Financial reporting
Use cases
- Finance firms
- Marketing/ advertising firms
Customers
- Ad Hoc
- Airrific
- Beachbody
Integrations
- Expensify
- Tsheets
- Insightly
Pricing
The Simple Start plan works well for individual freelancers and costs $ 1 per month for first 3 months and covers expense tracking, quarterly ax estimation, reporting, accepting payments, and invoicing.
Reporting, estimates, sales tax, income, budget and expenses tracking are some of the features covered under the simple start plan.
The Essentials plan costs $26 per month and covers time tracking, multiple users, manage bills, reporting, estimation, taxation, accepting payments, and much more.
The Plus plan costs $37 per month and covers income and expense tracking, reporting, estimation, billing management, multiple users, time tracking, inventory tracking, and 1099 contractors management.
Our Observation
Our Observation of all the invoicing software discussed in this guide
Invoicing software | Pricing | Features Observation |
---|---|---|
Quickbooks | The paid plan starts at $17/mo | What is good? Advanced invoicing features. Helpful tax support. Feature-rich. What is not good? Customer support not good. Expensive tool. |
Wave accounting | Free | What is good? Plenty of features available. It is free. Allows you to get expert opinion from accountants What is not good? Not a great option for big businesses. |
ZipBooks | The paid plan starts at $15/mo | What is good? Useful free plan Good option for small business owners Advanced features at competitive pricing. What is not good? Not a friendly customer support. |
Hiveage | Paid plans start at $19/mo | What is good? Easy to use and customisable. Helpful customer support |
Invoicera | Paid plan starts at $15 per month. | What is good? Great option for freelancers. Supports international invoicing Plenty of useful integrations What is not good? Slightly expensive |
Invoice Ninja | Paid plan starts at $10 per month. | What is good? Highly customisable tool that works great for complex invoices. Easy to use What is not good? Doesn’t allow linking one person to multiple organisations. |
Invoicely | Paid plan starts at $9.99 per month. | What is good? Comes with a time tracking feature. Slightly cheaper than other tools. What is not good? The interface takes a bit of time to get used to. |
Our Experience
Our Experience
With a significant part of the workforce moving towards freelancing and contractor type of employment, taxation, accounting, invoicing, and much more mundane activities takes up a lot of time and become overwhelming for individual freelancers to manage.
Thanks to the capabilities of a variety of invoicing software available in the market, invoice creation, payments acceptance through credit card, keeping track of recurring invoices, payment reminders, spend and time tracking, accounting software, and much more are all made possible without any hassles. They are also very helpful to improve your productivity and also manage your contacts. A different set of providers initially managed accounting software.
Billing and invoicing are the primary features of the invoice software. Share on XAccounting software merged with the invoicing software helps users manage all the reporting, taxation, cash flow tracking, time tracking, bank reconciliation, and many other account management features. It is a perfect blend of invoice software and accounting software.
Some of the invoicing software available in the market is best suited for small businesses and individual freelancers looking for simple billing software to ensure they get paid through a credit card or any other payment gateway.
Some of these providers also offer a mobile app that enables users to create an invoice on the go. The invoicing software has features like automated recurring invoices, time tracking, payment reminders, and multiple payment gateways that enable users to get paid faster. Using invoice software with a mobile app/ mobile invoicing allows users to create invoices on the go. It allows users to get paid faster.
Some of the invoicing software providers offer a pay button for the clients to make payments. The pay buttons accept credit cards and enable users to get paid faster. The software has multiple features like a pay button, invoicing on the go, real-time invoice creation, and much more that ensures the users get paid on time.
Small businesses and freelancing individuals who are keen on using invoicing software for a limited number of clients can even use free software; however, if you are a growing business looking for billing and invoicing software with tons of features.
The features like payment reminders, project management, mobile invoicing, time tracking, getting paid instantly, and much more, then the free software may not be a great idea since it offers limited features.
There are tons of invoicing and billing software in the market, and each of them offers exciting features with some of the best pricing plans. Using the best invoicing and billing software enables a business to get paid faster in multiple currency settings, send invoices in real-time, automate recurring billing/ payments, project management, and accounting & tax management.
A Business can manage their tax and accounting with a provider like Quickbooks online. Invoicing, accounting, taxation, reporting are all made easy with a few clicks when a business uses QuickBooks online kind of software. Some providers even enable users to customize the features and pricing plans as per the users’ business needs. However, the providers have the rights reserved for the original set of features offered by them.
Small businesses and individual freelancers/ contractors make the best use of the invoice software. Invoicing and billing help to improve the cash flow of every business and play a vital role.
Using the best invoicing and billing software helps a business/ individual get paid faster and manage their accounts and tax effortlessly. You can always compare different options before you finalize any tool.
FAQs
Questions asked while looking for invoicing software:
What is an invoicing software?
An invoicing software enables users to create professional-looking invoices through pre-designed templates and send them to their clients in real-time.
The invoicing software also allows users to accept payments on the same platform through multiple currency settings and automated payment reminders.
Can I use invoicing software for free?
Yes. Most of the invoicing software providers offer a free trial and forever free plans.
There are limited features available in the free subscription, and the users can upgrade their plans to a paid one and enjoy the advanced features based on their business requirements.
Can I get paid through a different currency?
Most of the providers offer a multi-currency setting. Some of the software even has a play button that enables clients to make payments immediately with different payment gateways.
How is an invoicing software beneficial to a small business / individual freelancer?
Using an invoicing software helps users create a professional-looking invoice, raise invoices in real-time, automate recurring billing, get paid faster, and manage projects, tax, and accounting effortlessly.
Can I customize the pricing plans?
Most providers enable their users to customize the pricing plans and features based on their business requirements. However, the providers have the rights reserved for the original features.
Which is the best suitable invoicing and billing software?
The market has numerous invoice software, and each one of them offers some of the best features that enable them to send invoices, manage accounts, and automate recurring payments.
While one feature is useful to a user, it may not be essential for another. Choosing an invoice software best suitable for your business requirements is a good idea.
Can I manage accounts with my invoice software?
Small businesses and individual freelancers with limited clients can choose the Zoho invoice or QuickBooks online providers.
This software helps them manage projects, taxation, bank accounts, receive payments, create invoices, and manage every aspect of their business transaction without any hassles.
Can I use the same software for more than one business?
Yes, one invoicing software is useful for multiple businesses. Most providers offer multiple businesses for a paid plan, and a few also provide it in their free version.
Ninja invoice is an invoicing software that can make your business look more professional. For a small price, you can get a system that will make your invoicing headaches disappear. Within minutes, we were charging customers, because we linked Stripe and Paypal to it, with a simple copy and paste of the payment gateway key. I would highly recommend Invoice Ninja!
Awesome; what other tools are you using?
Invoicely is very easy to use for both teams and clients. It allows you to make your own invoices and quotes. You can change the messages sent in email. Your clients have their own portals to manage their accounts.
Awesome; what other tools are you using?
I would like to see integration for platforms such as Payoneer. The lack of it is probably more of a problem with providers. The proposal editor could use a reworked proposal.
Out of the box, InvoiceNinja works. It’s easy to use and designed for small and medium-sized businesses. You can use your existing providers, at least it’s not a problem to switch.
Thanks for the detailed comment!