6 Best free/paid invoicing software for small businesses

One of the biggest challenges small businesses face is efficiently creating, tracking, and collecting invoices. Getting paid on time can mean the difference between growing your business and closing the doors. Taking advantage of online invoicing software, also calling billing software, is the best way to manage this process and cut down on administrative burden, improving cash flow and speeding up collections.

There are hundreds of choices in the market, which can make choosing the best fit for your business a difficult process. In this article we will cover the best choices for a variety of different types of businesses as well as providing basic criteria to help narrow down your search.

What to look for in invoicing software

Invoicing software needs to make the process easier and faster, as well as provide flexibility to create invoices on the go, facilitate payments, and generally improve the availability of information. And of course, it can’t break the bank either. While the solutions here are generally simple to use, when you do have a question, being able to talk to a real person can make all the difference. That is why we based our choices on Ease of Use, Payment Collections, Pricing, Integrations and Customer Support. The goal of implementing invoicing software is a streamlined approach to issuing and collecing payment for your invoices. (Click here if you would like to jump right to our list.)

Your needs will vary based on the type of business and other factors, such as size, turnover, or number of employees. However, you should consider these key features when evaluating any invoicing software solution:

Ease of use: How easy is it to find what you are looking for? Is the software written using accounting terms or other complex terminology? Are there any self/guided-help resources available? Good invoicing software will offer an intuitive onboarding process for key features.

Payment Collections: Does the software offer internal payment collection features or integrations with third party applications? If so, what fees are charged for this service? Can you collect payment online/in-person/via bank transfer/ACH?

Pricing: Most invoicing software follows a freemium model with a limited version of their software for free/low cost and multi-tiered monthly plans that offer more features as the price increases.

Integrations: The ability to connect your invoicing software with other platforms is essential for many business owners. Look for native integrations or an open API that allows you to create connections with other software.

Customer support: This is frequently overlooked but should be a sticking point for most users. What customer support is available when you need help? At a bare minimum, chat and email support should be available, though phone support and 24/7 service are ideal.

Other features like customizable fields and templates, payment reminders, inventory tracking, and CRM are frequently available on upper-tier plans and may be worth your while, depending on your needs.

Invoicing Software Comparison Chart

This chart summarizes the key findings from our analysis of the top invoicing software in the market and will point you in the right direction in your search for the best option for your situation:

STEL Order offers a comprehensive invoicing and billing solution to streamline your business from one convenient location. It includes invoicing, payments, catalog management, and inventory tracking, among other features. The clean and intuitive interface is easy to use and quick to get used to. For service businesses, the mobile app is a game-changer with full offline fuctionality.

The ability to customize many aspects of the invoicing and collections process is where STEL Order really shines. Create personalized email templates, add a ratings widget to your client communications, create special prices and multiple price lists, and set up recurring invoices/billing. Create unlimited document templates (invoices, quotes, etc.) and personalize them with your company branding.

Additional features include a full ecommerce platform that is seamlessly integrated into STEL Order, a Client Hub where customers can access transactions and pay them online, bank account reconciliation, integrated inventory tracking, and project management. For service businesses, the Jobs section is one of the most complete work order managment solutions available in the market and includes end-to-end document traceability, real-time updates, and robust tools tailored to home and field service businesses.

Invoicing with STEL Order

Creating invoices is a snap with STEL Order, both on a cell phone and a desktop. Easily convert quotes to invoices or batch create invoices, view the status of each, and send payment reminders to all your customers with one click.

• Personalize reference numbers for customers, products and services, invoices or any other document in the system.
• Personalize invoice templates with your brand, logo, and watermark and even choose which information you want to be included on the invoice.
• Set up recurring invoicing and billing.
• Send multiple invoices with read receipts in just one click.
• Batch create invoices from up to 5000 estimates/work notes in one click.
• Past-due notices.
• Collect payments online.

While STEL Order offers limited accounting options, it integrates natively with third party accounting software like Sage, A3, Contaplus, and Contasol. Providing your account direct access to STEL Order is quick and easy. It also provides integration with Stripe and PayPal to manage online payments.

Pricing & Additional Features

Dollar for dollar, STEL Order’s invoicing software is hard to beat. An intuitive, clean interface together with robust customization options and additional features means you can scale seamlessly. Not to mention, its mobile app is rated best-in-class on the App Store and Google Play Store.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Unlimited customers, invoices, and quotes, together with ample customization options. Full offline functionality for the mobile app. Integrations with payment processing platforms and accounting software. Additional features like inventory tracking, electronic signatures, read receipts, and time cards all make STEL Order a great choice across multiple industries. Fully bilingual platform, including live support in English and Spanish.

Cons

So many advanced features means you need to invest time in configuring the software to ensure optimization. However, if all you need is simple invoicing, the process is straightforward, and the Lite plan is more than sufficient. Limited accounting features, although connection to some external accounting software is available. No free plan available.

Wave offers arguably the best free invoicing software that also includes free accounting software. It provides basic expense and income tracking, invoicing and estimates, and reporting. This makes it a great choice for micro businesses, solopreneurs and other small businesses with limited revenue.

That said, like many other freemium invoicing software solutions, Wave comes up a bit short for businesses that are growing or expecting to grow in the near future. No inventory tracking or audit trails and no third-party integrations mean you will have difficulty scaling with Wave. Also, there is no live support unless you pay for the Pro plan or one of their other software solutions like Payroll or Payments.

Pricing & Additional Features

Wave separates Invoicing (free) and Accounting, though they automatically snyc. Invoicing is free, and there are two plans for Accounting. The Starter plan is free and the Pro plan is $16/month, and both include unlimited invoices and expenses. Additional products and features are available for a fee.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Unlimited invoices/expenses, customizable templates, the ability to collect payments online and via credit card, (for a fee). Pro plan is reasonably priced. Mobile app is easy to use for basic invoicing functions.

Cons

Lacks important additional features like audit trails, inventory tracking, integration with 3rd party apps, and offers only extremely limited customer service on the free plan. Transaction reconciliation and receipt uploading for expense tracking are also now only available on the Pro plan. Limited customization for invoice templates.

Square is a well-known payment processing platform that also offers easy-to-use invoicing software. Square works great with its POS (point of sale) hardware and payment processing solutions, making it a great choice for small brick and mortar operations. The mobile app is also quite friendly, and its invoice tracking capabilities are quite robust. Additional features like e-signatures, read receipts, and the ability to add attachments make it a very complete invoicing solution.

As with all payment processing solutions, Square charges for their hardware and takes a cut of each transaction. There is no discount on processing fees for the top tier plan either. Online features are less robust, and the app lacks somewhat in user-friendliness compared to their hardware and desktop versions.

Pricing & Additional Features

Square’s pricing is a bit different, as they offer both free and paid plans, each of which include payment processing fees that vary across plans. Unlimited invoices are included on both free and paid plans.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Square’s invoicing software is simple and intuitive, and it includes unlimited clients and invoices, even on the free plan. Additional features: e-signatures, saving customer credit card info, digital receipts, recurring invoices, and a handy feature to accept tips. Seamless integration with Square’s other software products (payment processing, inventory management, POS, ordering, ecommerce). The mobile app is relatively easy to use.

Cons

There are two main drawbacks: pricing and limited features. First of all, Square’s payment processing fees are higher than others in the market. Second, the best features like custom fields and templates, auto converting estimates into invoices, and other project management tools are only available on the paid plans.

FreshBooks is accounting and invoicing software designed for sole proprietors, freelancers, and small businesses. This solution offers good phone support, customizable invoices, and time tracking on all their plans. One of the strongest points in favor of FreshBooks is its ease of use. Instead of using confusing accounting jargon, the interface uses plain language and has an intuitive layout.

The streamlined dashboard makes it easy to switch between functions and contributes to the overall simplicity, especially for business owners who may not be used to handling accounting. This makes it an ideal solution for solopreneurs and other small businesses, but it may not be the best choice for growing businesses due to the limits on its plans and some missing key features.

Pricing & Additional Features

FreshBooks offers four plans: Lite $19/month, Plus $33/month, Premium $60/month, and custom pricing for the Select plan (payment processing fees extra for all plans). The Lite plan includes only one user and a maximum of 5 clients, while the midrange Plus plan also grants access to only one user but up to 50 clients. Some key features like double-entry accounting and bank reconciliation are not included in the Lite plan.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Simplicity and ease of use. The dashboard is intuitive, navigation is straightforward, and key features are easy to locate. Phone support for all plans. Invoice and template customization, read receipts, and a robust mobile app.

Cons

Limits on users and clients (1 user and 5/50 clients for lowest and midrange plans). Key features like double-entry accounting, bank reconciliation, recurring invoices, and accountant access not available on entry level plan. Cost to add additional users ($11/month)

Zoho Invoice: free with CRM

Zoho is one of the most widely used CRM platforms in the market and also offers a very complete freemium invoicing solution designed for freelancers, solopreneurs, and SMBs. Zoho offers a built in mini-CRM with customizable fields for customer files, a customer portal to view transactions and pay invoices, and payment tracking. Automations take some time to set up but are very robust. The mobile app is simple but effective.

As this is no longer Zoho’s key market, they can afford to provide an entry-level option at zero cost, hoping you will eventually sign up for their other paid software tools. Like many of the other options on this list, you will still incur payment processing fees when you collect payment through Zoho.

Pricing & Additional Features

Zoho invoice was the first product they launched and is now offered for free as a gesture of goodwill to the small business community. Despite some limitations (e.g. 500 invoices/year), it is still a good option for this market segment. If more features or are needed, you will have to upgrade to a different product (Billing, Books, Expense).

Pros and Cons

Zoho lives up to much of the hype—it is focused purely on invoicing, so it’s difficult to get confused. Creating and tracking invoices is simple, and the mobile apps are tailored to each operating system’s particularities (iOS and Android) like integration with iMessage and the ability to create a widget on Android. Automations are powerful, though they require some time/programming to set up.

Cons

The biggest drawback is the limits: 3 projects, 2 users, and 500 invoices per year. Zoho Invoice also does not integrate with Zoho Inventory and does not include some features typically included with other options on this list. These must be purchased separately as individual Zoho products.

If you are a small business owner and have never heard of QuickBooks, you are likely still doing everything by hand. QuickBooks Online is the quintessential invoicing and accounting software and one of the largest providers of small business software in the market. Their online version is quick and simple, offering most standard invoicing features you need: customization, automatic payment reminders, and batch invoicing. Likewise, the mobile app is intuitive and easy to set up.

Creating invoices is straightforward and so is sending them to customers, following up with reminders, and tracking payment status. Tax features are a highlight because most invoicing software does not provide this type of service. That said, some important features are only available on the top tier plans, which are expensive.

Pricing & Additional Features

QuickBooks Online does not offer a free tier plan and is the most expensive provider on the list from a value for money perspective. Payment processing fees are on top of the monthly software fee.

Pros and Cons

Pros

QuickBooks Online can be a veritable one-stop shop for accounting and invoicing for small businesses. It is likely the invoicing software with the largest volume of integrations available. The mobile app is simple and intuitive to use, and the support community is robust and responsive. Plenty of additional features are available as your business scales.

Cons

This is the most expensive solution on the list and, together with payment processing fees, can represent a significant cost to your bottom line. Even the lower level plans are more expensive than others on this list, and they do not include essential tools like time tracking or inventory tracking. There is no client hub available, so you must integrate with an external software solution. Also, if you do not sign up for one of the advanced plans, access to support is reduced or limited. Fixing problems can be complex and time-consuming (recategorizing expenses, eliminating duplicate entries, etc.).

Invoicing software is as unique and personal and your choice of clothing, so take your time and make sure you clearly define your objectives and needs before you start comparing. That said, several options on this list stand out above the rest, including STEL Order and, as a free option, Zoho Invoice. As your business grows and changes, come back here to reassess which provider best fits your needs.