If you're a freelancer, small business owner, or entrepreneur, then you already know the headaches that can come with creating and managing invoices. Without invoices, you will not be paid. Yes, they are quite important.
But the thing is, not all billing solutions are created equal. The one that's right for you will depend on your particular needs, the complexity of your bills and, yes, your budget. Unsurprisingly, the best billing apps will cost you money.
What are your options if you don't want to spend a dime?
Well, you can try these invoice templates for Microsoft Excel. 10 Simple Invoice Templates. Each Freelancer must use 10 Simple Invoice Templates. Every Freelancer must use. Bills can be a hassle, but they don't have to be. These are some of the best invoice templates you can download. More information or these generators of unique invoices without registration. No Registration Required - Create Free Invoices Quickly No Subscription Required - Create Free Invoices Quickly There are some great free invoice managers out there on the web. But the keywords you want are free and fast. These 4 highly recommended invoice websites allow you to do both. Read more . But if you're creating invoices regularly, you're better off with a dedicated solution. And if you don't want to pay, you'll want to check out one of the amazing free billing solutions discussed in this article.
Mini Invoice is our own billing application used internally by our own writers. It was created with freelancers in mind, but anyone with billing needs can use it and get ahead.
It's extremely simple and lightweight, so if you're tired of fiddling with complicated accounting software just to get paid, you'll love Invoice Mini's straightforward design. And it's completely free with no ads, no in-app purchases, and no premium subscriptions.
When you need to invoice a customer, simply create a new invoice, add the customer details (which are saved for next time), select a template, add your line items, and then send it to your customer in an email directly from the app . Could not been more easy. The app can also track which bills have or have not been paid.
Download: Mini Invoice for Android | iOS (free)
Ninja bill is a great web tool for freelancers and small business owners who have more complex needs than simple handwritten invoices.
As a free user, you can manage up to 100 clients and unlimited invoices, plus advanced features like time tracking, automatic billing, branded invoices, direct payment integration with 40+ gateways, and the ability to accept deposits and partial payments. However, the invoices have a “Created by invoice ninja” watermark.
Upgrading to the $8/month plan increases your maximum clients to unlimited, grants access to 10 professional invoice templates, a custom Invoice Ninja URL where clients can view and pay invoices, the ability to create custom invoices and emails from automatic reminder, and much more.
Download: Invoice Ninja for Android, iOS, Web (free and paid plans available)
I invoked is similar to Invoice Ninja and serves the same types of users:freelancers and small business owners dealing with complex accounting needs beyond simple invoices.
One of the more advanced features is the ability to manage multiple deals with multiple team members and clients for each deal, which is helpful for serial entrepreneurs. You can also receive payments online directly to your invoice, which is used in Easy Way to automatically update the payment status of an invoice.
Free users get unlimited clients and invoices, but none of the advanced features highlighted, and generated invoices are marked with the Invoicely logo. For $9.99/month, you get features like time tracking, taxes, mileage, custom branding, and online payment methods other than PayPal.
Download: Invoicely for Web (Free, paid plans available)
Akaunting is a completely free web-based tool that lets you bill, track expenses, and manage all your small business or independent business accounting needs right in your browser. It works well on PC, Android and iOS devices.
Notable features include unlimited clients and invoices, billable expenses, inventory tracking for sales, dynamic reporting, direct invoice payment, discounts per client, full accounting with deposits and transfers with bank accounts, and multilingual dashboards for administrators and clients.
What is unique about Akaunting is that it is open source and you can download the software and host it on your own web server. You could still access it using a web browser, but all the data stays with you. For privacy-conscious people who want remote access to bills, Akaunting is a smart choice.
Download: Akaunting for web, self-hosted (free)
Wave is the most popular invoice app on this list, especially for small business owners, but we've ranked it fifth because it can be a bit slow at times and the interface can be a bit rough to navigate at first.
However, Wave is completely free and consists of three parts:the billing software (that is, creating and submitting invoices for payment), the accounting software (that is, tracking income and expenses), and the receipt scanning (i.e. scanning receipts with a mobile device for expense tracking). ).
Notable billing features include automatic reminders for overdue clients, professional invoice templates, custom branding for your invoices, mobile invoice delivery and management, see when clients view an invoice, automatic cloud backups, and more.
You'll only need to pay if you want to use Wave's online payment processing or payroll administration services. If you don't mind any of these, yes, Wave is completely free to use.
Download: Wave for the web (free)
Let's be very clear on one thing:whichever billing app you choose, trust that it will do what it says and won't let you down. God help you if something goes wrong and you lose all kinds of data..
That's why we only recommend free invoicing apps for freelancers and small business owners without complex billing needs. If your bookkeeping is complicated, you should definitely pay for a robust billing solution.
That said, if that sounds good to you, then we highly recommend Invoice Mini (for basic and simple billing), Ninja billing (for growing freelancers and small business owners), or Akaunting (For privacy-minded people).
If you're a freelancer, we also recommend checking out these nifty apps and sites all freelancers should know about 5 Apps and Sites All Freelancers Should Check 5 Apps and Sites All Freelancers Should Check. These apps and guides can ease your life. from a freelancer with support tools that can make you more productive. Read more.
