There are currently around 57 million freelancers in the US, and the number is growing.
More and more companies are seeing the opportunity to offer great software to make your freelancing work easier.
With the advent of the internet, invoicing clients for freelancers has never been easier.
What is invoicing software?
Invoicing software is a tool that allows businesses to generate a bill for products or services they have provided to their clients.
Online invoicing software allows you to:
- Keep track of cash inflow more effectively
- Personalize invoices
- Provide different payment options to clients
- Process payments faster
Why should you use invoicing software for your small business?
An invoicing system could save you hours of manual work.
The software solutions that we're going to look at below offer a host of tools that you can use for your business. Saving time means that you can focus on what you do best - running your business. Some of the tools you could benefit from are:
- It organizes invoices automatically to comply with audit and tax requirements
- It takes care of invoice tracking
- Using an invoice app saves time per invoice
- It makes payments faster
- It minimizes late payments through automatic payment reminders
- Sends automatic requests for unpaid invoices
Choosing the right invoicing software for your business could be difficult.
Whether you're looking for a free invoicing system, or are looking to spend a little more for a more comprehensive project management software, you'll find what you're looking for below.
10 simple invoicing software solutions for small businesses
Indy
Indy is the best choice for an all-in-one freelancing platform. It's more than just an invoicing app, it provides its users with a reliable set of business admin tools so that any freelancer can easily access the resources they need to be successful.
With Indy, you can easily manage your business's finances with the following resources:
- Create simple invoices to get paid faster
- Receive payments online
- Create and send contracts
- Create a calendar to organize your day
- Upload files for simpler feedback and approval
- Create for you to get the information you need
- Offers project management tools
- Track working time to make billing simpler
- Create proposals for effective negotiations
Indy offers a Free plan, which gives you free unlimited access to all the basic tools you need to manage your business, plus 3 invoices, proposals, and contracts a month. Or you can subscribe for just $9 per month (with the Annual plan) which gives you unlimited invoices and unlimited access to all of its resources. It also offers you a 30-day money-back guarantee if you decide that it's not the software for you.
Indy is a particularly good choice if you lack time and efficient project management. Indy's resources can save you hours of having to complete manual admin tasks.
Indy promises to never take a cut of your hard-earned money and will never encourage you to lower your rates. So if you want a trustworthy, fair and simple solution for your small business' admin needs, Indy is the one for you.
FreshBooks
Freshbooks is one of the most popular invoicing and billing software for small businesses and freelancers. It's a reliable billing and invoicing software that allows you to:
- Send invoices to get paid faster
- Accept payments through different payment gateways
- Keep track of expenses
- Accounting software
- Time Tracking
- Keep track of projects
- Creates estimates
While it's on the pricier side of invoicing systems, there are obvious reasons Freshbooks has over 24 million customers. It consistently reports high user satisfaction and is praised for its customer service.
Freshbooks offers a free trial for 30 days, after which you can choose either of its three payment plans ranging from a monthly fee of $15-$50, or you can create your own custom plan. The lower your price plan with Freshbooks, the fewer billable clients you can have, the premium version offers unlimited clients.
However, the Lite version is a popular choice for small businesses, which offers five billable clients.
Wave
Wave is cloud-based, award-winning financial software that is designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Its key resources are:
- Accounting to track your income
- Expense tracking
- Create invoices and send invoices online
- Accept payments online through a range of payment gateways
Although it doesn't offer as many resources as some other online invoice software, it takes care of your finances easily and efficiently. And the best part is, it's completely free. Wave offers free accounting and invoicing software and only charges users a small fee per payment made via its software.
Wave is probably the best free invoicing software out there. It caters for small businesses and it is a great choice if you're on a tight budget or just starting with your small business.
Paypal
There's no doubt that you've heard of Paypal already.
But did you know they also offer a free invoicing service for small businesses? Paypal's invoicing tool is free and is pretty no-frills. However, all you need is a Paypal account and you can quickly and easily create and send an invoice and have your client send over the payment within minutes.
If you're looking for a free version of a simple invoice system, Paypal is a great option. Especially if you're on a low budget or starting out with your freelancing or small business.
Another good feature is that it offers customizable invoice templates that you can add a logo to, so that you can add that professional touch.
Xero
Xero offers many tools for your business. It probably offers the most comprehensive set of tools such as:
- Ability to pay bills
- Submit VAT returns online
- Claim expenses and expense tracking
- Received card and bank payments online
- Track projects
- Manage your payroll
- Capture data
- Create and send invoices
- Accounting in multiple currencies
- Send quotes to prospective clients
And many more!
While some freelancers or small businesses may make use of these features, many tools would go unused, since many freelancers are just looking for strong invoicing features.
Xero's payment plan reflects this and offers many of these features as optional add-ons. Xero offers a 30-day free trial, after which, you can choose from one of three payment plans ranging from $5.50-$31.
If you're after a basic bookkeeping app, with its cheapest plan, you can:
- Send quotes and 20 invoices
- Enter 5 bills
- Reconcile bank transactions
- Capture bills and receipts
- Short-term cash flow and business snapshot
Xero is certainly a good tool for small and growing businesses, and the price is fair considering the range of resources it offers to its users.
QuickBooks
Quickbooks is one of the more prominent players in the world of invoice softwares for freelancers. There's a reason for its popularity and its resources allow you to easily manage your business's finances. With Quickbooks Online, you can access software to help you with:
- Accounting software
- Inventory management
- Accept payments via multiple payment gateways
- Send recurring invoices
- Payroll
- Time tracking
A unique feature that Quickbooks offers is free online consultations with a certified accountant. So QuickBooks is a great option for you if you're looking for invoicing software with strong accounting features.
Quickbooks also offers a free trial, then you can choose one of four payment plans ranging from $12.50-$90 per month.
Zoho Books
Zoho is another freelancer software offering invoicing software for small businesses. Zoho has great accounting software and it keeps track of your freelancing or small businesses:
- Receivables
- Payables
- Inventory
- Banking
- Time tracking
- Contacts
- Reports
Zoho covers all the basics that you need in your invoicing and billing software. Again, it's a great option if the accounting features are what you're after, as it offers a full set of accounting tools that grow with your business.
The downside to Zoho is that it only offers a 14-day free trial and it is on the pricier side of invoicing and billing software. It ranges from $20-$70 per month.
So, if you're on a budget, there are probably other options that are better suited to your needs.
Invoice2go
Invoice2go is an efficient online billing and invoicing software. With Invoice2go you can do the following:
- Create invoices
- Track your expenses
- Send estimates
- Receive payments online
- Bill your hours
- Manage your time
Invoice2go is a great choice if you need simple and easy-to-use invoicing software without additional functions. It offers a 30-day free trial and three payment plans ranging from $5.99-$39.99.
Invoice2go also offers an online payment system that allows your business to accept credit cards online and doesn't charge transaction fees.
However, like many invoicing software solutions, the lower your price plan, the fewer invoices you can create, the premium version offers unlimited invoicing.
OneUp
OneUp is a cloud-based accounting and invoicing software for freelancers and small businesses. With OneUp you can:
- Create and send invoices
- Synchronization with your bank and automates 95% of your accounting.
- Built-in email system to put it directly in your customer’s inbox
With OneUp you can also create a quote, convert it into an invoice and send it to your client within minutes. OneUp offers a 30-day free trial and five payment options from $9-$169.
They really geared the higher price plan towards larger businesses, while the lower plan is a good option for sole freelancers.
Honeybook
Honeybook is a friendly and user-focused CRM for entrepreneurs and freelancers. Its main features allow you to:
- Create invoices
- Create proposals
- Create contracts
- Scheduling
- Online Payments
Honeybook offers a 30-day free trial, then the option of three payment plans, $9 or $39 a month for unlimited access. Alternatively, you can pay $390 for an annual plan.
On the outset, Honeybook has a very simple design, but it offers a pretty comprehensive invoicing solution and business management tool.
Honeybook's online payment system allows your business to accept credit card payments online and doesn't charge transaction fees.
The only downside is that it's a bit pricier than other similar tools, like Indy.
FAQ
What is the easiest invoice software?
The choice of invoice software really depends on your company’s workflow and accounting processes. In our opinion, Indy is the easiest software to use.
The dashboard is really user-friendly, and it offers a great range of resources, like the ability to send unlimited invoices, track payments and offers great project management tools for a small monthly subscription fee, so for us, Indy is the best invoicing software.
How do I make a simple invoice?
Making a simple invoice has never been easier for small business owners and freelancers. Simply choose which invoicing software you think will be the best for your business, set up an account, input your billables and send it straight to your clients. It can literally be done in minutes!
How do small businesses keep track of invoices?
Using invoice software allows you to keep track of all of your invoices in one place. Each of the software solutions mentioned above offers all-in-one invoicing.
There's no longer a need for paper invoices that lead to manual errors. With invoicing software, you can easily send invoices, track overdue invoices, send payment reminders and accept online payments.
What are invoices used for in a business?
Put simply, invoices are used in a business to make sure that your client can see what you have billed them for so that you can get paid. Keeping track of invoicing and having professional invoicing software allows you to easily keep track of invoices so that you never miss a payment.
What is the difference between billing and invoicing?
Similar to invoicing, bills outline how much someone owes a business for its services. However, invoices are more commonly used by a business or freelancer for referring to how much a client owes them, whereas the term bill is usually used by a customer to refer to how much they owe a supplier for its services or products.
