It doesn’t matter whether you run an online service-based business or you sell physical products. When you add in the accounting features, such as bank reconciliation on all plans, the inventory tracking on all plans and the number of integrations you can connect to Xero, it makes it a viable option for growing businesses that need more features for business management. To get project and expense tracking, you’ll have to upgrade to the highest-priced plan ($70 per month). Quotes also count against your 20 invoices per month count. The $13-per-month plan limits you to 20 invoices per month, but there’s no limit to the number of clients you have. Xero is first and foremost an accounting software, but its lower-priced plans give you enough of what a smaller business would need for an invoicing solution. You can only bill up to five clients, and you’re limited to 1,000 invoices per year, but you can track expenses and billable hours-all for free. Zoho Invoice is ideal for a solopreneur who manages only a few customers. Depending on which payment processors you use, you could get paid online, through bank transfers or in person (if you use Square to accept swiped credit card payments). This is the only cost associated with Zoho Invoice-you have to pay transaction fees any time you get paid through an invoice. To collect payments through Zoho Invoice, you’ll need to choose one or more payment gateways. There’s a built-in client portal to make it easy to communicate with your customers and get approval for billing. You can track projects and billable hours in the software, send estimates and create custom invoices from approved estimates or projects. Zoho Invoice is free billing software that includes many tools you may need to help you run a service-based business. Self-employed and small businesses that need easy-to-use invoicing software that includes accounting features in higher-end plans.

There are other payment gateways you can use and those each have their own transaction fees, including PayPal. You have the option to use FreshBooks Payments (by WePay), which charges you 2.9% plus $0.30 per online transaction. To accept payments by phone or to set up subscription-based invoicing, you’ll have to choose at least the Plus plan ($30 per month) and the Advanced Payments add-on ($20 per month), making this an expensive choice if you need more versatility in how you accept payments. Plans range from $17 to $55, and there’s a custom pricing plan that comes with lower transaction fees and removes the FreshBooks branding from emails. As your business grows, you can easily upgrade to a higher plan to allow for more clients and get more helpful features, such as unlimited proposals, bank reconciliation and accountant access. If you only need invoicing software to bill your clients, then a low-cost FreshBooks plan could be all you need, especially if you only have a handful of clients. If you’re unsure of what a feature does, you can easily find a definition or explanation in its help center. The interface is clean and easy to navigate, plus FreshBooks tends to use terminology that’s easy to understand, rather than verbiage known to accountants. Also, because it gives you the ability to accept payments from anywhere and integrates with other Square apps, it’s a viable option for all types of businesses-not just service-based companies (which are typically the types that use invoicing software).įreshBooks is one of the best billing software options thanks to its ease of use and scalability. Square Invoices is made for small businesses and it’s versatile and powerful enough to work well for growing businesses. Square’s other products integrate seamlessly, so you can use inventory management with invoices if you run a product-based business or use Square’s point-of-sale (POS) options to manage sales for an online, mobile or brick-and-mortar store. Paid plan users can add custom fields to invoices and they can set up milestone-based invoices for longer projects. If you ever need to take a payment over the phone, the transaction fee is 3.5% plus 15 cents.īoth plans for Square Invoices allow you an unlimited number of invoices, and you can schedule recurring invoices for regular clients. Whether you choose the free or paid plan, processing rates are the same: 2.9% plus 30 cents per online transaction, 2.6% plus 10 cents per in-person payment or 1% for an online bank transfer. Square’s products cover both types of businesses.

Service-based businesses tend to need an invoicing solution that lets them accept payments online, while product-based businesses may need to accept payment in person and require inventory management. Square Invoices offers a free or low-cost plan for online and in-person invoicing, making it one of the best billing software options for any small business.

Online invoice app