Many businesses owners & managers often complain about how to create and send invoices. Some owners and managers hire an employee whose sole function is to develop invoices, print them, and mail/ship them out via post office. This can be very costly, especially if they are paying someone to do the paperwork. That’s not all, many freelancer service providers provide their service on different basis – either on time or project basis. You would need to bill each client with unequal charges. This becomes hard for you since all projects may not charge same amount of time, materials or both. Therefore invoice automation is a must-have tool for most business owners & managers in order to keep the overall costs down while still performing efficient business activities.”
Need for a best billing software? There are many kinds of billing systems suited to small business. This article is an attempt to present a brief look at a few free and easy-to-use products in the invoicing software market.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is best for small businesses seeking an all-in-one invoicing and bookkeeping solution.
Freelancers and small business owners that want an invoicing software with bookkeeping options should look no further than FreshBooks. FreshBooks launched in 2003, but the company rebranded in 2017. The new version of FreshBooks offers lots of great accounting features, including double-entry accounting, journal entries, and bank reconciliation. If that’s more than you need, don’t worry — the smallest FreshBooks plan just focuses on invoicing. This software is a great choice for businesses that need basic bookkeeping and accounting functions but is not suitable for businesses that have more complex accounting needs.
With FreshBooks, you can send unlimited invoices and estimates to your customers. You’ll also be able to complete other tasks critical to your business, including time management, expense management, and project management tools. Depending on the plan you select, you may also be able to use features, such as bank reconciliation, reports, journal entries, and proposals. Customer service is excellent, and FreshBooks has received mostly positive reviews from its users.
It’s obvious why over 10 million customers have chosen FreshBooks as an invoicing solution. So what’s the catch? Businesses with multiple users won’t find what they need here, as each plan only supports one user. If you have multiple businesses, another software will be a better fit, as FreshBooks doesn’t offer support for more than one business. While there are numerous integrations, FreshBooks only has two payment gateways.
Wave
Wave is the best free invoice software for all-in-one invoicing for small businesses. This invoice software allows you to keep track of your payments, bills, and expenses. You can design a professional invoice template to give your business an edge. With Wave, you can create and send invoices to customers in just seconds, set up recurring billing for repeat customers, accept payments online, view customer transaction history, get cash flow insights, and more!
Paypal
Paypal is a mobile-friendly free invoice software. You can create and send invoices in just minutes on any digital device, save online invoice templates for quick entry, and automate payment reminders. Paypal is also known as a payment gateway that processes card and bank payments and accepts payments from clients around the world. With a lot of uncomplicated tools to use, sending a professional invoice is easy with Paypal. This free mobile app for invoicing has been around for more than 20 years!
Invoice2go
Invoice2go is best for creating and sending invoices through mobile devices.
If you’re one of the people that prefers using your smartphone to conduct business, Invoice2go can help simplify sending invoices and getting paid by your customers.
Invoice2go features strong Android and iPhone apps that make it easier than ever to create customized professional invoices on the go. Setting up and using the software is simple, allowing you to send your first invoice in just minutes. Invoice2go offers additional features as well, such as expense tracking, invoice templates, estimates, time tracking, and purchase order management. You can send invoices in a variety of ways, including SMS and mobile apps. Cloud-based desktop software is also available if you prefer to go that route.
On the downside, though, Invoice2go — as the name implies — focuses primarily on invoicing. If you need more advanced bookkeeping and accounting features, another option will better suit your needs. If you don’t primarily use your mobile device for business purposes, Invoice2go likely won’t be a good fit for your business.
Zoho Invoice
Zoho Invoice is best overall invoicing software for small businesses. Ideal for businesses needing strong features, great invoicing automations, and international invoicing.
Zoho Invoice has grown to become one of the most popular invoicing options on the market today. This free (yes, free!), cloud-based software offers features ideal for small- to medium-sized businesses.
In addition to boasting such features as customizable templates and support for multiple languages, Zoho Invoice goes beyond merely invoicing. Through this program, you can create estimates, track time and expenses, manage contacts, and create and manage projects. Zoho Invoice also has a very user-friendly interface and excellent customer support. It should come as no surprise that Zoho Invoice has gotten overall favorable reviews from its users.
There are, however, a few drawbacks, although these are minimal. If you need an extensive inventory tracking system, look elsewhere, as Zoho Invoice only has a basic item list available. This software also falls a little short in terms of integrations, although that number is on the rise. At this time, Zoho Invoice has ten payment gateways and 14 integrations. For most businesses, though, this shouldn’t pose a problem, and the many positive aspects of this software overshadow the few negatives.
Nutcache
Perfect for small businesses, Nutcache is invoicing and project tracking software combined. You can create, customize, and monitor unlimited invoices, invoice your project, track delayed payments, and get paid faster. If you have a recurring invoice, simply automate it to get paid on time. Their free plan includes a maximum of 20 users and 1 GB of storage.
Invoicera
Invoicera is an online invoicing and billing software that can be customized as per your small business needs. This cloud-based free invoicing software automates your invoices so you can focus on other important tasks of your business. You can send payment reminders, manage your vendors, customize invoice layouts to make them look more professional, and manage remote teams with centralized data management.
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is free invoicing software that lets you get paid faster. This all-in-one business and banking solution auto-fills invoices with customer information and schedules invoices in advance. You can create, send, and track invoices from any digital device without a hassle. You can even connect Quickbooks to your bank to check daily transactions. If you are in the retail business, this free billing software is perfect for you.
Brightbook
Brightbook is a completely free invoicing software that makes invoicing extremely easy. It doubles as accounting software that gives you instant insights and lets you import banking statements to check your daily transactions. Brightbook has a multi-user feature that provides selective access for extra safety and privacy.
Invoice Generator
If you don’t have too many invoices to send, Invoice Generator is perfect for you. You can create and send invoices to clients and accept payments online without having to create an account and log in to this invoice software. All you need to do is type in your invoice information, put your logo, and opt to showcase tax, shipping, and discount costs. You can even add links to various payment options.
Square
Square Invoices is best for product-based small businesses that want an easy way to send invoices on the go.
Square has become known for its payment processing services, but in 2014, the company added Square Invoices to the Square Dashboard. When you sign up for a Square account, you automatically have access to Square Invoices as well as other tools for your small business. One of the best things about Square Invoices is that it’s completely free to send invoices to your customers.
Square Invoices is very easy to use and has a well-organized interface. There is just one template for invoices, but it can be customized by changing the colors and adding your logo. Square Invoices is the perfect software for busy entrepreneurs, making it easy to send invoices right from your smartphone or another connected device. In addition to mobile invoicing, Square Invoices has other tools to help you operate and grow your business, such as estimates, contact management, employee management, advanced inventory features, and sales tracking. You can even create contracts and easily attach them to your invoices.
Square Invoices is best for small- and medium-sized product-based businesses. Because of a lack of project management features and advanced invoicing capabilities, it’s not a good fit for service-based or project-based businesses.
Bill.com
Bill.com is best for businesses that want a simple, no-fuss solution for managing bills and invoices.
Need a hassle-free way to simplify bills and invoices? If this sounds familiar, Bill.com may be the right solution for your business. Since 2006, Bill.com has streamlined the process of paying your bills and invoicing your customers. With this software, you can take control of your accounts payable by reviewing and approving bills from any device, sending domestic and international payments to vendors and suppliers, and storing invoices, checks, and receipts.
But that’s not all that Bill.com offers. You can also manage your accounts receivable through this software. With Bill.com, getting paid is faster and easier with features that include automated invoices, automated reminders, contact management, and direct payments with ACH, credit card, or PayPal. Bill.com syncs with your accounting software, simplifying the process of reconciling your bank accounts and keeping your books balanced. There are also some features you won’t find with most other invoicing software, such as a customizable chart of accounts.
This software is best for medium- to large-sized businesses that want a more streamlined way to send invoices and pay bills. Small businesses may also benefit if they have a large number of payments and/or invoices. While this software can be a bit pricey, it’s a fraction of the cost of hiring an employee to handle these tasks. However, keep in mind that if you only want invoicing software and have your accounts payable under control, there are more affordable invoicing software options out there.
Conclusion
If you are a one-man business or even a small team, then you might still find that manually creating invoices takes up too much of your time. In that case, it would be beneficial for you to find software that can help. Not only can it save time, but it can save paper, which means the environment will thank you as well.