There is a common misconception among small business owners, is that software can be installed and applied to solve all your problems. Simply stated: this is not true and it’s time the myth was busted. A lot of “apps” can be installed and can even help to keep track of employee behavior for example, but often these apps/tools fall down in different areas. For this reason, we have compiled a list of the best software for invoices (for small businesses).
Here are the best tools for invoicing. They will do you great gain.
Tide
Tide’s modern financial platform for small businesses is full of features alongside a smart business bank account. Included with your Tide account, you’ll get free tools such as accounting software integration, auto-categories to simplify tracking income and expenditures, manage VAT and invoicing.
The all-in-one system makes it easy for you to manage your business finance admin through either a desktop or an app on your mobile phone. When it comes to invoicing, it’s incredibly simple to create and pay invoices from anywhere, anytime. Save customer details, add multiple line items, references, due date, and even tie the invoice to a specific category to keep your accounts organised.
For extra peace of mind, when you send an invoice through Tide, eligible members can add Invoice Protection to protect your business against non-payment (terms and conditions apply).
Pros:
- Easy to use
- Customise invoices with your logo
- Preview invoice and edit email message
- Categorise your spending and payments
- Integrates with accounting software
- Insure invoices with Invoice Protection from specialists Hokodo (eligible members only)
- Available on web, iOS and Android
Cons:
- Limited choice of invoice templates
- Charge to insure invoices with Invoice Protection
- Need a Tide business current account to use it
Cost:
- Free for Tide members on all membership plans
- Tide membership plan prices:
- If you’re setting up a new business, you can register your limited company with Companies House FREE of charge when you apply with Tide. Simply head over to Tide Company Formation.
Pro Tip: We are always working with our members to enhance our features to help business owners save time and money. For example, we recently launched invoice matching which makes matching payments to invoices and marking invoices as paid super quick and easy. We also teamed up with GoCardless to remove the stress and admin of following up on overdue invoices. Now, you can collect payments using Direct Debit, simplifying the invoicing process and making payments easier than ever. Open your business account with Tide today to get started 🚀
Kashoo
Currently used in more than 180 countries, Kashoo allows multicurrency invoicing and immediately shows you the exchange rate impact.
Pros:
- Integrates with several other applications, including FreshBooks for invoicing, Square for point-of-sale tracking, Stripe for credit card processing, and several payroll apps.
- Automatically pulls transactions from your bank feed and sorts them into the right expense categories. According to Kashoo, they connect to over 5,000 banks and credit unions.
- Supports over 100 global currencies with daily exchange rate downloads and multiple tax jurisdictions.
- Includes a check printing option.
- Supports project cost tracking.
- Allows you to customize the design and layout of invoices.
- Free support via email, phone, and chat. You can also schedule a 30-minute call to get help with setup.
Cons:
- You should be comfortable inputting financial transactions, reconciling your bank account, and have a basic grasp of bookkeeping terminology.
- Doesn’t allow automatic invoice reminders.
- No dashboard for visualizing key performance indicators (KPIs) and business performance.
- No app for Android users.
Pricing:
- TrulySmall Invoices. If all you need from your bookkeeping application is to create and send invoices, Kashoo offers TrulySmall Invoices. This free version provides customizable invoice templates for PDF, Word, and Excel. Then you can send and track invoices and collect payments via credit card or direct deposit.
- TrulySmall Accounting. This package costs $20 per month, and it’s a good option for very small businesses. With this version, you can send invoices, accept payments, track income and expenses, and create basic reports. However, it doesn’t integrate with payroll applications, so it isn’t a good option for businesses with employees.
- Kashoo. For $30 per month, Kashoo offers all the features of TrulySmall Accounting, plus multicurrency support, check printing, inventory tracking, project cost tracking, and payroll integrations.
Both TrulySmall Accounting and Kashoo offer a free 14-day trial so that you can try the application out for yourself.
Xero
With over two million users, Xero is one of the most popular small business accounting software solutions around. It’s invoicing software comes as part of its overall accounting package, so you’re not paying for solely invoicing capabilities. Rather, you get an all-in-all product that lets you create and send personalised invoices, track payments and monitor the overall financial state of your business from a single dashboard.
That could be a positive or negative depending on what you’re looking for. But if you need accounting features to run alongside your invoicing needs, the customisation, automation, integration and multiple payment options, along with the ability to access invoices on the move via a dedicated app, makes Xero a solid choice.
Xero is a well-established and award-winning product and with that comes excellent security and reliability. The company’s 24/7 support is also well-reviewed by users.
Pros:
- Fully customisable invoice templates
- User-friendly dashboard
- Two-step authentication to protect invoices from unauthorised changes
- Good accounting features
- Bulk invoicing
- 24/7 customer support
- iOS and Android mobile apps
Cons:
- Comes bundled with Xero’s accounting package
- No free plan
- No standalone invoice software option
- No customer support by phone
Cost:
- Starter: £10/mo
- Standard: £24/mo
- Premium: £30/mo
- Xero offers a 30-day free trial, no credit card required.
Pro Tip: Our integration with Xero makes it easy for you to feed transactions from your Tide account to Xero every two hours. It takes less than two minutes to set up, and the automatic transaction syncing means you’ll never have to worry about reconciling transactions again.
Harvest
Harvest offers time tracking with online invoicing as an added feature.
Pros:
- Time tracking app is available for both Android and iOS.
- Allows you to bill clients for time spent working or a flat fee per project, plus bill for mileage, travel expenses, and other costs.
- Includes team management features that allow you to see how people are spending their time.
- Integrates with a variety of other apps, including Asana, PayPal, Salesforce, and Slack.
Cons:
- Not suited to product-based business.
- Limited reporting capabilities.
- If you need more than a couple of users, the monthly cost is more expensive than many competitors for the services offered.
Pricing:
Harvest offers two monthly plans:
- Free. The free plan has no time limit, but it’s limited to one user (referred to as “seats” in Harvest) and two projects.
- Pro. For $12 per month, you get an unlimited number of projects. However, each additional user costs $12 per month, so if you needed to track time for you and two contractors, the monthly cost would be $36 per month.
Harvest offers a free 30-day trial, and you can get 10% off by paying annually rather than monthly.
Intuit QuickBooks
Intuit QuickBooks is one of the best known invoicing and accounting apps on the market and is trusted by over 4.5 million small businesses. The product is designed for small business owners and self-employed contractors and keeps everything from creating to tracking invoices simple. The software works seamlessly on desktop and mobile, syncing data across your devices and all the features we covered earlier are accessible from a well-developed user-interface.
QuickBooks is another of the full accounting packages, but it offers a good selection of pricing plans that are contract-free and can be cancelled at any time. For basic invoicing for one user, the ‘Simple Start’ plan is an affordable option. If you want to add multiple currencies, the ‘Essentials’ plan offers that, plus additional users and bills and payment management. Or if you’re looking for a full accounting package with features such as stock management and budgeting alongside invoicing, the ‘Plus’ plan covers all of your needs.
Pros:
- Designed for freelancers, contractors and small business owners
- Single dashboard for managing invoices
- Online and phone support
- Great templates with full customisation
- Auto-adjustments for exchange rate fluctuations
- iOS and Android apps
Cons:
- No free plan
- No standalone invoice software option
- User limitations on plans
Cost:
- Simple Start: £6/mo
- Essentials: £10/mo
- Plus: £15/mo
- QuickBooks offers a free 30-day trial, no credit card required
Note: These prices are for the first six months only. After six months, monthly payments increase by 50%.
Pro Tip: Our integration with QuickBooks allows you to sync transactions on demand, from up to two years ago, allowing you to get an easy-to-digest and up to date view of your finances, anytime. We built this integration via Open Banking technology, which is the fastest, most secure way to put you in control of your financial data.
FreeAgent
FreeAgent was crowned Small Business Accounting Software of the Year by Accounting Excellence in 2018 and is popular with freelancers and new business owners for its user experience and customer support. With FreeAgent’s invoicing software, you get a wide range of HMRC compliant templates that can be edited and sent in minutes, then tracked from a simple Invoice Timeline that uses colour-coding to indicate which invoices have been opened, paid or are overdue. Invoices can also be converted from quotes to save time when a price has previously been agreed.
As with the above software, invoicing comes as part of an overall accounting package, which may mean paying for things you don’t need. And price plans can be expensive. But if you’re looking for a single home for managing finances and sending invoices—via your phone or desktop—FreeAgent ticks all of the boxes.
Pros:
- UK-based
- Easy to use templates
- Good customisation including CSS editing
- Reporting and tracking features
- Online and phone support
- UK-based business
- iOS and Android apps
Cons:
- No free plan
- Price plans can be expensive
- No standalone invoice software option
Cost:
- Sole Trader: £9.50/mo + VAT
- Partnership: £12/mo + VAT
- Limited Company: £14.50/mo + VAT
- FreeAgent offers a 30-day free trial, no credit card required
Note: FreeAgent’s listed prices are for the first six months only. After six months, monthly payments increase by 50%.
Pro Tip: Our integration with FreeAgent allows you to set up an Open Banking feed that automatically syncs your transactions from Tide to FreeAgent. Once set up, new transactions from Tide will appear in your FreeAgent dashboard every day.
Conclusion
There are so many ways to invoice your clients and so many more ways to bill them without making the process too tedious. When invoicing, we often use Excel and even word files. But these can be quite time consuming and cumbersome. I’ve done them and they take a few hours at least.