Here are 30 small business online invoicing software applications to help you manage sending your customer bills out — and do it with less labor and at a reasonable cost. I’ve focused on apps with a North American (mainly U.S.) focus, in alphabetical order:
AcceptPay [1] is a new electronic invoicing service from American Express. It offers a free option for one user called AcceptPay Lite that allows you to email 10 invoices per month and maintain an unlimited number of customers in your account. The full version AcceptPay is $20/month and integrates with QuickBooks, accepts online payments, ACH, and eChecks. I was impressed to see American Express entering this marketplace and putting some of their muscle into an online invoicing and billing solution. (Note: American Express is a sponsor of this site.)
Ballpark [2] is an online invoicing service that believes the key component of any customer relationship revolves around communication. So, their dashboard tracks the back and forth dialogue between you, your customer, and your team. They offer a free personal plan and the small biz plans start at $6/month.
BambooInvoice [3] is a free open source invoicing software for small business and independent contractor types. You load it on your own servers; it is not hosted like most of the others listed here. It offers a good online support forum as well. This is the only open source application I’ve seen in this space and it is one to watch for that reason.
BillingBoss [4] is a completely free online invoicing tool aimed at both freelancers and small business. It is owned and sponsored by Sage Software (owner of SageCRM, Peachtree and many other apps) and is both an outreach by them to serve the small biz owner and a very soft plug for their other products (which doesn’t diminish its functionality and value, in my book). A really cool thing is you can use your existing merchant account with their Payment Plus option for $5/month. Again, the main invoicing tool is free.
BillingOrchard [5] offers a highly recommended Auto-Invoicing feature that customers often talk about, so their solution is ideal for those with recurring billing needs. They offer a 15-day free trial and then a lite version at $9.95/month and $14.95 for standard. When you use the auto-invoice features, there is an additional cost per month, by number of transactions.
Blinksale [6] targets small businesses and creative professionals who want to send well-formatted invoices easily. Their lowest price plan starts at $6 for 6 invoices a month, but you can have as many customers in the system as you want. It offers a free 30 day trial and integrates with Basecamp (the well known project management service).
CannyBill [7] is a web-based billing and invoicing solution aimed at web designers or professionals, although it certainly has the features that most small business owners will want. It offers a fully functional free account with up to 10 invoices per month. Pricing ranges up to $48/month at the enterprise level.
Cashboard [8] is a free financial time tracking service that lets you invoice, send estimates and accept payments online. They were quick to create desktop widgets for Mac and Windows as well as the
CurdBee [9] is online billing software for small business and freelancers. It offers a robust free level with unlimited invoicing and customers. It allows you to accept Paypal and Google Checkout, too. However, the free level invoices include a Curdbee logo, which seems fairly low key. Curdbee Premium level is only $5 a month and lets you remove the Curdbee logo from emails and invoices. The development team clearly thought about the customer with a demo that lets you take an in-depth look at the online invoicing service without even a trial. I give them a thumbs up for making it painless to learn more and for keeping it fast to make a decision.
Endeve [10] positions itself as an invoice management service. It offers a forever free plan with an unlimited number of invoices and customers. The Professional Plan is $20/month and allows you to create Pay Now buttons with Paypal, customize your invoice layouts, and manage your expenses.
Enliven Software [11] is for the larger small businesses out there. It is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics GP, Peachtree, and QuickBooks and automates accounts receivable and accounts payable processes for vendors and for customers. There was no pricing information available.
Freelance Total [12] is online invoicing meets project management. Their web-based software allows you to take a client-centric approach to invoices as you manage the project. Plans start at $4.95 a month. It doesn’t say how long a free trial is, but it doesn’t collect billing information at signup.
Freshbooks [13] is considered by many to be the market leader in Web-based online invoicing. It offers the standard features you’d expect, plus time tracking and the ability to manage subcontractors who are also working on your project. They integrate with other accounting and project management systems such as QuickBooks and Basecamp. They offer a fully free plan (some limitations) up to $149/month. I have personally used Freshbooks and have found their service was elegant and easy to use. They have thought (for a long time) about their customers’ needs.
Invoice Journal [14] is completely free. It doesn’t offer any pricing info and suggests it will be free forever.
The Invoice Machine [15] is an elegant application. You can do all the standard online invoicing functions, but in the tour, I was impressed with the flexibility. You can add line items in your invoice manually or from the project time tracking tool with a few clicks. You can create an HTML email invoice or attach one as a PDF. They offer an always free plan up to $48/month.
InvoiceMore [16] is an online billing and invoicing solution for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and businesses. It offers multiple features so that you can create, download, store, backup, print, and email PDF invoices to clients. You can track overdue balances. They offer a free plan all the way up to $99/month.
InvoicePlace [17] is an easy online invoicing service. One of the things that caught my eye was the simple offer of showing a completed sample invoice, in what looks like a Microsoft Word document. The tour explains the many features well. Free plan up to $20/month.
Invoicera [18] offers invoices, estimates, and client reporting that you can use to track by specific product or service. You can add team members to a client and track their invoicing as well. Free plans, up to $149/month.
Invoices Made Easy [19] offers an online invoicing service exclusively for small service-oriented trades. From landscapers to consultants, they offer the standard online invoicing options, but they also have an “EasyMail” service which will send your invoice via postal mail. Free 30 day trial, then $9.95/month.
Invotrak [20] is both an online invoicing and timesheet tracker. They offer good reporting tools as well as
LiteAccounting [21] offers four simple plans from free up to $18/month. The dashboard shows three boxes front and center to keep you focused: Products/Services, Customers, and Invoices. They have a nice demo which answers most questions so you can decide without all the signup hassles.
Nett30 [22] provides an online service for small businesses and contractors who need to make invoicing quick and user friendly. You can view real-time account summaries at any time. Send invoices as PDF, e-mail or have clients access them online. They have four plans: All unlimited. Free includes 5 clients up to Business Pro for $ 39 per month.
PaySimple [23] is another market leader and focused on recurring online payments, including invoicing. They come at online payments with a Merchant Account background, so their service is oriented at credit card payments, ACH, eChecks, and online payment forms. They have a free setup (usually $129) and $34.95/month, then transaction fees. If you need the combination of merchant account and all the other pieces that you’ve read about here, they are worth a look.
Ronin [24] is simple online invoicing product for freelancers all the way up to larger small businesses. Clients can log in to get their invoices or you can email them. You can try it out free without any worries of a time limit, but the free version is branded as powered by Ronin. After Free, plans range from $15/month up to $48/month.
SantexQ [25] is a project management and time tracking tool that also lets you bill clients directly from the service. It offers web-based reporting, but also lets you export to Excel for customizing reports as you like. For a single user it is free, but limited, then only $9.95 per month for unlimited users.
Sbzone.com [26] is a comprehensive online application suite combining sales, customer management, and accounting functions in one place. It offers a 30 day free trial and two plans: Limited Free plan and a $39.99/month.
Simplybill [27] offers a clean interface and design to make the online invoicing process easy. The dashboard offers three tabs: Invoices, Quotes, and Clients. They offer the ability to keep in contact with your customers via reminders and thank you notes. There is the standard 30-day free trial, then $5/month up to $25/month. They have received excellent reviews and are worth a look.
Simplifythis [28] is more than an online invoicing application. It starts with helping you book your appointments online and ties that data into the billing tool. It offers two services that start at $9/month: EasyBill and EasyBook. No credit card required for free 30 day trial. What I liked most about this service was that they have captured the attention of busy small biz owners who know something about technology or were not at all computer-savvy and still love the service. They have done of good job of making it useful for a range of skillsets and that’s not easy to do.
Simply Invoices [29] follows their own name in concept for explaining what they do; they keep it simple. You can wrap your head around how they do things with a five step screenshot tour they offer, on one page. They offer a completely free plan up to $25/month.
Winkbill [30] offers a robust online invoicing app at the free level all the way up to their platinum plan for $39.95/month. You can put your own logo on invoices with the free plan, but you can’t send them as a PDF. Loads of eye-catching templates you can use, too.
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