- Thorough invoicing practices are critical to your revenue stream.
- Invoice apps can make your company's invoicing process less time-consuming.
- When searching for invoice apps, consider each app's integrations, features, ease of use and costs.
- This article is for business owners looking to streamline their invoicing and billing processes.
Invoicing can take up a huge chunk of a business owner's time. Invoicing apps make it easy to create, send and track invoices so you get paid faster. The best part is that they're accessible on mobile devices for on-the-go invoicing.
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Whether you are looking for a paid invoicing app with plenty of features, all-in-one accounting and invoicing software, or a free invoice generator that makes your small operation look more professional, there is an invoice app for you.
What to look for in a billing and invoicing app
Finding the right invoice app for your business can feel overwhelming, especially as new invoicing tools are added to the market or old ones are updated with new bells and whistles. Before you begin comparing options, consider what you want in a billing and invoicing app.
Integrations
Some apps can handle all your accounting needs, including invoicing and monitoring your cash flow. If you choose an app that is just for invoicing and billing, though, it should integrate with whatever accounting software you already use. Otherwise, you run the risk of making costly errors as you transfer information from one program to the other, and of losing time that could be spent on other parts of your business.
Features
More features do not automatically mean a better invoicing tool, especially if you end up paying for features you never use. However, you don't want to save money by sacrificing functions you genuinely need. If you pay for invoicing software, look for an app that includes these features:
- An invoice generator with customizable templates for professional branding
- An easy way to follow up on unpaid invoices
- Client profiles you can save, rather than manually entering data every time
- A way to store and send receipts for expenses that a client must reimburse
- Connectivity to multiple payment gateways
- Online invoicing
Ease of use
As a business owner, you want technology to streamline your tasks, not make them more complicated. You don't want to search for your client list every time you open the invoice generator or spend hours uploading receipts when you are sending a bill for reimbursement.
The invoicing software you have used in the past and your familiarity with new technology will influence how complex these apps feel. Play around with a few to find one that feels easy and intuitive to use.
You should also look for an app that is easy to use on your mobile device as well as via web browser to make invoicing on the go simple. Make sure you have easy access to customer support in case you have questions down the road.
Cost
Budget is always a concern for business owners, especially those just starting out. Luckily, there are invoice apps available in multiple price ranges, including several that are free to use. Many paid options offer a free trial, allowing you to test the software before committing to a monthly or yearly plan.
For many invoicing apps, the structure of your business will affect the ultimate cost. Some apps charge a flat fee for use, while others charge by the number of invoices you send per month or the number of client profiles you store. Your billing history can help you determine which invoice app is the best fit for your business's budget.
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Invoice apps to consider for your business
Square Invoices
The Square Invoices app is an invoice generator that manages billing and payments through your mobile device. It allows you to create custom and recurring invoices, track payments, and generate payment reminders. It also includes analytics and accepts various payment methods, making it easy for you to maintain your cash flow.
With Square Invoices, both the invoicing and credit card processing software are free to use. Every time a client pays you, Square charges a flat fee plus a small percentage of the transaction.
Invoice2go
Invoice2go is a mobile and web invoicing app designed for micro- and small businesses. It offers customizable templates so you don't have to start from scratch. It also saves pricing, customer information, and other data to autopopulate required fields.
Invoice2go allows you to see when a client opens an invoice, set up automatic payment reminders, and create financial reports for any unpaid invoices. The service offers four plans at different price points (starting at $3 per month, billed annually) based on your number of account users, how many clients you store, and how many invoices you send per month. All four plans allow you to accept payments via credit card, debit card or PayPal.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online allows you to create invoices and receive payments quickly, while keeping your invoicing and accounting software completely connected. It uses what the company calls "smart invoices," which alert you when customers have viewed and paid their invoices. Payment options include credit cards, debit cards and free ACH bank transfers.
QuickBooks offers some great timesaving features, such as autofill based on your past invoices, recurring invoices and payments, payment reminders, and conversion of estimates to payable invoices. QuickBooks does have a mobile app, though it does not include all the features of the web application. QuickBooks plans are priced per month (starting at $12.50) based on the size of your business, the level of customer support you choose, and access to additional features such as inventory tracking and financial analysis.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is an all-in-one invoicing solution for small businesses. Its customizable templates allow you to add your logo and change fonts and colors to fit your brand. FreshBooks makes it easier to get paid, with features like credit card payments, invoice tracking, flat-fee PayPal transactions, and fast deposits to your business bank account. It also has several automation features to save time, such as recurring invoices, payment reminders, late fees, discounts and tax calculations.
FreshBooks' many other features include time and expense tracking, project management, reports, and customer relationship management. As part of the FreshBooks cloud accounting system, plans are billed monthly (starting at $4.50) based on the number of active clients in your account.
[See: Best Expense Tracker Apps for your Smartphone]
Billdu
With Billdu, you can create invoices and send them in seconds, and customers can instantly make payments by clicking the "pay now" button straight from the invoice. Billdu also lets you create estimates and purchase orders, track inventory and expenses, manage expenses and receipts, and export files into PDF, XLS, CSV and other formats.
Billdu has a handy offline mode, which lets you access invoices and other data without an internet connection. It offers three different packages, which are billed monthly based on the number of invoices you want to send per year and how many users you want on your account, starting at $1.99 a month.
Zoho Invoice
Zoho, perhaps best known for its cloud-based CRM software, also offers an invoice platform that lets you automate and schedule the delivery of branded invoices to your clients. The user-friendly software allows the addition of line items, taxes and more to your invoices. It also offers the option for Zoho's team to send your clients paper invoices by postal mail.
Zoho is free if you have five clients or fewer. Otherwise, plans start at $9 a month. Processing fees may vary, since client payments you receive through Zoho might be processed through several third-party apps.
Invoicely
Through Invoicely, you can deliver invoices to your clients, accept your vendors' invoices, manage your expenses and business activity, and more. It allows for branded invoices and online payments, though these features are limited if you use Invoicely's free tier.
Beyond the free tier, plans start at $9.99 a month. The free tier only allows online payment via PayPal, so PayPal sets your processing fees on this plan. Your processing fees will vary on the other plans.
Bill.com
Bill.com is an invoice app that details the progress of all your invoices – sent, approved, pending and more. The Bill.com user experience tends to be best when your clients also sign up for it, and registering an account takes just minutes. With their own accounts, your clients can stay atop of their payment deadlines, and you can be alerted when payments are processed.
Bill.com's plans start at $39 a month. Its electronic payment and ACH processing fees are 49 cents per transaction, and Level 3 merchant fee processing rates are available for credit card payments.
What is the best free invoice app?
For businesses that are just starting out or need to keep expenses as low as possible, free invoice apps are available. Though these apps cover the basics of generating and sending professional invoices, they generally don't include as many features as paid apps.
InvoiceNinja
InvoiceNinja is an open-source cloud and mobile app that allows you to create, send, and manage invoices. It includes time tracking, custom invoice creation, expense tracking and proposal generation. You can accept mobile or online payments with InvoiceNinja. It supports more than 40 payment gateways, including Stripe, WePay and Checkout.com.
The Forever Free plan allows you to send an unlimited number of invoices and store up to 100 clients. It includes a limited number of invoice templates, all of which are branded as "created by InvoiceNinja." Paid plans remove this branding and offer additional features.
Invoice by Wave
Invoice by Wave is a free invoicing app designed to create invoices of professional quality. You can choose from a wide range of templates and personalize them with your logo and company colors. Other layout options include custom columns and drag-and-drop line items. If you do not want to create a Wave account, you can use the online Wave invoice generator.
You can send invoices from the Wave app, Gmail, or Outlook, then track them to see if they have been viewed and paid. You can also set up custom payment terms, create payment reminders, manage your accounting and upload receipts. The Payments by Wave add-on allows you to accept online payments from either credit cards or bank transfers, but this feature carries a transaction fee.
Max Freedman and Sara Angeles contributed to the reporting and writing in this article.