The invoicing process can become more time-consuming as your business grows due to more significant volumes of sales and clients.
Fortunately, invoicing software can help your business automate invoicing and collect payments too.
In this article, we’ll compare the 11 best invoicing software based on their features, customer reviews, and pricing. We’ll also discuss what to look for in an invoicing software solution.
Let’s get started.
11 best invoicing software for businesses
Invoicing software can help businesses make and send invoices with details of products or services purchased by the client and the amount payable in exchange.
Some invoicing software also allows you to track and collect payments.
Here are 11 software options that can meet your invoicing needs:
1. PayPal Invoicing
PayPal is a well-known online payment system, often used in e-commerce to send and receive money.
It allows you to create and download invoices even without a PayPal account. You’ll have to create a PayPal business account to receive payments.
Key features
- Create professional invoices, recurring invoices, and templates.
- Choose a business logo, due date, and currency for invoices.
- Track invoice payment statuses.
- Accept PayPal or debit/ credit card payment, paid into your PayPal wallet.
Pricing
PayPal doesn’t charge a monthly fee but charges processing fees on each transaction. The fees range from 1.9% to 3.5%, plus a fixed fee based on the currency received.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4.4 (60+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (370+ reviews)
2. Freshbooks
Freshbooks is an all-in-one accounting and bookkeeping tool with powerful invoicing functionalities.
In addition to offering an invoicing solution, Freshbooks also integrates with many payroll, inventory, and e-commerce software.
Key features
- Create unlimited customizable invoices and automatic recurring invoices.
- Send automatic payment reminders.
- Get notifications when a client views or pays an invoice.
- Accept credit card or Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments (ACH payments are available for the USA only).
Pricing
Freshbooks offers a free 30-day trial of all its features. Paid plains start at $15/month for up to five clients. You’ll need the Premium plan at $50/month to invoice unlimited clients.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (460+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (3,600+ reviews)
3. Zoho Invoice
Zoho Invoice is one of the best free invoicing software solutions out there. It’s part of the Zoho suite of apps, which includes software like Zoho Books, Zoho Desk, and Zoho CRM.
Some Zoho apps are paid products, but Zoho Invoices is a separate free invoicing software solution.
Key features
- Track time, log expenses, create cost estimates and incorporate these in an invoice.
- Change the currency and language of invoices within the invoicing tool.
- Create, send, and manage invoices using the dedicated mobile apps (Android and iOS).
- Provide clients with a secure portal for viewing their estimates, receipts, and payment history.
Pricing
Zoho Invoice is free to use.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (170+ Reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (320+ Reviews)
4. Invoice2go
Invoice2go is an online invoice software provider. The tool is designed for mobile devices (Android and iOS) and is also available as a cloud-based desktop app.
This is a dedicated and simple invoicing app that a business owner may find easy to learn and use.
Key features
- Create branded invoices from an invoice template.
- Send invoices via SMS, email, WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger, and accept payments through Stripe.
- Send automatic overdue invoice alerts and automatically collect late fees.
- Allow clients to approve invoices and send deposits.
Pricing
Invoice2Go offers a free 30-day trial. Its paid plans start at $5.99/month for two invoices a month.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (80+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (170+ reviews)
5. QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online, by Intuit, is an accounting solution with invoicing capabilities. It also has powerful capabilities for collecting and organizing data and producing reports.
Key features
- Create and send customized and recurring invoices.
- Create similar invoices to send to multiple customers.
- Track billable hours and add them to invoices.
- Allow clients to make recurring payments, such as for subscriptions.
Pricing
QuickBooks Online offers a 30-day free trial of all its features. Paid plans start at $25/month.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4/5 (2,800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (4,800+ reviews)
6. Xero
Xero is an online invoicing and accounting software solution. Thanks to its impressive range of features, it has a good reputation among medium and small business owners.
Key features
- Create invoices from professional invoice templates.
- Embed a Pay Now button and receive payments through debit card, credit card, or PayPal.
- Send automatic payment reminders and monitor payment status.
- Avoid financial fraud using two-factor authentication and multiple-approval security features.
Pricing
Xero allows you to try all its features in a 30-day free trial. Its paid plans start at $22/month for up to 20 invoices a month.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (460+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.3/5 (2,000+ reviews)
7. Square Invoice
Square Invoice is a dedicated lightweight invoicing tool with inventory management for product-based businesses.
Key features
- Conduct unlimited invoicing by customizing one template.
- Track inventory and sales based on invoices sent.
- Set up recurring invoices, recurring billing, and automatic payment reminders.
- Accept payments and deposits with Google Pay, Apple Pay, or credit card payments.
Pricing
Square Invoice offers a free plan with limited features. Its paid plans start at $20/month plus payment processing fees for each payment transaction.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (100+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (60+ reviews)
8. Sage Business Cloud Accounting
Sage Business Cloud Accounting is a cloud-based accounting, invoicing, and billing software solution. It can also generate several comprehensive accounting reports.
Key features
- Create and send unlimited invoices and project estimates.
- View a detailed dashboard showing late payments, sales data, and cash flow.
- Access automatic expense tracking.
- Access 24/7 customer support.
Pricing
Sage Business Cloud Accounting offers a one-month free trial. Paid plans start at $10/month.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (50+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.1/5 (190+ reviews)
9. Moon Invoice
Moon Invoice is a simple invoicing software solution with basic time tracking features. It’s suitable for a small business or startup to send invoices and receive payment.
Key features:
- Use over 60 customizable invoice templates.
- Preview, edit, and customize invoices before sending.
- Convert payment estimates into invoices.
- Embed a clickable Pay Now button and receive payments through 20+ payment gateway integrations, including Stripe, Venmo, and PayPal.
Pricing
Moon Invoice offers a 7-day free trial of all its features. Its personal plan is priced at $7.49/month and would be suitable for self-employed freelancers.
Customer reviews
- G2: N/A
- Capterra: 4.4 (50+ reviews)
10. BQE CORE
BQE CORE is a combined accounting and project management solution with an invoicing feature.
Businesses can use the many features of BQE CORE and access great invoicing automations.
Key features
- Create custom invoices from 20 template options.
- Set up automatic or recurring invoice schedules.
- Allow clients to approve invoices and pay via ePayments.
- Manage invoicing on the CORE mobile app.
Pricing
BQE CORE offers a free trial. Its pricing is available on request.
Customer review
- G2: 4.4/5 (120+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (520+ reviews)
11. Stripe
Stripe is an online payment service that allows you to accept wire transfer payments securely. The online software service also has invoicing capabilities.
Stripe is available in 47 countries.
Key features
- Create online invoices customized with your branding and populate them with new or pre-saved customer information.
- Accept payment via bank transfer, Apple Pay, or Google Pay and automatically collect sales tax.
- Schedule funds to automatically transfer from Stripe to your bank account.
- Automatically recognizes which invoice was paid based on the payment.
Pricing
Stripe doesn’t charge a monthly fee for up to $1 million in sales. It charges a processing fee of 2.9% + 30 cents on each transaction.
Customer reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (60+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (40+ reviews)
Every invoicing tool on this list offers excellent features that fit businesses of all sizes. However, without the correct data on your employees’ time usage, you may end up generating incorrect invoices.
Moreover, the wrong time usage data can also cause errors in how much you charge your clients for billable hours.
So what tool can make the correct time tracking supplement to your chosen invoicing software?
Let’s now look at an excellent time tracking tool you can use in the invoicing process.
Time Doctor: The best app to track time for invoicing
Time Doctor is a powerful time tracking and performance management tool.
It’s used by large businesses like Better Business Bureau and Ericsson, as well as small businesses like Thrive Market, to boost productivity.
Time Doctor can accurately track time spent working on specific projects or tasks and assess productivity.
Key features
Here are some of Time Doctor’s main features:
A. Accurate tracking of billable hours
Time Doctor enables your employees to track their billable hours, which are those spent working on client-related projects. You can set hourly billable rates for each employee.
The tool supports interactive and silent time tracking options, both of which can accurately track your employees’ work hours.
The interactive setting allows employees to track their time manually by starting and stopping a timer. The tool will only collect activity data when the timer is running.
The silent mode automatically tracks time while employees are using their devices and logs time in an automated timesheet. This can help prevent inaccuracies caused by employees forgetting to stop or start their timers. It also minimizes disruptions to employee workflows.
Time Doctor can track time for specific clients, projects, and tasks. It also provides clients with details of employee activity and productivity for increased transparency.
B. Payroll integrations
Time Doctor allows you to convert billable hours into payroll and automatically pay employees using PayPal, Wise, Gusto, and ADP.
You can customize the payroll in the following ways:
- Setting the payment period and currency.
- Using automated timesheets for bulk billing.
Choosing to pay employees an hourly rate or a monthly salary.
C. Idle time detection
Time Doctor can detect inactivity based on keyboard and mouse usage and calculate your company’s non-billable hours.
The app keeps a record of the percentage of time each employee spends idle in a given period. These calculations can help determine your team’s productivity.
You can also implement an idle time limit which activates a pop-up whenever an employee is idle for too long. The app automatically stops the timer if the employee doesn’t interact.
Note: Time Doctor isn’t a keylogger and doesn’t record any details of employee activity. It only detects if they have pressed a key or clicked the mouse.
D. Detailed productivity reports
Time Doctor generates several powerful time and productivity reports to give business owners and their clients insights into employee time usage.
These reports include:
- Activity reports: Shows each team member’s amount of time spent active, idle, or unproductive.
- Attendance reports: Relay when employees were absent, present, or late.
- Hours reports: Displays the total hours tracked in a day or selected period.
- Projects & tasks reports: Gives the time tracked for specific projects and tasks.
- Timeline reports: Provides a real-time visual breakdown of employees’ workdays.
- Web and app usage reports: Shows time tracked on websites and applications employees access.
- Custom exports: Allows you to create a custom report to suit your business needs and export it in PDF or CSV format.
E. Secure client login access
Time Doctor allows your clients to view their projects on a client portal with your business’s branding. Clients will only see reports and screenshots for their projects, not for all your company’s clients.
This feature can help clients trust your services and billings.
Here are some of Time Doctor’s other useful features:
- Track time for specific clients, projects, and tasks.
- Track time online and offline.
- Customize the productivity ratings of websites and apps for specific team members.
- View optional screenshots and screencasts of employees’ devices.
- View a dashboard showing time and activity summaries.
- Use Time Doctor on desktop (for Windows, macOS, and Linux) or mobile (for Android).
- Use the timer with 50+ apps via the Time Doctor Chrome extension.
- Enjoy robust privacy and security policies that protect your data.
Pricing
You can try all of Time Doctor’s features for 14 days for free with no credit card information required. Pricing for Time Doctor starts at $7/user per month.
Wrapping up
If you’re looking for an invoicing software solution, you can use this comparison guide to make an informed decision.
But Time Doctor is an excellent option if you’re interested in accurately tracking time for precise invoicing.
The tool allows your clients to see billable hours, activity, and productivity throughout a project. You can use this information to create an invoice the client will be satisfied with. It also offers payment integrations to send and receive payments.
You can try Time Doctor’s free 14-day trial today.
