7 Online Invoicing Apps for Freelancers

I use SideJobTrack and it works for me. Nothing fancy but it’s free and all I really need it for is invoicing.

BTW the link to SideJobTrack is wrong. It should go to http://www.sidejobtrack.com/

No love for Invoice Journal…gee! Tack it on the list of 100% free ones.
http://www.invoicejournal.com

I’m a happy Fresh Books customer. It sends out email notifications to customers when an invoice is due or 30 days late or when payment is received. It’s nice to check the time tracking data at the end of a project to ensure I’m estimating properly. The product is really solid.

Heck, the CEO even called me up out of the blue one day and took me and a few other customers out to dinner when he was in town. He listens to customers and has lots of ideas and insight which makes it easy for me to recommend them.

sadly sidejobtrack wont allow new user registrations so its not really worth looking into
But I do appreciate this post because I was looking for online invoice apps and now I have a list to look at and see which one fits my needs

P.S Another online invoice App to add is invoicejournal.com , its completely free and it works great for freelancers on a budget

Thanks, this is perfect. I have been looking for an invoicing program for a while now.

You can check out AJAXinvoice.com. It is a self hosted solutions, but flexible. I developed it for myself as an independent technology consultant. Works pretty good for my needs

Nice list, I’ve used a few of these myself.

Thanks for the mention Collis!

Freshbooks also integrates with Basecamp.

what do you guys use for your design company? thats not online?

reason i ask, i want a app that i can design my own invoices and quotes and use
it in the program.

like design them in illustrator or what ever and use it…

I use AcuInvoice.

chris,

do you have to pay for it?

and im not looking for anything online…

Thanks Benek, I’ve fixed that SJT link!

Tim,

i think you should use simpleinvoice or if you have budget for a very nice application to manage your business from start to end (accounting) then go for QuickBooks.

if you’re on a mac, MacFreelance. They have a free trial.

wow that was so nice, great job posting this one.

This is a great post. I’ll be checking out most of these online apps this week-end. However, I was hoping more experienced users could give me a hint which of these apps can do the following:

- create both invoices and estimates (or quotes)
- i need to be able to design the lay-out of my estimates/invoices myself. preferably through html/css.
- invoices/estimates in dutch, and perhaps an english template possibility as well (for foreign customers)

Thanks!

@ Tim
If you’re a Mac user, look at Billings. You can totally customize your invoices. It’s 59 USD.

Veerle Pieters wrote a post about it, sometimes ago.

No, I have the free account, and get 100 free invoices a month.

Thank you for this list. As a Virtual Assistant I use a lot of online Apps and these are new to me so I’ll be checking into them.

can anyone else guide me with what to get?

awesome! this will help.

FreeAgentCentral was reviewed a little while back – full control over your finances including time and project tracking, billing, bank transactions (including expenses) plus runs your UK personal/corporate taxes. An international version is coming very soon. It will have everything except the tax engines. We run support, customer feedback and ideas gathering through Satisfaction (a HIGHLY recommended service: http://www.getsatisfaction.com/freeagentcentral ) We’re also building a network of ‘FreeAgent Friendly’ accountants who work with us to ensure we interpret the rules correctly and to provide advice about how expenses are categorized.

http://www.freeagentcentral.co.uk

Disclosure: I have a very tiny stake in the company so yes, I’m biased.

Don’t forget PayPal. We use their invoicing feature and clients can pay with their credit card or PP account — which means we can accept credit cards without having to set up merchant accounts. The fees are quite reasonable.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has tried MacFreelancer? I saw it at the Apple store when I got my new Macbook but no one at the store seemed to know much about it.

I also must say that http://www.invoicejournal.com/ is one of the best I’ve used. It has all of the features that you want from an Invoice application, however it is free. Why not use it? I am very happy with it, and I highly recommend it.

tim,

i used to use quickbooks and i created a custom invoice template.

Michelle,

but can i use design my own in illustrator and use it in quickbooks?

or can anyone else tell me?

sorry, i meant to say “Can i design my own”

You guys didn’t mention, but on Cashboard you can get paid with PayPal, or Authorize.net. I use PayPal.

Also you can design your own invoices coming up! They say they will release a HTML editor for them this week and even turn it into PDF. I just read that on the forum. Looks good to me!!!

As always, an intriguing article gets comments that are helpful too. I love reading the articles and the comments here.

Tim,

Yes you can do whatever you want in your invoice/bill template. Quickbooks is very huge but its really complete solution for a business owner. I am running 3 ecom websites and all data is compiled under quickbooks. it gives me all info about which product doing well, how much i earned in financial year and other stats which helps me to grow my business in right direction.

But the only problem may be its not cheap.

If you’re an architect (or a design professional) you should try the free excel template for invoicing at http://www.easyaec.com. It allows for phased fees that you bill by percent complete, reimbursables with markups, and contract addenda (ASAs).

Craig

How about just using google docs. I have a template for an invoice, I save a copy and fill out the info. Save it as a new file, everything belongs to me, it’s free, no monthly fees. Takes me all of 3 minutes, my graphic is embedded, the file can be exported to many types. Then I can email the PDF to the client or share it in other ways.

-ms

so with quickbooks, i can use a layout from one of my design programs and import it in and add the input fields in the same areas of my layout?

Awesome List, Collis!

Keep Rocking!

Aloke Pillai

I think this is not the right place to talk about a program but yes you can do that. I has a inbuilt layout designer and you can create custom templates for you. No problem.

For more info, check htp://quickbooks.intuit.com

I figured since they were talking about invoicing etc.. i would ask. Didn’t mean anything by it.

Thanks for all your helps guys.

I use http://www.tradeinvoice.com.au simple to use and easy to understand. Aus made too!

Hi, I’ve been using http://www.openair.com since way back in the late ‘Web 1.0′ days

Surprisingly i find a similar kind of post with less descriptions here you have one added to the list (CreativeOffice)
http://shoutat.blogspot.com/2007/09/one-task-too-many-webapps-invoicing-and.html

This is a great list and perfect timing as I need to get some invoices out to web advertisers! Thanks!

I am not the biggest fan of web based apps, so I use Billable so far it has been great.

Surprised to find Pelago’s Intervals (http://www.myintervals.com) not listed here. Originally designed as an internal project mgmt and time-tracking app, they’ve recently added some robust invoicing features as well.

Fantastic time-tracking capabilities, including the ability to run have multiple time-timers running simultaneous (useful for when you have to pause a project to work on something else, then return to the original project). I wish it had a desktop widget like some of these others since I always seem to lose (or even sometimes accidentally close) the tracking browser window, but even if you close it, the time tracking data is not lost, and running timers even continue to run. Can’t believe this feature isn’t in other apps. (Who has the luxury of only ever working on one distinct project at a time?)

Perhaps the most crucial feature to us is the task types. We bill for our time at different rates depending on the task—client interaction, HTML design, graphic design, database administration, etc. Intervals lets you set up as many as you like, all at different billable rates.

More reports, charts and stats than you can shake a stick at, which can be overwhelming or a godsend, depending upon whether you want that or not. Intervals is dense but powerful. No integration with BaseCamp and doubt they’ll ever add it, since it’s intended for project mgmt itself. Anyway, worth a look.

For the open source crew you may want to check out Simple Invoice http://www.simpleinvoices.org

LAMP based solution that you can run on your own server – no need to pay for monthly subscriptions – its yours for free forever!

Cheers

Justin

Blatant plug Saasu.com has Inventory, Assembly, API, Payroll, Timesheet features on top of what most invoicing systems do at a similar cost level. Connectors have been built to other Web apps like Salesforce, Virtuemart and others. Will be launching in US/UK in coming months even though we have implemented Zone based tax codes for those regions already. 1,000’s of paying users.

Cashboard now allows you to custom design your invoices/estimates. Nice!

I have made my own with logo and everything and looks very proffesional.

http://www.time59.com — Timekeeping, Expense Tracking, Invoicing, Payment Processing.

30 day free trial, then $19.95 per year for unlimited use.

Looks good. I was looking for something to invoice my clients. Now I will try a couple of those and will figure out which one will work better with my project management tool – Wrike.com [http://www.wrike.com/]

Hello all,

Does anyone know a good site similar to invoicing solution but, for quoting purpose? I am using excel right now to do itemized quotes but, its too much of a hassle to manage all this.

Thanks!

UniversalWeb, you can do that with Cashboard. It calls quotes ‘estimate’.

Thanks Jim!

This is exactly what I was looking for.

Check out http://www.phpbms.org for a FREE system you host yourself. It really is a great system.

Web based but not online app is Webolize TimeTracker – http://www.webolize.com/

It tracks detailed time, expenses and creates invoices. Downloadable and installs on Windows.
Your team and you can access it via a web browser and going to the maching it was installed on (even if it’s the same machine), so it’s multi-user.

Eli

billingmanager.com (from intuit) is pretty solid. it’s actually free to use as much as you want unless you sign up for credit card processing support – then intuit takes a percentage of each charge transaction.

Any one of them sound like the perfect solution for freelance or small businesses that get involved with too much.
Cheers

I started using Simply Bill in January and it was a great experience. However, recently the software is saving the dates of the invoices as either some time in 2010 or back to January 1, 2008. All my attempts to change this prove fruitless and my repeated attempts at contacting them have gone unanswered. As of now, I can’t recommend Simply Bill to anyone. I’ll try some of the others on this great list.

HI

I am a small ISP I would like a online solution where i can send invoices to my clients each monty and they can pay with a credit card or what ever. I would like them to have controll and be able to have cards charged automatically or click a button to pay the bill.

all I want is a solution for me to have happy users.

has anyone tried http://www.invoice.com ?

Apparently it has all the things that have been mentioned above and it’s completely free

Cashboard seems to be doing a lot of design changes lately. Looks good!

Hi,

Last month our zoho team released online invoicing product. Name is Zoho Invoice.
Try this http://invoice.zoho.com

1. This is very easy to use
2. Data Security
3. Multi currency support
etc….

if you want see the help documentation http://invoice.wiki.zoho.com

Tasksy (http://www.tasksy.com/) does basic invoicing and timetracking very well, if I may say so myself.

great topic and great comments. i got as much from the comments as i did from the article (no backhanded compliment intended). after reading your article and trawling the comments i was able to review 8 or 10 applications very rapidly. i went with billingmanager in the end because it is free (that is a strong USP), because it will integrate with quickbooks which is most likely the software i would use if i don’t outsource the bookkeeping, and it seems no nonsense. congrats on the google ranking btw number 2 or 3 for my search and i knew the blog though not a regular reader. keep up the good work freelance switch team and freelance switch community.

I’ve been very happy with Freshbooks. They have all the features I need now and seem to have all the features I’ll need as my business grows.

If you’re interested in getting a free month off a paid subscription to Freshbooks, email me at ecgranata [at] gmail [dot] com. I’ve got some gift cards.

Nice list here.

I’ve been very happy with http://invoicesontherun.com/

It doesn’t cost me anything and its simple to use. You can email as many invoices to as many clients as you want. They have some pretty cool templates too.

Try CurdBee. It’s a just launched simple billing app targeting freelancers. It allows you to accept payments from PayPal and Google Checkout. And it’s totally free !

I highly recommend PositiveWare billing, budget, project and time management software. It is because it integrates all of these things into one easy to use web based interface that it works seamlessly with our organization. Here I wrote a small review…

http://www.thecmsblog.com/2008/05/if_your_not_tracking_then_you_dont_know.html

You can also view the software web site…

http://positiveware.com/

Customer service was very helpful in getting us all setup and familair.

i use https://www.SalesKing.eu

The Intuit Billingmanager seems to be the only service that doesn’t have box’itis. Just because the web encourages boxes and tables for page layout shouldn’t mean that all the invoices generated should follow suit. Look at your recent utility bills and telephone bills, if they are anything like mine some of them are a work of art.

For all you creative types I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned this, you provide your client with all manner of presentation, writing and branding flair and then send them some ugly invoice!?!

Unfortunately Intuit Billingmanager does suffer from xenophobia, and thinks that there are only businesses in America. I would really like to use their system but I bill in the UK and Aus.

Hi, I use Billing Boss – http://www.billingboss.com. It’s free and easy to figure out. No customization but you can send as many invoices as you want and you can bill in USD, CAD, GBP & Euros. You can also accept payments from your merchant account or PayPal.

Lori

Why would anyone use anything other than Freshbooks?

PocketBusinessTools.com is a good choice it lets me do everything fomr my web browser or get this my cell phone. I can make invoices take credit card payments while i am standing at a job site using my treo phone. they have a 30 day free trial and even 30 days more befor you acutally have to pay to give it a try. It has many more features other that just invoicing

http://pocketbusinesstools.com

Samuel

@Sultan: Because you can get nearly as many features at a fraction of the price from other products.

We’re new to the scene, but check us out Ronin at http://www.roninapp.com. We’re focused on the freelance work from (from clients to project to invoices) instead of trying to cover the bases for all small business like our larger competitors.

Ack, it’s late and I can’t type worth a lick. “We’re focused on the freelance work FLOW (from clients to project to invoices)” is what I meant to say. + at least 3 other typos :p

There’s also the possibility of working with a portable employer of record. In that case, you usually don’t have to worry about invoicing, because they handle it for you.

I confirm the invoicesontherun.com comment. They have the sexiest invoice templates I’ve seen! makes me look so professional, and free to use!

Juffler is an easy to use invoicing, contact and project management application. Only $10/year.

http://www.juffler.com

I have been trying PocketBusinessTools.com and have found it to meet my needs. I really like the fact i can do most if not all of my invoicing and payment collections using my cell phone.

http://pocketbusinesstools.com

Check out Jexxe Freelancer, it covers invoicing and project management from both an admin and client perspective. Its also integrated with PayPal and supports easy setup of PayPal subscriptions.
A little different to most other offerings I’ve seen mentioned already as its a downloadable product that you can host on your own website so it completely re-brandable. Its not free but is pretty cheap and you only have to pay once, no monthly subscriptions
http://www.jexxe.com

Must say the post is extremely informative as it mentions all the resources at one place. Very convenient for people to find what they are looking for. I would like one more resource to the list. I am working on an online invoicing application http://www.invoicera.com. It is a simple to use web based application made to end invoicing and billing woes. For more product related information you can visit my corporate blog at http://www.invoicera.com/blog. This application is currently not live, but one can register his/her interest for free beta version.

Article was pretty useful and we use http://curdbee.com, which we like. Simple and also free

We just launching http://greenbill.com. We are carbon neutral and give 10% of our profits back to sutainable “green” projects.
Green billing and invoicing is a big priority for us. Based on calculations we have and the research we have done green invoicing can have a huge impact (payitgreen has some really good stats). If we all just stop sending 1 million paper bills and allow our customers to pay online without a paper check for those invoices, the numbers are staggering. http://greenbill.com has a green invoice calculator on the home page so you can check out your companies impact but here are the results for 1 million invoices a month
1,118,700 — pounds of paper
10,669,710 — gallons of nasty mill wastewater discharging into lakes, streams and rivers
1,433,700 — gallons of gas consumed by mailing your bills, statements, and payments
44,519,356 — pounds of greenhouse gases avoided
43,849,051 — miles not driven in your car
517,785 — trees planted (and grown for 10 years)
6,135,426 –square feet of forest preserved from deforestation

By my side, I’ve tried http://www.invoicemachine.com which is also great to use. The interface is really clear, and really ergonomic/intuitive. They’ve done a wonderful job on the usability interface.

A new one that’s well adapted for freelance is Onsharp’s GoSmartPay — find it at http://www.GoSmartPay.com. It has a custom portal and pricing according to the number of invoices you send, so you can have a big-firm look at an economical rate.

I’m a freelancer and I use http://www.fastdue.com. It’s completely free and I can upload my own logo to any document I use. Plus I can set it to send out repeat invoices at the intervals I choose until the client marks it paid via email, or pays it with PayPal. When I get a new client I ask whether they would prefer me to print out the invoice and mail it, or send it by e-mail, and everyone so far has loved getting it by email. I travel a lot so I like being able to access my account (free) from wherever I am.

There’s also an expense form that has come in handy a few times (not nearly often enough IMO!)

There are a lot of legal agreements and other forms that I don’t have a need for right now (my business is pretty straightforward) but I like knowing I’ve got easy access to them if necessary.

Hello,

CannyBill.com is our new application. Not only does it handle invoicing but also web hosting automation.

You can sell web hosting packages, domain names and SSls:

http://www.cannybill.com/

Kind Regards,

Wladimir

Zoho Invoice (https://invoice.zoho.com) is our invoicing service, here are some of the features,

Re-branding invoices & estimates
Predefined templates & layout customization
Multicurrency support
Invoices & Estimates as PDF
Invoice tracking & overdue reminders
Online payment integration & thank-you mails
Support for recurring invoices
User friendly reports
Zoho Projects integration
SSL encryption, firewall protection, data backup
Quick Customer support

Kind Regards
Nagendra

I use FreshBooks and love the customer support!

I use Jexxe Freelancer http://www.jexxe.com – inexpensive, simple to use and as comprehensive as I need as a freelance web designer. You can also customise the layout to match your site

Here’s a good review of Harvest, Blinksale and Freshbooks invoicing platforms. We wrote it up as we couldn’t find any good reviews on invoicing apps for freelancers. Hope it helps!

Hi everyone,

We just launched Ballpark, our new online invoicing app. We’ve built it with teams in mind and added some features that we think really set us apart from the pack. We’d love to hear what everyone thinks!

Thanks,
Andrew

another open source option: http://www.siwapp.org
Now on early stages of development.

we just launched a new accountancy tool: cobaltapp.com
it’s more then just creating and mailing invoices, it keeps track of invoices, expenses, payments and that all project-based. try it out!

I just wanted to add http://timr.com to this list. timr is a time tracking and drive log application that can be used via a modern web UI and from your BlackBerry or iPhone.

We are currently in an Open Beta program and you can get 3 months of free usage.