Mac Billing Application Round-Up
Having the right billing and invoicing tools is crucial to a freelancer. Your options can be very different, depending on what type of computer you’re working on. For those freelancers working on Macs, there are several applications worth investigating. It’s just a matter of choosing which will fit best with your billing habits.
Billings
For time billing and invoicing purposes, Billings can be an ideal option. It offers a built-in timer that you can access without having to open new windows, allowing you to easily track your work for any client. You can create estimates, as well as invoices, based on your time and standard rates, speeding up the bookkeeping process significantly — and you can separate out time spent on your own projects. You can also set up re-occurring invoices, as well as check overdue statements easily.
One of the greatest benefits to using Billings is that it can make use of information already on your computer. Have a client you need to bill? You can get all the information you need from Address Book without having to cut and paste: you simply create a special folder within Address Book and add your clients to it. Billings will get all the information it needs without you needing to take any further steps. That level of integration lets you send an invoice with just one click.
Billings offers a 21-day free trial. The software costs $39.99.
Billable
If you want to customize your invoices, Billable provides you with the ability to adapt an HTML invoice and use it to create PDF invoices. You have complete control over what your invoices look like. The application takes customization even further by allowing you to integrate your own workflow with AppleScript. You need a little technical know-how to take advantage of these features, but they can significantly improve your invoicing process.
You can also use Billable’s source list to create a quick report of unpaid invoices and projects you haven’t invoiced for, as well as limiting the search to specific clients. The application has a built-in timer, but it isn’t quite as easy to activate and use as other billing software.
Billable offers a 30-day free trial. The software costs $34.95. Clickable Bliss, the maker of Billable, will be releasing Billable 2 later this year, under the name Profit Train. Users who purchase Billable between now and the release date will receive a free upgrade to the new version.
Invoice 3
You can see information about different invoices in Invoice 3 very easily because the application uses color coding to differentiate between invoices with different statuses. The interface is easy to use, allowing you to easily drag and drop information to create and arrange your invoices. Overall, Invoice 3 has all the important features necessary for billing your clients.
Invoice 3 may be a particularly good option if you do a lot of business with clients in different countries: it has built-in currency conversion that allows you to generate invoices in any currency you need to, while still having a good idea of your income in your home currency.
Invoice 3 offers a 30-day free trial. The software costs $99. Kedisoft, the maker of Invoice 3, will provide you with a free copy of the next version of Invoice if you purchase Invoice 3 during their current sale — which also discounts the application to $66.
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Thanks for the suggestions Thursday! Will be bookmarking this one.
Honestly, I think the online alternatives are more useful.
http://www.freshbooks.com/ etc.
Billings looks really nice but what if your on the move, how can you sync your PC and laptop?
I currently use Freshbooks which is free if you have 3 active clients or less at any one time =)
http://www.freshbooks.com/?ref=9e126e7e143948-1
Please remove this “ref” URL.
You use the Billings for Iphone free app which syncs to the desktop app – it really works well.
I’m a big fan of Billings. Overall good review, but you didn’t mention that Billings also allows you to extensively customize the Estimates, Invoices and Statements it generates. IMHO, Billings is the best value for the price among the three.
(I’m not being paid to write this, I just love Billings)
Huge fan of Free Agent, http://www.freeagentcentral.com
Nothing even came close to it when I was researching.
(Also not being paid to write this, I just love freeagent!)
How could you forget Stunt Software’s ‘On The Job’? This is what I use for everything. It has a clean interface and although it may not have as many features as some of the others, I like it because it is not packed with useless things I will never use. It is a great tool for a freelancing professional.
Have recently started using FreeAgentCentral and so far am very pleased with it. Has saved me a lot of money on accountancy this year.
Definately worth checking out if your looking for an accountancy solution.
Cheeky bit: Get a 10% discount if you use this referral code on signup: 32z88q58
I used Billings for 2 years and then switched to Freshbooks. Billings, for me, was really awesome and I loved the nicely formatted invoices and the slick UI. My switch to freshbooks was mainly based in three factors (1) my clients can now pay me online with a credit card (2) Freshbooks automatically sends out my invoices and customers can login and see what’s due (3) I can keep track of expenses too – which makes it more of a low end accounting solution too.
For a while all the hype about freshbooks was getting annoying, but I really do think it is a great tool. Your clients will love it… and that’s what counts.
Online for me! Harvest!
Good post. Been pleased with MacFreelance, $45. Simple to set-up, easy to use.
Don’t forget GrandTotal. It comes also with a nice time tracker and got iPhone support etc.
http://www.grandtotal.biz/GrandTotal/
I second an Online billing system. I use FreshBooks too.
I love most, the ability to send my clients an automatic e-mail with a link to the Invoice. I can see when they’ve logged in to view the invoice, and if they pay it via PayPal, then it’s automatically updated.
Do any of the above billing systems have any way to tie into an online source for my clients to log into?
I do feel that FB is limited in certain aspects…I am willing to look into other options.
I really like Invoy! It’s so simple http://emptyfactory.com/invoy
I just recently switched to grand total which is a german app. Works great for me.
http://www.grandtotal.biz/GrandTotal/
I spent a few hours downloading trial versions of the most talked about Mac invoicing progs and testing them out a couple weeks ago. (which made for a thrilling Saturday morning…)
I found I liked Billings the best by far in terms of how easy it was to use and the look and feel, the one thing it’s missing though is having a place for expenses. I did a bunch of googling and found people had ways to work around it, but it really wasn’t built in.
FreeAgent is cheaper than FreshBooks, and has this expenses feature (and Marie won’t stop raving about it!), but I was looking for more of a computer-based-buy-a-licence type software.
One of the best online billing/invoicing tools we have found is Blinksale.com. We have been using them for almost 1 year now and love the features they have on their site.
As for billing applications on the Mac, we found Billings to be the best….we just wanted the flexibility of being able to send invoices from any computer/device that could connect to the internet.
Thanks for the great article!
I’m interested to know how you feel Freshbooks ranks against these desktop applications. I had been using them for a while and find that the advantage of web access falls short on most customers because most people I work with aren’t computer savvy, hence asking me as a graphic/web designer to help them. I find myself just downloading the invoices and emailing them the PDF or printing it out and giving it to them in person. So I’m curious to know if there are other advantages that maybe I’m missing.
I’d love to see a comparison between a software like Billings or even an online application to the most robust Quickbooks. I use quickbooks, since it seems like the most accounting friendly software, but I often feel like it’s more than I need. Any other people with this same thought?
I just read few articles about these kind of softwares.[ Though i dont have mac. I just love interfaces of mac.]
I was and still using excel sheet to maintain the accounts and i am happy with it. I am just trying bamboo-invoice .. have any body tried any other opensource or “free” software for this.
and .. aah .. moneymanager ex from codelathe is also cool option ..
thanks for great overview ..
You can now bill your clients right from your iPhone or iPod touch! No need to play cat and mouse with your clients. Bill them on the spot with “Billing: Credit Card Terminal” Direct link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=326255801&mt=8
Billings also has templates for invoice and receipts customization. Moreover, you can make your own. You didn’t mention that feature, which I think is important for such a software.
I use http://www.studiometry.com — that’s not only a billing application but also usefull for contact management, scheduling, estimates and so on … wunderfull all-in-one-package.
I have been using MacFreelance (http://snipurl.com/rojlv) for about a year now and would suggest My Intervals (http://www.myintervals.com/) as both a project management and invoicing tool.
xero.com – and others like it – is the future of this space.
Been using Billings for a few months now. I find it a little difficult to split fees, for example 50/50 payment. Other than that no problems.
Lots of people are talking about Freshbooks… I’ll have to try out their service.
I’ve been using harvest for about a year now. Tired billable and billings so I could get away from paying the monthly fee for harvest but they just aren’t as good.
I’ve been using Billings for about a half year now. I triied Freshbooks before I went with Billings. I really liked Freshbooks and wouldn’t be suprised if I try it out again down the road. I went with Billings because I actually like it off line. I can back everything up. And I really like how it works with other programs. I do wish that it had an online payment method though.
We used to use IGG Software’s apps together (iBank with iBiz) to track time, clients and money.
We’re now Freshbooks subscribers; having it omnipresent on the web means that both of our Macs and iPhones have access to the data at all times, and clients can pay online without having to faff about sharing bank details.
Based in the UK, PayPal is the only solution for Freshbooks for us. I’d love to see other methods for payment, but even as it stands, we’re very happy with this web app.
All of that said, however, for a single person working with this data, all of those apps above (and iBiz from IGG Software) serve as very solid solutions.
I SO buzzed to have found your site – it’s awesome, please keep up the great work. I have been going through the archives and found a veritable treasure trove of helpful hints, software etc as a relatively new freelancer, it’s been incredibly helpful.
Thanks again.
On The Job does the job beautifully for my 1-man freelance business. Simple and extremely pleasant to use!
http://stuntsoftware.com/OnTheJob/
As a long-time user of QuickBooks on the pc, I’ve found that this new online business management package–WorkingPoint–is great. It has invoicing, contact management, expense tracking, and it even lets me advertise my company in a profile. I wish this had been around sooner–I would have saved so much money and hassle vs. QB.
http://www.workingpoint.com/
After researching all known options, I came to the conclusion that using an online service is the superior way to go – at least for me. I went with Harvest, and it’s consistently surpassed my expectations. They’re always adding new features without upping the price, and seem to be extremely proactive about making their users happy.
…And no, I don’t work for them or anything. I just love the product because it’s saved me a ton of money and made me more profitable.
Uhm how about MACFREELANCE? I’ve only suggested it repeatedly on both this blog and mac.appstorm.net
http://invOOice.com -> Online billing solution
+ More powerful
+ Online, access from everywhere
+ Crossplatform: Mac, Linux and the other…
+ Made on a Mac
My favorite product — both of myself and my clients — is actually WorkingPoint.com. It’s the easiest, most straight-forward solution I have found, and it’s been the biggest value to the clients I’ve implemented it with — especially when it comes to anyone who used to use QuickBooks.
Stunt Software’s On The Job 3 is perfect for me as a freelancer, it definitely should’ve been at the top of this list IMHO due to it’s intuitive design and functionality.
http://stuntsoftware.com/OnTheJob/
Another great online system is The Invoice Machine – http://www.invoicemachine.com.
It has a beautifully clean and simple interface, so if you’re a fan of simplicity you might find your invoicing something you start looking forward to. It allows both PayPal and Basecamp (project management tool) integration and has an integrated timer which can add items directly to your projects or invoices. Best of all it has a free trial version for up to 3 invoices a month.
No connection with them – just a happy customer!
Billing 3 is a nice apps, maybe the best around for a invoice app on Mac. But it lack one of the most important features: multi currencies!
I highly recommend Grand Total – you can read my review of it here (http://www.bearpig.co.uk/blog/?p=215)
I really like Billings by Marketcircle. Great application, you can read my own review on my site.