Free cloud-based billing software solutions can help streamline and automate the billing process at no cost, with features like customizable templates and automatic payment reminders. These top picks stand out from other free products by offering more extensive functionality, integrations with other products, and greater overall ease of use.
“Free” here means that there is no monthly subscription cost or software purchase to use the basic version of any of these programs. However, if you receive payments online, you will incur a transaction fee per payment. These fees will vary depending on the payment processor of your choice, which in turn will vary depending on the payment gateways supported by your billing software.
Here are the best free invoicing software options for small business owners.
Invoice Ninja: the most customizable
Pricing: The basic “Forever Free” plan is free, with the option to upgrade to a Ninja Pro plan for $10 per month or an Enterprise plan for $14 per month.
Advantages:
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Unlimited invoices and quotes for up to 50 customers.
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Invoice and quote templates with the ability to add a company logo.
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Automatic billing and recurring billing features.
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Online payments, quotes and proposal software included.
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Time tracking tools for accurate invoicing.
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Alerts when your customer views and pays their bill.
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Integration with multiple payment gateways including Stripe and PayPal.
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Excellent customer service thanks to in-app support, emails and user forums.
The inconvenients:
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Only up to 50 customers on the “Forever Free” plan.
Why we love it:
Invoice Ninja is an open source platform, so developers around the world can help test and improve this software. It also means you can write your own code for a completely custom build, designed to meet your exact needs (if you’re tech savvy enough to do so).
Invoice Ninja’s free plan is ideal for small business owners and freelancers with up to 50 clients, especially those who want the ability to write their own code for a completely custom platform. Upgrading to a paid plan gives you the ability to bill unlimited customers and access dozens of other features.
Wave Invoicing: Better accounting integration
Pricing: Completely free billing and accounting, with the option to pay additional fees for payment and payroll functions.
Advantages:
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Easy to automate billing and recurring billing, with payment reminders.
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Unlimited billing, income and expense tracking.
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Ability to integrate credit card and bank account payments (transaction fees apply).
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Access to the free receipt scanning service, allowing integration with and without Wi-Fi access.
The inconvenients:
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No option to upgrade to a higher tier plan, which could limit fast-growing businesses.
Why we love it:
Wave Invoicing is ideal for small business owners who want free accounting software as well as a basic invoicing platform. It automatically integrates with Wave Accounting, one of the few free accounting platforms.
The company’s accounting software offers unlimited income and expense tracking, banking and credit card options, and robust reporting. But since there is no higher tier plan available for upgrading, fast-growing businesses may be limited by the platform’s free capabilities.
Zoho Invoice: the most complete
Pricing: Free billing supported on Zoho’s free download app.
Advantages:
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Highly customizable invoice templates.
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Support for multiple currencies and 17 supported languages (plus adaptation to local tax laws).
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Schedule invoices to be sent automatically at a later date.
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Recurring invoices with automatic payment reminders.
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Can collect offline and/or up-front payments.
The inconvenients:
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Doesn’t integrate with Zoho Inventory without coding or external programs, which may cause issues for some companies.
Why we love it:
Zoho Invoice is one of the most comprehensive invoicing software options on this list. In addition to invoicing capabilities, the platform offers fully functional client estimates, client portals and communications, integrations with multiple payment gateways, expense tracking, time tracking, project tracking, reporting And much more.
The product will also automatically integrate with most other Zoho platforms, including Zoho CRM, Zoho Flow, and Zoho Commerce, as well as Zoho Inventory if you wish to use an external integration service. It’s ideal for small business owners who want a full arsenal of invoicing tools, especially in multiple languages and/or currencies.
PayPal Invoicing: Ideal for PayPal Business Users
Pricing: Free billing, although your card transactions will be charged the applicable PayPal fees.
Advantages:
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Your customers don’t need a PayPal account to pay you.
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Ability to create scheduled or recurring invoices with automated payment reminders.
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Allows you to accept partial payments.
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Customers have the option of including a tip.
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Seamless integration for existing PayPal Business users.
The inconvenients:
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The interface is configured specifically for mobile billing.
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Requires an existing PayPal Business account to use.
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Direct deposit is not an option – payments are accepted by credit card, debit card, PayPal or PayPal Credit.
Why we love it:
If you already use PayPal for any of its myriad business services — PayPal’s point-of-sale systems, payment gateway, and business finance are three of the platform’s most popular business services — then billing PayPal, available through the free PayPal Business app, will fit seamlessly into your current workflow.
Although its interface is specially configured for mobile invoicing, the platform is designed so that existing PayPal users can send basic invoices quickly, automatically and from anywhere.
Square: Best for In-Person Payments
Pricing: Free basic billing, with the option to use Square Invoices Plus for $20 per month. Your card transactions will be charged the applicable Square fees.
Advantages:
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Unlimited billing, quotes, contracts, users and customers on the free plan.
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Integration with Square’s all-in-one payment platform.
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Simplified and intuitive.
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Accessible from the Square app, through the Square POS, or on desktop.
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Ability to process payments in person or online, cash, check, credit card, debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
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Allows you to automatically extract saved customer data to create invoices.
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Allows payments by ACH bank transfer.
The inconvenients:
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Does not support multi-currency acceptance.
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Great for existing Square users, as many of its features only integrate with Square POS.
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Features like custom invoice fields and automatic conversion of estimates to invoices are only accessible through Square Invoices Plus.
Why we love it:
Square is up there with PayPal as one of the world’s leading all-in-one payment platforms for small business owners. User-friendly design is its modus operandi, so even tech-shy users will likely be able to navigate its billing platform. This makes it a great option for existing Square users and small business owners who want the ability to accept payments in person.
In addition to its popular point-of-sale system, Square offers e-commerce, payroll, scheduling, CRM, marketing, and business finance tools that all integrate with its billing program.
A version of this article originally appeared on JustBusiness, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.