7 Best Invoicing Software Programs for Small Businesses 2023
Tim is a Certified QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) Pro, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and CPA with 25 years of experience. He brings his expertise to Fit Small Business’s accounting content.
Mark has researched and reviewed accounting software at Fit Small Business since 2019 and has developed an extensive knowledge of accounting software features and how unique business needs determine the best accounting software.
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
The best invoicing software allows users to create customized invoices quickly and get paid faster through invoice management features. Before investing in specialized invoicing software, consider whether comprehensive small business accounting software, which includes an invoicing function, might be better. Overall, you should determine which platform can best provide you with solutions to your particular problems.
Here are our seven picks for the best invoicing software for small businesses:
- QuickBooks Online: Best overall invoicing software with sophisticated accounting features (4.68 out of 5)
- FreshBooks: Best invoicing for solopreneurs and freelancers (4.51 out of 5)
- Invoicera: Best standalone invoicing software (4.60 out of 5)
- Zoho Invoice: Best free invoicing software (4.45 out of 5)
- Square Invoices: Best invoicing software for Square users (4.19 out of 5)
- ZipBooks: Best inexpensive invoicing software with basic accounting features (3.72 out of 5)
- TimeTracker: Best invoicing software for professional service firms (3.55 out of 5)
Best Invoicing Software At a Glance
| Invoicing Software |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
$30 to $200 |
1 to 25 |
All plans |
Excellent |
✓ |
✓ |
✓ |
| Visit QuickBooks Online | |||||||
 |
$15 to $55; has custom pricing option |
1 plus $10 per additional user monthly |
All plans |
Excellent |
✓ |
✓ |
✕ |
| Visit FreshBooks | |||||||
 |
Free to $149 |
1 to unlimited |
All plans |
Excellent |
✓ |
✕ |
✕ |
| Visit Invoicera | |||||||
 |
Free |
1 to 20 |
✓ |
Poor |
✓ |
✕ |
✕ |
| Visit Zoho Invoice | |||||||
 |
Free or $20 |
1 only |
All plans |
Excellent |
✓ |
✕ |
✕ |
| Visit Square Invoice | |||||||
 |
Free to $35 (Custom pricing available) |
1 to unlimited |
All plans, including free |
Excellent |
✓ |
✓ |
✕ |
| Visit ZipBooks | |||||||
 |
$9 (with base fee of $12.50) to $30 per user |
Unlimited |
✓ |
Poor |
✕ |
✓ |
✕ |
| Visit Time Tracker | |||||||
*Software is rated “excellent” if it allows you to completely customize your invoice by choosing from invoice templates, adding your company logo, editing invoice fields, changing invoice colors, and including personalized messages. On the other hand, programs rated “poor” let you perform only one to three tasks from the aforementioned desired features.
QuickBooks Online: Best Overall Invoicing Software With Sophisticated Accounting Features
One reason QuickBooks Online is our overall best small business accounting software is its exceptional invoicing capability. It can produce advanced invoices for nearly any industry. For instance, construction companies can convert estimates to invoices automatically, including creating in-progress invoices. You can also create recurring invoices and send invoices in bulk.
Additionally, unlike any other bookkeeping software we’ve reviewed, it’ll calculate the sales tax rate automatically to apply to your invoice based on the customer address. It then tracks your sales tax collected by jurisdiction and helps you file most required returns.
QuickBooks Online
Overall Score:
4.68 / 5
What We Like
- Calculates sales tax rate based on customer address
- Invoicing integrated with the most popular accounting system for small businesses
- All plans let you send unlimited invoices and include unlimited customers
- Invoices are extremely customizable
Drawbacks
- Expensive for small businesses
- Limits the number of users in each plan
- Cannot contact customer support directly by telephone
Features
- Lets you choose from different templates and customize invoices by adding your logo, changing colors, and including personalized messages.
- Allows you to set up invoices to send on a scheduled recurring basis
- Enables you to print and email invoices to customers
- Lets you accept short payments for customers
- Includes other accounting features, like bank reconciliation and income and expense tracking
QuickBooks Online Overview
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FreshBooks: Best Invoicing for Solopreneurs & Freelancers
All FreshBooks plans support a single user, making it a great option for solo business owners and freelancers. Not only does FreshBooks have great-looking invoices, but it also has all the features of a complete bookkeeping system. It accepts online payments, calculates late fees automatically, creates recurring invoices, and prints a list of outstanding invoices.
Additionally, FreshBooks will connect with your bank to import transactions, reconcile bank and credit card accounts, and print basic financial statements like a balance sheet and profit and loss (P&L) statement.
FreshBooks
Overall Score:
4.51 / 5
What We Like
- Affordable for freelancers or small businesses with a single accounting user
- Can send unlimited invoices in all plans
- Add time and expense to invoice
- Can accept short payments from customers
- Lets you send invoices on your mobile device using the mobile app
Drawbacks
- Extra fee for additional users; can be expensive when adding more than three users
- Limited number of clients in less expensive plans
- Must allow access to your bank account to use bookkeeping features
- Lacks inventory management features
Features
- Lets you customize your invoice’s style, add a logo, and include a personal message
- Allows you to track outstanding invoices to create friendly reminders
- Lets you set up sales tax rates manually
- Enables you to create estimates and convert to invoices once they are approved
- Includes other useful features, like project accounting
FreshBooks Overview
Invoicera: Best Standalone Invoicing Software
Generally, we recommend that your invoicing be integrated with your accounting system, but if you’re looking for a standalone system, Invoicera is a good choice. It combines accounts receivable (A/R) management and accounts payable (A/P) management in a single dashboard.
It allows you to track time and expenses by project and then add them to invoices. You can request a personalized invoice template by sending your specifications to Invoicera. On the downside, the software doesn’t include any accounting functions outside of A/R and A/P management and needs accounting software integration.
Invoicera
Overall Score:
4.60 / 5
What We Like
- Offers a forever-free plan
- Track both receivables and payables for all businesses that you manage
- Request personalized invoice template from Invoicera
- Track staff time and expenses by project and add to invoices
Drawbacks
- Unlimited customers are very expensive compared to other options
- Additional users require the Business plan
- Requires integration with bookkeeping software
Features
- Lets you schedule invoices to be sent at a later time
- Allows you to create recurring invoices
- Lets you create invoicing workflows
- Allows you to create tasks and assign them to your team members
- Allows you to send invoices with the mobile app
Invoicera Overview
Zoho Invoice: Best Free Invoicing Software
Zoho Invoice is our choice for a totally free invoicing software, making it suitable for very small businesses, startups, and freelancers new to invoicing. Unlike other software on this list, it doesn’t have paid options. It only offers basic to intermediate invoicing features, which is suitable for small businesses. However, we recommend upgrading to a more sophisticated invoicing software like Invoicera if you need to manage multiple businesses under a single account—Zoho Invoice is good for one business only.
Zoho Invoice
Overall Score:
4.45 / 5
What We Like
- Completely free with no hidden charges
- Wide array of invoice customization features
- Billing features for project management
- Low learning curve for existing Zoho users
Cons
- Requires a Zoho Books subscription for any bookkeeping features beyond invoicing
- Not a substitute for accounting software
- Can’t process incoming vendor invoices
Features
- Lets you set up recurring billing for free
- Allows you to create both recurring and non-recurring invoices
- Enables you to track outstanding invoices
- Includes a timesheet feature that lets you track employee time
- Record expenses from your mobile device using the mobile app
Zoho Invoice Overview
Square Invoices: Best Invoicing Software for Square Users
Square is a merchant services provider with no monthly fee, making Square Invoices a great choice if your business processes less than $10,000 per month in credit card transactions or if you’ve been using other Square services. Square Invoices, included in your free Square account, lets you offer multipackage estimates and send contracts with estimates.
It has one of the best invoicing features along with affordable credit card processing rates for low-volume businesses. While not as feature-packed as accounting or standalone invoicing options, it does let you create, send, and track invoices online or through its mobile apps. You can also create automatic payment reminders and recurring billing.
Square Invoices
Overall Score:
4.19 / 5
What We Like
- Free invoicing software
- No monthly fees for credit card and automated clearing house (ACH) processing
- Easy to set up
- Milestone-invoicing for billing project completion
Drawbacks
- Basic invoicing features cannot track time and expenses
- Businesses with more than $10,000 in monthly transactions can likely find a cheaper credit card processor
Features
- Lets you set up recurring payments to bill customers on a predefined schedule
- Allows you to collect client payments through different options, such as credit or debit card and ACH bank payments
- Enables you to build and manage Build and manage client information through the free Square Customer Directory
- Create reminders to alert customers of late invoices
Square Invoices Overview
ZipBooks: Best Invoicing Software With Basic Accounting Features
ZipBooks’ accounting features aren’t as robust as QuickBooks Online, but the invoices look nice and provide a good first impression to your customers. In addition to invoicing, it offers many other basic features, such as project accounting, income and expense tracking, and banking and cash management.
When creating an invoice, ZipBooks provides a template that you can tweak with your logo before entering your sales information. It also offers a free subscription option which is all you need to create, send, and track invoices for an unlimited number of customers.
ZipBooks
Overall Score:
3.72 / 5
What We Like
- Invoices are very easy to create
- Unlimited customers with the free plan
- A/R report shows unpaid invoices
- Includes integrated time tracking features
Drawbacks
- Free plan invoices have limited customization
- Free plan doesn’t save products and services for future invoices
- Free plan includes only one user
- Lacks inventory accounting features
Features
- Lets you create recurring invoices in all its paid plans
- Enables you to record partial payments of invoices
- Allows you to track time your team spent on a project
- Lets you evaluate your invoice through quality scores before sending it to client
ZipBooks Overview
TimeTracker: Best Invoicing Software for Professional Service Firms
TimeTracker by eBillity offers lawyers, accountants, engineers, and other professional service firms an invoicing option integrated with powerful time tracking features. It makes sense to combine these functions for professional service firms since billable hours are the primary item on your invoices.
What sets it apart from other invoicing options in this guide is that it tracks billable hours that are written off. A billable realization report shows the billable hours sent to clients vs written off, which is a crucial report to gauge the productivity of your professionals and the profitability of your firm.
TimeTracker
Overall Score:
3.55 / 5
What We Like
- Tracks hours written off vs invoiced
- Includes employee management features like GPS tracking and facial recognition
- Includes client portal
Drawbacks
- Expensive for firms with many employees
- Invoices aren’t as elegant as other options
- Must integrate with third-party software for accounting
Features
- Lets you track billable hours for client invoicing
- Allows you to create invoices using data from tracked hours and billable expenses
- Lets you set up customized rules for payments
- Enables you to create projects and track their statuses
- Lets you upload snapshots of receipts directly from your mobile device
TimeTracker Overview
How We Evaluated Invoicing Software
Choosing invoicing software requires careful consideration of the features that you need. We considered five key categories in evaluating the software listed here.
15%
Pricing
20%
Customization
30%
Invoicing Features
25%
Ease of Use
10%
User Reviews
15% of Overall Score
Pricing is evaluated based on the software’s cost and limitations, including the number of clients you can manage and the number of invoices you can send.
20% of Overall Score
The best invoicing software lets you customize your invoice by adding your company logo, choosing from different templates, changing the invoice color, and adding a personalized message for your clients.
30% of Overall Score
Some of the general invoicing features we wanted to see include the ability to create recurring invoices and accept short payments from customers.
25% of Overall Score
We checked how easy it is to create and send invoices using the software and what types of customer service options it offers to support new users.
10% of Overall Score
We gathered unbiased user reviews from popular online review websites.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the key features of good invoicing software?
A good invoicing software allows you to customize your invoice by adding your company logo, changing colors, and choosing from different invoicing styles. Also, it must be able to create recurring invoices and send late payment reminders to clients.
Can standalone invoicing software replace a complete accounting solution?
No, as standalone invoicing software often lacks other essential bookkeeping features, such as project accounting, inventory management, bank reconciliation, and tracking of total assets and liabilities.
Can I create invoices on the go?
Yes, you can create invoices from your mobile device using accounting software with a mobile app, such as QuickBooks Online and FreshBooks.
Bottom Line
With these seven best invoicing software for small businesses, we hope that you’ll be able to choose an invoicing software that matches your business needs. We have presented free and paid options with varying features. To make a decision, we recommend that you consider your business’s invoicing and information needs and possible integration with existing software or migration from legacy systems.
