7 Best Invoicing Software for Small Business 2020

The best invoice software allows you to streamline your invoicing process and get paid faster by allowing customers to pay online. We evaluated seven invoicing software programs based on the ability to create recurring invoices, send automatic payment reminders, and run an accounts receivable (A/R) aging report to stay on top of open invoices.

Best Invoice Software for Small Business 2020

Which Invoicing Software is Right for You?

FreshBooks: Overall Best Invoice Software for Small Businesses

Based on our research, FreshBooks is the total package for a business that has heavy A/R and needs help streamlining the invoicing and payment collection process. When it comes to pricing, it costs about the same as its competitors. However, FreshBooks does not offer a free plan like Invoicera, Zoho Invoice, and Invoicely. You can share data with other users, create unlimited invoices, accept online payments, and track your expenses.

FreshBooks Pricing & Features

FreshBooks Lite

The FreshBooks Lite plan costs $15 a month. It allows you to manage time, track expenses, accept online payments, run an A/R report, and track projects. However, you cannot send automatic payment reminders, charge automatic late fees, or create recurring invoices like you can with the Plus and Premium plans. This plan is ideal for self-employed business owners who don’t need to keep track of sales by customer or have more than five clients they need to invoice. You may outgrow this plan quickly since you are limited to billing five customers.

FreshBooks Plus

In addition to having all of the features that are included in the Lite plan, this tier ($25 per month) also comes with the ability to invoice 50 customers. Unlike the Lite plan, you can create automatic payment reminders, charge automatic late fees for overdue invoices, and create recurring invoices. This plan is ideal if you have heavy invoicing and could benefit from using tools that would streamline its A/R process. For example, Plus allows you to send payment reminders to customers before and after an invoice is due.

FreshBooks Premium

The FreshBooks Premium plan ($50 per month) offers only one feature that is not included in FreshBooks Plus. With the premium plan, you can bill up to 500 clients, which is 10 times the number of clients you can bill with the Plus plan. This plan is ideal if you have more than 50 clients that you need to invoice, have a need to automate your A/R process by sending automatic payment reminders, and charge late fees on past due invoices.

FreshBooks Select

FreshBooks Select is for users who have more than 500 clients. This plan comes with custom pricing, and you can also request a demo of this tier. Select doesn’t offer more features than Premium. Its big benefits are lower payment processing fees, which is why it’s better for high volume clients, and dedicated customer support.

What FreshBooks Is Missing

While FreshBooks is not missing any of the features that we expect from an invoicing software, when compared to Viewpost and Invoicera, FreshBooks falls short because it cannot manage accounts payable (A/P). This means that you cannot enter bills or pay bills through FreshBooks. However, you can download payment information directly from your bank or credit card accounts.

FreshBooks User Reviews

FreshBooks reviews show that users enjoy automated invoicing features like recurring bills and the automatic payment reminders that can be sent before and after an invoice is past the due date. However, customers don’t like the fact that FreshBooks is not able to manage A/P or reconcile bank and credit card accounts like most accounting software systems can.

Invoicera: Best Invoicing Software With an Expense Management Tool

Similar to its competitors, Invoicera goes beyond the functionality you would expect from an invoicing software to include a robust expense management tool at no additional cost. Similar to Invoicely and Zoho Invoice, Invoicera has a free forever invoicing software plan. Whether you need to request reimbursement from a customer or need to keep track of all of your expenses, you can do that with Invoicera.

Invoicera Pricing & Features

Invoicera Starter

Unlike FreshBooks, Invoicera has a free invoicing software plan for small businesses, Invoicera Starter. This plan is limited to one user, which means you won’t be able to share your data with a staff member or your accountant. In addition, you are limited to three active customers, which means you can only send invoices to three customers. This plan is ideal for a freelancer or solopreneur who has no more than three active customers she needs to invoice. This also works best for a company that does not track sales by customers like a retail shop.

Invoicera Pro

For $15 a month, you can add your bookkeeper or accountant as a user with Invoicera Pro. You can add additional users to the plan for $9 per user, per month, vs $10 per user, per month, with FreshBooks. Each plan offers the same features, including project tracking, time and expense management, and the ability to run an A/R aging report. This plan is ideal for a business that has more than three customers it invoices and manages payments for.

Invoicera Business

Invoicera Business runs $29 per month. Similar to the Pro plan, you can add additional users for $9 per user, per month. This plan is priced a little higher than FreshBooks Plus but includes up to 1,000 customers vs 50 in FreshBooks. You can also manage your unpaid bills, which is not available in FreshBooks. This plan is ideal if you have more than 100 clients that you need to invoice and manage payments for each month.

Invoicera Infinite

Invoicera Infinite is the top-tier plan that runs $149 per month. You can add an unlimited number of users and bill unlimited clients with this plan. Invoicera Infinite includes all of the features you will find in the Starter, Pro, and Business plans. The Invoicera Infinite plan is best for a business that needs to allow a lot of users to have access to the system. With Infinite, you can give access to unlimited staff.

What Invoicera Is Missing

Invoicera is not missing anything when it comes to features you would expect in invoicing software. If you don’t want limits on the number of customers and invoices you create, go with the FreshBooks Premium. You can create unlimited invoices for up to 500 customers for only $50 per month.

Invoicera User Reviews

Invoicera reviews show that users like that they can schedule recurring invoices, and they can see when a client has viewed an invoice. However, a few customers felt like Invoicera fell short by not providing complete accounting functionality compared to accounting software like QuickBooks Online.

Invoicely: Best Invoice Software for Multiple Businesses

Invoicely allows you to track multiple businesses at no additional cost. Similar to Invoicera and Viewpost, Invoicely has a free invoicing software plan for small businesses. Paid plans are about the same as its competitors. Invoicely is the best invoicing software for your small business if you need to invoice customers for more than one business.

Invoicely Pricing & Features

Invoicely Free Plan

Similar to Invoicera and Zoho Invoice, Invoicely offers a free invoicing software plan for small businesses. This plan allows you to create unlimited invoices, manage multiple businesses, and accept online payments with PayPal. If you need to create estimates, track time, manage expenses, or have recurring invoices, you will need to upgrade to the Basic plan. The Free plan is ideal for freelancers who don’t need to give anyone access to their data, have another system to track expenses, and who want to invoice customers and allow them to pay online.

Invoicely Basic Plan

The Invoicely Basic Plan is $9.99 per month, which is less than FreshBooks and Invoicera, which start at $15 per month for their paid plans. You can give up to two team members access to your data, and you can create estimates, track time, expenses and mileage, track multiple businesses, and accept online payments. This plan is ideal if you need to give other users access to your data, create estimates, and track expenses and mileage.

Invoicely Professional Plan

The Invoicely Professional plan is $19.99 per month, which is less than the FreshBooks Plus plan at $25 per month. Unlike FreshBooks Plus, which only includes one user, Invoicely Professional includes up to 10 users. As far as features go, Invoicely is very similar to FreshBooks. This plan is ideal for a small business looking for an affordable plan that includes up to 10 users at no additional cost.

Invoicely Enterprise Plan

The Invoicely Enterprise plan is $29.99 per month vs $50 per month for FreshBooks Premium. If you have multiple businesses and a lot of users that need access, Invoicely is going to be more affordable than most of its competitors. This plan is ideal for an owner who needs to invoice and track expenses for multiple businesses. This is an affordable option if you have more than 10 users that need access to your financial data. Team members will be able to create unlimited invoices and estimates, track expenses and mileage, and set up recurring statements.

What Invoicely Is Missing

Invoicely is not missing anything when it comes to features you would expect to find in invoicing software. However, like FreshBooks, it cannot track unpaid bills like Invoicera and Viewpost. If you use another program to keep track of A/P, then this is not going to be an issue for you. However, if you’re looking to stay on top of A/P and A/R, you should choose Invoicera.

Invoicely User Reviews

Invoicely reviews show that users like that they can use the program for free. They also mentioned that it is very user-friendly. There were not many negative online reviews about Invoicely. However, in some reviews, users mentioned they would like to see improvement of customization and integration options with other programs.

Viewpost: Best Invoice Software for Small Businesses That Use QuickBooks

If you use QuickBooks to manage your bookkeeping, you don’t have to worry about doing double work when you sign up with Viewpost. Viewpost syncs with both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop so that all invoices and payments appear in both systems without the need for manual data entry. The best part is your A/R balance always remains up to date.

Viewpost Pricing

Viewpost charges $14.99 per month, which is similar pricing to FreshBooks Lite ($15 per month) and Invoicera Pro ($15 per month). However, unlike FreshBooks and Invoicera, which have limitations on the number of customers and invoices you can store in the system, Viewpost allows you to send unlimited invoices to an unlimited number of customers.

In addition to the monthly subscription charge, payments processed through Viewpost will have associated fees. The fees you are charged are based on several factors, such as how you found Viewpost, optional features and functions, the type of transactions processed on your behalf, and other factors.

The average pricing breakdown for receiving payments in Viewpost is:

• Pricing if you receive payments from another business: Up to 1.5%
• Pricing if you receive payments from consumers (by payment amount):
  • Up to $5,000: 2% of total payments
  • $5,001 to $20,000: $100 plus 1%
  • $20,001 to $60,000: $250 plus 0.5%
  • $60,001 to $100,000: $450 plus 0.25%
  • $100,001+: $550 plus 0.10%

Viewpost Features

Viewpost includes many features that go well beyond our criteria for the best invoicing software. Some of the unique features included in Viewpost are A/P, the ability to request early payment from customers, a dashboard that you can manage all customer invoices from, and seamless integration with several different accounting software packages.

Unlimited Customers and Invoices

Viewpost allows you to manage an unlimited number of customers and send unlimited invoices free of charge. Unlike Viewpost, both Invoicera and FreshBooks charge a monthly fee to send invoices. Depending on the subscription level you sign up for, you may be limited to the number of invoices and customers you can bill.

Accept Online Payments

Viewpost allows you to accept online payments from customers. Your customers can create a free Viewpost account. When you send your customers an invoice, it shows up in their Viewpost dashboard. With a few clicks, they can select and pay their invoices. If paid via automated clearing house (ACH), this will cost your customers 50 cents. However, if they use a debit card or credit card, you will be billed for merchant fees.

A/R Aging Report

Viewpost has a detailed and a summary-aged A/R report that will export to Excel automatically when you run it. You can use this report to stay on top of unpaid customer invoices before they become delinquent.

Automatic Payment Reminders

Similar to its competitors, you can create automatic messages to remind customers their payment is due. These reminders can be set up a few days before an invoice is due as well as after the due date has passed.

Late Fee Scheduling

Viewpost allows you to add late fees to overdue customer invoices. You can set up late fees to be a percentage of the total amount due or a flat amount.

Recurring Invoices

For those customers that pay a set amount periodically, you can create recurring invoices in Viewpost that go out to your customers automatically on a specific date, such as the first or 15th of each month.

Request an Early Payment

If you’re tight on cash, you can keep track of those customer invoices that you have set up with a discount for early payment terms. From your dashboard, you can select the invoices eligible for discounts and send your customer an early payment request. If they accept it, payment will be transmitted electronically to your bank account.

Manage A/P

Unlike FreshBooks, which does not allow you to manage A/P, Viewpost allows you to manage your bills and payments to vendor suppliers at no cost. The process is very similar to A/R, where the supplier needs to create a free Viewpost account. Once the account is set up, they send you bills through Viewpost, and these will automatically appear on your Viewpost dashboard so that you can keep track of them.

Integrates With Accounting Software

Invoices created in your accounting software can be transferred to Viewpost, and payments received in Viewpost can be transferred to your accounting software so the invoices will be marked as paid. This ensures that your A/R balance is always up to date.

What Viewpost Is Missing

Viewpost includes all the features you would expect an invoice software to include, but you must join the Viewpost network by creating an account. Some customers might not want to sign up for a Viewpost account, even if it is free. Second, when your customers send you an electronic payment from their bank account, they are charged a 50-cent fee. If you want an invoicing software for small business that doesn’t require customers to join, go with FreshBooks. Your customers will never have to pay a fee to pay their invoices online.

Viewpost User Reviews

We found mixed reviews online from Viewpost customers. On the positive end, reviews said Viewpost is an excellent invoicing software for small businesses, and customers like that they can use it for free. However, customers who were not that impressed with Viewpost said that they tried to integrate it with their existing accounting software and have had nothing but issues and poor customer support.

InfoFloPay: Best Invoice Software With a Built-in CRM

InfoFloPay has robust customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities that are extremely rare in an invoice software program. This software allows you to create and track web forms like contact us and view all of the information for a customer like contact information, quotes, invoices, and payments in one area. Compared to its competitors, it is a bit pricier at $15 per user, per month. Best of all, a CRM is included in all plans.

InfoFloPay Pricing & Features

InfoFloPay Lite

InfoFloPay Lite is the most budget-friendly plan for $15 per user, per month. The Lite plan allows you to create an unlimited number of invoices and estimates, track unlimited customers in the customer portal, access the built-in CRM capabilities, and track expenses. InfoFloPay Lite is ideal for a solopreneur who wants to offer their customers a client portal to manage and pay their invoices. Because the Lite plan does not include advanced reporting or recurring payments, these tasks may be completed in your accounting software and then synced with InfoFloPay.

InfoFloPay Plus

InfoFloPay Plus costs $20 per user, per month. For the additional cost, you can create recurring payments, sell subscriptions, and run customized reports, which are features not offered in the Lite plan. InfoFloPay Plus is ideal for a business that has many recurring payments to manage and doesn’t use QuickBooks or other accounting software to run financial reports.

InfoFloPay Premium

InfoFloPay Premium costs $25 per user, per month. For this additional cost, you get access to features like time logs, project tracking, and the ability to accept installment payments. The Premium plan is ideal for a small business that generates most of its revenue based on billable hours. The project tracking and time logs allow you to keep track of the hours worked by employees and contractors for each project you are working on. Once the project is complete, you can transfer those hours over to an invoice to bill the customer.

InfoFloPay Complete

InfoFloPay Complete is the top-of-the-line plan. It is a hefty $30 per user, per month. With this plan, you get features that are not typically offered in invoice software like a form builder tool, digital forms with e-signature capabilities, and web-to-lead forms as well. InfoFloPay Complete is not for your typical business. However, if you need a system that can help you to streamline leads generated from your website or other avenues and help with onboarding new customers, I think you will find the features very useful.

What InfoFloPay Is Missing

InfoFloPay doesn’t allow you to send payment reminders automatically to customers before and after an invoice due date, nor does it include the scheduling of late fees on past due invoices. If these features are important to your business, choose FreshBooks or Invoicera, which include both of these features.

InfoFloPay User Reviews

Overall, customers have good things to say about their experience using InfoFloPay. To summarize the customer reviews we found online, customers like how user-friendly the software is, pricing that’s affordable to any-sized business and the ability to try the software for 60 days free before you buy it. The overall negative comments about InfoFloPay are in regard to poor software integration options and support as well as expensive training, and an antiquated user interface.

Zoho Invoice: Best Invoice Software for Existing Zoho Users

Zoho Invoice is part of the Zoho suite of products that includes Zoho CRM, Zoho Reports, Zoho Projects, Zoho Expenses, Zoho Inventory, and Zoho Books. Zoho Invoice is ideal for a business that is currently using one or more Zoho apps. Zoho has a free plan similar to Invoicera, Invoicely, and Viewpost. Zoho Invoice integrates seamlessly with what you’re already using, which allows you to share information easily across applications and avoid double entries.

Zoho Invoice Pricing & Features

Zoho Invoice Free

Zoho Invoice Free edition includes all of the features the paid plans have like recurring invoices, automatic payment reminders, and time and expense tracking. The Free plan is limited to one user and allows you to invoice no more than five customers. Zoho Invoice Free is great for a business that’s starting out and does not have many clients and doesn’t need to give anyone else access to their data. However, you may find yourself growing out of this plan pretty quickly, which means you will need to upgrade to a paid plan.

Zoho Invoice Basic

Zoho Invoice Basic costs $9 per month. Similar to the Free plan, it is limited to one user. However, the Basic plan allows you to invoice up to 50 customers. All of the Zoho Invoice plans include the same features such as the ability to create estimates, accept online payments, and track projects. Zoho Invoice Basic is ideal for businesses that use Zoho Apps and want seamless integration across all of their systems.

Zoho Invoice Standard

Zoho Invoice Standard runs $19 per month. For the extra expense, you get to invoice 10 times more customers than with the Basic plan—500 compared to 50. In addition, Zoho Invoice Standard includes access for three users, which means that you can give a bookkeeper or accountant access to your data. Zoho Invoice Standard is ideal for an existing Zoho customer who has heavy invoicing and needs the ability to give access to other users.

Zoho Invoice Professional

Zoho Invoice Professional is the top paid plan at a cost of $29 per month. This plan allows you to invoice an unlimited number of customers and give access to 10 users. Zoho Invoice Professional is ideal for an existing Zoho customer who needs to give more than three users access to the financial data and has more than 500 customers to invoice. Zoho Professional will save you a ton of time by allowing you to put customer invoicing and payment on autopilot.

What Zoho Invoice Is Missing

Zoho Invoice is not missing anything when it comes to the basic criteria we looked for in selecting the best invoicing software. However, if you don’t use any Zoho apps—and you have no plans to—it’s only a good alternative to FreshBooks, our recommended invoice software.

Zoho Invoice User Reviews

Zoho Invoice Reviews find that users think time tracking is easy to use, which makes invoicing a breeze. The ability to set up different payment options via WePay, Stripe, and PayPal also makes it easy for clients to pay online with Zoho Invoice. Some of the negative comments about Zoho Invoice mention the lack of inventory capabilities, limited integrations, and the user interface is less than user-friendly.

Envoice: Best Invoice Software for Ecommerce Businesses

If you sell products or services via ecommerce, and you don’t need to track open customer invoices, Envoice will work for you. Unfortunately, none of the Envoice plans allow you to run an A/R aging report, send payment reminders, or apply late fees to overdue invoices. If you don’t have an e-store, we recommend that you go with FreshBooks.

Envoice Pricing & Features

Envoice Essential

Envoice Essential is the most affordable plan at $12 per month. It includes unlimited invoicing for up to 30 clients, and you can bill in any currency and accept online payments from customers. You can also create recurring invoices. This plan is a good choice for a small ecommerce business. With the Essential plan, you can bill your customers in any currency, use payment gateways and custom branding, and utilize excellent support from the Envoice team.

Envoice Business

Envoice Business is the middle plan that runs $17 per month. In addition to the features included on the Essential plan, it allows you to add team members, create payment links, and have access to the application programming interface (API) Integration tools. Although Envoice does not offer an A/R aging report, it does allow you to list and manage your invoices and includes filtering capabilities to view invoices by client as well as its status, date, and amount. The Business plan is a solid choice for an ecommerce business that needs to store unlimited client information and use Envoice’s API Integration.

Envoice Sell Online

The Sell Online plan is the top-tier plan that runs $25 per month. It includes everything the Business plan includes plus features specifically tailored for online businesses. This plan allows you to sell via your website, email lists, Facebook, Twitter, and other channels. It includes a Buy Now button and an instant checkout for your e-store. This plan is ideal for a business that receives payment at the time of sale as opposed to invoicing customers and waiting for payment. You also can track sales from multiple channels such as your website, Click Funnel, MailChimp, and Google Ads.

What Envoice Is Missing

Envoice is missing some tools a traditional business might need. However, the tools offered by Envoice are geared toward online sellers, making Envoice an effective and efficient solution for ecommerce businesses. While Envoice does not have traditional reporting features, there are tools to get the information you need at a glance. If you are tech-savvy and aren’t afraid to think out of the box for managing your ecommerce business’ financial data, Envoice may be for you.

Envoice User Reviews

Envoice Reviews find that users report loving its user-friendly interface, payment integrations, and flexibility. Envoice runs smoothly on several different operating systems. The only negative comments about Envoice were the desire for more payment gateway integrations. Envoice says it has many more integrations on their road map for future releases.

How We Evaluated Invoicing Software Programs

Many small businesses don’t need all of the bells and whistles that an accounting software like QuickBooks offers. Instead, they want invoice software that can send professional-looking invoices that their customers can pay online easily. The best invoicing software should be easy to use and include tools that will help you get paid faster such as automatic payment reminders and recurring payments. Read More

Bottom Line

We’ve provided you with an in-depth look at the best invoice software products on the market. If you’re looking for a user-friendly, customizable invoice software that has all of the tools you need to streamline your A/R process, FreshBooks is our top pick. Plus, if your small business has a loan with BlueVine or Fundbox, integration with FreshBooks makes the process seamless.