Invoice software allows you to automate your customer billing process and stay on top of outstanding invoices so that you maintain a positive cash flow. We looked at the most popular options and rising stars and decided to review Invoicera, Viewpost, and FreshBooks. These companies covered the range for small businesses in terms of price and features offered. Read on for our comparison and review of these three options, as well as our top recommendations.
Best Invoice Software for Small Businesses: Invoicera
We recommend Invoicera for small businesses because it offers the essential invoicing tools at the lowest price (including customizable invoices, online payments, and expense tracking), making it suitable for both a sole prop and a large corporation.
Invoice Software Comparison Table: Invoicera vs. Viewpost vs. FreshBooks
| Pricing (to send invoices to customers) Learn More | $19.95 per month (Classic plan) Includes:
| $0 Includes:
| $25 per month (Plus plan) Includes:
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| Free Version? | Yes 30 day free trial | Yes | No 30 day free trial |
| Ease of Setup/Use Learn More | Easy | Easy | Easy |
| Features Learn More | Customizable templates, automatic recurring payments, set automatic due dates, apply late payment fees, customers can pay invoices online | Customizable templates, automatic recurring payments, set automatic due dates, apply late payment fees, customers can pay invoices online | Customizable templates, automatic recurring payments, set automatic due dates, apply late payment fees, customers can pay invoices online |
| How do customers pay? | Online with a debit or credit card using payment link included on invoice. | Customer must set up Viewpost account and link a bank account to Viewpost. No credit/debit card payments allowed. | Online with a debit or credit card using payment link included on invoice. |
| Integration with other systems Learn More |
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| See the complete list here. |
| Online Payment Fees Learn More | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (via PayPal) Fees are dependent on payment gateway that you choose. | $0 - Business owner Your customer pays 50 cents per transaction to make online payments. | Credit card processing fee starts at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. |
| Bonus Features Learn More | Manage all expenses with the expense management tool. | Manage all vendor bills (accounts payable) | Project tracking & Financial reports |
| Customer Support Learn More | Free email & phone* support available Mon - Fri. 6am - midnight IST (8:30pm - 2:30pm EST) *No toll-free phone number, local (India) telephone charges will apply. | Free phone and live chat support available Mon - Fri 9-6pm EST | Free phone and live chat support available Mon - Fri 8am-8pm EST. |
Invoicera
Viewpost
FreshbooksHow We Evaluated Invoice Software Companies
As part of the research for this buyer’s guide, we looked at 10 popular companies that offered invoice software. We evaluated which companies made the final cut based on cost and whether or not they included the following features:
- Ability to create custom, professional-looking invoice templates
- Accessible online (no software installation required)
- Ability to set up recurring payments
- Customers can pay invoices online
- Reminders for past due invoices can be sent to customers
- Able to produce an Accounts Receivable Aging report to keep track of invoices as they become due.
We were able to narrow down our list pretty quickly to Invoicera, Viewpost and FreshBooks because they not only included the above features but they go well beyond what most invoice software products offer. We will discuss bonus features later on in this guide.
Best Invoice Software for Small Businesses: Invoicera
We recommend Invoicera for small businesses because it’s one of the few companies that seems to cater to both small and large businesses. In addition to managing customer invoices you can also manage your expenses in Invoicera. Invoicera also offers a free account which is great if you are just starting out and only have a few customers.
Invoicera is able to perform all of the minimal requirements you would expect from an invoice software; like customized invoices to include your brand colors and logo, automatic payment reminders, automatic recurring payments and customers can make online payments.
While you can’t manage your vendor bills with Invoicera like you can with Viewpost; Invoicera has an expense management feature that is included at no additional charge. You can manually enter expenses into Invoicera or import them from an Excel spreadsheet.
Once entered, you can categorize your expenses by project, customer or vendor. This will allow you to bill a customer back for something you may have purchased on their behalf. Invoicera even comes with space to store electronic documents like receipts. You could scan & attach receipts to customer invoices as proof of the amount you paid on their behalf.
Invoicera is not as budget friendly as Viewpost. However they do offer a free plan that allows you to create and send an unlimited number of invoices to 3 customers. However, if you’ve got more than 3 customers to invoice then you will need to sign up for one of their paid plans. We will discuss pricing in more detail later on.
Best Invoice Software for Small Businesses on a Budget: Viewpost
Viewpost comes with all of the bells and whistles that you would expect from an invoice software program, yet it’s absolutely free for the business owner. For example, you can customize your invoices by adding your logo, keep track of invoices that are paid vs. unpaid, and you can set up recurring payments for those customers who have agreed to make periodic payments (i.e. weekly, monthly, quarterly) to you.
As a small business owner, you know the importance of being able to stay on top of money that is coming in versus how much is going out. Viewpost allows you to manage your money in and money out all in one place: You can streamline your bill payment process by uploading your bills to Viewpost or have your supplier send you an electronic invoice through the Viewpost network. We will discuss the accounts payable feature in more detail in the Bonus Features section of this guide.
There are a couple of disadvantages to using Viewpost. First, you cannot accept credit/debit card payments from your customers like you can with Invoicera and FreshBooks. Instead, your customers must sign up for a Viewpost account (which is absolutely free) and connect their bank account to Viewpost in order to pay their invoices. Second, your customer will be charged 50 cents to make a payment; whereas with Invoicera and FreshBooks, your customers will not be charged to make payments.
Back to the point I made at the beginning of this section, how much is this going to cost you? Well, I’ve got 3 words for you: nothing at all. Viewpost does not live up to the old adage “You get what you pay for.” When it comes to Viewpost, I would have to say “You get MORE than what you pay for!” You can send as many invoices to as many customers as you like for absolutely free.
Best Invoice Software for Service-Based Businesses: FreshBooks
FreshBooks is the best invoice software for service-based businesses who need a software that makes it easy to keep track of their time and expenses. In general, if the revenue that you generate for your business is primarily based on billable hours then FreshBooks was made for you!
FreshBooks (like Viewpost and Invoicera) allows you to create professional customized invoices, set up recurring payments so that you don’t have to manually create invoices for your clients who pay you on a periodic basis; you can also set up automatic reminders to nudge a customer a day or two before an invoice is due to ensure that payment is made on time.
Similar to Invoicera, FreshBooks does not have the ability to manage your bills. However, it does allow you to manage your expenses like Invoicera does. With the expense management feature, you can set up vendors, attach receipts and easily categorize your purchases. Should you hire contractors to help complete your projects, you can even keep track of payments made to your contractors in FreshBooks.
FreshBooks also has an extensive time tracker feature. Using the time tracker, you can start and stop the timer as you (or your employees) work on client projects. This will allow you to run reports to review the total hours of your team as a whole. When you are ready to get paid, these hours can be transferred to an invoice to bill your clients.
With FreshBooks, you can track a project from start to finish. You can invite your team to a project, set up timelines and assign tasks and due dates for each stage of a project. We will discuss the project feature in more detail later on. Finally, FreshBooks offers some really great financial reports. Some of the reports that you can run are: Profit and Loss, A/R Aging report, Expense Report and a Sales tax Summary report. We will discuss these bonus features in more detail in the Bonus Features section.
When it comes to price, the plan we recommend for FreshBooks is the most expensive out of the 3 companies. FreshBooks has 3 subscription plans and their most economical is the Lite plan which runs $15 per month. Unlike Viewpost and Invoicera, FreshBooks does not offer a free version of their product. However, you can try FreshBooks out for 30 days at no cost. We will discuss pricing in more detail in the next section.
In-Depth Review: Invoicera vs. Viewpost vs. FreshBooks
Pricing
The three companies that we have selected offer very different pricing structures. Invoicera and FreshBooks both charge a monthly fee to send invoices to customers. Each plan includes limitations on the number of users, invoices and customers you can bill. On the other hand, Viewpost does not charge their customers a dime to send invoices; and there are no limitations on the number of customers you bill or the number of invoices you need to create.
Below is a summary table of the pricing structure for each company:
| Pricing (to send invoices to customers) | $19.95 per month (Classic plan) Includes:
| $0 Includes:
| $25 per month (Plus plan) Includes:
|
Ease of Setup/Use
All 3 products are very easy to use. I was able to set up an account and create my first invoice with each product in under 15 minutes! Setting up your account just requires you to enter some basic info about your business like company name, owner’s name, industry, business address etc.
Invoicera: Creating an invoice in Invoicera was a piece of cake. After entering basic company information in just a couple of screens, I uploaded the company logo and just clicked the “Create Invoice” button. Directly in the invoice screen, I was able to add the customer info (name and address) and the service that I wanted to bill for, all in less than 15 minutes! Here is the invoice I created in Invoicera for a fictitious company.
Sample Invoicera Invoice
Source: Invoicera
Viewpost: Creating an invoice in Viewpost was extremely simple. During the account setup, I entered the business address, selected the entity type (Sole prop), industry and I uploaded a company logo. In order to send/receive payments through Viewpost, you need to connect your bank account to your Viewpost account. Be sure to have your bank routing and account number handy because this is also part of the setup.
However, if you don’t want to do that initially, you can skip it (like I did) and just come back to add it before you begin to send and accept payments from customers. Here is an invoice that I created in Viewpost for a fictitious company.
Sample Viewpost Invoice
Source: Viewpost
FreshBooks:Similar to Viewpost and Invoicera, I was able to set up an account and create an invoice in FreshBooks in no time. After providing the basic company info (i.e. address, phone, industry etc), I was able to go right to “create invoice” where i selected the invoice template that I wanted to use, the font and I uploaded a logo. Here is an invoice that I created in FreshBooks for a fictitious company:
Sample FreshBooks Invoice
Source: FreshBooks
Features
When it comes to selecting an invoice software, you should make sure that it includes the following basic features that we mentioned earlier:
- Ability to create custom, professional-looking invoice templates
- Accessible online (no software installation required)
- Ability to set up recurring payments
- Customers can make invoice payments online
- Reminders for past due invoices can be sent to customers
- Abie to produce an Accounts Receivable Aging report to keep track of invoices as they become due.
Invoicera: When it comes to features, Invoicera goes beyond the basics. Let’s discuss in more detail some of these features.
- Send & Track Invoices – Keeping track of invoices is a piece of cake with Invoicera. Right from your dashboard you can see all invoices that have been sent to customers, as well as manage online payments and offline payments which include payments in the form of check or cash. Below, is a snapshot of the Invoicera invoice management dashboard.
Invoicera Invoice Management Dashboard
Source: Invoicera
- Automate late fees and payment reminders – This feature allows you to automatically send friendly payment reminders to your customers either a few days before an invoice is due or within a few days after, whichever you prefer. In addition, you can automatically have late fees added to a customer’s invoice if payment is not received by the due date.
- Automatic currency and language conversions – If you’ve got customers around the globe then this feature is right up your alley. You can invoice your customers in the language and currency of their choice. You are also able to receive payment in multiple currencies.
Viewpost: Similar to Invoicera, Viewpost not only meets but exceeds our basic feature requirements indicated above. Let’s discuss some of the features that Viewpost has to offer:
- Send & Track Invoices – Invoices can be sent and tracked by you and your customers directly from your Viewpost Invoice Dashboard. The way it works is when you send an invoice to your customer via Viewpost, they will receive an email invite to sign up with Viewpost (which is absolutely free).
- Customers on the Viewpost network – If a customer has joined the network then your invoice will immediately appear on their Viewpost dashboard.
- Customers not on the Viewpost network – If a customer has not joined the network, then their invoice will be an email attachment along with an email invite to join the Viewpost network for free. In order for a customer to pay the invoice, they must join the Viewpost network and connect their bank account; otherwise, they can mail you a check and you can manually mark their invoice as paid in Viewpost.
From the Viewpost dashboard, you can track the status of all invoices. This allows you to stay on top of what invoices have been approved, scheduled and paid. You can filter to show only specific customers or all customers as indicated in the screenshot below.
Viewpost Invoice Dashboard
Source: Viewpost
- Request an Early Payment – Viewpost can help you keep track of those customer invoices that you have set up with a discount for early payment terms. From the dashboard, you can easily filter to view invoices that are eligible for discounts. Within Viewpost, you can send your customer an early payment request. If they accept it, then payment will be transmitted electronically to your bank account.
FreshBooks: One of the reasons why FreshBooks works well for service-based businesses is the time tracking feature. Let’s take a look at how the time tracker works in FreshBooks and how you can get paid upfront from your customers by requesting a deposit.
- Time Tracking – This feature allows you to keep track of the time spent by you and your team working on a client. Just log into FreshBooks and start the timer. Once you are done working on a client, you can stop the timer and the exact amount of time spent will be logged and ready for you to invoice! This will ensure that you don’t forget to bill your client for anytime spent working on their job.
With the time tracker feature, you have access to a dashboard where you can easily view the amount of time spent by each of your employees or contractors for each client. This will provide you with insight into the productivity of your team and give you the tools that you need to prioritize the work. Below is a screenshot of the time tracker dashboard:
FreshBooks Time Tracker Dashboard
Source: FreshBooks
- Get paid up front with deposits – If you’re working with a new customer for the first time or a client who will bring in some substantial revenue then you might want to request a deposit before you start the work. With FreshBooks, you can request a percentage of the total amount as a deposit (i.e. 50% deposit) or a flat amount (i.e. $1,000) upfront.
Integrations
All three companies that we selected integrate with many other products. This can be extremely beneficial if you currently use a product that integrates with Invoicera, Viewpost or FreshBooks, since you can share data between the two products. Let’s discuss how this would work.
Online Payments
One of the most important features of an invoice software is to allow customers to make payments online. This can significantly cut down the amount of time it takes for you to receive payment from your customer which can greatly improve your cash flow.
Bonus Features
What made the 3 companies that we selected standout is the amount of features that go beyond invoicing customers. These bonus features are automatically included at no additional charge. Below, I have chosen the bonus features that stood out the most for each company.
Customer Support
Customer support is free for all 3 companies. Depending on the company, you may have the option to chat or speak with a live person. If you prefer self-help options, all 3 companies offer a knowledge base that has answers to most commonly asked questions.
All Invoice Software Options
As I mentioned at the beginning, we researched a total of 10 companies for this guide and narrowed it down to our top 3 companies: Invoicera, Viewpost and FreshBooks. While the remaining 7 companies did not make our final cut, they each offer different features and price options that might be a better fit for your business.
Here is the full list of companies along with the type of business we think they work best with and a brief description of each.
| Company | Best For | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicera | Any business small or large. | Invoicera caters to both sole props and larger enterprises. You can start small by using the free account and then upgrade to a paid account as your business grows. |
| Viewpost | Small businesses on a budget. | Viewpost is a great solution for small businesses who want the ability to manage cash in (accounts receivable) and cash out (accounts payable) from one central place. |
| FreshBooks | Service-based small businesses. | FreshBooks is ideal for sole props, consultants and self-employed businesses whose revenue is primarily generated from billable hours. The time tracker feature allows you and your team to keep track of all of the hours spent on client work in one place which makes it as simple as clicking a button to bill customers back for those hours. |
| Simplybill | Small businesses who only need to send invoices to customers. | Simplybill is a great solution for a small business that just wants to keep things simple. You can send invoices to customers for as low as $5/month. Customers can pay invoices online but they are limited to using Paypal only. |
| Hiveage | Small businesses who want to track everything in one place for more than one business. | With Hiveage, you can track most of your business transactions; including mileage, expenses, time, create invoices and bills. If you’ve got more than one business to keep track of, Hiveage allows you to set up multiple companies for the same account. |
| Due | Small businesses that want to invoice customers and receive payments online. | Due is an up and coming company that offers digital invoicing and payments. Send unlimited invoices to an unlimited number of customers for free. All you pay is a flat fee of 2.8% per transaction for all credit and debit card payments made by your customers. |
| ZoHo Invoice | Small businesses who currently use other ZoHo products. | 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 not only integrates with these products but unlimited invoicing for 5 customers for free. Their paid plans start at just $7 per month. |
| PayPal | Small businesses that prefer simple invoices without all the bells and whistles. | Paypal is a very simple program that allows you to send unlimited invoices to as many customers as you like. You just pay the credit card processing fee of 2.9% plus .30 cents per transaction for payments made online by your customers. |
| Square Invoices | Small businesses who just want to invoice customers and receive payments online. | Square Invoices is a free invoice generator that you can use to create an unlimited number of invoices for an unlimited number of customers for absolutely free. The only thing you pay for is a credit card processing fee when your customers make online payments using their debit or credit card. |
| Wave | Small businesses on a budget that need a bookkeeping solution. | Wave is an accounting software program that you can use to track all of your business transactions; including invoice customers, pay bills, inventory management. It is absolutely free. Check out our best accounting software guide to learn more. |
| Simple Invoices | Small businesses who transact in multiple currencies. | Simple Invoices allows clients to create and send professional invoices quickly, accept credit card payments online via Stripe, keep client credit cards on file to make automatic payments possible, allow for recurring billing, export important data into spreadsheets, and send invoices in multiple languages and currencies. |
| Invoice2go | Small businesses who are new to online invoicing and need something simple and easy. | Invoice2go is a mobile and web invoicing, expense tracking and reporting app for small businesses. Time and expense tracking is also included in all of its premium plans. |
| Invoicely | Small businesses who want to send simple invoices for free. | Invoicely helps customers pay invoices online from anywhere in the world, directly from the invoice they receive, and in any currency. Payments can only be made and accepted via Paypal in the Free version. Other platforms such as Stripe, Authorize.net and WePay are available in the Premium plans. |
| Ezy Invoice | Small businesses that don't have a high volume of transactions, and located only in one office. | Ezy Invoice is an invoice and inventory software that must be locally installed into your computer. Purchasing the software and license requires a one-time only payment, and comes with no monthly fees and no time limit for usage. |
| Express Invoice | Small businesses who want a downloadable software. | Express Invoice is a downloadable invoicing software for both Windows and Mac. Other NCH products such as accounting software, inventory management software, or point of sale software can be purchased as a bundle with it. |
The Bottom Line
There are a lot of factors to consider when selecting an invoice software that will best meet your specific business needs. The three companies that we have recommended are at the top of their game.
If you are just starting out and don’t have a lot of customers, then go with Invoicera. Their free version allows you to send unlimited invoices to up to 3 customers; when you’re ready, you can upgrade to a paid plan as your business grows and expands.
If you’re on a tight budget then go with Viewpost. You can track customer invoices and payments as well as track bills and make payments all in one place for absolutely free!
Finally, if you are a sole prop, freelancer or consultant whose revenue comes primarily from billable hours then give FreshBooks a try. It’s project and time tracker features will make billing for your time a breeze!
Mohamed fouad
many thanks
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Somide Olaoye
InvoiceApp (https://getinvoice.co) is also a good online invoicing software. It is easy to create invoices in a snap, add your logo, and customize the look and feel of your invoices on the go. You can also track the status of sent invoices like knowing when your invoice is received, opened or paid.
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Hey Somide! Thanks for sharing this with us and our readers. I will definitely check getinvoice.com out!
All the Best-
Crystalynn Shelton
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Himani
Awesome and much useful information. Nice and detailed explanation.
Thanks for sharing this excellent info and tweeted 🙂
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Hey Himani! Thanks so much for the positive feedback. Glad you enjoyed our article on Best Invoice Software for SMB’s!
All the Best-
Crystalynn Shelton
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SMACC
SMACC is an online accounting software for Small and Medium Enterprises to manage their businesses & boost productivity. Get Started Now with a Free Trial.
https://www.smacc.com
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Thanks for sharing another option for invoicing. I’ll have to check it out.
All the Best-
Crystalynn Shelton
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Anthony
Great post on invoicing. Different products for different markets.
I’m a freelancer from Nigeria and my favourite tool for invoicing is https://invoice.ng.
It’s a good invoicing software for small business and startups also.
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Hi Anthony, thanks so much for reading the article and for sharing your favorite invoicing tool.
I will definitely check it out!
All the Best-
Crystalynn
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