Zoho Invoice is a free invoicing software that allows you to create and send invoices and accept payments from your customers. It offers excellent invoicing features, such as the ability to duplicate existing invoices, which can be helpful if you have recurring billing arrangements. It also includes other features, such as quote management, expense tracking, and project management. Many satisfied users like it because it is free and easy to use. Its biggest drawbacks are that it is not a complete bookkeeping system and requires a Zoho Books integration to enable essential accounting features like bank reconciliation.
Zoho Invoice is free for businesses of any size, and it allows you to create and send an unlimited number of invoices. Learn if this free invoicing solution fits the bill through our comprehensive Zoho Invoice review.
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Our invoicing software reviews are meticulously developed based on first-hand experience with the platforms. We carefully study the features of each one, observe how they function in real-world scenarios, and assess their strengths and weaknesses. This allows us to provide you with unbiased and accurate insights and recommendations, aligning with the Fit Small Business Editorial Policy—which is to provide the best answers to small business questions.
| Pricing | Free for unlimited users and companies of any size |
|---|---|
| Standout Features |
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| Ease of Use | Easy to use; has a very simple and neat user interface that is easy to navigate |
| Customer Support | Phone, email, chatbot, live chat, and self-help library |
| Average User Reviews | Mostly positive; is free and easy to use and offers customizable invoices |
- Tracking client billings: Zoho Invoice tracks billable expenses that can be added to an invoice later.
- Billing clients by project: Zoho Invoice allows you to create multiple projects per customer and assign time and expenses by project. Once assigned to projects, you can include these expenses as part of client billings.
- Service providers: If you offer a professional service, such as accounting or law, or personal service like lawn care, Zoho Invoice fits your type of business. You can use the timesheet feature to track employee time by client for later billing.
- Zoho users: Zoho users can connect Zoho Invoice with other Zoho products like Zoho Books, our pick for overall best accounting software for freelancers.
- Faster invoicing: Zoho Invoice is available on mobile to help you send invoices when you’re on the go. As one of our top-recommended mobile accounting apps, it provides an easy-to-use app interface for your invoicing needs.
Zoho Invoice Alternatives & Comparison
| Pricing (Cost per Month) | Number of Users Included | Number of Billable Clients | Overall Invoicing Feature & Customization | Is a Complete Bookkeeping System | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Free | Unlimited | Unlimited | ★★★★ | Requires Zoho Books integration |
 | $23 to $70 or custom-priced | 1 | 5 to unlimited | ★★★★ | ✓ |
| Visit FreshBooks | |||||
 | $38 to $275 | 3 to 25 | Unlimited | ★★★★★ | ✓ |
| Visit QuickBooks Online | |||||
 | $19 to $149 | 1 to Unlimited | 100 to unlimited | ★★★★ | Requires accounting integration like QuickBooks Online |
| Visit Invoicera | |||||
| Rating Explanation: ★★★★★: Excellent ★★★★: Very good ★★★: Good ★★: Fair ★: Poor | |||||
| Best For | Learn More | |
|---|---|---|
| Individuals looking for simple bookkeeping with invoicing features: Zoho Invoice isn’t a bookkeeping app and cannot produce financial statements. FreshBooks made our list of the top small business accounting software because of its professional-looking and outstanding invoicing features and its easy-to-understand accounting interface. | Read our FreshBooks review |
| Companies collecting sales tax from multiple states: Collecting sales tax from multiple states can be difficult with Zoho Invoice. You have to manually set up tax rates for each jurisdiction and then add the correct jurisdiction to each invoice. QuickBooks Online, our overall best invoicing software, is an excellent program for collecting sales tax. It automatically computes sales tax rates based on the location of the customer. | Read our QuickBooks Online review |
| Companies looking for accounts payable (A/P) management: Zoho Invoice only processes invoices to customers or accounts receivable (A/R). We recommend Invoicera if you want to manage both A/R and accounts payable (A/P) in the same invoicing program. | Read our Invoicera review |
Are you looking for something different?
If your business needs complete accounting features in addition to invoicing, you should check out our list of the best small business accounting software.
Zoho Invoice Reviews From Users
4.70 / 5
| Users Like | Users Dislike |
|---|---|
| Is free | Lacks accounting features |
| Is easy to use | Has limited customer support |
| Has customizable invoices | |
Many satisfied users like that the software is completely free. One who left a positive Zoho Invoice review mentioned that it allows them to easily create invoices, while another shared that it provides plenty of customization options, including the ability to add their company logo and set up personalized messages. We also find Zoho Invoice easy to use, and we recommend it for small businesses and freelancers looking for a free solution for creating decent invoices.
On the downside, one reviewer commented that its customer support is limited and oftentimes unhelpful with complex use cases. Also, some complained that it doesn’t offer full accounting features, which is expected since it isn’t a full-fledged bookkeeping system. If you want to keep using Zoho Invoice but need accounting features, we recommend integrating it with Zoho Books.
As of this writing, Zoho Invoice has the following ratings on user review websites:
- G2.com[1]: 4.7 out of 5 based on about 320 reviews
- Capterra[2]: 4.7 out of 5 based on around 650 reviews
Zoho Invoice vs Competitors
We compared Zoho Invoice with its top competitors using our scoring rubric, and here are our findings.
Zoho Invoice vs Competitors FSB Case Study
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- Zoho Invoice Free
- FreshBooks From $19 per month
- QuickBooks Online From $30 per month
- Invoicera From $19 per month
Zoho Invoice is as excellent as our recommended alternatives in terms of invoice customization, all of which earned perfect scores. All of these programs allow you to customize your invoices in different ways, such as adding your company logo and selecting from invoice templates). Additionally, Zoho Invoice pricing came out on top because it’s the only free software on this roster.
However, the program received the lowest score in ease of use and customer support due to the unavailability of live chat support, which is offered by all the other three providers. Also, Zoho Invoice, along with FreshBooks and Invoicera, lost to QuickBooks Online in invoicing features by a small margin. QuickBooks Online offers more enhanced invoicing tools, such as the ability to automatically calculate sales tax rates to apply to an invoice based on your customer’s location.
Zoho Invoice Pricing
5.00 / 5
Zoho Invoice received a perfect score because it’s free, with no credit card required, no ads, and no in-app purchases. It provides you access to all of its features, including invoicing, quote management, expense tracking, and project management.
Zoho Invoice Customization Options
5.00 / 5
I awarded Zoho Invoice a perfect score in this criterion because it offers many ways to customize your invoices, despite being free. You can choose from various invoice templates, upload your company logo, change invoice colors, set up custom fields to include unique information, and add personalized messages for your clients.
Here’s a sample customized invoice created in Zoho Invoice:
Zoho Invoice Invoicing Features
4.80 / 5
Zoho Invoice almost earned a perfect mark in our evaluation because it provides most of the invoicing features needed by many businesses, such as the ability to clone existing invoices, track outstanding invoices, and accept short payments. A minor drawback we found is the inability to create a service contract, which can be an issue if it is a core part of your operations.
Here are some of the most notable invoicing features in Zoho Invoice:
Easy Invoicing
One of the best things about Zoho Invoice is that it’s easy to create an invoice. Simply hover over to the Invoices tab in the left navigation menu, and then click the + button. When creating a new invoice, you will be asked to provide important details, such as the customer, invoice date, and item details.
Invoice numbers are auto-generated, but you can reset them by clicking the gear icon beside the invoice number. You can set the payment terms of the invoice, but its default setting is “due on receipt.” If you intend to extend credit to your clients, you can set a custom credit term or a predefined term in the Terms drop-down menu. After creating the invoice, you can save it as a draft or email it right away to your customer.
Invoice Cloning
If you have customers that you bill on an ongoing basis, such as subscription or regular product orders, then you can clone an existing invoice to create a new one with similar details. For some reason, we could no longer find the recurring invoicing feature we discussed in our last review, but we believe the ability to clone invoices is also useful for recurring billing.
To clone an invoice, simply click on the three dots on the upper portion of the actual invoice and then click Clone. Zoho Invoice will create an invoice copy automatically with the same details included in the original invoice.
Invoice Tracking
The Invoices screen shows all the invoices that you’ve created and sent to your customers, along with their statuses, such as draft, pending, sent, overdue, and paid. You’ll also see the real-time status of individual invoices on the top left corner of the actual invoice.
To make it easy for you to find specific invoices, you can use Zoho Invoice’s filter, which allows you to sort invoices by various elements, such as invoice number, item description, customer, and status.
Payment Recording
To record payments, go to your client’s invoice and click Record Payment. A new window will appear where you can add payment details, such as the amount received, bank charges, sales tax, payment date and mode, reference number, and notes. If there are supporting documents, you can attach a file. Click the Record payment below the payment screen to record the transaction.
Once the payment is recorded, the status of the invoice will automatically update to “Sent.” Also, you’ll see the payment receipt on the Payments Received panel, which you can email to your client.
Invoice Reminders
Zoho Invoice allows you to send your customers invoice reminders to remind them of an upcoming payment or alert them of an overdue invoice. To save time, you can set up automated reminders, and Zoho Invoice will automatically send them based on a specified number of days before or after due dates.
Zoho Invoice Other Features
Quote Management
Just like invoices, you can also send quotes or estimates to potential or existing customers. The quote form essentially has the same fields as the invoice form only that it’s specifically used for providing estimates or proposals to clients. You can customize the appearance of your quote, and once it’s created, you can send it to your client via email or through the client portal.
Client Portal
The client portal allows your customers to access and view their transactions with you, including invoices, quotes, and payments made. The portal allows them to track their payables and download and print copies of the transactions if needed. You can grant access to a customer during the client setup process or through the Customer Portal section under Settings.
Customer Setup & Management
When adding customers, you can set specific tax rates, payment terms, and contact persons. Once you’ve added a new customer, you can also use the Customers tab to view your transactions with them. Click the name of the customer, and Zoho Invoice will show you all the information about that customer:
Expense Management
With Zoho Invoice, you can record billable and nonbillable expenses. If you add a billable expense, Zoho Invoice will ask you to tag an expense to a client and possibly a project. Afterward, you can generate an invoice for billable expenses automatically and send it to your client. You can also add mileage expenses if you travel for business purposes.
Timesheets
If you handle projects with several clients, Zoho Invoice has a time tracker. You can either track your work hours with Zoho’s tracker or enter hours spent manually when working. Every time log is added to the project based on the hourly rate. From there, you can bill clients on your hours worked by creating an invoice. Zoho will ask you about the invoice period, and it’ll include all billable hours and expenses within that period automatically.
Reporting
Zoho Invoice allows you to create financial reports about the various aspects of your business, including sales, receivables, payments received, purchases and expenses, and projects and timesheets. Some of the most popular reports include sales by customer, A/R aging summary, billable expense details, and project revenue summary reports.
Zoho Invoice Ease of Use & Customer Support
3.00 / 5
Zoho Invoice is easy to use, but its score for this criterion is negatively impacted by a few factors, such as limited integration options and the lack of live chat support. Nevertheless, it is among the simplest invoicing software I’ve used, featuring a neat and minimalistic dashboard that is easy to navigate even for first-time users.
What I like most about the dashboard is that each menu in the left navigation bar has a shortcut button that allows you to instantly enter items, such as customers, invoices, and expenses. Also, the transaction entry forms are very simple and easy to complete.
If you have questions or need help with a certain feature, you can contact Zoho Invoice by phone from Monday to Friday. You may also send an email, or access some self-help guides, like FAQs and video tutorials.
How We Evaluated Zoho Invoice
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is Zoho Invoice 100% free?
Yes, Zoho Invoice is now totally free. It was once a paid software from Zoho, but the company decided to offer it for free after seeing the success of its invoicing arm.
Who should use Zoho Invoice?
Zoho Invoice is best for small businesses seeking free invoicing software, Zoho app users, and service-based companies requiring time-tracking features.
What are the top Zoho Invoice alternatives?
Our top Zoho alternatives are QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks, and Invoicera. You may also check out our roundup of the best invoicing software for other options.
Bottom Line
Zoho Invoice is a great app with outstanding invoicing features. It’s incredible that such a complete, unlimited app is available for free. If your small business can’t commit to annual or monthly plans, Zoho Invoice is a good start. As your business grows, you can move to a complete bookkeeping system via simple integration with Zoho Books.
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