Zoho Invoice Review: Pricing, Features & Alternatives 2023

In the left-side panel, click Customers to see your list of customers. To add a new one, just click the plus sign on the panel:

List of Customers

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Creating a Customer

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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:

Viewing Customer Information

After setting up your customers, you can begin invoicing. Head to Invoices to see the list of all your invoices:

List of Invoices

You can also change the filter to see specific invoices under the category. Click All Invoices, and a drop-down menu will appear:

Filter Categories

You can create two types of invoices: recurring and nonrecurring. For recurring invoices, go to the left-side panel and click Recurring Invoices. Zoho Invoice will generate and send these invoices via email automatically on whatever schedule you choose:

Creating a Recurring Invoice

You can track your recurring invoices on the same tab. Zoho will inform you of the next invoice and its status. This feature is helpful if you have clients that you bill the same amount every month.

You can also create a nonrecurring invoice on the Invoices tab. 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 adding the particulars of the invoice, click Save as Draft or Save and Send to complete the invoice. If you save it as a draft, you can still edit the invoice. Otherwise, Zoho will send the invoice to the email address of your client. Sent invoices will be marked as “Pending”:

Creating an Invoice

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Completed Invoice with Formatted Invoice Template

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Invoice status can be seen on the top left corner of the actual invoice in the form of a colored ribbon:

• Sent: Blue ribbon
• Overdue: Orange ribbon
• Paid or Partially Paid: Green ribbon

Clients will receive an email with the invoice. If you accept credit card payments or bank transfers, clients can click Pay Now and they’ll be redirected to a secure payment channel:

Client’s View of Invoices Sent via Email

Invoicing items are your products and services. To add or view these items, go to Items on the left-side panel. From there, you can view your products or services, including their description, price, and usage. Click an item to see more information about it.

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 amount received, bank charges, sales tax, payment date and mode, reference number, and notes. If there are supporting documents, you can attach a file.

Recording Payments from a Client

Once payments are recorded, you can see the payment receipt on the Payments Received panel. You can also send this to your client as a receipt:

Payment Receipt Generated by Zoho Invoice

For clients that have forgotten to pay, you can send all of them a reminder automatically via email instead of manually emailing them one by one:

Sending Payment Reminders Before Due Date

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Overdue Reminder Sent to the Client’s Email

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One of Zoho Invoice’s features is expense recording. You can record billable and nonbillable expenses in the app. 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 on Zoho Invoice. You can input odometer readings or distance traveled when computing your mileage costs.

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:

Project Time Tracking on Zoho Invoice

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.