Invoicing is something every freelance author has to do. In any case, earning money is what distinguishes us from the “writing only for fun” writers — but to earn that cash, we’ve got to truly invoice our clients.
While you may start by learning how one can make an invoice in Microsoft Word, eventually you’ll need to transition to an invoicing software or invoice generator that automates a number of the work.
But what’s the perfect invoice maker for freelancers? Between Freshbooks, ZoHo, Bonsai, Wave and more… there are such a lot of selections available, it will probably be intimidating.
Invoicing software options for freelance writers
We went on a mission to seek out some good options for you, including several free invoice maker tools. Our goal here is to take the effort out of selecting an invoice generator, so you may get on with getting paid.
To perform this, we signed up for trial accounts with 10 different online invoicing firms.
For every invoice maker, we set a closing date of half-hour to explore and create mock invoices. We used that point to notice any immediately positive features (pros) in addition to anything that stuck out as difficult or frustrating (cons).
We also checked out their least expensive and costliest payment plans — and noted which software offered a free option — and we’re desirous to share the outcomes of our experiment.
Listed here are some beneficial invoicing software tools.
1. Bonsai
Pros: Properly pronounced “bone-sigh,” this invoicing system is as well-manicured because the miniature trees it’s named for. We also love that “writing” is one in every of the highest three options when the software asks “what do you do?” as a part of the setup.
With Bonsai (also often known as Hello Bonsai due to its URL), you may quickly create one-time, recurring, and recurring auto-payment invoices, all of which can help you easily add in specifics like discounts, taxes, peripheral expenses and even preferred payment method.
Bonsai also offers time tracking, expenses, and integrates a proposal and contract system — which we especially love for freelance writers, who all too often work with none formal agreements made in writing. You’ll be able to easily have your client e-sign a contract or approve a proposed estimate before you begin working, which may provide some much-needed stability to your freelance profession.
Cons: Bonsai is clean-looking and simple to make use of, but you do must pay for the privilege. Nonetheless, plans start at an affordable $21 per 30 days and include unlimited projects, and there’s even a neat referral system that gets you a free month while you successfully recruit a friend.
Free Plan: Probably not… though they do have a cool referral program, as mentioned above. You may as well test the waters with a free 14-day trial.
Paid Plans: $21 per 30 days for the vast majority of the software’s capabilities, including unlimited projects, customizable branding, advanced reporting and chat support. You’ll be able to upgrade to the $32 per 30 days plan for white labeling, sub-contracting, and so as to add additional users, which can even require an extra $9 per person.
Best For: Freelancers who could also be considering adding employees or colleagues to their team, and who need to have the opportunity to send skilled proposals and contracts to solidify their relationships with their clients.
Our full review: Meet Bonsai, A Task-Management Tool Keeping Freelance Writers Organized
2. FreshBooks
Pros: We were immediately blown away by FreshBooks — it’s an invoicing website that really does the whole lot. They’ve a built-in time tracker, a team management system and even a method to connect your accountant to your FreshBooks account to make tax time easier!
From the moment we signed up, we felt like they “got” what we, as freelance writers, need: There have been options for “content marketer” and “copywriter” (amongst other writing-related profession selections) as Company options on the sign-up sheet. Nice!
The brand new FreshBooks also offers an invoice app for mobile, each iOS and Android, so self-employed professionals can run their businesses anytime, anywhere.
In addition they have a superb referral/affiliate program.
Cons: Since we were basing this text on how “intuitive” the location was for brand new users with limited time on their hands, we’ve got to say that the “bigness” of the location may very well be a bit overwhelming for brand new users just seeking to invoice a client.
Also, there’s now not a free option; you’ll must upgrade to a paid monthly plan to make use of the service after the initial 30-day free trial. That said, even when it existed, the free plan was pretty useless, only allowing you to invoice one client per 30 days.
Free Plan: None, though you may try the service with a 30-day free trial.
Paid Plans: Plans start at £6 a month, though the preferred option, which lets you send unlimited invoices to as much as 50 clients, is £11 per 30 days. There’s also a premium plan, which is £17.50 a month, but that’s targeted toward businesses.
Best For: Nearly any freelancer, to be honest! FreshBooks is popular within the industry for a reason.
Our full review: The Beginner’s Guide to Freshbooks: Find out how to Create an Invoice
3. Zoho
Pros: Like Bonsai, Zoho is one in every of the one invoicing software tools we tested that integrates a digital proposal option. Called “estimates,” these documents routinely roll over into invoices in case your client accepts your terms. In addition they can help you send transactions by “snail mail,” though you will have to buy additional credits to accomplish that.
What’s more, Zoho had an extensive Reports page with greater than 25 different categories. It wasn’t just organized, it was micro-organized! For somebody like us — the tightly-wound physical embodiment of organization — the additional effort they put into their record-keeping is a welcome feature.
Cons: While Zoho’s invoicing software is pretty easy to navigate, be forewarned that if you happen to go to the foremost Zoho page, you is likely to be overwhelmed. The corporate also offers accounting services, IT management, and CRM software, a lot of which could also be beyond the scope of your needs as a contract author. In case you’re excited about its invoicing feature, we advise navigating to that specific page for simplicity sake.
Free Plan: Yes. You get one user and you may invoice as much as five clients.
Paid Plans: £16 per 30 days lets you invoice as much as 50 clients; £28 per 30 days lets you invoice as much as 500 and in addition unlocks some additional features (and could be accessed by up to 3 users); £40 per 30 days allows unlimited clients, as much as 10 users and even a custom domain through the system. Note these are monthly prices. In case you pay for a 12 months upfront, you may get two months without cost.
Best For: Because Zoho also offers a wide selection of other business organizational tools, we like this feature for freelancers who may expand their company in the longer term.
4. Harvest
Pros: The thing we liked best about Harvest was the finished invoice: it was easy to read and the overall amount due was written each at the underside in large numbers and in normal-size print inside the invoice itself. Even when you will have one in every of those clients who hates to read (we’ve all had them), there’s no way they might “by accident” skip over the quantity they owe you!
We also liked the variability of viewpoints Harvest gives you of your work. You’ll be able to arrange quite a lot of projects and access reports that show you exactly how much of your helpful time you’re using on different tasks and clients — which is essential for maximizing your rates.
Cons: Our original “con” for Harvest was that their time tracker was tucked away and hard to seek out on their site; nevertheless, they’ve since reconfigured the location and “Time” is now the very first tab at the highest… so… no cons, really!
Free Plan: Yes. You’ll be able to have one user (yourself) and send invoices to unlimited clients with two lively projects.
Paid Plans: $10.80 per 30 days for one user and unlimited clients – which also lets you use their apps and online extensions. Plus, you get a ten% discount if you happen to pay for it yearly, and you may try it out with a 30-day trial (no bank card required).
Best For: Writers who usually invoice the identical client with similar projects (because the software easily lets you arrange reusable templates), in addition to those that really need to key into where their time goes.
5. Quaderno
Pros: Quaderno was specifically made and marketed toward freelancers, and our initial impression was that they “got” us.
And by “got” us, we mean they understand one in every of the largest freelancer struggles: taxes.
Quaderno’s whole schtick as of late is that they make determining your taxes a complete lot easier, routinely calculating and adding your sales tax to your invoices (if you happen to desire). When it comes time to file your return, you may access all the info in easy-to-read reports. And the invoices themselves are clean and minimal: they get the job done in an eminently readable fashion.
Cons: The foremost “con” with Quaderno is that it doesn’t have a free plan — and the paid plans they do have are pretty pricey (see below). Also, all that functionality comes with a little bit of a learning curve, and also you’ll must click around a bit to get a hang of the software.
Free Plan: None. You get a seven-day free trial after which you will have to get a paid plan if you happen to want to proceed.
Paid Plans: Plans start on the $49-per-month “startup” tier, which gets you as much as 250 transactions a month. While that level would cover loads of freelancers, if you happen to need more, you’ll pay for it: upper tiers are $99 and $149 per 30 days. Below the pricing options, it does mention a “hobby plan” for $29 per 30 days for those with fewer than 25 transactions a month.
Best For: Quaderno is specifically set as much as enable you to handle each domestic and international clients, so if you happen to’re a distant nomad or your small business is worldwide, this is likely to be an awesome option.
6. Simplybill
Pros: Simplybill is strictly what you’d expect it to be: Easy. There have been about 4 tabs to select from and inside each page, the whole lot was written out in large letters and chunked into easy-to-understand sections. Simplybill was a no brainer when it got here to creating invoices — we didn’t even need a full half-hour!
We were also amused that a site that embraced simplicity so thoroughly had a complete of 37 different template designs to select from (hidden way within the “Settings”). Fancying up my invoice was optional, but discovering said option was a fun surprise.
Cons: Simplybill doesn’t do anything but invoice clients. While simplicity could be appealing, if you happen to’re in search of other functions (like time tracking), this isn’t the invoicing site for you. Also, the location only accepts payment for subscriptions via PayPal, so if you happen to don’t have a PayPal account, that’s an extra hassle.
Free Plan: No, but you may try it out without cost for 14 days.
Paid Plans: $5 per 30 days for unlimited clients (but you may only send out 25 invoices per 30 days!); $15 gets you 100 invoices; $25 gets you unlimited invoices.
Best For: Solo freelancers in search of an uber-simplistic invoice generator.
7. Paymo
Pros: Whether you’re a solo freelancer or someone who usually works as a part of a team, Paymo is an awesome method to track your projects from start to complete, even allowing you to separate out sub-tasks within the implementation, planning and launch phases. The invoices themselves are easy to make and clean-looking, and the software offers all the opposite extras which can be quickly becoming industry standard: time tracking, expense reports, etc.
But despite the extensiveness of functionality, Paymo still maintains a startup feel — in the nice way. For instance, the introductory email we received allowed us to send a direct reply to the CEO.
Cons: We love quite a bit concerning the way Paymo is about up on the backend, however the multiplicity of tasks and subtasks could make time reports look cluttered. (That said, you’ll get much more granular data on where your days are going, which may very well be super useful.)
Moreover, with only three invoices allowed on the free level, you just about must upgrade to a paid plan to make use of this technique seriously.
Free Plan: While there may be a free option, it only lets you send three invoices per 30 days.
Paid Plans: $10.90 /user/month gets you unlimited invoicing capability and prolonged functionality; if you happen to work on a bigger team, upgrading to $16.90 /user/month unlocks Gantt charts, resource scheduling, onboarding, training and more.
Best For: With its give attention to multi-user management, Paymo is our pick for freelancers who’re solidly team players.
8. Wave
Pros: In case you’re in search of an all-inclusive invoicing platform that also integrates functionality like payment receipts, recurring invoices, expense tracking, and even the flexibility to run payroll, Wave invoicing has you covered. Truthfully, it’s harder to seek out something you can’t do with this software… but even just on the invoicing front, it’s uber-detail oriented. I mean, you need to use an actual hex color code to nail down your exact invoice accent color.
Higher yet, this technique is honest-to-goodness free at the essential level: you’ll get unlimited invoicing, top-of-the-line accounting software and receipt scanning for $0 per 30 days, though invoices paid by bank card directly through the system are subject to a 2.9%+$0.30 fee (which is pretty standard).
Cons: As with just a few of the opposite invoicing systems we’ve reviewed here, the increased functionality is a little bit of a missed blessing. There’s quite a bit to see, and even with its helpful launchpad and step-by-step guide system, you’re going to must click around a bunch before you are feeling such as you’re getting the complete functionality.
Free Plan: Yup — and it’s actually fully functional. Rating.
Paid Plans: You’ll pay an invoicing fee for bank card payments of two.9%+$0.30 per transaction, in addition to ACH transfer fees starting at 1%. If it’s essential use this system to run payroll, you’ll upgrade to a monthly plan starting at a $20 base fee and moving up depending on what features it’s essential implement.
Best For: This method is our pick for freelancers who’ve been DIY-ing their accounting and wish a free method to take their bookkeeping to the subsequent level.
9. Invoicely
Pros: Yet one more powerful platform offering multiple functionalities, including digital estimates, expense tracking, and the flexibility to hyper-customize your organization’s branding and appearance. Invoicely really stands out to us since it’s one in every of the few systems we’ve encountered that gives unlimited invoicing without cost (though a number of the other functionality could also be limited).
At upgraded levels, Invoicely offers a simple method to track mileage, so if you happen to’re a contract author who ceaselessly travels for work — resembling, to interviews or reporting locations — it’s nice to have a simple method to calculate that deduction.
Cons: On the free level, customization abilities are limited and also you’ll have to just accept payments through PayPal… during which case, it is likely to be more parsimonious to maintain the whole lot on PayPal. (See: list item #10!)
Free Plan: Yes. Win.
Paid Plans: Plans start at $9.99 per 30 days for as much as two team members and full access to Invoicely’s functions, and move up from there based on the variety of users who need access.
10. PayPal
Pros: PayPal is an OG invoice maker for good reason: it’s easy to make use of, has an awesome search function for invoice records, and doesn’t come at any additional cost beyond the 5.4%+$0.30 fee assessed per transaction.
Lately, PayPal has stepped up its game with built-in estimates, recurring invoices, reports offering sales insights and more.
It is sensible to make use of PayPal for invoicing if all (or most) of your clients will likely be paying via PayPal anyway!
Cons: PayPal is admittedly all concerning the money and doesn’t offer a number of the upgraded business-organizational features the opposite platforms do, like time tracking. And the house page could be a bit of inscrutable for brand new users; it takes some time to determine where all of the functions you would like access to live.
Free Plan: Yes, in a way. PayPal doesn’t charge any extra fees for sending out invoices; nevertheless, once your client pays, the standard PayPal fee will likely be taken out of your earnings.
Paid Plans: See above. Same percentage applies.
11. Xero
Pros: Xero is a widely acclaimed accounting software with several notable pros for freelancers and small businesses, including its user-friendly interface, comprehensive features resembling invoicing, expense tracking, and bank reconciliation, in addition to the flexibility to integrate with various third-party applications, providing a holistic financial management solution.
Moreover, its cloud-based platform allows for real-time collaboration and accessibility from anywhere, streamlining accounting processes and enhancing overall efficiency.
Cons: While Xero is praised for its extensive features, some users may find its pricing relatively higher in comparison with other alternatives, which may very well be a possible drawback for freelancers and small businesses on a decent budget.
Plus, as a cloud-based platform, users with no reliable web connection may face challenges accessing their financial data or performing tasks in real-time.
Free Plan: No, potentially its biggest downside.
Paid Plans: Plans start at £3.75 per 30 days and progress upwards in scale dependent upon the particular numbers of invoices sent, users etc. Full details and breakdowns could be found on their website.
12. Invoice Ninja
Pros: Invoice Ninja is an open-source invoicing and time tracking tool, offering a notable advantage with its self-hosted option, allowing users to have full control over their data and customization.
The platform also provides a variety of features, including customizable invoice templates, expense tracking, and project management, making it a flexible alternative for freelancers and small businesses.
Cons: While Invoice Ninja is a strong invoicing and time tracking solution, some users may find the educational curve steeper in comparison with more straightforward platforms, particularly in the event that they should not conversant in open-source software.
Plus, as a self-hosted option requires technical expertise and maintenance, it is likely to be less suitable for users preferring a totally managed, cloud-based solution.
Free Plan: Yes. The free plan provides basic features for freelancers and small businesses, including unlimited invoices for as much as 20 clients.
Paid Plans: Starting at $12 per 30 days, paid plans allow for unlimited clients and a complete raft of additional features and functions.
Do you employ an invoicing site to bill your clients? Are you using one in every of the ten we reviewed? How have you ever enjoyed your experience?
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