Best of
Best invoice software for small business, compared on facts
Invoice software makes an invoice from a template, sends it, and tracks whether it was paid. The best invoice software for a small business also does estimates, recurring invoices and online payment, without an accounting system underneath. This list covers the invoice apps people search for by name, the free generators, and the suites that include invoicing.
Side by side.
Facts a reader can check on each vendor’s own site. No prices.
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Paid plans
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Via PayPal
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Except Elite
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- One app free
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Sales app
- Recurring invoices:
- Subscriptions app
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Up to three people
- Seats from one:
- Free up to 3; 5 on paid plans
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Open source
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Via gateways
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Quoted
- Estimates or quotes:
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
- Free plan:
- Seats from one:
- Estimates or quotes:
- Template
- Recurring invoices:
- Online payments:
| Free plan | Seats from one | Estimates or quotes | Recurring invoices | Online payments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice Simple | |||||
| Invoice Home | |||||
| Bookipi | Paid plans | ||||
| Invoice2go | |||||
| Skynova (formerly Aynax) | Via PayPal | ||||
| SumUp Invoices | |||||
| Harvest | |||||
| Bonsai | Except Elite | ||||
| Odoo Invoicing | One app free | Sales app | Subscriptions app | ||
| Spodus | Up to three people | Free up to 3; 5 on paid plans | |||
| InvoicePlane | Open source | Via gateways | |||
| Invoiced | Quoted | ||||
| Google Docs and Sheets | Template |
Checked on , against each vendor’s public plan pages.
Each one, plainly.
What it is, who it suits, and where it stops.
- 01
Invoice Simple
A phone-first invoice maker with a free plan.
Invoice Simple is a phone-first invoice maker, with an app for iPhone and Android and a web version. The free plan of the Invoice Simple app sends a few invoices a month, with estimates included, and the paid plans lift the cap. The Invoice Simple estimate maker turns an accepted estimate into an invoice. There are no recurring invoices on any plan, and no accounting behind it.
Best for: A trade that invoices on site from a phone.
- 02
Invoice Home
Templates and a free plan capped by monthly total.
Invoice Home (invoicehome.com) is a web and mobile invoice tool with a large library of templates. The Invoice Home free plan is capped by the total you invoice each month; the paid plan removes the cap. Recurring invoices and online payments through PayPal or Stripe are in. The Invoice Home app is on both phone stores.
Best for: A side business that sends a few invoices a month and wants them to look finished.
- 03
Bookipi
A free invoice app from Australia, with paid plans above it.
The Bookipi invoice app, from an Australian company, is free for iPhone, Android and the web. The free plan sends a few invoices a month; the paid plans add unlimited invoices, recurring invoices and reminders. Invoices can be paid online through its own payments.
Best for: A sole trader who wants a free app that grows into a paid one.
- 04
Invoice2go
A mobile invoice app, now owned by Bill.
Invoice2go is a mobile invoice app now owned by Bill. The Invoice2go app does invoices, estimates, recurring invoices, expenses and online payments, with a web version. There is no free plan, only a trial.
Best for: A small business that wants a phone app with recurring invoices and expenses.
- 05
Skynova (formerly Aynax)
Web invoicing sold as modules, one at a time.
Skynova invoice software is the product that used to be Aynax; the Aynax invoice site was renamed in 2020. It sells modules, one at a time: invoices, estimates, receipts, recurring invoices and bookkeeping, each with a free tier and a paid tier. Online payment runs through PayPal only. It is web first, with no accounting system underneath.
Best for: A small business that wants to pay for the invoice module and nothing else.
- 06
SumUp Invoices
Free invoicing from the card-reader company.
SumUp Invoices is free to use, from SumUp, the card-reader company. Invoices, quotes, recurring invoices, credit notes and a mobile app are all on the free plan; SumUp earns a fee only when an invoice is paid online. It suits a shop or a trade that already takes SumUp card payments. There is no accounting behind it.
Best for: A shop or a trade that already uses a SumUp reader.
- 07
Harvest
Time tracking with invoicing on top.
Harvest invoice tools sit on top of time tracking: hours and expenses become an invoice, and the invoice can be paid online. The free plan covers one person and a couple of projects. Estimates, recurring invoices and retainers are in. It is used by freelancers and small agencies that bill by the hour.
Best for: A freelancer or small agency that bills by the hour.
- 08
Bonsai
A freelancer suite: proposals, contracts, time and invoices.
Bonsai invoice tools are part of a freelancer suite: proposals, contracts, time tracking, invoices, a client portal and simple bookkeeping. It suits a solo consultant or a small studio that wants the paperwork in one place. There is no free plan, only a short trial, and the top plan has a three-user minimum.
Best for: A solo consultant who wants the contract, the hours and the invoice in one tool.
- 09
Odoo Invoicing
One free app in the Odoo suite.
The Odoo invoice app, Odoo Invoicing, is free on its own for unlimited users under Odoo's one-app-free plan. Invoices, credit notes, online payments and customer statements are in; quotes come from the Sales app and recurring billing from the Subscriptions app, and adding either makes the account paid. There is a full accounting system underneath if you want one.
Best for: A company that expects to grow into Odoo accounting and inventory.
- 10
Spodus
Invoices, recurring invoices and quotes on the customer record. No card checkout.
Spodus is a client-operations workspace with invoicing inside it: invoices, recurring invoices, quotes and estimates, tax rates, and an invoice link the client opens without an account. The invoice sits on the same record as the deal and the support ticket. Spodus has no card checkout, so you record a payment when it arrives. It is free for up to three people, and paid plans start at three seats.
Best for: A service business with repeat clients that wants invoices beside the CRM and support.
- 11
InvoicePlane
Free, open-source invoicing you host.
InvoicePlane is free, open-source invoicing software that you install on a web host. Quotes, invoices, recurring invoices, clients and payment gateways are in, and there is no company behind it selling plans. It suits someone comfortable hosting a PHP app. There is no mobile app and no support desk.
Best for: A technical owner who wants invoicing with no subscription at all.
- 12
Invoiced
Accounts-receivable automation for finance teams.
Invoiced is accounts-receivable software for finance teams at mid-sized companies. Each invoice by Invoiced goes out with automated reminders, collections and payment matching on top of your accounting system. Pricing is by quote, and there is no free plan. It is too much for a solo business.
Best for: A finance team chasing hundreds of invoices a month.
- 13
Google Docs and Sheets
Not a product: a template you copy.
There is no Google invoice product. A Google Docs invoice or a Google Sheets invoice is a template you copy, fill in and export as a PDF, and Google Workspace has no invoicing tool of its own. A Sheets template can add up line items; a Docs one cannot. It works for a few invoices a year, and nothing tracks whether they were paid.
Best for: Someone who sends a handful of invoices a year and already lives in Google Docs.
How we chose.
We started with the invoice apps people search for by name, added the suites that include invoicing, and read each vendor's public plan pages on the date above. The columns are the five things a small business asks of invoice software: a free plan, a low seat floor, estimates, recurring invoices and online payment. Accounting systems such as QuickBooks, Xero and FreshBooks are not on the list; they invoice well, but they are a different purchase.
More best-of lists.
The same table, dated the same way, for the other categories a service business buys.
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- Head to headSpodus against one tool at a time
Two ways
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You get every product: CRM, invoicing, support, team, chat and Spodus AI, which asks before it changes anything. Upgrade when your team grows.
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Your deals arrive with their stages, owners and dates. Connect your work email, and each client's emails land on their record. On a paid plan, we'll move it all for you, free.
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Questions, answered
Yes. An online bill generator is a web form that turns line items into a PDF, and Invoice Home, Skynova and SumUp all offer one free; searches for online bill generator free mostly point to those three. A bill creator like this is fine for a one-off. The moment you need to know who has paid, you want a free plan with a customer list instead.
Invoice Simple, Bookipi and Invoice2go are the bill generator app names people use most, and all three run on iPhone and Android with a web version. Invoice Simple and Bookipi have free plans with a monthly invoice cap; Invoice2go does not. A bill maker app suits a trade that invoices on site; an office-based business is better on the web versions.
Billing software and invoice software are the same thing at small-business size; billing usually means recurring invoices. For a service business, the best billing software for small business is one that does recurring invoices and estimates without an accounting suite: SumUp, Bookipi, Harvest or Spodus. For subscriptions charged to a card every month, look at Stripe Billing or Chargebee instead.
For a solo trade, a phone app such as Invoice Simple or Bookipi. For a freelancer, Bonsai or Harvest, because the invoice comes from the contract or the hours. For a business with repeat clients and a team, one that puts invoices, quotes and recurring invoices on a customer record, such as Spodus or Odoo. The best free invoicing software is SumUp Invoices, which caps nothing that matters to a small business.
MyInvoices, sold as MyInvoices & Estimates by Avanquest, is an older Windows desktop program for invoices and estimates, bought once rather than subscribed to. It still works for a business that wants nothing in the cloud. Its data lives on one PC, so there is no phone app and no online payment. Most people searching myinvoices are better served by one of the free web tools above.
Those are receipts for Google's own subscriptions, not invoices you send. A Google One invoice is under Payments in your Google account, at pay.google.com, under Activity. A Google Workspace invoice is in the Admin console under Billing, where an admin can download each month's invoice as a PDF. Neither has anything to do with invoicing your own customers.