Free invoicing software compared

How to choose invoicing software

Start with your volume and your billing pattern, not the feature list. Someone sending six invoices a month to the same clients needs very different tools from a business billing hundreds of customers. Write down how many invoices and clients you have, then rule out any free plan that caps below that.

Questions that narrow the field quickly:

• How many invoices do you send a month, and to how many clients?
• Do you bill the same amount on repeat, such as retainers or memberships?
• Do clients want to pay by card online, or by bank transfer?
• Do you also need bookkeeping, or only invoices?
• Does anyone else on your team need a login?
• Do you need tax set up for your country, such as GST, VAT or sales tax?

If you send only a few invoices and want no account at all, skip ahead to the section on when a free generator is enough.

Free invoicing and billing software compared

This table sums up what each maker’s own pricing or product page said when we checked in October 2026. Prices are the US list prices shown on those pages in US dollars. Several makers show introductory discounts that change often, so the regular price is listed where the page gave one.

“Not checked” or “not stated” means the official page did not say, so we left it out rather than guess. Confirm any figure on the maker’s site before you decide.

WhizInvoice, our sister product

WhizInvoice is made by the same team as this site, so read this section with that in mind. It is an invoicing app with a free plan that its site describes as unlimited invoices and customers, plus automatic payment reminders, tracking of opened and paid invoices, and sending by email or WhatsApp.

It leans toward service businesses that book jobs: the free plan includes a jobs calendar and repeating visits. The paid Starter plan adds recurring invoices, quotes with online signing, deposits and part payments, and removes WhizInvoice branding. For payments, its site says you can add your own Stripe, PayPal or Square payment link, and that “WhizInvoice never touches your payments”. You can see the plans at whizinvoice.com.

Zoho Invoice and Invoice Ninja

Both offer a free tier with recurring invoices included, which is less common. The trade offs are different. Zoho Invoice caps invoices per year and users, while Invoice Ninja caps the number of clients. Both put their own branding on free invoices.

Zoho Invoice

Zoho’s pricing page presents Zoho Invoice as free for small businesses. It lists recurring invoices, quotes, a self-service customer portal and multiple payment options for customers, with apps for iOS and Android. The limits are up to 500 invoices a year, up to two users and up to three projects. Invoices include “Powered by Zoho Invoice” branding.

Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja’s free plan lists 5 clients with unlimited invoicing, auto billing and recurring invoices, and online payments through a connected gateway such as Stripe or PayPal. Removing the “Created by Invoice Ninja” branding needs Ninja Pro, listed at $14 a month billed monthly. The site also offers a self-hosting option for people who run it on their own server.

Wave and Square Invoices

Wave and Square both offer free invoicing and earn their money mainly when clients pay online or when you upgrade. They suit businesses that want card payments built in. Check the processing fee against what a bank transfer would cost you.

Wave

Wave’s Starter plan costs $0 and lets you create unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, with a mobile app. Online card payments are optional at 2.9% + $0.60 per credit card transaction and 3.4% + $0.60 per Amex transaction. As a worked example, a $500 invoice paid by card would cost $15.10 in fees. Recurring billing and automatic overdue reminders come with Wave Pro at $19 a month.

Square Invoices

Square’s invoices page lists invoices, recurring invoices, estimates and contracts on its free plan, with recurring schedules of daily, weekly, monthly or yearly. Processing fees apply when clients pay, and its higher tiers advertise lower fees. We could not read the paid plan price on Square’s page, so it is not listed here.

FreshBooks and QuickBooks Online

These two are full accounting products rather than invoice tools first. They make sense if you want invoicing, expenses and bookkeeping in one place and are ready to pay monthly. Neither is a long term free option for regular invoicing.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks has no free plan. It offers a 30 day free trial with no credit card needed. The Lite plan is listed at $23 a month for up to 5 billable clients, and automated recurring invoices are included on every plan. Its pricing page often shows a discount for the first months.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks lists a free plan for organizing finances, which can send 2 invoices a month, and says mobile app access is not currently available on it. Paid plans start with Simple Start at a list price of $38 a month, with a 30 day free trial. The pricing page did not mention recurring invoices, so we have not stated it either way.

When a free invoice generator is enough

You may not need software at all. If you send a handful of invoices a month, get paid by bank transfer and do not bill on a schedule, a free invoice generator does the job with no account, no client limit and no branding on your PDF.

Our free invoice generator runs in your browser. It has no watermark, makes a real PDF and keeps your last 20 invoices in the browser. Country presets set up GST, VAT or sales tax lines, such as the UK VAT preset. It does not send invoices, take payments or create recurring invoices, which is where an app earns its keep.

If you prefer a file you edit yourself, our invoice templates come in Word, Excel and other formats.

What to check before you sign up

Read the free plan’s limits and the payment fees before you send your first client an invoice from any app. Moving tools later is a chore, since your numbering, client list and history live inside the app. Ten minutes on the pricing page now saves a migration later.

• Caps: invoices per month or year, clients, users.
• Branding: whether the maker’s name appears on invoices or emails on the free plan.
• Fees: card and bank payment rates, and any monthly minimum.
• Tax: whether it handles your country’s rules. Our invoice rules by country list what each of ten countries asks for.
• Export: whether you can download invoices and client data if you leave.
• Numbering: whether you can continue your existing sequence. See invoice numbering.

For the phone side of the decision, read our guide to choosing an invoice app for a small business.