Sprint billing or milestone billing
Pick one model per contract. Sprint billing charges a fixed amount or the team’s hours for each cycle, usually one or two weeks, for whatever was finished. Milestone billing charges an agreed share of a fixed price when a defined piece of work is accepted. Sprints suit products that keep changing; milestones suit a scope agreed up front.
| Question | Sprint billing | Milestone billing |
|---|---|---|
| When you invoice | At the end of each sprint | When the client accepts a milestone |
| What the client pays for | Time or capacity in the sprint | A defined deliverable |
| Who carries scope risk | Mostly the client | Mostly the developer |
| Evidence to attach | Sprint review notes, closed tickets | Acceptance email, release notes |
Software developer invoice lines and example prices
These lines suit a small studio building a mobile app and its back end for a business client. Prices are examples only, in US dollars. Rates vary widely with the stack, seniority and location, so use the table to borrow wording and structure, then set your own numbers.
| Line item | Basis | Example price |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint 7, Oct 5 to Oct 16, two developers | Hourly | $95 per hour (example) |
| Milestone 2 of 4: beta build accepted | Share of fixed price | $18,000 (example) |
| Change request CR-14: offline mode | Quoted separately | $3,200 (example) |
| QA and code review | Hourly | $85 per hour (example) |
| Cloud hosting, October | At cost, provider invoice attached | $412.37 (example) |
Tie every line to something the client saw
A development invoice gets approved faster when it points to something the client has already seen: a sprint review, release notes, a staging link or an acceptance email. Put that reference in the line description, so the finance team can match the invoice to the project tracker without asking the product owner.
- Sprint lines: the sprint number, dates and ticket range, such as DRV-201 to DRV-238.
- Milestone lines: the milestone name and the date it was accepted.
- Warranty period: if bugs found within an agreed window are fixed free, say which invoice the window starts from.
- Handover: if code ownership moves on final payment, say so in your contract and note it on the last invoice.
Change requests and out of scope work
On a fixed scope project, anything the client adds after sign off is a change request. Give each one a number, a short description and a price or hourly estimate, get written approval, and bill it as its own line. That keeps the original milestones intact and shows the client exactly why the total moved.
On sprint billing, new ideas usually go into the backlog and are covered by future sprints, so change requests matter less. Where a client wants something urgent mid sprint, agree whether it replaces planned work or adds hours.
Sales tax and your software development invoice template
Sales tax in the US is set by states and local governments, which charge different rates on different goods and services, and some items not at all. Whether custom programming, packaged software or hosted software is taxable depends on the state, so check with the revenue department in each state where your clients are.
Rates also stack by location. California, for example, has a statewide rate of 7.25%, with local district taxes added in most areas. Our generator leaves the US rate blank so you can enter the right one, or none. The guide to sales tax on invoices explains how to show it, and the US invoice template covers the basics of a US invoice.
Load the developer sample
Download the template from this page, or open the sample software developer invoice in our generator. It shows a sprint billed by the hour, a change request, QA hours and hosting at cost, with a PO number and ticket range in the notes. Edit the lines, add your logo and save a PDF.
Browse the full set of templates for other designs. Site builds fit the web development invoice, support contracts fit the IT support invoice, and the milestone invoice is laid out for staged fixed prices.
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