Online invoicing can be a fantastic time saver for small business owners. I personally use several services and have come to rely heavily upon them to send out monthly invoices without any effort or intervention on my part. Most of the online invoicing services provide a free trial or even a limited version of the service that is free on an ongoing basis. Depending upon your needs, the free options may fit the bill or you may find that the paid versions provide just the bells and whistles that you need. Why not try a free trial of one of the following services to see if they can help you run your business smarter?
FreshBooks — In my mind, this is the premier online invoicing service, offering many features that you won’t find with the free services. They have a free version that is limited to 3 clients per month while the Solo package allows you to have 25 clients for $19.95 per month.
Free services generally limit the number of clients you can have in the system or the number of invoices you can send per month. A few of the free versions have “branded” invoices showing the name of the service. Completely free services include (in alphabetical order):
Billing Boss
BillingOnClick – free version limited to 1 user
CannyBill – free version limited to 3 active clients
CurdBee – free version has CurdBee branding on the invoices
Intuit Billing Manager
InvoiceJournal
InvoiceMachine – free version limited to 3 invoices per month
InvoiceMore – free version limited to 3 clients
InvoicePlace – free version limited to 5 invoices per month
Invoicera – free version limited to 3 clients
LiteAccounting – free version limited to 5 invoices per month
Nett30 – free version limited to 5 clients
Ronin – free version limited to 2 clients
SimplyBill – free version limited to 3 invoices per month
SimplyInvoices – free version has SimplyInvoices branding on the invoices
WinkBill – free version limited to 3 invoices per month
WorkingPoint – free version limited to 5 clients
ZohoInvoice – free version limited to 5 invoices per month
Paid services, each with their own bells & whistles, include (in alphabetical order):
AcceptPay
Ballpark
BillingOrchard
Blinksale
Cashboard
Invoices Made Easy
Invotrak
PaySimple
SimplifyThis
Of course prices may change at any time. I encourage you to try out some of these services, especially if you have recurring invoices such as retainers or monthly fees. I personally use and can recommend FreshBooks, ZohoInvoice and Intuit BillingManager. I’d be interested in what you try and how you like it!
Deb Howard Greenleaf, EA, CEO and Principal, of Greenleaf Accounting Services provides virtual accounting and bookkeeping services and specializes in financial management to consultants, coaches, solo professionals, and other small business owners across the US. Deb is an Enrolled Agent (EA)—an IRS-licensed tax professional—and specializes in small businesses and entrepreneurs filing Schedule C or as an LLC. As an Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Deb spends her day in QuickBooks Online and specializes in providing QBO support.
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