Web based invoicing apps make it easy for freelancers or small firms to easily create, send, and manage invoices. These services help small businesses manage their billing while avoiding the cost and complexity of full-featured accounting software.
Most of these services let you handle a couple hundred invoices a month, but they really shine for the solo freelancer who doesn't need more than a few dozen invoices a month. The focus is on simplicity and doing Web based invoicing well. Some offer advanced features like time tracking, saving invoices as PDF, and even sending invoices by snail mail.
1. FreshBooks
FreshBooks offers an easy to use, yet quite powerful billing software for freelancing teams.
Cost: Free - up to 3 clients, unlimited invoices. Paid plans start at $14 / month for 25 clients. All plans offer unlimited invoices. (pricing details)
Advanced Features:
- Snail mail invoices - Unique feature among the services on this list. Each snail mail invoice costs $1.39 for the United States and Canada. (Double for international.) The price includes the cost of the stamp, envelope, and return envelope. (details)
- Time tracking - FreshBooks has a Web based widget you can use as a timer. You can start, pause, and log timed activities to specific projects or tasks.
2. PayPal
PayPal is the preferred method of freelancers and other Web based vendors for sending money and accepting payments. All of the other invoicing websites on this list (except Intuit Billing Manager) support PayPal payments, and chances are you already have an account.
Cost: Free. PayPal charges a fee when payment is made.
It's very rudimentary and doesn't offer common features like recurring invoices or easy organization of past invoices. But if you only need to create the odd invoice every few months, and don't want to bother with yet another website to login to, PayPal offers a limited invoice creation and management tool. You can check it out by going to the "Request Money" tab, then clicking on "Create New Invoice".
3. Blinksale
Very easy to get started. I was able to sign up, configure my account (ie., edit company info, upload a logo, enter PayPal email address, choose an invoice template, and create the first client), and send off my first invoice within 15 minutes. (product tour)
Cost: Free to email up to 3 invoices per month. Plan prices range from $12 (50 invoices per month) up to $49 for 1500 invoices sent per month. All plans include unlimited clients. (pricing details)
Special Features:
- Seamless Basecamp integration.
- Very easy to use - great, simple interface.
4. Intuit Billing Manager
Billing Manager is a completely free invoicing tool from the creators of QuickBooks. There are no limits on the number of invoices or clients you can have. (product tour)
What's the catch? It's a marketing vehicle for Intuit's Merchant Service for processing credit cards. A small unintrusive ad for the service and the fact that PayPal isn't supported are the "costs" of this service.
Because PayPal is not supported (unlike the other websites on this list), there isn't a way to embed a "Pay now using PayPal" link.
5. SimplyBill
Cost: 30 day free trial. Plans start at $5 (25 invoices / month, 10 clients max) to $25 (unlimited invoices and clients).
Advanced Features: (product tour)
- Time tracking - Using a desktop widget to help you keep time.
- Use tags to organize invoices.
- Save / email invoice as PDF.