Choosing the right invoicing app for your business is not easy, especially for small business owners with less budget and resources. With tens of new invoicing apps appearing on the market and many others leaving the market every day, having the best invoicing app for your business needs seems like a daunting task.
So, we are here to help you find the best invoicing app that suits your business needs. The invoicing software apps that are discussed here will give you a general idea of the top invoicing apps and help you choose the right app to smoothly operate and grow your business.
But before we begin to look at the top invoicing apps, let us take a quick look at what invoicing apps are and what constitutes the best invoicing apps for small businesses.
What are invoicing apps?
Invoicing software applications are the apps that help you send, receive, add, remove, and manage the overall invoicing process of your company. Just like social marketing, digital promotion, automated transactions, and invoicing apps are a critical part of a business in modern times.
Any business owner needs to send and receive hundreds of invoices from its clients, manage them, store them, sort them out, and process them on a daily basis. Invoicing apps help make it easy for business owners by providing a quick and effective way to manage the overall invoices of a business.
What needs to be considered when choosing the best invoicing app?
A small business owner does not have a dedicated accounting team, a large budget for invoicing, and few clients. So, most of the invoicing job falls on the head of the business owner or a small group of 3-4 individuals who are also performing other tasks.
So, when considering what invoicing software to use, there are certain aspects that need to be considered. Some of them include:
Cost
The most critical aspect a small business owner has to consider while choosing an invoicing software is cost. As a man of low resources, a small business owner cannot afford expensive software for invoicing. So, a relatively low-cost or free invoicing software might just be the one a small business needs.
However, free invoicing software with less reliability, features, and security will only be a hindrance to the smooth functioning of a business. So, a business owner needs to consider other aspects like functions, reliability, and security along with the cost of the software.
Features
It is natural that the more expensive a software is, the more features it has. So, a small business owner might not get invoice software with more features. However, it is also important to remember that more features might not necessarily mean a good thing.
The business owner needs to understand the type of small business, its needs, its prospective clients, and its future growth before opting for software with various features. Although, it cannot also be denied that features are an important aspect to consider when choosing the best invoicing app.
Security and Reliability
Security and reliability are important for every software, much less an invoicing app. Invoicing is an important and sensitive part of a business where large amounts of monetary transactions are involved. And data breaches, crashes, or other security and technical issues might directly result in the loss of tens of thousands of dollars for a small business owner.
Ease of Use
A small business owner needs to handle multiple tasks apart from invoicing. So, the ease of use of the invoice app matters. Is the app only used for invoicing, does the app come with an overall accounting feature, is the interface easy to use, does it load quickly, are there any bad customer reviews, etc. These are some of the queries that need to be answered before choosing proper invoicing software.
8 Best Invoicing Apps For Small Business
Here are the eight best invoicing apps that you can use to create an easy and effective invoicing process for a small business.
InvoiceNinja
InvoiceNinja is a reliable and effective invoicing software that is one of the best picks for small businesses. It has free as well as pro plans. It is especially a good bet for small businesses that have just started. As the business gets bigger, you can migrate to the paid plan from the free plan. However, for starters, the free plan has plenty to offer.
Features:
- The free plan can be used to manage up to 100 clients and provide time tracking, invoice management for multiple clients, client portals, etc.
- The app can be used to generate quotes and proposals and then add them to the invoices for better functioning.
- The pro plan can give you unlimited client management as well as professional invoice templates, and create reminder emails, custom invoices, and more.
Pricing:
- Forever free plan: $0/month
- Ninja Pro plan: $10/month
- Enterprise plan: $14/month
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is another invoicing app for small businesses. It is developed by Intuit company and has QuickBooks for Self-employed and QuickBooks for small businesses. It is a complete accounting app that helps the overall finances of a small business. Here are some of its features.
Features:
- Provides invoice summaries that help track the transaction statistics, client responses, and more.
- A dashboard feature where you can monitor all of your invoice features from a single screen.
- Automatic invoice sending feature to save up your time sending invoices manually.
- Customizable invoices, invoice duplication, and invoice payments tracking features to help your business needs.
Pricing:
- Simple Start plan: $8/month.
- Essentials plan: $12.50/month.
- Plus plan: $17/month
- All plans have a 30-day free trial.
Invoicera
Invoicera provides a cash flow management system to your business with invoicing by keeping track of the account receivable and accounts payable in a single setting. However, it has a bit more expensive plans than other invoicing software on the list. Here are its features.
Features
- Provides customizable invoice features so that you can modify your invoices.
- Staff time and expense tracking features can be added to the invoice for payments.
- Project-based invoice features are later added to invoices.
- A standalone system that does not need to be integrated with the company’s accounting system.
Pricing:
- Starter plan: Free. Supports 3 clients.
- Pro plan: $15/month. Supports 100 clients.
- Business plan: $29.month. Supports 1000 clients.
- Infinite plan. Supports Unlimited clients.
ZipBooks
ZipBooks is another invoicing software that is easy to use and provides customizable template options. A striking feature of this app is that the invoice templates are very easy to create and use. However, the free plan only offers limited customization of invoices. Here are some of its other prominent features.
Features:
- Provides unlimited client support in the free plan.
- Features for auto-billing and accommodation of recurring invoices.
- The easy setup process and invoice customization.
Pricing:
- Free plan: $0/month.
- Smarter plan: $15.month.
- Sophisticated plan: $35/month.
- Accountant plan: Customizable pricing options.
Zoho Invoice
Zoho Invoice is another free invoicing app suitable for small business owners with limited resources. It is a completely free app with no ads or other hidden purchases. It can be ideal if you are just starting out your business. However, a limitation of this app is that you can only generate 1000 invoices a year.
Features:
- Features to bill multiple clients in multiple currencies.
- Automated payment reminders, log times, and report generation features.
- A customized portal for customers where they can engage with each other.
Pricing:
- Completely free
Square Invoices
Square Invoices is another free invoicing app that you can use for your billing and invoicing purpose if you are a small business owner. It is a free app, however, you need to pay $20 for more exclusive features.
Features:
- Features for instant payment acceptance and real-time invoice tracking.
- Feature for providing estimates to clients including multi-package estimates.
- Custom invoice, project dashboard, instant profiles, and app integration features.
Pricing:
- Free plan: $0/month
- Plus plan: $20/month.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is a complete bookkeeping software that provides invoice software for small businesses and freelancers. It has good customer service, as well as instruction manuals online for its customers. Moreover, its customizable invoices are able to produce good-looking invoices too.
Features:
- Time and project tracking feature to estimate project time for project-based businesses.
- Estimate creation feature to create estimates.
- Customizable invoice features along with a help center for its customers.
Pricing:
- Lite plan: $4.50/month.
- Plus plan: $7.50/month.
- Premium plan: $15/month.
- Custom pricing plan.
Wave Invoicing
Wave is the final invoicing app on our list. It is an invoice app primarily used in US and Canada. Wave is a completely free app and has the functions of invoicing software, accounting software, and receipt scanning software. It has some issues like slow loading, and a bit hard to use interface. However, for a free app, it does have its own features.
Features:
- Invoice template features to make a custom invoice.
- Auto-reminder feature for any overdue fees.
- Features for sending and receiving invoices on mobile devices.
- Backup feature to store your invoice backups on a cloud platform.
- Security features like fingerprint scanning to keep your data secure.
Pricing:
Free to download and use with no in-app purchases or trial periods.
Wrapping Up
So, this was our top picks for the best invoicing software you can use as a small business owner. Having an invoicing software greatly boosts the efficiency of the bookkeeping and accounting operations.
We hope this article has helped you choose the right invoice software for your business. For similar articles, keep reading our blog and do not forget to contact us for any queries.