Find the Best Invoice App for Your Business

How to find the best invoice app

Proper invoicing is a crucial cash flow strategy that can help your business run more smoothly. However, all invoicing tools aren’t created equally, and some may be better for your needs than others. Take the following steps to ensure you find the best invoicing app for your organization.

1. Assess your invoicing needs.

Before you start evaluating apps and platforms, assess your business’s needs. Invoices are crucial for managing small business finances, so your invoicing solution must match your organization’s daily processes. For example, you might want an app that streamlines the process for you, automatically creating invoices and sending them to the appropriate contacts. You may need a solution that integrates with your accounting software so all your customer accounts can stay updated. Additionally, your business’s structure may impact the price of your invoicing platform.

List the parameters that exist for your business to narrow down your invoicing app choices.

2. Look for invoicing apps with the features you need and want.

Your business’s unique needs will dictate the features any invoicing app should provide. For example, you may need customizable templates to easily personalize invoices to various clients. You may also require additional software integrations, online invoicing and client profiles. An ideal solution for your business may handle both quotes and invoices.

Beyond mandatory features your business needs, create a list of features that would be nice to have. For example, you may like the idea of branded invoices, one-click invoice distribution, recurring invoices and invoices that allow direct online client payments. When comparing invoicing apps with your required features, your business budget will dictate the additional nice-to-have features you can add.

3. Create a shortlist of invoicing apps and compare costs and features.

Create a shortlist of invoicing apps with the features you need and want. Invoicing solutions have a wide range of costs and pricing structures, so there’s much to compare and evaluate. Your billing history is a great place to start to help you determine the right option.

For example, you may want to try a free solution, or you may find that another platform’s flat monthly fee provides a nice feature set that works for your organization. You may also prefer a low per-user-per-month pricing setup with the flexibility of adding features as your business grows. Or you may prefer an option that charges by the number of monthly invoices you send or clients you store. 

4. Take advantage of free trials to test the invoicing software. 

Many paid invoicing app options offer a free trial, allowing you to test the software before committing to a monthly or yearly plan. Use this time to ensure you select the right solution. Additionally, check out online reviews to see where the product shines and where it falls short. Pay close attention to negative customer reviews referencing the platform’s customer service – you don’t want to be left in the lurch if there’s an issue and your company’s cash flow is jeopardized. 

What to look for in a billing and invoicing app

Finding the right invoice app for your business can feel overwhelming, especially as new invoicing tools hit the market and older apps are updated with new bells and whistles. 

As you compare available options, consider the following factors that may influence your choice: 

Integrations

Some apps can handle all your accounting needs, including invoicing and cash flow monitoring. However, if you choose an app specifically for invoicing and billing, ensure it integrates with one of the best business accounting software services. Otherwise, you risk making costly errors as you transfer information from one program to the other, losing valuable time that could be better spent running your business.

Features

More features do not automatically mean a better invoicing tool, especially if you end up paying for features you never use. However, you don’t want to save money by sacrificing functions you genuinely require. 

If you pay for invoicing software, look for an app that includes the following features:

• An invoice generator with customizable templates for professional branding
• An easy way to follow up on unpaid invoices
• Client profiles you can save instead of manually entering data every time
• A way to store and send receipts for expenses a client must reimburse
• Connectivity to multiple payment gateways
• Online invoicing

Ease of use

As a business owner, you want technology to streamline your tasks and help you tackle your accounting checklist, not complicate your life. You don’t want to search for your client list whenever you open the invoice generator or spend hours uploading receipts when sending a reimbursement bill.

Your experience with invoicing software and other business software platforms will influence how comfortable you feel with a new invoicing app. Play around with a few options to find one that feels easy and intuitive.

You should also look for an app that is easy to use on your mobile device to simplify on-the-go invoicing. Ensure you have easy access to customer support in case you have questions down the road.

Best invoice apps

Here are a few top options to help you narrow your search and find the best invoicing app for your business needs. 

Square Invoices

The Square Invoices app is an invoice generator that manages billing and payments through your mobile device. It allows you to create custom and recurring invoices, track payments, and generate payment reminders. It also includes analytics and accepts various payment methods.

With Square Invoices, both the invoicing and credit card processing software are free to use. Square charges a flat fee plus a small percentage of the transaction every time a client pays you. 

Invoice2go

Invoice2go is a mobile and web invoicing app designed for micro and small businesses. It offers customizable templates, so you don’t have to start from scratch. It also saves pricing, customer information and other data to auto-populate required fields.

Invoice2go lets you see when a client opens an invoice, sets up automatic payment reminders and creates financial reports for unpaid invoices. The service offers four plans at different price points (starting at $3 per month, billed annually) based on user numbers, how many clients you store and how many monthly invoices you send. All plans allow you to accept payments via credit card, debit card or PayPal.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online allows you to create invoices and receive payments quickly while seamlessly connecting your invoicing and accounting software. It uses “smart invoices” that alert you when customers have viewed and paid their invoices. Payment options include credit cards, debit cards and free ACH bank transfers. You can also accept recurring payments with the software.

QuickBooks provides excellent time-saving features, including autofill based on past invoices, payment reminders and conversion of estimates to payable invoices. It offers a mobile app; however, its features are limited compared to the web application. 

Read our QuickBooks accounting software review to learn about QuickBooks pricing plans, which are based on business size, customer support and access to additional features like inventory tracking and financial analysis.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is an all-in-one invoicing solution for small businesses. Its customizable templates allow you to add your company logo and change fonts and colors to fit your brand. FreshBooks makes it easier to get paid, with features like credit card payments, invoice tracking, flat-fee PayPal transactions and fast deposits to your business bank account. It also has several automation features to help you save time, such as recurring invoices, payment reminders, late fees, discounts and tax calculations.

FreshBooks has a slew of additional features to choose from, including time and expense tracking, project management, reports, and tools to help you manage customer relationships. Our FreshBooks accounting software review explains this cloud-based platform’s monthly billing structure, which is based on the number of active clients in your account.

Billdu

With Billdu, you can create invoices and send them in seconds. Customers can instantly make payments by clicking the “pay now” button straight from the invoice. Billdu also lets you create estimates and purchase orders, track inventory and expenses, manage expenses and receipts, and export files into PDF, XLS, CSV and other formats.

Billdu has a handy offline mode to help you access invoices and other data without an internet connection. It offers various pricing packages (starting at $3.99 monthly) based on client numbers and other features.  

Invoicely

Through Invoicely, you can deliver invoices to clients, accept vendors’ invoices, manage and track your business expenses and activity, and more. It allows for branded invoices and online payments, though these features are limited if you use Invoicely’s free tier.

Beyond the free tier, plans start at $9.99 per month. The free tier allows online payment only via PayPal, so PayPal sets your processing fees on this plan. Your processing fees will vary on the other plans.

Bill.com

Bill.com is an invoice app that details the progress of all your invoices – sent, approved, pending and more. The Bill.com user experience tends to be best when your clients also sign up for the service; registering an account takes just minutes. With their accounts, your clients can stay on top of their payment deadlines, and you can be alerted when payments are processed.

Bill.com’s plans start at $45 per month. More advanced accounts payable and accounts receivable features cost more. 

Best free invoice apps

If you’re just starting a business or must keep expenses low, consider a free invoicing app. While they may not have all the bells and whistles of accounting software and dedicated invoicing apps, they’ll cover the basics of generating and sending professional invoices.

Zoho Invoice

Zoho, perhaps best known for its cloud-based CRM software (read our Zoho CRM review to learn more), offers an invoicing platform that lets you automate and schedule the delivery of branded invoices to your clients. The user-friendly software also lets you add line items, taxes and more to your invoices, and it offers the option of paper invoices you can mail.

Zoho Invoice is entirely free to use. The company says it makes its money from other, more robust tools, like its CRM, accounting and billing platforms, and sees Zoho Invoice as a way to give back to the SMB community. 

Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja is an open-source cloud and mobile app that allows you to create, send and manage invoices. It includes time tracking, custom invoice creation, expense tracking and proposal generation. You can accept mobile or online payments with Invoice Ninja. It supports more than 40 payment gateways, including Stripe, WePay and Checkout.com.

The Forever Free plan allows you to send unlimited invoices to up to 20 clients. It includes a limited number of invoice templates, all of which are branded as “created by Invoice Ninja.” Paid plans remove this branding and offer additional features.

Wave invoicing software

Wave’s invoicing software is a free tool that can help you create professional-quality invoices. Choose from a wide range of templates, and personalize them with your logo and company colors. Other layout options include custom columns and drag-and-drop line items. 

You can send invoices from the Wave app, Gmail or Outlook, and track them to see if they’ve been viewed and paid. You can also set up custom payment terms, create payment reminders, manage your accounting and upload receipts. The Payments by Wave add-on allows you to accept online payments from credit cards or bank transfers, but this feature carries a transaction fee. 

Choosing the right invoice app for your business

Invoicing is a crucial aspect of running a business because it ensures you get paid for your services. You must consider multiple factors when choosing the best invoicing app for your company. You’ll need appropriate features for your organization, such as automated invoicing, customizable templates, online invoicing and other conveniences that will get you paid promptly.  

Thankfully, many options exist – some completely free of charge. Weigh the pros and cons of each app, and take time researching your options before deciding on your invoice app.

Sammi Caramela contributed to this article.