The Best Free Invoice Software to Streamline Your Billing Process

What is an Invoicing Software?

As the name suggests, invoicing software is a program built for the purpose of sending invoices. These programs can integrate with an existing Business Account to automatically generate and send invoices, giving business owners a simple and fast solution and ensuring they get paid promptly and in full.

Various paid invoicing programs promise a wealth of features, but most, if not all, of these features are available on free invoicing software, and it's these programs we'll discuss below.

Benefits of Using Free Invoicing Software

Using free invoice software is one of those seemingly small changes that can make a huge difference to your business, offering benefits such as:

Easy to Use

Small business owners can deal with most invoice software features themselves. They just need to set it, dip in on occasion to make changes and additions, and let the software do the rest.

Save Time

Think of all the time you spend creating invoices at the end of the month. It's fiddly and frustrating, especially when you need to make amendments or chase outstanding invoices.

Invoicing software will do most of the work for you, saving a wealth of time in the process.

Improved Billing Accuracy

Humans make mistakes, especially when the work is tedious. You may place a decimal point in the wrong place, enter a customer's details wrong, or make a typo when entering your address or payment details. At best, those mistakes will waste a few minutes of your time; at worst, they could harm client relationships.

By automating the invoice creation process, invoicing software will eliminate these mistakes.

Send Professional Invoices

Free billing software and invoicing software include a myriad of professional invoice templates. Choose the one that suits your business, add your details (including a business logo and name), and in no time at all, you'll have professional invoices to send to all of your customers!

Easy Invoice Tracking

Whether you're sending a single large invoice or recurring invoices, you'll be able to track every one of them. There are no paper invoices, messy spreadsheets, or other manual invoicing solutions—everything is organised neatly and visually for easy invoice tracking.

Automate Payment Reminders

No one likes sending reminder emails for overdue invoices, but it's something that all businesses must do. With invoicing software, however, you just need to change a few settings and let it do the work.

Automatic payment reminders will be sent at predetermined times, such as 3-5 days after the invoice due date. It will keep sending automatic payment reminders until payment is made and can also warn you when a payment is way overdue.

Keep Records

In addition to tracking key invoice data, invoice software will also keep a record of all invoices sent and payments received, serving as your own simple accounting software.

Easy Integration

Free invoice software is easy to integrate into existing accounting solutions. The best programs will adapt to major software suites to make it easier to use and help you maximise its features.

Key Features of Free Invoicing Software

Good free invoice software will typically provide the following features:

• Invoice Generator: Choose from various invoice templates and create invoices that include all of your business and payment details.
• Customisation: Create custom fields, change images and formatting, include additional information, and create professional-looking digital invoices.
• Recurring Billing: Create and send recurring invoices.
• Invoice Tracking: Track payments, late payments, and overdue invoices.
• Expense and Time Tracking: Some advanced programs include features for tracking your total time and expenses, allowing you to create detailed invoices and get paid for every expense and every minute worked.

Top Free Invoicing Software Options

Free doesn't mean low-quality. Free invoice software often includes many of the same features that you get with premium versions. In some cases, it's the same software, with the "free" aspect coming from a free trial or a limited version, one that doesn't include the full spectrum of features that you get with paid invoice processing software.

But if you know what you're looking for and stick with the best providers, you can get all the features you need without any serious limitations or future costs.

Some of the best options right now include:

Zoho Invoice

Zoho Invoice focuses on small business owners and includes a variety of features for offline and online invoice payments:

• Customisable templates
• Support for more than 10 languages
• Schedule automatic payment reminders and recurring invoices
• Use a digital signature to sign your invoices
• Send quotes and create invoices once they are accepted
• Add custom fields to invoices and quotes
• Integrate with 10+payment gateways to accept payments
• Store credit card data to charge clients automatically

Zoho promises to be "forever free". It's not a trial version, and you're not getting a simple invoice generator that will forever prompt you to buy a premium version. It's completely free.

Wave

Wave is an invoice generator and payment platform rolled into one. You can generate and send invoices, accept credit card payments and other payment options, and track everything in an easy-to-use dashboard.

Other features include:

• A range of customisation options
• Secure online payments using credit cards, bank payments, Apple Pay, and more
• Payroll management
• Generate and send estimates
• Scan receipts
• View extensive reports

Square

Square is a simple invoice maker app that promises to be 100% free. Built for small businesses, contractors, and freelancers, it offers features such as:

• Create invoices
• Set auto reminders
• Monitor cash flow
• Create and send estimates
• Manage late payments
• Check real-time reports

Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja is used by over 200,000 small business owners and offers a streamlined way to create invoices and get paid.

Simply create a free account, upload your logo, enter your company information, choose one of several payment gateways (including Stripe and PayPal), and send invoices.

If you're looking for a straightforward, no-nonsense approach, this quick online invoice generator could be ideal.

Getting Started with Free Invoicing Software

1. Choose Your Software: Consider the features mentioned above to find the most suitable invoice software for your business.
2. Read the Small Print: Make sure that the software is actually free, and if it's a free trial, check that you'll be getting the features you want and don't need to pay more for them. Can you send unlimited invoices? Can you add custom fields? Does it integrate with payment gateways to accept online payments?
3. Sign up: Create an account with your chosen provider.
4. Change Your Branding: Add a business logo and include all of the necessary information, including contact details and payment details.
5. Generate Invoices: Use invoice templates to generate invoices.
6. Send Invoices and Track Payments: Start sending those invoices and make sure you're tracking key invoice data.

How to Create and Send an Invoice with Invoicing Software

The easiest way to get started is to enter your payment information and then choose a template. You can also build your own template, but these programs offer such a wide choice of templates that you should be able to find a suitable option.

Include your logo, name, address, and payment details on each invoice. Double and triple-check this information before reproducing it across various invoices.

Include all possible payment options and enter the information that the client needs to submit a payment, such as secure links for debit and credit card payments and bank account info for bank/wire transfers.

Now, it's time to add the customer's data and send the invoices.

Create and Send Invoice Effortlessly with Aspire

Aspire's Invoice Management solution is tailor-made for small and medium-sized business owners in Hong Kong. You can create and send invoices in a few clicks, send automatic reminders, and more, all with complete integration into existing accounting software. What's more, you can track your paid and unpaid invoices from a single dashboard, giving you full visibility of your future cash flow.

Generating and sending invoices is just one small part of maintaining a healthy cash flow for your business. You also need to track expenses in real-time and avoid overspending. This is where Aspire’s Corporate Cards and Expense Management solution can support you.

You can issue Aspire Corporate Cards to your employees to speed up the purchasing process while setting spending limits and assigning each card to a specific team or project — giving you control and peace of mind. All card expenses can then be tracked in real-time through Aspire’s free built-in Expense Management solution.

Sign up for an Aspire account today to experience an easier way of doing business.

FAQs

Is free invoicing software really free?

Yes, most of it is free. You may be charged for additional services and integrations, but there are many great invoicing programs that are completely free.

Does Google Docs have an invoice template?

Yes, Google Docs has invoice templates, and you can also find templates on MS Word and many other programs. Check the Template Gallery for "Invoices" and choose from one of the options before adding your details.

Why can't I just use Google Docs or MS Word?

Although these programs create invoice templates, they don't provide the sort of features offered by a more specialised service, such as automation features, payment tracking, expense tracking, and recurring invoices.

What should an invoice contain?

It must include an invoice number for easy tracking, as well as contact details (for the sender and recipient), a date, details of the products/services rendered, itemised pricing, and payment information. You should also include your logo to make the invoice look more professional.

How often must I send invoice reminders?

Send reminders periodically, beginning a few days before the payment is due, followed by another reminder shortly after the due date. If it's still not paid, send a final reminder about a week after the due date.