The Best Invoicing Software for Your Small Business: 5 Programs for Managing Your Money

Zoho Invoice, as an all-in-one online billing and invoicing solution, is particularly well-suited to the needs of small businesses and sole proprietors. It's simple, free to use, and offers a wide range of customization options and features for optimizing your company's accounting.

Signing up for Zoho Invoice is free and requires neither a credit card nor a contract. According to its website, Zoho Invoice has no advertisements or hidden costs, as Zoho makes money through its other products, allowing this platform to stay free. 

With Zoho Invoice, you can:

• Generate up to 1,000 invoices per year
• Safely store data
• Create estimates with ease
• Offer a self-service portal for your customers
• Keep track of expenses
• Manage projects and track time
• Create and view reports
• Use multiple currencies
• Use different invoice languages
• Accept various payment methods

The Zoho Invoice website is intuitive, simple, and easy to use, with a comprehensive help section. The main noteworthy feature of Zoho’s invoice management software is its variety of customizable templates, in addition to automated reminders that can be set up for customers who want to pay online. Moreover, almost all of Zoho Invoice's functions are accessible via its excellent iOS and Android mobile apps.

In terms of security, Zoho Invoice employs daily virus detection scanning, 256-bit SSL encryption, and two-factor authentication. Also, your data will be regularly backed up on several servers in covert locations.

Customer service at Zoho Invoice is great, and the company provides its users with abundant educational materials, video tutorials, and other helpful tools. Wait times are usually short (though not always), and the agents are accommodating. Customer support is available through email and web form around the clock.

Despite the customer invoice limit and the lack of an inventory feature (without buying additional software), Zoho’s business invoices software is an excellent option in general, and its mobile apps are ideal for business owners who need to work on the go.

FreshBooks is a great accounting program for small businesses, especially those run by freelancers and independent contractors. Its flexible billing options, bank reconciliation, double-entry accounting reports, and excellent client service make it stand out, although some plans have client and user limits, which may not be optimal for fast-growing companies.

FreshBooks has three pricing tiers: Lite, Plus, and Premium. Only the Plus and Premium plans include double-entry accounting and more advanced accounting features. You can pay in monthly installments or purchase a yearly subscription, with a 10% discount. On the other hand, this invoicing and billing software is currently available with a three-month 70% discount for new users on all three plans. ShowBooks Select, a custom plan option, is also available.

Whichever plan you choose, you can first try it out risk-free for 30 days. If you don't want to use FreshBooks software anymore, you can cancel it at any moment with no credit card or financial details.

FreshBooks Lite costs $15 per month ($4.50 with the new user discount), and some of the key features include:

• Unlimited invoices for up to five clients
• Unlimited estimates
• Keeping track of expenses
• Client self-service portal
• Project administration
• Time management
• Mobile mileage tracking
• One user

FreshBooks Plus costs $25 per month, or $7.50 with the discount, and includes everything in the Lite plan, as well as double-entry accounting, 50 billable clients, advanced reports, and live bank feeds. Next, FreshBooks Premium costs $50 per month (or $15 per month when discounted), and includes everything in the Plus plan, with the addition of bill tracking and unlimited billable customers. Additional fees include adding new users, FreshBooks payments, and advanced payments.

Overall, FreshBooks is a user-friendly billing software for small businesses with many useful features, though it is somewhat pricey. However, FreshBooks' ease of use, strong mobile app, integration options, excellent customer service, and help center make it worthwhile to invest your time. If you want to give it a shot, there's always the free trial.

When it comes to invoicing software that's simple to use, Square Invoices is your best bet. With it, you won’t have to pay a fee to send out professional invoices to your clients. This app differs from typical invoicing systems for small businesses in that it is not a standalone program. Square Invoices is one of many features built directly into the Square ecosystem.

Given that Square specializes in payment processing, this software is an excellent choice for small businesses requiring online payment management, quick billing, detailed sales analytics, and advanced inventory.

Some key features are as follows:

• No monthly fees (for the free version)
• Invoices can be sent out by an unlimited number of users
• 2.9% + $0.30/per invoice paid online
• ACH payments: 1% per transaction (minimum fee of $1 per transaction)
• Estimates
• Recurring bills
• E-signature
• Tracking sales
• Employee management
• Contact management
• Square Invoices app

There is a free 30-day trial for Square Invoices Plus, which lets you create custom invoice templates, add more fields to your invoices and automatically convert accepted estimates to invoices, among other project management and business invoicing features. Both the free and premium versions have the same payment processing fees.

When you create a Square account, you gain access to its other tools, such as managing a team, a virtual terminal, and accepting payments online. Because of these features, Square Invoices is best suited for people who already use Square payment processing for their business.

Despite the lack of a monthly subscription fee, Square Invoices has many excellent features usually found in paid invoicing software. The free POS app, advanced inventory, detailed analytics, and sales insights are all valuable features you won't find in a standard invoicing software app, especially not a free one.

As the accounting software of choice for many small businesses, Intuit's QuickBooks Online has long been regarded as the best option for companies that interact with bookkeepers or accountants frequently. Its four distinct pricing tiers and add-on services provide great customization, adaptability, and flexibility.

Even if you're familiar with accounting fundamentals, there may be a learning curve when using QuickBooks Online. In addition, the software might be costly for some organizations, mainly if you include time tracking or payroll features.

Intuit’s invoicing software for small businesses has four pricing plans. Additional users, in-depth reporting, and more complex features are all included in the more expensive subscriptions. All three of QuickBooks Online's options are available for a 30-day free trial, including QuickBooks Simple Start, Essentials, and Plus. You don't have to provide your credit card number, and you can stop using the service anytime. Potential users are also given a QuickBooks Plus and Advanced test drive account.

Currently, Intuit is providing a 50% discount on all four QuickBooks Online plans. QuickBooks Online's Simple Start plan costs $30 ($15 with a discount) per month and includes the following features for one user:

• Document your income and expenses
• Accept payments and send invoices
• Sort your income and expenses into tax brackets
• Create and export financial reports
• Upload email receipts on the go via the QuickBooks mobile app
• Use your smartphone's GPS to automatically track miles
• Create and send estimates
• Manage contractor 1099 payments
• Manage and monitor cash flow

The Essentials, Plus, and Advanced plans are more expensive and include advanced features for more users (three, five, and more than five, respectively), as well as time tracking, inventory management, project management, and access to exclusive premium apps. QuickBooks Online gives you access to impressive software for small-business invoicing with over 600 integration options, including third-party tools, QuickBooks add-ons, and educational resources.

Despite limitations in the software's layout and its higher price tag, QuickBooks Online is still an excellent choice for anyone who wants a wide selection of features, integration options, and advanced accounting tools.