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Best Billing and Invoicing Software Compared by Crazy Egg


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If you are looking to improve your billing and invoice workflow and take back more time in your week, the right software can do just that. We’ve found in our research that FreshBooks is the best provider for most users. They have dynamic software that allows you to approach invoicing and billing from different angles until you find the sweet spot that works for your team.

The Best Billing and Invoicing Software For Most

FreshBooks

Best For Most

Cloud accounting software with exceptional online billing features. Use FreshBooks for expense tracking, payment acceptance, project management, and team collaboration.

Delayed payments cause cash flow issues that quickly snowball into more severe problems. FreshBooks‘ billing and invoicing software prevent these problems from happening. It’s so advanced it’s actually simple.

You have quick and easy access for submitting, tracking, and storing bills and invoices. Plus you can accept payments within the platform. Automated reminders get you paid faster, while you do other things. It practically runs itself. The buffet of features in FreshBooks gives you the ability to streamline your billing in a new and fully customizable way.

The Best Billing and Invoicing Software Options to Consider:

  1. FreshBooks – Best for most
  2. Wave – Best for small businesses
  3. Hiveage – Best online payment gateways
  4. BQE Core – Best all-in-one accounting and invoicing software
  5. AND.CO – Best billing software for freelancers
  6. Invoice2go – Best for mobile invoicing

When it Makes Sense to Invest Into Billing and Invoicing Software

Any business that sends invoices to customers for products and services can benefit from billing and invoicing software. These solutions are extremely popular in the B2B space. 

Take a moment to assess your current billing and receivables collection process. How efficient is it?

Are you printing and mailing invoices to customers? Does your business fax bills to clients? These methods are extremely outdated.

Some of you might be using spreadsheets to manually generate invoices to send via email. Even though email is more modern, this process still isn’t as effective as using billing and invoicing software.

In addition to B2Bs, I strongly recommend billing and invoicing software to medical professionals, service businesses, and freelancers. Billing and invoicing software is also ideal for businesses with recurring billing cycles. 

Certain organizations in the B2C space might not need billing and invoicing software just yet. For example, it’s not really common for retailers to bill customers at a later day for product purchases. But B2C service businesses, like cleaning companies or plumbers, could definitely benefit from an updated billing solution. 

#1 – FreshBooks — The Best Most

FreshBooks

FreshBooks

Best For Most

Cloud accounting software with exceptional online billing features. Use FreshBooks for expense tracking, payment acceptance, project management, and team collaboration.

FreshBooks is an all-in-one accounting solution with built-in billing and invoicing functionality.

It’s a popular choice for businesses across all sizes. Plus the versatility available to increase your accounts receivable prowess is at your fingertips.

What we love about this software is self-employed individuals to small businesses, agencies, and larger businesses, can use FreshBooks. They can accommodate your needs. Not like several other providers we reviewed, With FreshBooks you don’t have to fit your business inside their platform, their platform transforms your billing and invoicing requirements into exactly what you need.

The software makes it easy for anyone to create a professional-looking invoice, fast and efficiently. You can also use FreshBooks for online payment acceptance via credit cards, ACH, Apple Pay, and more.

FreshBooks lets you track billable hours, collect deposits, track expenses, and send estimates. It also comes with project management and team collaboration tools, all in a single solution. 

Here’s a quick overview of the FreshBooks plans and pricing:

  • Lite — $6 per month
  • Plus — $10 per month
  • Premium — $20 per month
  • Select — Custom pricing

The Lite plan only supports five billable clients, but that number jumps up to 50 at Plus, and 500 at Premium. Adding team members to your plan will cost an extra $10 per month.

All plans come with unlimited invoices, unlimited estimates, unlimited time tracking, and unlimited expense tracking. You can try FreshBooks risk-free, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

For a limited time, FreshBooks is offering 50% off your first three months as a new customer. 

#2 – Wave — Best Billing and Invoicing Software For Small Businesses

Wave

Wave

Best For Small Business

Free accounting software with built-in billing and invoicing tools. Use Wave to track income, expenses, and accept payments online.

Wave is an award-winning accounting and financial software designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs. 

As a complete accounting solution, Wave does much more than just billing and invoicing. The software makes it easy for you to track income, expenses, receipts, and manage payment acceptance from a single platform. 

Best of all, Wave accounting tools are 100% free. 

You’ll only pay for payment acceptance on a per-use basis. The software accommodates credit card processing for Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and Amex, as well as bank payments via ACH transfer. 

Here’s a look at all of the free features you’ll get when you sign up for Wave:

  • Unlimited invoicing
  • Recurring billing
  • Automated reminders
  • Manage invoices on the go with Wave mobile app
  • Invoice notifications
  • Unlimited income and expense tracking
  • Track sales tax
  • Accounting reports
  • Unlimited bank and credit card connections
  • Unlimited receipt scanning

With Wave, there are no monthly fees, setup fees, or hidden costs. It’s easy to create professional invoices and get paid online with this software, even if you don’t have technical skills. 

Get a demo of Wave today —it’s free. 

#3 – Hiveage — The Best Online Payment Gateways

Hiveage

Hiveage

Best Online Payment Gateways

Hiveage supports an extensive list of popular payment gateways, making it easy to get paid online. Plans come with unlimited invoicing and unlimited estimates.

Hiveage is an online invoicing software trusted by 65,000+ businesses across the globe. The platform makes it easy to manage your customers, money, and get paid quickly with professional invoices.

You can use Hiveage to manage subscription billing, recurring invoices, quotes, estimates, time tracking, mileage expenses, detailed financial reports, and more.

What really makes Hiveage stand out from the crowd is its payment gateway integrations. Most billing and invoicing solutions have some form of online payment acceptance, but Hiveage supports more than a dozen different gateways, including:

  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Braintree
  • Authorize.net
  • 2Checkout
  • Pin Payments
  • WePay
  • Coinbase
  • Razorpay
  • Paymentwall

All Hiveage plans come with unlimited invoices, unlimited estimates, unlimited time tracking, and unlimited expense tracking. 

The software is 100% free for businesses with up to 5 clients. If you’re billing more than five clients, paid plans start at $16 per month for up to 50 clients. Hiveage has other plans to support up to 250 and 1,000 clients as well. These cost $25 and $42 per month, respectively. 

Try Hiveage free for 14 days. 

#4 – BQE Core — Best All-in-One Accounting and Invoicing Software

BQE

BQE Core

Best All-in-One Accounting and Invoicing Software

BQE Core has a wide range of tools and features that go beyond the scope of online billing. They offer custom industry-specific solutions as well.

BQE Core is more than just a billing and invoicing solution. It’s a complete platform for managing your entire business in a single place.

The software has features for accounting, time and expense tracking, project management, reporting, human resources, and more.

I like BQE because they offer industry-specific solutions as well. They provide billing and invoicing tools for businesses like architects, engineers, consultants, accountants, legal professionals, and government contractors.

The online invoicing tools come with features and benefits like:

  • Automated billing
  • Custom invoice templates
  • Multiple contract types (hourly, fixed, cost plus, unit cost, percentage, etc.)
  • Recurring invoices
  • Billing schedules
  • Split billing
  • Workflow approvals
  • ePayments

All of your billing and accounting features can be managed from the simple BQE mobile app. 

Contact the BQE sales team to request a free quote within 30 minutes. Since BQE Core is priced per module, you’ll only pay for the features that you actually need. Sign up today to start your free trial; no credit card required.

#5 – AND.CO — Best Billing Software For Freelancers

AND.CO

AND.CO

Best For Freelancers

Create custom invoices and set up recurring billing. The software supports proposals, contracts, payments, time tracking, expenses, and more. Starts at $18.

AND.CO is a bit unique compared to the other platforms on our list. This solution is built specifically for freelancers.

It’s trusted by 400,000+ freelancers and businesses worldwide.

AND.CO is more than just an online invoicing tool; it’s a complete bookkeeping system and product suite for freelancers. In addition to the invoicing features, the software supports proposals, contracts, time tracking, payments, expenses, task lists, and reporting.

You can easily automate your workflows with a smart invoicing system to ensure timely payments. 

Use AND.CO to get paid with Stripe, all major credit cards, ACH transfers, and more. 

Customizing your invoices with AND.CO is easy. You can add custom branding, attach files, apply custom discounts, and charge for billable hours with integrated time tracking. AND.CO also supports recurring invoices, so you can set it and forget it.

AND.CO’s pricing is simple and straightforward. The software costs $18 per month, which gives you access to all of its features and supports unlimited clients. Your subscription is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

There’s a free plan for one client, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Consider this version an extended free trial.

#6 – Invoice2go — The Best For Mobile Invoicing

Invoice2go

Invoice2go

Best For Mobile Invoicing

Create invoices in minutes from a mobile app and get paid faster with online payment acceptance. Ideal for contractors and skilled laborers.

Invoice2go is a billing and invoicing app built for independent contractors and small businesses that work on the road. If you’re rarely in your office but still want to manage your invoices remotely, this app is perfect for you.

You can use Invoice2go to generate invoices on the spot, as soon as you complete a job. This makes it a popular choice for electricians, plumbers, painters, carpenters, skilled laborers, and other contractors.

You can also use Invoice2go to send estimates, track billable hours, track expenses, and accept online payments.

The software goes above and beyond by providing you with valuable business performance insights as well. You can easily understand how your business is doing at a glance with graphs and visual reports. 

Invoice2go has plans to accommodate businesses of all sizes. 

  • Lite — 1 user and 50 invoices
  • Standard — 1 user, 200 invoices, and 200 estimates
  • Advanced — 2 users, 400 invoices, and 400 estimates
  • Unlimited — 5 users, and unlimited invoices and estimates

All plans support payment acceptance from debit cards, credit cards, and PayPal. Pricing is not available online, but your subscription is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

Methodology For Choosing The Best Billing and Invoicing Software

With so many billing and invoicing solutions on the market today, finding the best option for your business can feel a bit overwhelming. To ease the buying process, we’ve narrowed down the top features and considerations that must be evaluated as you’re shopping around.

I’ll explain them in greater detail below, so you can weigh these factors according to your personal needs.

Integrated Payment Acceptance

Sending digital invoices is just one component of billing and invoicing software. You also want to make sure that those invoices turn into fast payments. 

The best billing and invoicing solutions support payment acceptance as well. Some have these tools built-in out of the box, others integrate with third-party payment gateways. 

Not only will online payment acceptance help you get paid faster, but it also makes things easier for your customers. 

Accounting Features

It’s rare to see a platform that’s strictly built for billing and invoicing without additional features. In fact, most of the software in our guide are all-in-one accounting solutions.

These tools will have features for things like expense management, time tracking, reporting, and more.

In addition to traditional accounting benefits, look for other features like the ability to send estimates, contracts, or collect deposits for your invoices. Mobile invoicing is another top feature to look for, especially if you’re always working on the go.

Some platforms will even have extra features for team communication and project management, although this isn’t a must-have for every business.

Client List

It’s common for billing and invoicing software subscriptions to be based on the number of clients you have. So make sure you understand these restrictions as you’re shopping around and comparing plans.

For example, you could find a cheap plan that only allows you to bill five clients per month. That might be fine for you now, but what happens when you expand and have ten clients later this year? Is it easy to upgrade and change accordingly?

For scaling businesses, there are plenty of unlimited options to consider, some of which are free.

Customization and Automation

Creating a professional invoice with your company’s branding is extremely important. Customization is especially crucial for businesses providing a wide range of products and services to their customers. There’s not necessarily a “one-size-fits-all” invoice in those scenarios. 

Take advantage of the free trials and demos to see how you can make adjustments to your invoices.

Once you have those set up, the best billing and invoicing solutions will make your life easier with automation. This is great for things like recurring invoices, payment reminders, or turning approved estimates into invoices. 

FreshBooks

FreshBooks

Best For Most

Cloud accounting software with exceptional online billing features. Use FreshBooks for expense tracking, payment acceptance, project management, and team collaboration.

Summary

What’s the best billing and invoicing software?

It’s tough to name just one as the best overall. With that said, our research and testing process narrowed our top picks down to the six options listed above.

Use the methodology and recommended use cases in this guide to find the best billing and invoicing software for your business. I made sure to include something for everyone on our list. 

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