Free software billing system

Why is it that sending an invoice can feel like the toughest part of any project? Itemizing charges, adding taxes, making it look professional, and chasing down a payment—all busywork that takes away from time that could be better spent on billable tasks.

With a couple clicks of the mouse, your billable hours, products, and taxes are all added up in a snazzy invoice. Another couple clicks and the invoice is delivered via email to your client, complete with a link to pay in full online.

And there are plenty of free invoicing apps available, which means you don't need deep pockets to get the most out of it. We dove in and did our own research to find out which free invoicing software options really stand out—and why.

PayPal for creating invoices on mobile devices. Square for accepting POS point of sale and online payments. Wave for all-in-one invoicing and accounting for small businesses. Zoho Invoice for automated invoice workflows. Harvest for time-tracking invoicing software. Invoice Generator for sending invoices without creating an account. CO for managing a single client project. Hiveage for integrating with multiple payment gateways. Stripe for all-in-one payment processing across platforms.

All of our best apps roundups are written by humans who've spent much of their careers using, testing, and writing about software. We spend dozens of hours researching and testing apps, using each app as it's intended to be used and evaluating it against the criteria we set for the category.

We're never paid for placement in our articles from any app or for links to any site—we value the trust readers put in us to offer authentic evaluations of the categories and apps we review. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on the Zapier blog. To find the best free invoicing software, we evaluated and tested more than 30 tools. Then, we narrowed the pool by looking for tools that met the following criteria:.

Unlimited invoices: While many of the tools on our list do limit the number of active clients you can invoice on a free plan, all let you send an unlimited number of invoices without having to upgrade to a premium plan. Accept payments online: The most important part of invoicing is getting paid. All the tools below let you accept payments by credit card. Some also accept bank and wire transfers. While all these tools let you quickly create invoices and send them to customers, they are first and foremost free apps.

For more advanced features, you'll want to look at their paid plans, or check out the more robust invoicing tools in our post on the best overall invoicing software. Another important thing to note: all online payments require the use of a payment gateway—a service that processes card and bank payments.

So even though the invoicing software itself is free to use, all of the apps charge payment processing and transaction fees for accepting payments. Those fees are automatically deducted from any payment you receive. Some of the tools below—like PayPal and Stripe—are payment gateways. Others use third-party payment gateways to process payments. For invoicing apps that are also payment gateways, we've listed the applicable fees. For those that use third-party payment gateways, the fees are typically subject to the terms of the payment gateway you use to accept payments.

Note: Quoted payment processing and transaction fees apply only to payments sent to and received from individuals within the United States. International fees may vary by both provider and location. PayPal has been around for more than 20 years and is one of the biggest names in online payment processing.

In addition to the benefits of PayPal's name recognition and credibility, it also has the best free mobile app for invoicing. The PayPal Business app allows you to create and send invoices, review account activity, and issue refunds on the go. Despite the name of the app, you don't actually need a special business account—logging in with your usual PayPal credentials works just fine. Once logged in, you'll see a dedicated tab just for invoicing, where you can create a new invoice and view paid and unpaid invoices.

Creating a new one takes a few seconds, with PayPal pulling in the contact information of your recent "customers" people who you have paid recently. The editor is also strategically reconfigured for mobile, with big buttons and easy data entry. You can create a basic invoice with just a few line items or create something more advanced that allows tips, partial payments, or for photos to be included. The entire experience is quick and intuitive.

Customers will receive the invoice through their PayPal account, where they can pay via credit card, debit card, or PayPal balance. The funds will then be deposited into your PayPal account, where you can transfer the balance— subject to certain limits —to your debit card or bank account. You can automate PayPal with PayPal's Zapier integrations , allowing you to do things like logging new PayPal sales in a spreadsheet or subscribing new PayPal customers to your email marketing list.

PayPal price: Free to create an account and send invoices. PayPal payment processing fees: 2. Square Web, iOS, Android. If you want to synchronize your online and in-person payments, Square is your best option.

Not only does it come with eCommerce capabilities for your online sales, but it also offers quality point-of-sale hardware that lets you accept payments in person whether in your store or on your phone while at a customer's house or business or post-sale payments from an invoice. For invoicing specifically, you can choose to use the standard Square point-of-sale app or the Square Invoices app.

To speed up the invoice creation process, Square lets you build an item library of your products and services. Once an item is in your library, you can add it to any invoice. This helps to standardize the naming convention and price of each item that you bill for. Square also lets you create recurring invoices, schedule invoices to be sent at a later date, and schedule automatic payment reminders.

And within your account settings, you'll find a few options for customizing your invoice: add a logo, select a color, choose whether or not to display your address, and add custom text or a return policy to every invoice you send.

You can streamline your processes even more by automating Square with Square's Zapier integrations. Add new Square customers to your email list, post sales to a Slack channel, and more. Square price: Free for point-of-sale payment processing and invoicing. Square payment processing fees: 2. Wave Web, iOS, Android. These features help you and your team keep your lines open at all times for easy communication.

Plus, be sure that your chosen software has a comment history feature as well or, at least, has a forum module to keep important conversations stored and accessible.

This just may be the most overlooked yet highly-important factor to consider when purchasing any software. This is especially so when you purchase something with a cloud-based interface. Passwords get hacked all the time. Often, you store very sensitive financial information in these software solutions. You have private data from your clients as well.

A breach is not only costly in terms of money. It can also cost you your reputation. Thus, it is best to review your software for its security features. Also, make use of your permission options and check out the security of your client portal. Of course, these are probably two of the most significant factors to consider. In fact, the pricing determines whether you can get the software or not. Thus, you have to exert due diligence in this aspect not only to know if you are within budget but also if you are getting the right package.

Usually, software solutions are offered in tiered plans. Each tier has a different price point with a different number of features. Of course, the higher-priced ones offer more capabilities. Some businesses make the mistake of choosing the wrong plan and sticking with it for a few months. This can accrue costs in the long run. Also, be sure to check the best payment option for you. A lot of times, providers offer their software at a discounted price if you go for an annual payment.

If this fits your budget and if you plan to stick to the software for long, you should choose the annual plan to avail of the discount. QuickBooks is one of the most popular tools on the market because of its low learning curve, reasonable rates, secure interface, and powerful set of features.

There are many potential issues when it comes to using a billing software product. This is especially true when you are a new adopter. The issues, often, do not come from the product itself. It comes from the adopters themselves. Of course, product features and usability come into play. However, it is they that choose and use the product that made the poor choice to start with.

Many times, we make rash decisions. This never ends well when we do it with our software choice. We get stuck for a while with the wrong software. And again, opportunity cost and other losses abound. Sometimes, we get more features than needed and, other times; we get the plan with lesser features that make our lives a bit more difficult. We also have to make it work alongside new workflows and techniques.

Both of these compound to unsuccessful adoption processes most of the time. Many companies or departments start strong with the new software only peter out after just a few months. Change is tough to manage, especially when your organizational culture is not amicable to it. So, before you make any commitment to purchase, make sure you and your team are ready to change your daily workflows.

Also, be sure you are resolute in sticking with it. Invoice and billing software products do exactly what you tell them to do. They are programs that follow rules and your input. This is a big issue when it comes to accounting. This is just one example of poor business practice that you should avoid.

Remember, your digital data is just a representation of your business health. You have to put in the work in making that picture reflect your reality better. This is just a sign that many more firms will be adopting new digital tools like billing software and the like. Also, there are many reasons for this. There are tighter regulations, generational changes, new client demands, and firms are putting in more investments to gain competitive advantages.

A cultural shift is underway, and digital tools are a part of the future. Without them, businesses will not have a better view of their financial health. This is even more true with small business owners. Thus, it is almost a no-brainer that many professionals and businesses choose to use digital tools to help to keep their work accurate and themselves stress-free. Lastly, we are witnessing the rise of AI when it comes to financial processes.

The scary thing for them, however, is that their jobs may be outsourced to machines. Thus, many think that accountants will need to pivot and function more like financial analysts than doing just mere accounting. So, people in the accounting business need to think of ways to keep their services and discipline relevant in the maturation of the digital age. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. One of the many great financial studies of the past decades showed that actual customer retention brings in more profit to businesses.

Specialty wise standard format can be set. Bills can be adjusted against the payments made at other department. As the test is booked at reception request is automatically send to laboratory. Lab can feed the result later and prints attractive reports. Complete pharmacy shop can be managed through this module.

Additionally it can be linked to main billing. As patient collects medicines from pharmacy shop their charges will automatically transfer to patient billing. As the tests related to radiology is booked at reception request is automatically send to radiology department. This module will take care of all medical data of patient. Patient's intake , outtake , Medication , reading etc. Pre-admission forms for different TPA can be set. After admission limit of Panel's approval will be taken care of.

Keeps history of all patient. It will provide vital and key reports to management. All the Further we are planning to incorporate graphical analysis of reports. Complete salary can be computed through this module. This module can be attached through Time machines also. All necessary formats can be generated through this module. Financial accounts All purchase , expenses ,payments can be feeded in this module.

Balance sheet. Such a system can do multiple tasks like scheduling appointments, keep track of inventory, manage patient records, and a lot more just by few clicks. It even handles complicated, time-consuming tasks like legal procedures quickly in digital form, saving time and cost for medical professionals. We'll learn a lot about hospital management system software in the upcoming paragraphs. In India, information systems in public healthcare are a new notion. The usage of information systems in the public health sector is currently relatively restricted.

It is now used in over 30 major public hospitals. Late but not slow, Hospital Management systems in India are gaining popularity by the second.

Their demand is constantly increasing.