How to Create an Invoice Online: Top 10 Free Online Invoice Creators

Contents:
1. What is an invoice?
2. How to issue an invoice online?
3. Top 10 online invoice generators
When a product or service is sold and bought, the seller and the buyer agree to make a financial transaction in the future. This agreement can be both verbal or written. The terms of a deal are set forth in a document called an invoice. Read on to find out more about an invoice and its elements. Plus, we’ve prepared a list of the best services for creating invoice online.

What is an invoice?

An invoice is a document sent by the supplier of a product/service to the buyer. An invoice features the buyer’s obligation to pay for the product or service, indicating how much the buyer owes to the seller. Basically, an invoice is a written confirmation of the agreement reached between the seller and the buyer and a source of important information.
The key idea behind an invoice is to make the payment process faster and easier. An invoice must make it clear in relation to what products/services it has been issued, how much the buyer owes to the seller, and when the invoiced amount is due.

How do I issue an invoice?

Regardless of whether you’ve composed hundreds of such documents or about to issue your very first invoice, you must know how to make it right. Following the simple rules below will allow you to avoid misunderstandings and confusion:

  • Invoice date. Be sure to indicate the date on which the invoice has been issued. It’s an important piece of information that should not be ignored.
  • Names and addresses of the buyer and the seller. When creating an invoice online, you only need the email address of the buyer. However, it’s recommended to also include the physical address of the customer (in case you might need to send them a letter or documents).
  • Names of contact persons. This will allow you to make sure you’re writing the names correctly.
  • Description of goods/services, including prices and quantity. Be as detailed and accurate as possible.
  • Terms of payment. Be sure to indicate the date by which the buyer must make the payment. This way, the buyer will know how much time they have before the invoice is due.

Top invoice generator services

From our experience, we can say that finding an expert online invoice generator turned out to be a daunting task. While most services share pretty much the same functionality, they differ in terms of usability, interface design, and other parameters. We’ve outlined the top 10 invoice programs for small business.

 Price (month)Trial periodAndroid/iOS appTemplate customizationIntegration with other services
Freshbooksfrom 12.95$yesnoyesyes
Zoho Invoicefrom 9$yesyesyesno
Shopify Invoice Generatorfreenononono
Wavefreenoyesyesyes
QuickBooksfrom 10$yesyesyesno
Square2.9% + 30¢ for each paid invoicenoyesyesno
Invoice2gofreenonoyesno
Billdufrom 1,25$yesyesnoyes
Invoicelyfrom 9.99$yesnoyesno
ZenBusiness Invoice Generatorfreenonoyesno

ZenBusiness Invoice Generator

ZenBusiness invoice maker

Dedicated to small businesses and freelancers, ZenBusiness Invoice Generator is free software that lets you create your invoices in a few clicks. Besides if you are looking for branded invoices, ZenBusiness Invoice Generator is the software you need. Very simple to use, it also allows you to send your invoice and always keep an eye on the state of your sales

Freshbooks


FreshBooks is a free cloud service for creating custom invoices. The main advantage of this platform is that it’s amazingly easy to use. FreshBooks allows you to add your company logo to your invoice, issue your invoice repeatedly, calculate taxes, send paper copies of your invoice, and even indicate the suitable currency. Plus, you can check whether the customer has already viewed the invoice or paid it.
Following a free 30-day trial, the program will cost you $19.95/month
Here is a detailed tutorial on creating invoices with FreshBooks:

Zoho Invoice

If you’re looking for a reliable invoice maker, Zoho Invoice is just what you need. Zoho boasts plenty of useful features. For example, you can set payment notifications, communicate with your accounting department, and monitor deadlines.

The platform easily integrates with popular payment systems (such as PayPal, Stripe, etc.), allowing you to make payments online. If you have 5 customers or fewer, you can use Zoho Invoice for free. For a bigger number of clients, Zoho offers three paid plans that start $9/month.
Ready to create your first invoice with Zoho? Check out this video guide from the company itself!

Shopify Invoice Generator

Shopify Invoice Generator makes creating and issuing a printable invoice as easy as ABC! You can save, print out or send your invoices by email. Shopify Invoice Generator offers an uncommon feature, allowing you to take orders by phone. It’s no secret that some customers prefer to order products or services by phone, instead of chat, app, etc. The platform makes it possible to tailor the order to the needs of each client without making the whole process too complicated.

More good news! Shopify Invoice Generator is a completely free service.
Take a look at this video lesson on how to use Shopify Invoice Generator for creating an invoice and adding information to it.

Wave

Wave is a trustworthy company whose main focus is providing small businesses with high-quality accounting software. Like other similar services, Wave gives you the tools to create personalized invoices.

On top of that, you can set up regular payments, check when your invoice has been viewed, create invoices for several enterprises at the same time, and many more.
Issuing an invoice for free is surely an attractive option for businessmen.
From this intuitive video, you’ll learn how to create and send a professional invoice using Wave.

QuickBooks


QuickBooks is a professional accounting platform that has a solution for your every need. With QuickBooks, you can take care of your financial management, reporting, procurement management, and more. QuickBooks integrates with banks and payment systems, allowing you to import and categorize your transactions.
QuickBooks has 4 paid plans and a 30-day trial period. Startupers and small businesses can use the program for $10/month, while a set of enhanced features costs $60/month.

Square

A complex solution from Square allows you to issue invoices, track your receipts and expenditure, etc. To make the invoice creation process super easy, Square offers ready-to-use elements, e.g. names of products/services, descriptions, prices, etc.

You can add any element to your invoice in one click. How amazing is that? Square does not charge a monthly fee. Instead, you’ll have to pay 2.9% + 30¢ on each paid invoice.
Find out everything there is to know about creating invoices in Square:

Invoice2go

Invoice2go is another worthy online invoice generator that takes exceptional care of its mobile users. By using advanced mobile apps for Android and iOS, you can create professional invoices based on attractive templates.

Once the client opens or pays your invoice, you get a notification. If the invoice is overdue, Invoice2go will send a reminder to the customer. In other words, Invoice2go is like your personal freelance assistant who always keeps things under control!
Invoice2go charges 2,9% + $0,30 on each paid invoice. Payment methods are multiple and include debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, and PayPal.
Check out how to create a beautiful invoice in Invoice2go:

Billdu

Billdu is an indispensable invoice generator for freelancers and small businesses. The service allows you to track your expenses, set up notifications, receive customer feedback, and more. Managing payments via mobile is also available. The platform integrates with other important business solutions, such as PrestaShop, Shopify, Magento, Opencart, and the like.

Billdu offers 4 subscription options: Starter for $1.25/month, Basic for $3.33/month, Standard for $6.33/month, and Premium for $11.66/month. The plans differ by the available number of invoices and users. The good news is that each plan has a free trial.
Along with composing beautiful invoices, you can track your expenses right from your smartphone, tablet or computer. How do you do that? Watch the video guide below!

Invoicely

Invoicely is a clever web solution for creating and managing invoices. Like any program in its niche, Invoicely is packed with useful features. Users can compose and send invoices, process payments, monitor expenses, and many more.
You can access Invoicely from any device, whether it’s a PC or smartphone. Although the service only offers one template, you can use it as a reference point for creating custom designs (for example, you can add your company logo to it).
Invoicely has a 30-day trial. Afterwards, if you decide to stick with the platform, you’ll have to choose from three plans: Basic for $9.99/month, Professional for $19.99/month, and Enterprise for $29.99/month.

Avaza

Avaza is a complex software product that fully satisfies the needs of small and medium businesses. Composing a beautiful invoice from scratch takes one minute, tops! The platform allows to customize templates by adding a corporate logo, terms of transaction, customer information, etc. On top of that, you can easily track and control payments made by your customers.
Avaza’s plans vary depending on the number of invoices. You can choose from 4 plans: Free, Startup ($9.95), Basic ($19.95), and Business ($39.99).
Here is a step-by-step video instruction on working in Avaza:

For a business owner, invoicing is an important task, although a routine one. In this article, we’ve covered the basic things there are to know about invoices, plus the best online invoice generators. We hope this information will help you organize your invoices in a proper way!

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