Picking invoicing software sounds simple until you open ten pricing pages and realize every "free" plan has a different catch. One caps clients, another caps invoices, a third skips invoicing entirely on its cheapest tier.
This guide compares 13 tools freelancers actually use, with prices and free-plan limits checked on each company's own pricing page in October 2026. Prices change often and many vendors run first-month promotions, so treat the numbers below as regular list prices and confirm before you buy.
Key takeaways
Free plans differ a lot. Wave and Zoho Invoice allow many invoices for free; Invoice Ninja and Hiveage cap you at 5 clients; QuickBooks' free plan allows 2 invoices a month.
Decide first whether you need invoicing or accounting. Accounting suites (QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Wave Pro) cost more but add bookkeeping.
All-in-one tools (HoneyBook, Bonsai, Plutio, Moxie, Bloom) bundle contracts, proposals and scheduling, and typically cost $19 to $59 a month for one person.
Look at payment fees, not just the subscription. A tool that adds a platform fee to every card payment can cost more than a pricier subscription.
What to look for in invoicing software
Before comparing brands, get clear on what you actually need. For most freelancers that comes down to five questions.
1. How many clients and invoices do you send? Free plans are usually capped by one or the other. If you have 3 retainer clients, a 5-client cap is fine. If you send 30 small invoices a month, an invoice cap will bite fast.
2. How do clients pay you? If clients pay by card, you want online payments built in, and you want to know the total cost per payment: the processor's fee plus any fee the invoicing app adds. Our Stripe fee calculator shows what a given invoice will actually net you.
3. Do you need more than invoices? Proposals, contracts, time tracking, expenses and scheduling are where all-in-one tools earn their higher price. If you don't use those features, you're paying for them anyway.
4. Do you want accounting in the same app? Bank feeds, expense categories and profit-and-loss reports belong to accounting software. Plenty of freelancers keep invoicing simple and give their accountant an export at tax time.
5. How much setup can you tolerate? Feature-heavy tools take longer to learn. If you only need to bill a few clients, a lightweight tool gets you sending invoices on day one.
Price comparison at a glance
Regular monthly prices for one user, as listed on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026. "Annual" means the per-month price when billed yearly, where the vendor publishes one.
Tool | Free plan | Cheapest paid plan | Trial | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Onigiri | Yes: 3 invoices/month, unlimited clients | PRO $9/mo, billed $108/year | Free plan instead of a trial | Simple invoicing and proposals; card payments on PRO |
Wave | Yes: unlimited invoices | Pro $19/mo or $190/year | Free plan | Free invoicing plus basic bookkeeping |
Zoho Invoice | Yes: up to 500 invoices/year | None (free product) | n/a | Free invoicing with Zoho branding |
Invoice Ninja | Yes: up to 5 clients | Ninja Pro $14/mo or $140/year | Free plan | Customizable invoices, self-host option |
Hiveage | Yes: up to 5 clients | Basic $19/mo ($16 annual) | 14 days of Pro | Small client lists that may grow |
QuickBooks Online | Yes: 2 invoices/month, 1 user | Simple Start $38/mo | 30 days | Freelancers who want full accounting |
FreshBooks | No | Lite $23/mo (5 billable clients) | 30 days | Accounting plus invoicing for service businesses |
InvoiceBerry | No | Solo $15/mo (35 clients) | 14 days | Invoicing-only with a client cap |
Moxie | No | Starter $12/mo ($10 annual) | 14 days | Low-cost all-in-one |
Bloom | No | Starter $14/mo (3 active projects) | 7 days | Photographers and creative studios |
Plutio | No | Core $19/mo (yearly = 2 months free) | 7 days | All-in-one workspace, up to 9 active clients on Core |
Bonsai | No | Essentials $25/mo ($19 annual) for invoicing | 7 days | Contracts, proposals and invoicing together |
HoneyBook | No | Starter from $29/mo billed yearly | 30 days | Client-facing businesses that book projects |
The tools, one by one
Onigiri
Onigiri is simple invoicing for freelancers and small businesses, built by an independent team without venture backing. You can send invoices by email to several recipients, as a shareable link, or as a PDF, and track each one through Draft, Sent, Overdue and Paid. Card payments (debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay) go straight to your own Stripe account, and the invoice switches to Paid automatically when the client pays. Proposals are sent as a link, and the client accepts by signing with their name or declines.
Free: 3 invoices a month, unlimited clients, shareable invoice links, payment status tracking, and a free personal page (Onee Page). No credit card required.
PRO: $9 a month, billed $108 a year. Unlimited invoices, item and service templates, online payments with a 0% Onigiri platform fee on Stripe payments, and income tracking.
Not included: time tracking, contracts, expense tracking, and import from other tools. If you need those, look at the all-in-one tools below.
Wave
Wave's free Starter plan lets you create unlimited estimates, invoices and bookkeeping records, which is unusually generous. Wave makes money on payments: on Starter, card payments cost 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction (3.4% + $0.60 for Amex). Pro is $19 a month or $190 a year and removes the $0.60 fixed fee on your first 10 card transactions each month.
Watch for: the per-transaction fixed fee adds up on many small invoices.
Zoho Invoice
Zoho Invoice is free, full stop. The free product includes quotes, online payments, time logging, expenses and a client portal, with limits that include up to 500 invoices a year and "Powered by Zoho Invoice" branding on your documents. If you outgrow it, Zoho points you to its paid billing product.
Watch for: the branding, and the fact that the Zoho ecosystem is large, so setup can take longer than lighter tools.
Invoice Ninja
Invoice Ninja's hosted free plan covers up to 5 clients with unlimited invoicing. Ninja Pro is $14 a month or $140 a year, and Enterprise starts at $18 a month for 1 to 2 users. There's also a self-hosted version if you want to run it on your own server.
Watch for: the 5-client cap on the free plan, and a busier interface than invoicing-only tools.
Hiveage
Hiveage has a free plan for up to 5 clients that includes unlimited invoices and estimates plus time and expense tracking. Paid plans start with Basic at $19 a month ($16 billed yearly) for 50 clients; automatic payment reminders arrive on Pro at $29 a month ($25 yearly). New accounts get a 14-day trial of Pro.
Watch for: reminders and team members sit on the higher tiers.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks is accounting software first. It now lists a free plan that allows 1 user and 2 invoices a month, which is enough to try it but not to run a freelance business on. Paid plans start with Simple Start at $38 a month at regular price, with Essentials at $85, Plus at $140 and Advanced at $340. Paid plans come with a 30-day trial, and QuickBooks often discounts the first few months.
Watch for: you pay for bookkeeping features whether you use them or not. Check what the price becomes after any introductory discount.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks combines invoicing with accounting for service businesses. Regular prices are Lite at $23 a month for 5 billable clients, Plus at $43 for 50, and Premium at $70 for unlimited clients, with custom-priced Select above that. Every plan has a 30-day trial with no credit card. FreshBooks frequently runs steep introductory promotions, so compare the regular price.
Watch for: the billable-client caps on Lite and Plus.
InvoiceBerry
InvoiceBerry is invoicing-focused. Solo is $15 a month for unlimited invoices and up to 35 clients, Pro is $30 for unlimited clients and 5 users, and Ultra is $45 with SMS invoice sending. There's a 14-day trial and no free plan.
Watch for: the 35-client cap on Solo.
Moxie
Moxie (formerly Hectic) is an all-in-one tool that covers clients, projects, invoicing, proposals and contracts, time tracking, forms and scheduling. Starter is $12 a month ($10 billed yearly), Pro is $25 ($20 yearly) and adds workflow automation and a white-label client portal, and Teams is $40 ($32 yearly) for up to five team members. There's a 14-day trial.
Watch for: a lot of features to configure if you only need invoices.
Bloom
Bloom is built around client workflows for creative businesses, especially photographers. Starter is $14 a month but limited to 3 active projects and adds a 1.5% payment processing fee; Standard at $34 a month removes the limits and the extra fee; Plus at $66 adds team features. Yearly billing is cheaper. Every plan has a 7-day trial.
Watch for: the Starter plan's project cap and extra fee.
Plutio
Plutio is an all-in-one workspace with projects, proposals, contracts, invoicing and time tracking. Core is $19 a month for up to 9 active clients, Pro is $49 a month with unlimited clients and team contributors, and Max is $199 a month for agencies. Paying yearly gives you 2 months free. There's a 7-day trial and no free plan.
Watch for: the 9-active-client cap on Core, and the jump to $49 when you pass it.
Bonsai
Bonsai bundles contracts, proposals, invoicing, CRM and project tools. The cheapest Basic plan ($15 a month, $9 yearly) does not include invoicing; invoices, payments, proposals and contracts start on Essentials at $25 a month ($19 yearly). Premium is $39 ($29 yearly) and Elite is $59 ($49 yearly) with a 3-user minimum. There's a 7-day trial.
Watch for: make sure you compare Essentials, not Basic, if invoicing is why you're signing up.
HoneyBook
HoneyBook is a client-flow platform for businesses that book projects: inquiries, proposals, contracts, invoices and scheduling. Starter is listed at $29 a month billed yearly, Essentials at $59 a month ($49 yearly) and Premium at $129 a month ($109 yearly). All plans include unlimited clients and projects, a 30-day trial and a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Watch for: it's priced for businesses that use the full booking flow, not just invoices.
How to choose in five minutes
You send a handful of invoices a month: start on a free plan (Wave, Zoho Invoice, Invoice Ninja or Hiveage) and upgrade only when you hit the limit. If you also want online card payments, check whether the free plan includes them and what each payment costs.
You want your bookkeeping in the same place: QuickBooks, FreshBooks or Wave. Budget for the regular price, not the promo.
You run every client through proposal, contract and invoice: compare Bonsai Essentials, HoneyBook, Plutio, Moxie and Bloom, and use the trial on a real client.
You want to try invoicing with no account at all: make a one-off invoice in our free invoice generator, or start from a freelance invoice template.
Whatever you choose, the tool won't get you paid by itself. A clear invoice email and a polite follow-up matter just as much: see how to write an invoice email and how to remind someone to pay you. If a client is seriously late, our late fee calculator shows what a fair late fee looks like.
Need more than invoicing? We also keep lists of the best time tracking apps for freelancers and apps to manage and grow your freelance business, and every free calculator and template lives on our free tools page.
If you want simple invoices and proposals with card payments that land in your own Stripe account, you can start Onigiri for free, no credit card required.
