The best invoice apps for small businesses: 8 apps to make your life easier

What’s the best invoicing app?

Here are eight well-known apps that could make your life as a small business owner easier.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks by Intuit is one of the most well-known invoicing and accounting apps for small businesses. We featured it in our list of the best accounting software for small businesses.

QuickBooks is a general accounting app that can streamline your business’s finances. You can even connect your online bank account to the software, reducing any manual data entry errors.

It’s also great for invoicing. You can see and update your invoices from a single dashboard, automate sending your invoices, and the software can proactively show you the impact of paying bills on your cashflow.

QuickBooks’ Self-Assessment plan for freelancers and independent contractors costs £8.00 a month. They also have a choice of plans for small businesses and VAT-registered companies in their Making Tax Digital for VAT Ready category, starting at £12.00 a month.

Both Quickbooks for Self-Employed and Quickbooks for Small Businesses are available on iPhone and Android.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks more specifically tracks invoicing for small businesses and freelancers, with time and expense tracking features too. You can customise your invoices (such as by adding your logo) and send them as an email or send a paper copy.

FreshBooks say they have award-winning customer service and the team are very active on social media. Their help centre features how-tos and everything customers need to get started.

The £19 per month ‘Plus’ plan lets you invoice up to 50 clients. You can also access the FreshBooks invoice app for Android or iPhone.

Zoho Invoice

Zoho has many different cloud applications for small businesses, but its invoicing software, Zoho Invoice, is ideal for small businesses.

Even though Zoho Invoice has extensive capabilities, it’s very quick to create an easy invoice and has a user-friendly interface. You can create invoices, estimates and set up retainer invoicing.

Its pricing plan suits growing businesses – Zoho Invoice is free for businesses with under five customers. The ‘Basic’ plan is £6 a month and lets you invoice up to 50 customers.

Zoho Books is the full-fledged accounting software that we included as one of the best pieces of accounting software for small businesses.

The Zoho Invoice app is available in iOS, Android, and Microsoft versions, so you don't have to be sitting down at your laptop to use it.

Invoicely

Invoicely used to be known as Invoiceable. Whereas some other free invoice builder apps put limitations on the number of invoices you can send, Invoicely lets you send unlimited invoices to unlimited customers, even on the free plan. This makes it useful for businesses just starting out.

It’s cloud-hosted and easy to use and if you want more features as your business grows, its pricing plan is very affordable. The ‘Basic’ plan is $9.99 a month and gives you the ability to track time and expenses, set up recurring statements and provide quotes.

InvoiceBerry

InvoiceBerry is designed specifically for small and micro businesses, unlike many of the invoice builder apps we’ve already highlighted.

InvoiceBerry has simplicity in mind. They claim that through the software, you can create and deliver invoices to customers in under a minute. The software will send reminders to late payers and even send a thank you note when a payment has been received.

For £10 a month, the 'Solo' plan allows you 15 invoice templates, 35 clients, and two users, whereas the 'Pro' plan offers unlimited clients and users, and 15 invoice templates, for £20 a month.

KashFlow

KashFlow is a UK-based business, which means many of its features are built with the UK market in mind. For instance, it can link directly to HMRC – the software produces VAT Returns and EC Sales lists and files them to HMRC.

KashFlow is an accounting app, and its invoicing features include turning quotes to invoices in one click and automatic alerts that inform you of any late payers.

The pricing plan is very reasonable: KashFlow says its £8 a month ‘Starter’ option is perfect for sole traders, contractors and small businesses.

KashFlow Go, the mobile version of this invoicing app, is available on both the App Store (iPhone) and Google Play (Android).

Zervant

Zervant is an invoicing app that’s designed with entrepreneurs and small businesses in mind.

The free plan allows you to send unlimited invoices to up to five customers, while the premium plan starts at €8 a month and includes additional features like payment reminders, schedules and recurring invoices.

Zervant is available on both the App Store (iPhone) and Google Play (Android).

Tradify

Tradify is job-tracking software and an invoicing app for people who work in the trades.

The all-in-one pricing model gives you unlimited access to all the tracking software you’ll need for your business. It’s on the more expensive side, costing £19 a month, but includes a wide range of features. They say you can keep track of receipts, quotes, timesheets and contracts all in one place. And the invoicing software includes automatic payment reminders.

Tradify is available on both the App Store (iPhone) and Google Play (Android).

YourTradebase

YourTradebase says it’s ‘made for the trades, by the trades’.

More than an invoicing app, YourTradebase also has software to help you manage scheduling, job sheets, and quotes. To keep things simple, they offer just one plan at £25 a month, and if you need more users you can add them for an extra £5 a month.

YourTradebase is available on both the App Store (iPhone) and Google Play (Android).

Wave (no longer in the UK)

The Wave invoice app has featured in our previous articles on this topic as it’s free and offers a great set of invoicing features. However, last year Wave announced changes meaning new account sign-ups would be limited to businesses in the US and Canada. They say there’s no change to existing account holders for the time being, but that could change in the future.

What’s the best free invoice app?

Looking for a completely free invoice app with no monthly payments? While some of the apps mentioned above do include free plans, here’s a summary of your options if you’re on a budget. Just note that a free plan is often very limited and will usually include a processing fee when the invoice is paid.

• PayPal – create and send invoices for free with the PayPal Business app, and only pay a fee when your invoice is paid
• Zettle – with the Zettle app you can use ready-made templates, and accept and send payments
• Square – create and send unlimited invoices for free with no monthly fees, there’s just a processing fee when the invoice is paid
• Harvest – this app is primarily useful for time tracking but the free version does also include free invoicing and payment software
• Invoice Generator – while not strictly an app, this website has a basic invoice template that you can use to create unlimited invoices and then download as a PDF or send online
• Zoho Invoice – with the free plan you’re limited to invoicing a maximum of five customers, so you might prefer to use the paid plan mentioned above

Be sure to research all your options before choosing an app for your business and get professional advice, if you need to.

Small business guides and resources

• How to write an invoice
• How to write a late payment letter
• The self-employed guide to Self Assessment tax returns
• What's the best CRM system for small business?
• What type of business insurance do I need?

Have you tried any of the invoice builder apps above, or do you have a different app or method that you use to create and send invoices easily? Let us know in the comments below.