If you’re self-employed or work as a freelancer you’re likely to be familiar with invoicing and the stress it can cause. Chasing down payments from clients can be very frustrating and it’s easy to get lost in the paperwork. That’s why you can benefit from using a good invoice app.
There are many choices out there, and since so many of Calday’s clients are self-employed, we wanted to help narrow down the field. We’ve done our research and believe we’ve found six of the best invoice apps for small businesses, the self-employed, and freelancers.
Our special thanks go out to our users who provided us with their recommendations!
Do I need an invoice app?
The short answer is a definitive yes—especially if you run your own business or work as a freelancer. Invoice apps streamline all the different processes involved in invoicing, including creation, dispatch, and tracking. Otherwise, you’d have to rely on entering information into spreadsheets, which can be very time-consuming.
Your brand, whether as a company or an individual, depends heavily on the perception of professionalism. Nothing damages this perception more than shoddy paperwork.
Mobile invoicing apps help maintain a high-quality brand image by allowing you to use custom templates that reflect your professional identity. Think about it: which looks better—a hastily scribbled Word document or a tailored invoice designed specifically for your work?
Most importantly, whether you create an invoice on an iPhone or you use an Android invoice app, one thing remains consistent: these apps can track all your due payments in one place. Poor financial management is the death of enterprise, and nothing is worse than losing track of the money you’re owed. Using an invoicing app ensures your finances stay organized and your payments remain in sight.
Losing track of your invoices can make you miserable.
Combine your invoicing app with Calday’s scheduling
Keeping track of your various estimates and invoices is challenging enough—let alone managing your meetings and events at the same time. Being self-employed often involves setting up meetings, ensuring you’ve allocated enough time to visit clients, and reminding yourself repeatedly not to miss appointments.
You can do this manually, relying on your memory and pen and paper, which is stressful and prone to human error. Instead, you can use Calday to take the stress out of scheduling.
Calday integrates with existing apps like Google Calendar and Microsoft Teams, allowing you to sync events across multiple platforms for a smooth and unified experience. With Calday, you can ensure you never miss a meeting, call-out, or appointment, all critical tasks that can directly impact your bottom line if you’re a freelancer or self-employed. If you’re looking for an invoice app for Android or iPhone, make sure to sign up for Calday as well!
Wave
We’re kicking off our list with one of the best invoice apps for iPhone and Android—an app that has grown significantly in popularity thanks to its easy-to-use interface: Wave. The app is designed to make it simple for you to send invoices and reconcile your accounts when required. It also allows you to examine reports on your outgoing invoices, highlighting those that are paid, pending, or overdue, so you can manage follow-ups effectively.
One feature we really like about Wave is that it goes beyond invoicing—you can also use it as an accounts management tool. The app enables you to handle payroll and tax filing, and process credit card payments at a rate of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Bank transfers (ACH) are processed at around 1% per transaction, with a maximum cap in certain regions.
However, unlocking the payroll services requires upgrading to the premium version at $16 per month. That said, if you’re looking for an invoice app for iPhone and Android that goes the extra mile then Wave is definitely worth considering.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is another good option for those looking to make invoices on iPhone or Android while also having the ability to manage their finances on the go. Small and medium-sized business owners are particularly likely to benefit from using this app as you’re able to log hours worked directly and automatically add them to invoices for accurate billing.
When it comes to invoicing, the FreshBooks app provides all the core features you’re likely to need to make the process as customized as possible, as you can create professional, branded invoices with your company logo. You’re also able to set up personalized messages and tailored payment terms. The invoices you process can also be analyzed and converted into reports on your payment processes.
While FreshBooks isn’t one of the best free invoice apps for iPhone or Android, it does offer a 30-day free trial. After that, the Lite plan costs $19 per month and supports up to five billable clients. For $60 per month, the Premium plan is ideal for business owners who need support for an unlimited number of clients.
Invoice2go
For those of you looking for the best contractor invoice app in terms of something that focuses on the fundamentals, rather than providing an all-in-one experience for accounting, then Invoice2go should be the best option for you. It’s specifically designed for mobile-first usage, so it’s perfect for people who need to do invoices quickly, for example, on work sites or during customer callouts.
The Invoice2go app allows you to make an invoice on iPhone and Android that’s customizable to the high level you’d expect from an app like this. What particularly impressed us about this app is how simple it is to generate quick estimates on your projects, sales, etc., which can be automatically generated into an invoice. You can also set up recurring invoicing and the app comes with invoice tracking as standard.
Invoice2go is not a free invoice maker app for iPhone or Android, unfortunately. However, the cost of using its services is affordable. Starting at $5.99/month for limited invoices and scaling up to $39.99/month for unlimited invoicing and advanced features, most freelancers and self-employed businesspeople should be able to afford its services.
Harvest
If focusing on invoicing doesn’t go far enough for you and you want an Invoice2go alternative, then you should consider Harvest as your first choice. This app is ideal if you want to utilize a greater focus on time tracking, as Harvest excels at this. It makes it easy for you to track billable hours; all you need to do is start a timer and it’ll track time against specific projects.
Harvest provides some beneficial project management features as well, allowing you to track multiple projects at the same time while your timer is engaged in tandem. The results of your work can then be compiled into detailed reports on billable hours, project profitability, expenses, and other features if required.
All of this makes Harvest one of the best invoice apps Android and iPhone users can use when time and billable hours are among your primary concerns. It’s also good for those on a budget, as it’s free for individual freelancers, and its premium plans range from $11 to $14 per month—a bargain for most small businesses.
She wouldn’t have been late if she'd used Calday.
Invoice Ninja
As far as names go Invoice Ninja has to be the winner of the invoicing apps we’re reviewing. We love the name, and we like the app it’s associated with too, as it’s as flexible and reliable as its namesake. This makes it ideal for those who want to learn how to make invoices on iPhone and Android that are highly customizable.
When you log into the Invoice Ninja app, you’ll see that you’ve got a number of templates you can use to create invoices, and you’re also able to modify fields, add your logo, and change the colors to match your branding. You can also set up automatic invoicing for subscription-based or long-term projects.
Whether you use Invoice Ninja as an invoice app for iPad, tablet, smartphone, or whatever device you use, you’ll be able to do so for free as the basic services offers unlimited invoices, quotes, and clients. To get access to more advanced features, ranging from recurring invoices and advanced reporting to white labeling, you’ll need to pay between $12 and $16 per month.
Bonsai
Our final recommendation comes with freelancers in mind, particularly those working in creative industries like art, design, and photography, and that’s Bonsai. Invoices are naturally important for people working in these fields but so too are the contracts that secure your rights in a competitive field. That’s why we like Bonsai—it allows you to control, generate, and manage contracts and proposals in-app.
Users can take advantage of Bonsai’s high-quality customization features, which allow you to generate custom invoices with your branding, logos, etc., and also create customized contract clauses with e-signature capability. For those on the go needing an invoice app for Android and iPhone that can handle all of your paperwork, this could be the best bet for you.
We also have some good news for our readers based in the United Kingdom as Bonsai is also available there too. The app doesn’t have a free-to-use version, unfortunately, but at $15 per month, the regular version provides a great deal of value to most freelancers. So, if you work in a field where contracts matter as much as invoices, consider using this app.
Get Calday today to stop stressing about scheduling
The best invoice app, UK-enabled or otherwise, is going to take away the stress from your payments. Do the same for your scheduling by signing up for Calday—all it takes is seconds to create your own account.