Best Billing & Invoicing Software (2026)

On paper, Zoho Invoice is the strongest free option in our list. Its free plan includes recurring invoices, quotes, a client portal, automated reminders, time and expense billing and iOS and Android apps, with email and voice support 24/5. The catch is the cap: two users, three projects and 500 invoices a year. Wave Starter is the alternative if you need unlimited invoices and estimates at $0.

Zoho Invoice ranks #1 at 8.8/10 for freelancers and two-person teams. If you have more users, Invoice Ninja Pro ($14/mo, unlimited clients, multi-currency) and Zoho Billing Standard ($50/mo, three users, customer portal) are the next fits. If you bill clients for time, FreshBooks covers the most checklist items, 10 of 12, but costs about $87/mo for five users.

Yes. Zoho Invoice and Wave Starter both cost $0 a month, and PayPal Invoicing has no subscription at all. With PayPal you pay per payment received instead: 2.99% + $0.49 for cards, 3.49% + $0.49 for PayPal and Venmo, and 1% capped at $10 for Pay by Bank. Card processing fees still apply on Wave's free plan, at 2.9% + $0.60 per the vendor's page.

Across the 16 tools we could price, the median for a plan that fits five users is $44.50/mo. List prices on the pages we checked run from $0 (Zoho Invoice, Wave Starter, PayPal) to $140/mo for QuickBooks Online Plus. Watch introductory promos: FreshBooks and QuickBooks show discounted first months, so we compare regular list prices, checked 20 Oct 2026.

If you only send invoices and collect payments, a standalone tool such as Zoho Invoice or Invoice Ninja is cheaper. If you also want bookkeeping, expenses and reports in one place, an accounting suite such as QuickBooks Online or FreshBooks does both, at a higher price. Wave sits in between, with free invoicing next to its bookkeeping features.

The vendors document ACH or bank payments on invoices for Wave (alongside card and Apple Pay), PayPal Invoicing (Pay by Bank at 1%, capped at $10) and QuickBooks Online (with card, Apple Pay, PayPal and Venmo). Invoice Ninja connects to GoCardless, but its pricing page does not name ACH. Check the fee per bank payment, since it often costs less than card processing.

Invoicing software creates and sends invoices, tracks payment and sends reminders. Billing software usually adds recurring charges, subscriptions and dunning for failed payments. In this list, Zoho Billing Premium adds subscriptions and dunning, while Zoho Invoice, Wave and Invoice Ninja focus on invoices, quotes and recurring invoices. Most small service businesses only need the invoicing side.

Not yet. Every entry is Researched (not tested): we scored each tool from its own pricing and product pages, using published weights of 30% features, 20% ease of use, 20% value, 15% support and 15% fit for small teams. Testing is scheduled, and when we add test results we will log the change in What changed and re-rank if scores move.