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5 Invoicing Systems for Small Businesses

If you’re struggling to keep track of all your invoices, then maybe it’s time you switched to using an invoicing management system to help you get organised. Most invoicing software offers easy solutions for tracking all sales, projects or billable hours and collecting payments so you can get paid on time. Before deciding on which one to invest in, you need to consider each of their features and tools to ensure they’re compatible with your business structure. Listed below are some of the most popular invoicing systems for small businesses. So, whether you have an online or bricks-and-mortar company, you can compare which one will work best for you.

1. FreshBooks

This is one of the most used accounting and invoicing software available. FreshBooks has a solid reputation with businesses, freelancers and solopreneurs. It provides everything from creating recurring invoices to accepting payments online and calculating late fees. FreshBooks Payments is an added (paid) feature whereby you can accept payments in-person, online or by telephone. In addition, you can add them to your invoices. Although FreshBooks doesn’t offer a free service, you can choose your monthly plan according to the size of your business and the different features.

Pros:

  • Customisable invoice templates
  • Unlimited invoices available with all plans
  • Tracks late invoice payments, and sends automatic reminders and updates when an invoice has been opened or paid
  • Creates estimates and transfers to invoices on approval
  • Lets you send invoices on your mobile device using the mobile app
  • Integrates with payroll and e-commerce software programs
  • Generates double-entry accounting reports, and financial statements such as for profit and loss

Cons:

  • Charges extra fees for additional team users (Basic Plan allows no more than 3 users)
  • Limits the number of clients for the lower-band plans
  • Needs access to your bank account to unlock all certain bookkeeping features such as reconciling credit card accounts and importing transactions

2. Square

The best feature about Square is that it’s free to sign up and affordable processing fees. This makes it a beneficial invoicing system for small businesses, freelancers or sole traders. Monitor your invoices from one dashboard and you can even manage clients’ information using their free Customer Directory. Plus, it integrates with Square extended suite of business tools such as their payments and ecommerce products.

Pros:

  • Great for swift billing, online payment processing and advanced inventory
  • Generate invoices, track payments and monitor both sales and invoice analytics
  • Send contracts with estimates
  • Creates automatic payment reminders and recurring billing
  • Offers various payment options, which includes offering clients to pay in instalments
  • Saves client’s profiles and payment details

Cons:

  • Unsuitable for service-based business as it doesn’t integrate project management features
  • Limited sales tax features
  • Can’t process multi-currencies
  • Will need to pay for an upgrade for some features

3. Xero

Stay super organised and keep track of all your financial movements for your business when you sign up with Xero. This company offers a vast amount of accounting features. These include billing and expenses tracking, bank reconciliation, reports and analytics. Plus, it’s considered a modern UI of cloud-based software also used by accountants and bookkeepers. It’s also one of the few invoicing systems for small businesses that offers a free 30-day trial.

Pros:

  • Unlimited users and clients
  • Over 800 app integrations
  • Suited for any size business
  • Advanced features such as time tracking and inventory managements
  • Double-entry accounting
  • Free 30-day trial
  • Automatic and secure backups

Cons:

  • Only 20 invoice and quotes per month
  • Takes time to learn all the features
  • Added costs for extras

4. Quickbooks

Intuit’s QuickBooks Online covers every accounting need for a variety of businesses, particularly those which are product-based. They offer various payment plans with reduced fees for the first 3 months so you can sign up for one within your business budget. Although considered more expensive than other accounting software companies, Quickbooks provides a range of comprehensive features and allows you to easily track invoices.

Pros:

  • Able to share data with accountants and bookkeepers
  • Easily accessible to track all your finances
  • Comprehensive invoicing, financial reporting, record keeping and inventory management
  • Excellent customer support service
  • Huge range of third-party app integrations
  • Includes many tools, including those that help automate the reconciliation process
  • No limit on the number of invoices sent

Cons:

  • Some difficulties if you’re unaccustomed to accounting principles
  • Expensive compared to some competitors
  • Limited account users with each plan

5. Zoho

Zoho invoice software is completely free to use, albeit with limited features, users (1) and clients (5). If you want to unlock extra services, there are varying monthly payment plans. Zoho attracts all types of businesses, and it particularly popular with sole proprietors, freelancers and startups. In addition, it is easily combined with other products such as Zoho Books and Zoho CRM.

Pros:

  • Track project hours; and budgets using revenue and hours
  • Customisable invoices and automated email reminders for late payments
  • Generates advanced and comprehensive customer reports
  • Set up recurring billing for free
  • Has a timesheet feature so you can track employee time
  • Customers can access the portal to see their estimates, payment history and receipts
  • Allows you to send invoices in 14 different languages

Cons:

  • Majority of integrations are in-house products with limited access to external integrations
  • lack of a true inventory feature.
  • software is difficult to navigate.

All invoicing systems for small businesses allow you to create and send professional invoices easily. Add the fact that you can track all payments and customer information, along with saving time, and you’ll leave a positive impression with your clients. Plus, every invoice that gets paid means you’ll generate more income into your business by increasing the chances of being paid quicker.