Best Free Invoicing Software in 2026

"Free invoicing software" comes in three flavours. Some products are free because the vendor makes money when your customer pays by card (Wave, PayPal, Square, Stripe). Some are free as an on-ramp to a bigger suite (Zoho Invoice, QuickBooks Free). One is free because you can host it yourself (Invoice Ninja). Each model has a different catch, and the catch is usually the payment processing fee, not the software.

This guide covers what each free tier includes as of October 2026, where it stops being free, and what a typical sole trader actually pays in fees on each one.

How we evaluated

This comparison is based on each vendor's published pricing pages, fee schedules, plan limits and help documentation, checked on 22 October 2026. We did not open accounts or send test invoices with these products, so this is an analysis of what each vendor says its free plan includes and charges, not a report of hands-on use. We looked for free tiers that are permanent rather than trials, that let you send an invoice your customer can pay online, and that do not cap out at a volume a small business would reach in a normal month. Fees and limits change, so check the linked pricing page before you commit. No vendor paid for inclusion, and the order below is not a ranking.

Free invoicing software compared

Fees are US rates for online payments as published by each vendor in October 2026. Zoho Invoice and Invoice Ninja do not process payments themselves; you pay whichever gateway you connect, and Stripe's standard rate is shown as the common case.

Wave

Wave is the most complete free option because it is not just an invoicing tool. The $0 Starter plan includes unlimited estimates, invoices and bills, mobile invoicing, and a full double-entry ledger that produces a profit and loss statement and balance sheet.

The catch: Wave's card fee is 2.9% plus 60¢, double the 30¢ fixed fee at Stripe or Square. On a $50 invoice that is 4.1% all-in. Automatic bank imports, late-payment reminders, your own logo and colours, and removal of Wave's footer branding all require Pro at $19/mo ($190/yr). Pro also drops the 60¢ on the first ten card payments each month. ACH payments are 1% with a $1 minimum on both plans.

Who it fits: sole proprietors and small service businesses who want invoicing and bookkeeping in one free system, and whose invoices are large enough that the 60¢ does not matter. If you send around 20 invoices a month averaging several hundred dollars, the 60¢ adds about $6 a month over a 30¢ processor, which the free ledger easily outweighs.

Zoho Invoice

Zoho describes Zoho Invoice as "forever-free", and it is the most feature-rich product here at $0. Zoho's product page lists a customer portal where clients view and pay invoices and respond to quotes, time tracking with timesheet invoicing, billable expenses, recurring invoices and automated payment reminders.

What's free: everything in the product, up to 500 invoices per year, two users, three projects, and two organisations under one Zoho account. There is no revenue cap.

The catch: 500 invoices a year is about 42 a month, plenty for most freelancers and tight for a busy trade. Invoices carry "Powered by Zoho Invoice" branding. Zoho Invoice does not process payments itself; you connect an online payment gateway and pay that provider's fees. Zoho's pricing page lists no paid tier: it points growing businesses to Zoho Billing, and Zoho Books (from $20/mo, with its own free plan for businesses under $50K revenue) is the step up into accounting.

Who it fits: freelancers and consultants who bill by time, anyone who wants a client portal and reminders without paying for FreshBooks, and businesses already using Zoho CRM or Zoho Projects.

Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja offers a hosted free plan for up to five clients and a self-hosted edition you run on your own server. The self-hosted code is source-available under the Elastic License v2, and Invoice Ninja says it has "no client limits, no invoice caps, no feature paywalls".

What's free (hosted): unlimited invoices for up to 5 clients, 11 invoice templates, your logo on invoices, quotes, recurring invoices, a client portal, projects with billable time tracking, vendor and expense tracking, and connections to payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, Square and GoCardless.

The catch: five clients is a hard cap, and free-plan invoices keep Invoice Ninja branding. Ninja Pro at $14/mo ($140/yr) removes the branding, lifts the client cap, makes the templates fully customisable and puts your portal on a yoursite.invoicing.co subdomain. Enterprise starts at $18/mo for one or two users (rising to $300/mo for 51 to 100 users) and adds a custom domain, automatic bank imports and e-invoicing with 250 PEPPOL credits. Self-hosting removes the client cap, but you handle installation, updates, backups and security yourself.

Who it fits: technical founders and agencies comfortable running a web app, developers who want an API-first invoicing system, and anyone with a handful of retainer clients who can live with the branding.

PayPal Invoicing

PayPal's invoicing tool is included with a PayPal business account and needs no separate software. You create an invoice, PayPal sends it by email, text or link, and the customer pays without needing a PayPal account.

What's free: creating and sending invoices, recurring invoices, automatic reminders, templates with your logo and brand colours, and a choice of payment methods for the customer: card, Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, Pay Later or Pay by Bank (ACH).

The catch: the card fee is 2.99% plus 49¢, and 3.49% plus 49¢ when the customer pays with PayPal or Venmo; Pay Later is 4.99% plus 49¢. You do not choose which method the customer uses. ACH is 1% capped at $10, which is good value on large invoices. Standard transfers to your bank are free; instant transfers cost 1.5% (50¢ minimum). PayPal's invoicing page describes no expense tracking or accounting reports, so you will still need a ledger elsewhere.

Who it fits: businesses that already collect most payments through PayPal, sellers with customers who prefer PayPal or Venmo checkout, and anyone who needs to send an occasional invoice without setting up another account.

Square Invoices

Square Invoices is free, unlimited, and attached to a payments platform many small businesses already use for in-person sales. Square's help center lists unlimited invoices, recurring invoices, estimates, contracts and projects on the free plan.

What's free: unlimited invoices, estimates and contracts, with customers paying by card or ACH bank transfer.

The catch: Square's invoice card rate on the free plan is 3.3% plus 30¢, higher than Stripe's 2.9%. ACH is 1% with a $1 minimum and no cap. Since October 2025 Square sells one set of plans across its products; Square Plus is $49/mo per location and lowers invoice card payments to 2.9% plus 30¢, caps ACH at $10, and adds milestone payment schedules and custom invoice templates. If you also sell in person, the free plan's card-present rate is 2.6% plus 15¢.

Who it fits: trades, salons, caterers and retailers who already run Square at the counter and want invoices for the jobs that are not paid on the spot. Poor fit: an invoice-only business with no in-person sales. At $49/mo, Plus saves 0.4% on card invoices, so it only pays for itself above about $12,250 a month of card-paid invoices.

Stripe Invoicing

Stripe has no subscription but is not free: you pay 2.9% plus 30¢ for card payments plus 0.4% of each invoice paid through Stripe Invoicing (0.5% on the Plus tier, which adds quotes). ACH Direct Debit is 0.8% capped at $5, plus the invoicing fee. Stripe's invoicing fee has no cap, so on a $5,000 invoice it is $20.

The catch: a $1,000 card-paid invoice costs $29.30 in processing plus $4 in invoicing fees, and there is no expense tracking or accounting. If you use Stripe as the gateway inside Zoho Invoice or Invoice Ninja instead, you pay the standard processing rate without Stripe's 0.4% invoicing fee.

Who it fits: SaaS and subscription businesses, and anyone already on Stripe who sends a few one-off invoices.

QuickBooks Free

Intuit launched QuickBooks Free in September 2026 as a permanent $0 plan. It is real QuickBooks Online, which matters if you expect to upgrade later. Intuit's published limits: 2 invoices and 1 estimate a month, 1 bank connection, 1 contractor, the top 3 reports (P&L, balance sheet, account quick report), 2 receipt captures and 5 mileage trips a month, 1 user and no accountant access.

The catch: the two-invoice cap lifts to unlimited invoices only if you qualify for and enable QuickBooks Payments, so the free plan is effectively a payments product. Those rates are 2.99% on cards with no fixed fee, which is cheap on small invoices, and 1% on ACH with a $1 minimum and no published cap, which is expensive on large ones. One estimate a month is tight for a trade that quotes before every job.

Who it fits: someone who bills by card, expects to move to Simple Start ($38/mo) with an accountant later, and wants to start in the same system.

What a sole trader actually pays

Free invoicing is not free once a customer pays online. Take a sole trader who sends 20 invoices a month, all paid by card. The fixed fee and the percentage bite differently depending on invoice size, so here are two versions: $400 invoices ($8,000 a month) and $75 invoices ($1,500 a month). Fees use each vendor's published October 2026 rates for domestic Visa or Mastercard.

The same 20 invoices at $400 paid by ACH instead cost $80 at Wave, Square, PayPal or QuickBooks (1%), or $64 with Stripe ACH as a gateway (0.8%), a saving of about $160 a month over cards.

What the table shows:

• The software subscription matters less than the fee structure. At $8,000 a month, the gap between the cheapest and dearest free option is $32 a month, and moving customers to ACH saves five times that.
• Small invoices punish fixed fees. At $75, QuickBooks' flat 2.99% beats every option with a per-transaction fee, and Wave's 60¢ costs $6 a month more than a 30¢ gateway.
• Paid plans rarely pay for themselves on fees alone. Wave Pro's ten waived 60¢ fees save $6 against a $19 subscription; Square Plus needs over $12,000 a month in card invoices to recover $49. Buy them for bank feeds, reminders, branding or milestones, not for the rate.
• Stripe Invoicing's 0.4% is avoidable. Connecting Stripe as the gateway in Zoho Invoice or Invoice Ninja gives the same 2.9% plus 30¢ without it.

Rules of thumb:

1. If your average invoice is under $200, prioritise a low or zero fixed fee (QuickBooks Payments, or Stripe and Square at 30¢) over a low percentage.
2. If your average invoice is over $1,000, push customers to ACH. Stripe's 0.8% capped at $5 and PayPal's 1% capped at $10 beat every card rate; on Wave, Square Free and QuickBooks, ACH is 1% with no published cap.
3. Decide on a paid plan based on features, not fees. $14 to $20 a month buys reminders, branding removal and bank feeds; it does not meaningfully change your processing cost.
4. Consider passing the fee on, carefully. Card-network rules limit surcharges and require disclosure, and some states restrict them; a discount for paying by ACH is simpler.

Free software vs. a template

If you send fewer than five invoices a month and your customers pay by check or bank transfer, you may not need software at all. Our free invoice template generates a numbered, branded PDF, Word or Excel invoice in the browser with line items, tax and totals calculated for you. There are matching estimate, quote and receipt templates.

The template wins when you invoice rarely, get paid by bank transfer, or want zero fees. Software wins once you have several open invoices at once and start losing track of who owes what.

When free stops being enough

Free tiers hit a wall in predictable places:

• Client or invoice caps. Invoice Ninja's 5 clients, Zoho Invoice's 500 invoices a year, QuickBooks Free's 2 invoices a month without QuickBooks Payments.
• Branding. Wave Starter, Zoho Invoice and Invoice Ninja's free plan carry vendor branding; PayPal and Square payment pages show the processor's brand. Invoice Ninja Pro ($14/mo) and Wave Pro ($19/mo) are the cheapest ways to remove it.
• Multiple users. Zoho Invoice allows two. Wave Starter only adds a payroll manager or tax pro; Pro adds admin, editor and viewer roles. QuickBooks Free is one user with no accountant.
• Bookkeeping. PayPal, Square and Stripe are payment tools. Once you need a profit and loss for your tax return, you are exporting CSVs into something else. Wave and QuickBooks Free include a ledger; Zoho Invoice hands off to Zoho Books.
• Automation. Bank feeds, deposits and milestone billing, retainer tracking, and time-to-invoice workflows are where FreshBooks ($23/mo), Zoho Books ($20/mo) or Wave Pro ($19/mo) start paying for themselves.

If you spend more than an hour a month chasing payments or re-keying invoices into a spreadsheet, a $15 to $25 plan is cheaper than your time.

FAQ

What is the best completely free invoicing software?

For most small businesses, Wave or Zoho Invoice. Wave includes full bookkeeping with unlimited invoices but charges 2.9% plus 60¢ on cards. Zoho Invoice adds a client portal, time tracking and reminders, is capped at 500 invoices a year, shows "Powered by Zoho Invoice" branding, and lets you choose your own payment gateway. Invoice Ninja suits anyone who can self-host or has five or fewer clients.

Is there free invoicing software with no payment fees?

Only if your customers do not pay online. Every tool on this page is free to send invoices; fees apply when the customer pays by card or bank transfer through the tool. Accepting checks or direct bank transfers outside the software costs nothing, and our invoice template supports that workflow without an account.

Can I use free invoicing software for my taxes?

Wave and QuickBooks Free include a ledger with a profit and loss report you can use for Schedule C, and Zoho Invoice provides income reports. PayPal, Square and Stripe provide transaction exports and, above IRS thresholds, a Form 1099-K, but you will still need to record expenses elsewhere. Pair a payments-only tool with our expense tracker and profit and loss template if you are not ready for accounting software.

Which free invoicing software has no vendor branding?

None of the free plans covered here promises a fully unbranded experience. Wave Starter adds a footer, Zoho Invoice adds "Powered by Zoho Invoice", Invoice Ninja's free plan keeps its branding, and PayPal and Square payment pages carry their own brand. The cheapest ways to remove vendor branding from the invoice are Invoice Ninja Pro at $14/mo and Wave Pro at $19/mo.

What is the cheapest way to accept invoice payments?

ACH bank transfer. On a $2,000 invoice, Stripe charges $5 (0.8% capped at $5), PayPal $10 (1% capped at $10), and Wave, Square's free plan and QuickBooks $20 (1%). The same invoice paid by card costs $58 to $66.

Should I upgrade from free invoicing software to accounting software?

When you need bank reconciliation, a balance sheet, payroll, or to give an accountant access. See our comparison of the best accounting software for small business for the paid options and what each costs after promotional pricing ends.

Sources

Fees and limits were checked on the vendor pages on 22 October 2026:

• Wave pricing: https://www.waveapps.com/pricing and payment fees: https://www.waveapps.com/payments
• Zoho Invoice pricing: https://www.zoho.com/us/invoice/pricing/ and features: https://www.zoho.com/us/invoice/
• Invoice Ninja pricing: https://invoiceninja.com/pricing-plans/ and self-hosted edition: https://invoiceninja.org/
• PayPal Invoicing fees: https://www.paypal.com/us/business/accept-payments/invoice and transfer fees: https://www.paypal.com/us/business/paypal-business-fees
• Square fees: https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5068 and https://squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-fees; Square plans: https://squareup.com/us/en/press/unified-pricing-and-packaging
• Stripe Invoicing pricing: https://stripe.com/invoicing/pricing and Stripe fees: https://stripe.com/pricing
• QuickBooks Free limits: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/compare/quickbooks-free-vs-free-accounting-software/ and QuickBooks Payments rates: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/payments/payment-rates/