Best invoicing software for freelancers: free vs paid, real costs

By Jai Nischal Verma · Prices checked Oct 2026 · Researched price guide

This is a researched price guide, not a hands-on review. We haven't run these tools in a business. Every price comes from the vendor's own US pricing page, and each one is linked and dated. CostOak earns no commission on any link on this page.

The invoicing tools compared

Picture the month you finally get three clients at once. You're juggling the work, and somewhere in there you have to send invoices, remember who's paid, and nudge the ones who haven't. That's the whole job of invoicing software: it creates and sends the invoice, chases late payers for you, and puts a "Pay now" button in front of your client.

So what does it cost? Two things, and people tend to watch only the first. There's the subscription, which is often $0. Then there's the processing fee on every invoice paid online, which is never $0.

We stuck to five tools that publish their prices and are built for one-person businesses: Zoho Invoice, Wave, Invoice Ninja, FreshBooks and Bonsai. The table shows the cheapest way into each one, and what it costs once the promo or annual discount runs out.

What a freelancer pays in year one

Here's year one for a single user on each tool's cheapest plan that actually includes invoicing. Where a vendor publishes both, you'll see the annual price and the monthly-billing price.

Three of these cost nothing. Nothing at all.

Of the paid plans, Invoice Ninja Pro is the cheapest at $140 a year. Its page says annual billing "gives you 2 months free" against $14 a month^[4], which works out to $28 saved if you're sure you'll stick around. FreshBooks Lite looks like a bargain in year one, but only because of a limited-time offer: 80% off for 4 months, with the page showing "Was $23.00"^[5]. Don't budget on the promo. Budget on $23 a month, because that's what you'll be paying in month five.

Not sure a subscription is worth it? Drop it into the software-stack cost calculator next to everything else you pay for, then make sure your freelance hourly rate actually covers it. (Here's how to set a freelance hourly rate step by step.)

Payment fees: the real cost of getting paid

Every time a client clicks "Pay now", a processor takes its cut. These are the published US rates for standard domestic cards and bank (ACH) transfers, checked Oct 2026.

Wave charges 2.9% + $0.60 per card payment on Starter. On Pro, your first 10 card payments each month drop to 2.9% + $0, then it's back to 2.9% + $0.60. Bank payments are 1% with a $1 minimum, and Amex costs more at 3.4% plus the same fixed fee^[2][3].

FreshBooks Payments is 2.9% + $0.30 per card payment and 1% for bank transfers, according to its pricing FAQ. Its Select plan advertises lower card fees and capped ACH fees^[5].

Stripe is 2.9% + 30¢ for domestic cards. Add 0.5% if a card is typed in manually and 1.5% if it's international. ACH Direct Debit is 0.8%, capped at $5^[7]. That cap matters, and we'll come back to it. Invoice Ninja doesn't process payments itself; it connects to gateways including Stripe, PayPal, Square and GoCardless^[4].

Let's make that concrete. Say you invoice $4,000 a month as four $1,000 invoices, and every client pays by card on Wave Starter. You lose $118.40 a month to fees (4 × $29.60). Over a year that's about $1,420, which is more than any single subscription in this guide costs.

Now get those same clients to pay by bank transfer. On Wave or FreshBooks, the four invoices cost $40 a month at 1%. Through Stripe's capped ACH, they cost $20. Same work, same clients, and about $940 to $1,180 a year back in your pocket.

Even at a smaller scale the gap is real. Twelve $1,000 invoices a year paid by card cost about $355 on Wave Starter (12 × $29.60). Paid by ACH, it's $120 on Wave or FreshBooks, or $60 through Stripe. If there's one habit worth building, it's asking clients to pay by bank transfer. It costs nothing to ask.

Pricing, tool by tool

Zoho Invoice: best free invoicing

Zoho calls Zoho Invoice a "forever-free invoicing solution", and the feature list is longer than you'd expect for $0: quotes, recurring invoices, automated payment reminders, expenses, time tracking, a customer portal, and 24/5 email and voice support^[1]. The pricing page shows no paid tier and no client limit. If you outgrow it, Zoho points you to Zoho Billing instead.

The catch? Free invoicing doesn't mean free payments. Online payments still carry your payment gateway's fees.

Wave: free invoicing plus bookkeeping

Wave Starter is $0 and covers unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, plus a mobile app^[2]. For a lot of freelancers, that's the whole back office.

Wave Pro is $190 a year billed annually, or $19 a month ("Save $38" on annual). You get discounted card fees on your first 10 card payments each month, bank-transaction import, receipt capture and automated late-payment reminders^[2]. It's priced per business, not per owner. Is Pro worth it? Run the numbers: on Starter, each card payment carries a $0.60 fixed fee, so the 10 discounted payments save you up to $6 a month, or $72 a year. That alone doesn't cover $190. You'd upgrade for the bank import and reminders, not the fee break.

Watch the extras too: payroll starts at $40 a month and bookkeeping help at $149 a month^[2].

Invoice Ninja: cheapest unlimited-client plan

Invoice Ninja's Free plan is $0 for 5 clients, with unlimited invoicing. Ninja Pro is $14 a month or $140 billed annually, and it gives you unlimited clients and invoices, removes the "Created by Invoice Ninja" footer and adds automatic late-payment reminders^[4]. Enterprise starts at $18 a month for 1–2 users, and every paid plan comes with a 30-day money-back promise^[4].

That 5-client cap on Free is the thing to check. Count your active clients before you commit, not the ones you hope to have. If you're sitting at four, you've got room; at six, you're already paying.

FreshBooks: invoicing and accounting together

FreshBooks is the most complete option here, and it's priced like it. List prices are Lite $23, Plus $43 and Premium $70 a month, covering 5 billable clients, 50, and unlimited respectively^[5].

When we checked, the page offered 80% off for 4 months (Lite at $4.60 a month), plus an "extra 10% off" on yearly billing, which brought year one on yearly Lite to $181.33^[5]. There's a 30-day free trial with no credit card. Add-ons include team members at $11 a month per user, Advanced Payments at $20 a month, and payroll from $40 a month plus $6 per person^[5].

The client caps are where FreshBooks can sting. Land your sixth client and you jump from $23 to $43 a month at list price. That's an extra $240 a year for one more name on the list. Fine if that client is worth it; annoying if they send you one small job a year.

Bonsai: proposals, contracts and invoices

Bonsai prices per user. Here's the trap: Basic is $9 a month billed annually ($15 monthly), but it doesn't include invoices. Invoices and payments start on Essentials, at $19 a month billed annually or $25 monthly, which also adds proposals, contracts, a client portal and expense tracking^[6].

Above that, Premium is $29 ($39 monthly) and Elite is $49 ($59 monthly), and Elite needs at least 3 users. The free trial is 7 days, and online payments carry processing fees that vary by method^[6]. If you write a proposal and a contract for every project, Bonsai bundles that neatly. If you don't, you're paying for paperwork you won't use.

The invoice process, step by step

Whatever you pick, the invoice process is the same five steps. Good software just takes the tedious ones off your plate.

First, agree the price. Send a quote or estimate before you start. All five tools offer estimates, quotes or proposals; Bonsai Essentials and FreshBooks Plus include proposals^[6][5].

Then create the invoice. Your business details, the client, an invoice number, the date, line items, any tax and the due date. That's it.

Send it with a pay link. A "Pay now" button lets clients pay by card or bank transfer straight from the invoice. No logging in, no hunting for your bank details.

Let the software do the chasing. Nobody enjoys writing "just following up" emails. Automated reminders are free on Zoho Invoice and included in Wave Pro and Invoice Ninja Pro^[1][2][4].

Record the payment. Online payments get marked paid automatically. Cash and checks you mark yourself, so your books and tax records stay straight.

How to choose without overpaying

If you're solo and send fewer than 5 invoices a month, skip paid plans. Zoho Invoice or Wave Starter will do the job, and your money is better spent getting clients onto bank transfer. Just remember Invoice Ninja's free plan stops at 5 clients.

If you have more than 5 clients, the real choice is between Invoice Ninja Pro at $140 a year and FreshBooks Premium at $70 a month list. That's a $700-a-year gap. Unless you need FreshBooks' accounting features, the cheaper one wins.

If you want bookkeeping in the same place, look at Wave first (free) and FreshBooks second. If proposals and contracts are part of every job, Bonsai Essentials is the one built around that workflow.

Whatever you choose, price the fees, not just the plan. Take your typical invoice, multiply by 2.9% and add the fixed fee. That's what each card payment costs you. Then nudge clients toward bank transfer.

And budget at list price. Promotions end, and the renewal bill is the one you'll actually live with; our methodology explains why we always show that number. When you're ready to price the rest of your setup, browse our software comparisons, including the CRM price guide, and total it all up in the calculators.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

All prices are in US dollars, before tax, from each vendor's official US pricing page, checked Oct 2026. Promotions and fees change often, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy. See our editorial policy and affiliate disclosure.

1. [1] Zoho Invoice pricing: https://www.zoho.com/us/invoice/pricing/ (checked Oct 2026)
2. [2] Wave pricing: https://www.waveapps.com/pricing (checked Oct 2026)
3. [3] Wave Payments fees: https://www.waveapps.com/payments (checked Oct 2026)
4. [4] Invoice Ninja pricing: https://invoiceninja.com/pricing-plans/ (checked Oct 2026)
5. [5] FreshBooks pricing (incl. payments FAQ): https://www.freshbooks.com/pricing (checked Oct 2026)
6. [6] Bonsai pricing: https://www.hellobonsai.com/pricing (checked Oct 2026)
7. [7] Stripe pricing: https://stripe.com/pricing (checked Oct 2026)