Invoice Like A Pro: Examples and Best Practices
Your invoice should be prim and proper, so that you can get paid by your clients efficiently. While invoicing is not a fun task, it’s a necessary one: by keeping clients informed of your expectations, you will get paid punctually and reinforce your professionalism. After going over some best practices for creating invoices, we’ll review some great (and not so great) online invoicing tools, so that you can spend less time creating invoices and more time doing the things you love!
So here are some general guidelines, best practices and examples that will help you make sure your invoices are up to spec.
1. Their Details and Yours
This is Mickey Mouse stuff, but you can’t afford to forget it. In addition to the client’s address, make sure to include the name of the client’s contact person who handles your account! A company with three employees can figure out what you’re doing; but in big companies, invoices get misplaced, especially if there’s confusion over who belongs to which project.
You’ll also need your company name, your name, address, telephone number and email address. If they have any questions about the charges, contacting you should be as easy as possible.
Design by Nancy Roy Creative | Full view
2. Itemized List of Services
People want to know what they’ve paid for. Most people will not pay for something described merely as “Design.” Tell them exactly what they have received: e.g. “Design of three-page static website for Sporting Goods Department.” Be as specific as possible. In five years, would both you and the client know what you meant by your description? Also, specify whether the charge is project-based or hourly.
Design by Hicks Design | Full view
3. Include Your Terms
When do you expect the client to pay you? What happens if they miss the deadline? To be able to send follow-up or overdue notices or to charge interest, you need a rock-solid paper trail that no one can argue with.
Design by Francisco Inchauste | Full view
4. Let Them Know How to Pay You
Do you want a cheque mailed to you, a money transfer, flowers? Be explicitly clear about what you expect and in what form. It is usually best to discuss with the client beforehand their preferred method or to come to an agreement about a method you both like.
If you want a money transfer, provide all the necessary information. Foreign transfers need more than your account number: in some countries, you need your International Bank Account Number (IBAN) or a Bank Identifier Code (BIC). International transfers also double-charge you: the client’s bank might charge you $20, and your own bank might charge you another $15 to accept the payment. Make it clear which of you will absorb these charges, and talk it it out with them. PayPal is another option, but you still get charged a percentage of the transaction.
Design by Epic Web Agency | Full view
5. Numbers and Numbers and Records and Books
Referring to “invoice #9048,” rather than “That invoice I sent you last month, I think on a Tuesday,” is much easier to track for both you and your client.
Assign numbers to your invoices systematically, consistently and chronologically. Some people number their invoices by year (for example, 2009043 would be the 43rd invoice of 2009). You could also specify a code for the project. For example, BRAINEOS06 would be the 6th invoice for the braineos project that you’re currently working on. Having an invoice and project numbering system keeps everything in line.
Design by Graeme Duckett | Full view
6. Thank Them, and Ask Them to Thank You
Money is often a touchy subject, so politeness about it is a good idea. Your clients are paying you money that they’ve earned with blood, sweat and tears, so let them know you appreciate it. You should also invite them to contact you if they have any questions and, more importantly, make it clear that you appreciate their present (and future) business.
Some people also welcome testimonials; for example, by adding, “Let us know how we did. Write a testimonial: info@example.com.” If you’re building your website’s testimonials page or want to complete the feedback loop, this is a great way to get clients to give feedback on your work. If they have suggestions for making the process smoother, it’s also a great opportunity for you to improve.
Design by BGG Design Studio | Full view
7. Don’t Forget: You’re a Designer
Imagine this, you’re at an expensive restaurant. Every detail is perfect: the food was fantastic, the service excellent and the atmosphere rich and plush. Then, you receive the bill, which is printed on cheap paper with low-quality ink. What would you remember about this experience?
Most people spend hours on their website design, business cards and resumes but then use a template for their invoice. The invoice is your last contact with your client, and it should share the attention to detail, branding and style of your other elements. By creating a beautiful, clear invoice, you are saying that you care about the little details.
Most importantly, make sure you have all the necessary information. Make sure there are no spelling mistakes and that your spacing is consistent. Customize your invoice as much as you can. Your logo is a must, but colors and a style that match your other branding items will make it a joy to pay (well, as much as is possible).
A vintage UK design from the year 1936. In some situations it may be worth considering sending a nice vintage design to your customer. Source.
The invoice is a boring document, and one often neglected. Andy Clarke from Stuff and Nonsense has had “fix up my invoice” on his to-do list for 10 years. This was a fairly typical response from many I had asked!
Jon Hicks lamented that, “The problem is that a lot of tools for invoicing make it quite hard to customize the template. I use Billings, which is a great app, but doing basic things like getting elements to line up require a pound of flesh!”
Further Invoice Design Examples
Whether you’re using invoice software or designing your invoice from scratch, creating a beautiful invoice is possible. Here are a few examples.
Design by Chase (holdsnowater) | Full view
Design by Cameron McEfee | Full view
Design by Thomas Maxson | Full view
Design by Microspective | Full view
Design by Julie Fitzgerald | Full view
Design by Stereotypes | Full view
Design by Veerle Pieters for Devia | Full view
Design by Ole Martin Buene | Full view
Design by Impulse Studios | Full view
Design by Sugar Rush Creative | Full view
Design by Yummygum | Full view
Online Invoicing Roundup
Designing and tracking invoices yourself is a lot of work. A lot of online invoicing applications would save you much time and keep you organized (especially designers like me, who would lose their head if they forgot to attach one!). Hundred of online services are out there. Here, I’ll review seven apps based on their ease of first time use, cost, customizability of the templates, usability and more.
Quickbooks Online
- Cost?
From free to $34.95 per month. - Free option?
Yes, for up to 20 customers. And a free trial is available. - Customized invoice design?
Changing the logo is a convoluted process (I ended up using Help, which detailed a six-step process to get to it), and the logo ends up only 1 square-inch. You can choose between about 13 different templates, but I didn’t like any of them. You can change the font and size of various elements (such as the title), which was nice, but the placement of some of the items left a lot to be desired. - Time to create a customized invoice?
The first time, I gave up in frustration. It wouldn’t let me set up a UK address, so I set up a hypothetical business, an option it allowed. The second time I pretended to have a business in Beverly Hills 90210 and managed to get in. It still took me about 20 minutes to get it together, having discarded my saved invoice a few times after trying to customize it. - Usability?
The landing page is okay, but the app itself is a bit crowded and disorganized. It tries to show you where quick start items are, but I felt lost. It is inconsistent too: some pages have an ugly brown header, while others had a newer design. - Recurring payments/actionable late payments?
Yes/Yes. It shows a list of overdue invoices, and an automated email service has just launched. - Other accounting features?
You can track everything, I’m sure, but could I find anything? Would I even want to now?
Other pros?
It’s probably easy for people who are familiar with QuickBooks, because you can import existing books. It seems to solve every conceivable problem, so if you have very particular needs, this might be best for you.
Other cons?
This application immediately made me angry and frustrated. It also can’t be used on Firefox on the Mac (but does work with Safari) or in any country outside the US.
Simplify This
- Cost?
From $9 to $29 per month. - Free option?
Free trial. - Customized invoice design?
You can add a logo, but I couldn’t find any options for changing color or layout or even find a preview. - Time to create a customized invoice?
I gave up after 25 minutes. - Usability?
The logo is okay, but the spacing isn’t super-clean or consistent, and I was confused by which items were associated with which accounts and how to actually generate an invoice. - Recurring payments/track late payments?
Undetermined/Undetermined. - Other accounting features?
Undetermined.
Other pros?
It offers a lot of interaction: e.g. each item gives you a pull-down menu, where you can edit and set as “Contacted,” “Lost” and “Change to customer,” but I’m unsure what any of these are for.
Other cons?
Maybe I’m not very good at this, but I couldn’t figure out how to do anything. It shows a “How to” page before the interface; but, of course, I didn’t read it, and then couldn’t figure out how to get back.
Curdbee
- Cost?
Free, or upgrade for $5 per month. - Free option?
Substantial amount of features for free. - Customized invoice design?
You can add your own logo and change the header color. The design is decent but very limited. - Time to create a customized invoice?
Five minutes. - Usability?
Quite well designed and easy to use. A few things required extra clicks, but it never lost me. - Recurring payments/actionable late payments?
Yes/Turns red, but is not actionable. - Other accounting features?
None.
Other pros?
I was pleasantly surprised by this little app. It creates a decent invoice and does it simply. It also has strong integrations with PayPal and Google Checkout to make payments even easier! And upgrading is inexpensive.
Other cons?
You get PDF functionality only with the upgrade; but at only $5 per month, it is definitely affordable!
Freshbooks
- Cost?
From free to $149 per month. - Free option?
Yes, a substantial number of features for few clients. - Customized invoice design?
Limited. You can add your logo and choose between two plain design options, which look a bit like Microsoft Word templates. - Time to create a customized invoice?
Five minutes. - Usability?
Nice and clean. You can also partly customize the colors and replace the logo with your own. Easy to navigate. - Recurring payments/track late payments?
Yes/Yes (can be automatically sent by email. - Other accounting features?
You can track expenses and create reports.
Other pros?
It has great, brief explanations for new users. You can customize the whole application to match your brand and specify permissions on tabs for clients and employees. Seems to scale well for big businesses. It also integrates 10 popular payment gateways.
Other cons?
I couldn’t figure out how to change my currency for individual clients. I might have missed it, but it wasn’t immediately obvious to me.
Less Accounting
- Cost?
From free to $24 per month. - Free option?
Yes, it has some invoice and reporting features for free, and a trial offer. - Customized invoice design?
You must create a template to make an invoice. You can add a logo, choose between three different layouts and change the colors. - Time to create a customized invoice?
Five to ten minutes. - Usability?
Simple and easy to use. Awkward placement of some elements, such as the permanent bar at the bottom, but you get used to it after 10 minutes. - Recurring payments/actionable late payments?
Yes/Not yet. - Other accounting features?
Yes, you can track your business expenses here.
Other pros?
Getting started is easy because things behave as you would expect. It also integrates with 37 Signals’ management tools, FreshBooks and more.
Other cons?
When I wanted to create my first invoice, a template wasn’t available, so I created one, but upon returning, I found all of the information I’d entered so far for that invoice was gone! I hate re-entering data in forms (even if only for a minute).
Free Agent
- Cost?
$20 per month, with discounts for yearly subscription and referrals. - Free option?
Free trial, but won’t let you do much until you register your bank account. - Customized invoice design?
You can add your own logo and choose between seven attractive templates. You can’t change the color, but I found a template I was happy with. - Time to create a customized invoice?
Took at least 10 minutes; I couldn’t figure out how to get back into it because it required my bank details. - Usability?
Well designed and easy to use. Once I got around bank account entry problem, it was great. - Recurring payments/actionable late payments?
Yes/It shows a list of overdue invoices, and an automated email service is currently in development. - Other accounting features?
You can track all business expenses and do your business accounting.
Other pros?
Clear navigation and plenty of explanation for first-time users, with pull-down help bars in case you need them. You can also upload bank statements to track your invoices and expenses against your bank account. And you can customize the front page’s appearance.
Other cons?
Because I was just testing this app, I didn’t want to enter my bank account details. It’s a great feature, but for those who don’t need it or just want to play around, it’s annoying.
Invotrak
- Cost?
Four options, from free to $45 per month. - Free option?
Yes, but you can’t add a logo, and only 2 invoices, and two clients per month. - Customized invoice design?
They have the option to add a logo if you’re upgraded and the choice between 5 different template styles. They are very plain though, and non-customizable. I personally don’t like them at all! - Time to create a customized invoice?
Five minutes. - Usability?
It’s okay. Most things are easy enough to figure out, but they seem to have some weird ways of getting to where you want to go. Not a bad experience but not exactly drool worthy. - Recurring payments/actionable late payments?
No/Not that I can see. It turns the line red if it’s overdue, but there’s no actionable things here. - Other accounting features?
It has a punch-in system for tracking time.
Other pros
They make an effort to add helper text along the way, but I didn’t notice it until 15 minutes in.
Other cons
It doesn’t auto number the invoices, so you have to remember what the last invoice number you gave a project.
Blinksale
- Cost?
From $6 to $24 per month. - Free option?
A 30-day trial is available(a credit card is necessary). - Customized invoice design?
Nice templates, but you can also create your own CSS-based version! Yay! - Time to create a customized invoice?
Five minutes. - Usability?
Very nice and easy to use. - Recurring payments/actionable late payments?
Yes/Yes. It has a customizable email message for overdue notices. You can view all of your overdue invoices in one place and send each with one click. You also get history of when you sent your reminders. - Other accounting features?
You can receive Blinksale invoices from other companies you purchase from.
Other pros
A lot of explanation for new users, and the input fields show examples of data, making it easy to see what to do next. It integrates with Basecamp and PayPal. And sent invoices can be linked to your client’s own Blinksale account.
Other cons
You can’t test this application without submitting your credit card details, even for the free trial. You also can’t create PDFs on the “Bronze” plan (the ideal plan for part-time freelancers). Finally, it doesn’t automate the numbering of your invoice IDs (although it tells you your last one).
Related posts
You may be interested in the following related posts:
- Freelance Contracts: Do’s And Don’ts
- How To Respond Effectively To Design Criticism
- How To Identify and Deal With Different Types Of Clients
- How To Persuade Your Users, Boss or Clients
(al)
Imad Mouaddine
November 7th, 2009 11:01 amThank you great post!
gfx
November 8th, 2009 1:14 pmI’d like to know what software is used by these talented designers to create these lovely invoices and what the usage is. How do you populate the fields? Do you import vector files into invoicing software?
I’d love to know if there is an invoicing application that will allow the import of a vector or bitmap background? MS Money Home and Business (which I use, great software–shame they discontinued) does not.
@Vivian: I love your invoice!!!
Vivian
November 9th, 2009 7:07 pmThank you! :)
Clement kanj
November 8th, 2009 11:12 pmKeep up the good work.
Smashingmagazine is great, in addition to my diploma in graphic design, i m always learning and learning from you guys. per example this article.
Best regards
Skye
November 9th, 2009 3:34 amHave to mention http://www.invoicesontherun.com
I’ve been using them for a while now. Support is fast, it’s easy to use and they have some awesome invoice templates to choose from. It makes me look a whole lot more professional.
MG
November 9th, 2009 6:36 amI need a invoice system that i can run/install on my own machine/webserver. Smth. like bamboo invoice. Is there anything similar?
Cinq
November 9th, 2009 3:56 pmGotta love the Scotch Egg (expense) in the second one.
Thanks for the article Kat Neville
sugarrushcreative
November 9th, 2009 7:53 pmThanks for featuring me! I’m so excited!
Mike R
November 10th, 2009 10:14 pmI worked in finance at a big company for a while. Here’s something that you may find useful: when designing your invoices, don’t put any crucial information too close to the edge of the page, and make sure you use dark or bold colors for any text on the page. Big companies will sometimes xerox and scan your invoices numerous times, and if information fades or gets cut off, this could cause a delay in payment (as they’ll have request another invoice from you).
Artform
November 13th, 2009 6:17 amNicely done. I was just scouring the net for a good online option. At the moment, I’ve settled with Intuit’s BillingManager.
Pros: There are a handful of templates which are a snap to customize. Totally free service! Unlimited clients and emails. PDF attachments and CC to one email address is available. Very easy to create line-items for invoices.
Cons: No advanced template customization. No integration with Paypal or Google Checkout. Using their payment service is expensive.
dpi
November 14th, 2009 1:52 amA nice list. Please have a look at Simple Invoices.
An Open Source and excellent tool
Nagendra
November 16th, 2009 2:47 amYou missed to add ZOHO Invoice to the list.
Believe me….it is the best out there.
ivan
November 18th, 2009 12:09 amFor those looking for a great invoicing system you should totally check xero.com -
John
November 19th, 2009 2:52 amZohoInvoice(http://invoice.zoho.com), a pretty one for online invoicing, is missing.
Francis Thibault
November 19th, 2009 6:28 amI’ve started using Bamboo Invoice, I love it! really easy to setup, use and it’s free.
Philippe
November 19th, 2009 4:24 pmA new open source invoicing software not mention its: http://www.ofuz.net
The current default design is not fancy but with the open source version I can put my own HTML & CSS in it.
appletxm
November 23rd, 2009 9:49 pmI like these beautiful collections, thank you
Stefaan Lesage
November 28th, 2009 6:43 amHi guys,
I just found this post when checking some stats on our Flickr page, and I’m delighted to see that our Devia Invoice is being featured here ! The design was actually done by Veerle Pieters from Duoh! (www.duoh.com).
What I did was create a Billings invoice template based on the design supplied by Veerle. I have to say I couldn’t do everything she designed, but the result is pretty close to the original design. It did take me a while to get it right though :-)
Regards,
Stefaan
Booshmedia
November 29th, 2009 7:18 amSome v cool designs here. Very inspiring. Thanks.
Shriti
November 30th, 2009 5:39 amYou might wanna try http://www.Invoicedude.com, It’s completely free with lots of cool features like recurring invoices, pdf support etc..
Sumeet Chawla
November 30th, 2009 10:42 amA very nice detailed post regarding invoicing. I am a web developer and not much of a designer but after reading this article I will surely improve the look and feel of my invoice :) Thank you!
Rochelle
December 1st, 2009 2:08 pmThank you – great article! You’ve made me look at invoicing in a whole new light ~ will take some of your great suggestions and put them to good use!
Christian
December 2nd, 2009 4:32 amREALLY nice designs… On the back of mine I make sure to add the Graphic Artist guild seal as well as my terms and conditions.
gee, looking at all these invoices and hourly rates I can help but feel bad for all the designers who get ripped off by crowd sourcing companies like “Genius Rocket” and “crowdSPRING” who never get to send their invoices because they were lured into the guise of a con-test…
kate
December 3rd, 2009 6:45 amThere is a neat little desktop tool called Fanurio http://www.fanuriotimetracking.com . I love it! You can try it for free too. You can just click to start, pause it, etc and you can do nifty reports. I use it to track the time I spend on client projects.
Even though I only bill hourly for consulting projects, it helps me to see how much time I’m spending to make sure my rates are in line. With Fanurio you can customize invoice templates using your own layouts and export them to HTML or PDF.
Vince
December 3rd, 2009 12:50 pmHello,
very interesting..and also funny…the right mix. As a translation agency, we have sometimes quite wired invoice coming from ours translators…I will make a post concerning your article so relevant!
Johan
December 6th, 2009 3:45 amGreat article! I have used http://www.economacs.com/ for a year now. With the built-in “templateprogram” you can make your own invoice design with ease!
Works best for those in UK and Scandinavia though..
//Johan
Lu Wang
December 8th, 2009 11:40 pmKat,
Just stumbled across this article. Fantastic write up. Ronin (http://www.roninapp.com) is an online invoicing and time tracking application designed *specifically* for designers and developers.
As such, we allow full invoice customization, down to the HTML/CSS level. Most of your example invoices could be implemented in Ronin. Plus, we take care of all of the hairy stuff, like tracking hours, projects, staff, clients, you name it.
Jason Skinner
December 12th, 2009 11:35 amI did not see Ronin on the app list. Any reason?
Leslie Bourke
December 18th, 2009 2:04 pmThis is a great post. I would love a follow-up article on the best invoicing software mentioned in the comments.
Thomas Moffett
December 27th, 2009 9:16 amWhat I have been looking for the most is something that I can start off with FREE and grow into as decide how much I like it, the one that seems to fit this bill the best as an all around bookeeping option is WORKINGPOINT. http://www.workingpoint.com
Marc
February 2nd, 2010 1:11 pmI am from germany and I use easybill, too. I have tryed other software but I like easybill. An other good software is fastbill or rechnungen-online-erstellen.de
Cyndee
February 11th, 2010 1:19 pmAwesome ideas! What do you use to make those invoices? How do you keep track of your invoices? I’m in love with Project Bubble! They deserve a great shout out, and they are absolutely free! http://projectbubble.com/
John Gallagher
February 28th, 2010 5:27 pmAwesome article! Such a great summary of the invoicing landscape.
I’m making a time tracker without timers called Lapsus. Initially, I’m targeting it at Ruby on Rails developers, but long term, it will be available for web designers, graphic designers etc.
Long term, it will send time data to a lot of these invoicing apps, blending the best of the desktop and the web.
If you’re interested in finding out more, you can sign up to the Beta at http://lapsusapp.co.uk
Thanks again for an awesome post!
Naveen Gupta
March 10th, 2010 4:59 amAwesome briefing of the way invoicing should be done. I really loved the brevity in a manner the points have been explained. If anyone would like to know more about how online invoicing should be done and the tips and techniques of online invoicing, then refer to another useful post ’9 Invoicing Tips for Online Invoicing’ at:
http://www.invoicera.com/blog/invoice-software/9-invoicing-tips-for-better-invoicing
cheers!
Naveen
Design Earth
April 9th, 2010 11:39 amI’m totally inspired. Thanks for nice post
Bearpig
April 12th, 2010 6:58 amSo glad you guys have done an article on Invoicing. When I was starting out I looked all over the place trying to find a decent writeup on what standard practices are, and had no luck!
I personally like my data to be stored locally and so for offline invoicing for Mac i’d highly recommend GrandTotal (http://www.grandtotal.biz/GrandTotal/).
After working through a number of invoicing programs, I found this one offered by far the easiest complete customisable invoice layouts in design terms. I did a write up on my experiences at my blog which you can read here (http://www.bearpig.co.uk/blog/?p=215).
Lucas Degen
April 26th, 2010 1:19 pmSince a year I’m with Freshbooks, and I like it. It possible to keep track of my time managment, add staff. And it even tells me what other company’s are doing in the same profession.
Sad thing about Freshbooks, it’s not possible to customize your invoice (so it’s not possible to upload a HTML template) but it seems no invoice tool can do that..
John Nguyen
August 3rd, 2010 5:39 amGreat job guys, keep up the good work!
Patti
August 3rd, 2010 10:58 amGreat article…thanks for all the attractive examples, especially.
The bit about numbering caught my eye, as I’ve come up with a really workable invoice numbering system. I give each client a two- or three-letter code, based on their name. For example. John Smith Publications Inc. would be JS. The number part of the number is the date of the invoice expressed yearmonthday in numerals. Today’s invoice to John Smith would be JS100803. In the rare case that I send more than one invoice to the same client on the same day, I simply add an A, B, C etc. to the end of the number.
Sorting invoices in the Finder on my Mac then becomes a really efficient system. I keep all invoices together in one folder. Invoices automatically sort themselves by client and then by date because of the file naming convention I’ve used. Once an invoice is paid, I simply label it with a colour, and that way I have an at-a-glance way to see how I’m doing with payments. I’ve even started adding the value of the invoice to each filename after I’ve emailed it to the client…that can be helpful too.
pooja
September 20th, 2010 6:54 pmohhh…god still exists…i can’t even begin to explain the relief i got cos of this post..
i have driven myself insane day after day to find good invoice examples…for my boyfriend’s new solo projects….i didn’t come across any sample which was remotely interesting..i was about to give up thinking maybe there was no such thing as a creative and impressive invoice example..
And then I stumbled upon this post just by chance..just don’t know how I came across this
page..but thank heavens I did…I could have cried with happiness and relief at that moment…this is such a blessing for me..it probably looks like i’m going overboard over this…but i dont care cos i’m just so relieved and super thrilled…
I’m definitely gonna tell all my friends to visit this site once and lay a bet with them that they’ll never visit or look for other site after they visit this page…
Thanks so much for this article…its absolutely brilliant..
:)
Sjorlo
October 21st, 2010 12:03 pm“Imagine this, you’re at an expensive restaurant. Every detail is perfect: the food was fantastic, the service excellent and the atmosphere rich and plush. Then, you receive the bill, which is printed on cheap paper with low-quality ink. What would you remember about this experience?”
I’d remember the food, the service and the atmosphere, like everyone else.
“Oh, it was a lovely restaurant, the food was sublime and the service was truly magnificent”,
“The atmosphere? Exquisite darling!, although when the waiter brought me the bill I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was printed on cheap paper with low quality ink, I shant be dining in that establishment again, I can tell you”
Get a grip.
lars
November 13th, 2010 9:12 amOk, nice post … and for the german readers and guys who wrote her comments above: Ive just launched a Site to get a good overwiew of all german services to write bills online under http://www.rechnungen-online-schreiben.de
Duncan
November 15th, 2010 11:46 pmAwesome!
I was stuck with a very dull invoice design – basically a word document with my logo at the top. Niiiice….
So I found this page, and felt inspired to create something new. http://www.wix.com/zombiemedia/invoice_layout
Thanks Smashing Magazine!
Chris J.
November 22nd, 2010 2:54 amJust what I was looking for. Thank you very much
Mikkel B.
November 30th, 2010 5:28 amGreat article and good collection of reviewed online tools.
I’ll just add my company Tradeshift (http://www.tradeshift.com) to the list. We have a pretty simple web application for creating and receiving invoices. Not just PDF invoices but also electronic invoices.
hiba
January 3rd, 2011 11:52 amhyyee i need a BOUTIQUE INVOICE can any body help me how can i make it……???
Leigh
April 5th, 2011 5:50 amJust the post I was looking for, I appreciate the great list of invoicing tools and breakdowns by price, usability and custom features. Thanks!
Matt Fairbrass
May 3rd, 2011 4:58 amGive Clear Books a try, they have a really cool and easy to use invoice theming tool for their accounts package, and they are much cheaper than FreeAgent, Freshbooks or Quickbooks: http://www.clearbooks.co.uk
Justin
May 29th, 2011 7:45 pmWould love to see an updated version of this article. We’ve recently been looking into online invoicing – between Xero and MYOB. We went for MYOB but the invoicing is kinda average (http://myob.com.au).
I’m still searching for a good, clean invoicing tool and they are hard to find. I’ve just got one designed from a graphic designer friend of mine, which looks great, but synching it up to create them on the fly is irritating.
joseph
June 14th, 2011 7:24 amthis is really great stuff overall, just wanted to say thanks
Paul
June 20th, 2011 9:57 amIm using http://www.Billgrid.com, its an awesome online invoicing tool that is easy to use.
Their design is very clean and professional, I first started with their free trial and now I’m a full time member. Billgrid is great for small to medium business owners, as well as freelancers.
Vincent
June 28th, 2011 9:54 amYou should also take a look at OroTimesheet for time tracking and invoicing. It is really easy to use and very affordable.
You can visit the company’s website at http://www.orologic.com
Anthony Everette
July 4th, 2011 7:13 pmGreat article and some fantastic designs. For a minute I thought they were just a tease and I wouldn’t be able to create anything near as stunning. Thankfully though I got far enough down to the recommendations and tried curdbee. The only problem I have is that the free version sends your invoice laden with advertising. Ah well, you get what you pay for (or dont).
Thanks again.
Georgina Nibbet
July 18th, 2011 1:27 pmGreat looking invoice form guidelines to help small businesses manage their finances. I referenced these before moving onto the templates that I found here.
Gary
August 24th, 2011 11:04 pmI’m a designer and just started using tallyzip.com. I used to use freshbooks, but they were missing the accounting functionality. Tallyzip brings is all together, which is rather nice.
cronsync
October 31st, 2011 1:52 amHello,
may I add for the “Online Invoicing Roundup” cronsync
http://www.cronsync.com
Cronsync is a web based time tracking and invoicing solution. It simplifies and professionalizes billing and invoicing procedures and shows you how profitable clients and projects are.
Best, Jakob
Alex
November 13th, 2011 5:08 pmi am using http://www.seasoo.net.
it works amazing.
Alex.
Kashif18
December 19th, 2011 10:40 pmgreat guide, made a fab invoice. do we have a page where we can upload our invoices and rate? would be nice for feedback!
Sophie
January 17th, 2012 11:36 amWow! What a helpful page – I’ve bookmarked it. The sample invoices are FANTASTIC!!! Thanks.
John
June 5th, 2012 11:07 pmI would like to add inqonto
http://www.inqonto.com
Besides online invoicing it covers all relevant items for your accounting without getting lost.
Regards,
John
Lucas Degen
June 6th, 2012 10:00 amThis is one of my favorite Smashing Magazine articles. It’s try, an invoice could be your last contact with a client. Thank them for working together. And work on your branding.
I used to work with freshbooks, now I work with paymo.biz
Earl
July 26th, 2012 10:57 pmNot only have you listed a few invoicing applications, but gave design examples that can be used as templates for invoicing. Nice work!
I’d like to add our own invoice creator to your list: BeachCandy (beachcandynow.com). We’re all about simplicity, and might appeal to freelancers who want simple invoicing.
Thanks!
Andy Brown
August 23rd, 2012 4:34 pmHi,
Salestastic is a system that has just come out. They’ve got a free for life account going at the moment too. Perfect for freelancers. Worth checking out: http://www.salestastic.com
Kathryn
January 31st, 2013 3:22 amThis was very useful, even 3 years later, thank you!
I hope Cameron McEffee found his typo–misspelled received–because that is a gorgeous type job he’s got going on.
Stereotypes is my No. 1 favorite in this post, absolutely sublime.
David Raffauf
February 4th, 2013 9:32 pmGreat article. You’ve hit most of the best invoicing practices and given some great sample invoices.
If you want to get paid faster, include a small discount for early payment or a small fee for late payment. This can help move your invoice to the top of a stack of invoices with no incentives. If you provide an incentive for early payment you can cover your costs by slightly increasing your rate. Either way, you can save yourself from having to send follow-up invoices.
If you are a freelancer or a small team doing creative work, I’ve created an app specifically for your situation, Scoreboard: http://getscoreboard.com.
Frank
March 26th, 2013 7:40 pmGreat article!
If it could interest your readers, I use Abak Software since more than 5 years and tt works dramatically well. http://www.abaksoftware.com
Justin Hloom
April 24th, 2013 2:51 pmThese look gorgeous even after 3 years. We used them for inspiration to create free invoice templates (word, excel) on http://www.hloom.com. Not everyone can afford using complex invoicing solutions, sometimes word invoice template is all you need.