Personally, I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my invoices and a document template to write them and send them out. But perhaps I'm a Luddite. ;-) I found this article 20 Invoicing Tools for Web Designers that lists a number of online tools you can use to invoice your clients. Wow! I didn't know what I was missing. Some of them are even free.
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My personal favorite is Freshbooks! Even when you have too many clients to use the free version, it’s very affordable. What’s more, they’ve even partnered up with BootStrap so you can track your expenses side-by-side with your income. It even reminds you to make quarterly tax payments (and estimates how much you might owe!!)
Can’t say enough great things about Freshbooks!
Another invoicing option is Time59 (www.time59.com). It’s targeted at solo professionals and is a great solution if you don’t need (or want to pay for) the multi-user capability of Freshbooks (great product by the way). Bottom line: If you are solo and bill by the hour it is definitely worth a look. The first 30 days are free.
Until recently I just used a word template and specific folder structure, but I’ve just moved to using quickbooks so have created a custom template for that. Ideal solution for integrating everything.
I use Quickbooks Professional … I would be lost without it. It takes care of all aspects of running a business including estimates (that can be used to create invoices), invoicing, check writing, payment reminders, reconciliation of bank accts (including your credit cards), reports to see how the business is doing, and most importantly mapping your expenses to the tax structure of your business. My accounts are set up to report on all Schedule C Tax items, making tax time quick and painless.
If you want to learn Quickbooks and are just starting out, they offer Simple Start free now. It has a limit of 50 accounts (vendors, customers, etc.) so if you have a lot of business, you will quickly out grow it. But it is perfect for a new designer who only freelances part-time with limited accounts.
We’re just about to release a new time and billing solution aimed only at designers and developers – timr.
You can sign up for a BETA version now at the website.
I used to create custom invoices for all clients using Illustrator or InDesign, I had a nice template and the final PDF always looked sharp!, but that was very time consuming, and I could not keep a record. Lately I started Using QuickBooks Simple Start (It’s FREE), it easily creates estimates, and invoices that can be mailed out to customers, and I can also track all in the same place.
Atlanta Web Design
I use Microsoft Office Accounting 2009. I uses to use the free version but recently upgraded to the professional version.
I use WHM complete solution to do all of my invoicing. I have also used the built in invoice stuff with paypal.
Sage Software has recently launched a free online invoicng tool for freelancers and small businesses at http://www.billingboss.com. Billing Boss is focused of keeping invoicing simple – so simple that you can get set up and send your first invoice in just a couple minutes.
Please note: With the goal of full disclosure, I work at Sage. Feel free to contact me if you have any feedback about Billing Boss.
If you are interested in tools for online invoicing please take a look at http://www.bestinvoices.com/ It is simply an extensible (user powered!) list of all popular invoicing/billing systems.
You can vote for your favorite, see what is most popular and say a little bit about your expectations and everything related to invoicing subject.
See you there!
I have been used Zoho invoice in the past, but then switched to Freshbooks and have been using it since then. Honestly was not very impressed or satisfied with its service. I have signed-up for a free Invoicera account and have been blown away with its service. Soon would be purchasing it for my small accounting firm.