Best Free Invoicing Software for Small Businesses (2026)

If you bill a handful of clients, a monthly accounting suite is often the wrong first purchase. Several companies still let a US small business create and send invoices for $0 a month. Free is not unlimited, and it is almost never free card processing. I read each vendor’s pricing or help page on October 26, 2026. This is that read, not a lab test and not tax advice. If you are unsure whether to charge sales tax, ask a preparer. The software will not decide it.

A usable free plan puts your business name on a document, adds a line for the work, sets a due date, and sends it by email or PDF. You can mark it paid, and you can see what is late. The card fee sits on top. On a $500 payment, 2.9% plus 60 cents is $15.10, and 3.3% plus 30 cents is $16.80. The examples below use only published rates.

Wave, Zoho Invoice, Square Invoices, PayPal Invoicing, and Invoice Ninja are the five I would open. QuickBooks also has a $0 plan, with a two-invoice cap unless you turn on its payments product. That plan is in the QuickBooks, Wave, and FreshBooks comparison.

Wave, for books and invoices in one login

Wave’s help center, updated October 5, 2026, says you can sign up free in a browser or the mobile app. Starter is free and includes basic accounting and invoicing. The page does not publish a monthly invoice cap for Starter, so I will not invent one. Payments, automatic receipt scanning, and payroll are the paid add-ons it names.

The Pro page is where recurring invoices, late-payment reminders, receipt scanning, bank import, and extra users are listed. Pro is $19 a month or $190 a year in the US for new subscriptions, before tax, and it renews until you cancel. A receipts-only plan is $8 a month or $72 a year, and scanning is already inside Pro, so do not buy both.

Payments are optional and have to be approved. On Starter, Wave lists 2.9% + $0.60 for Visa, Mastercard, or Discover, 3.4% + $0.60 for American Express, and 1% for bank payments with a $1 minimum. Discover is US-only. Pro drops the $0.60 on the first ten card transactions in a billing period, then the Starter rate returns.

Start here if you want a ledger beside the invoice and you can type transactions until bank import is worth $19. If you need recurring invoices on day one, Pro is the page that describes them, not the free basics.

Zoho Invoice, for work that repeats

Zoho’s US pricing page calls the product free, then names the ceiling: two users, three projects, and 500 invoices a year. Documents say “Powered by Zoho Invoice.” One account can hold two organizations.

Inside the caps, Zoho lists quotes, recurring invoices, payment reminders, expenses, time, a customer portal, and reports. It says you can offer more than one way to pay. It does not publish one card rate, because the processor you connect sets the fee. Compare that rate, not only the $0 price.

If an account is inactive for more than 180 days, Zoho says the data is deleted in the following 20 days, after notice. Log in during a quiet season, or download a backup.

Use Zoho if you bill the same clients every month and you will stay under those three caps. Leave when the project limit or the branding line gets in the way.

Square, when the payment matters as much as the PDF

Square’s US pricing page says you can send unlimited invoices and recurring invoices on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly schedule. Its templates page says the free plan also covers unlimited estimates and contracts. The help article on creating invoices says the same. Square Free is $0 a month per location. Plus is $49 and Premium is $149, each per location, with a 30-day trial on the paid plans. Recording cash or a check is free.

Square’s US fee article lists Square Free at 3.3% + 30¢ for an online or invoice card payment, and 1% for invoice ACH with a $1 minimum. It also says ACH deposited into Square Checking is $0. Confirm that in the dashboard, because Square says rates can vary. Plus and Premium lower the invoice card rate to 2.9% + 30¢ and cap invoice ACH at $10.

On a $500 card payment, Square Free is $16.80 and Wave Starter is $15.10 for Visa, Mastercard, or Discover. On a $2,000 bank payment, both are $20 unless Square Checking makes that ACH $0, or a paid Square plan applies the $10 cap. Square is the free sender if you already take its payments, or if you want recurring invoices without a software fee and you will pay on the payment instead.

PayPal, when the client is already there

PayPal’s help article says invoicing has no setup fee and no monthly fee. Sending is included with an account. The merchant fee page, updated October 1, 2026, also lists an optional Invoicing Subscription at $14.99 a month. You do not need it to send. I will not guess what that subscription adds beyond the line on the fee table.

For a US account, domestic invoicing rates on that page are 3.49% plus a fixed fee for PayPal Checkout, Venmo, or Guest Checkout; 2.99% plus a fixed fee for cards, Apple Pay, and other wallets; 4.99% plus a fixed fee for Pay Later; and 1% for Pay by Bank, capped at $10. The US-dollar fixed fee is $0.49. International invoicing adds 1.50%.

You do not pick the button the client taps. A PayPal balance is the 3.49% rate. On $500 that is $17.94, not “about 3%.” The ACH cap is the useful part: $2,000 from a bank is $10 on PayPal and $20 on Wave or on Square Free without the Checking exception. Use PayPal when clients already pay you there, and when larger invoices are likely to come from a bank.

Invoice Ninja, for a roster of five

Invoice Ninja’s free hosted plan is five clients and unlimited invoices to those clients, with no card required to sign up. It includes your logo, 11 templates, online payments, recurring invoices, deposits, expenses, products, projects, time tracking, and a client portal. The “Created by Invoice Ninja” line comes off on the paid plan.

Pro is $14 a month or $140 a year and removes the client cap. The paywall is client number six, not invoice number six. Gateways named on the pricing FAQ include Stripe, PayPal, Square, and GoCardless, and their fees are separate.

How to choose, then send a test

Want the books and the invoice together, and you can wait on recurring bills? Wave Starter. Same clients every month, under 500 invoices and three projects? Zoho Invoice, with a reminder so the account does not sit idle for 180 days. Payment in the same place as the invoice? Square, after you compare 3.3% + 30¢ with what you pay now. Large invoices paid from a bank? Price PayPal’s $10 ACH cap before you assume the card rate is the whole cost. Five clients and you bill time? Invoice Ninja, and treat the sixth client as the day you pay $14 or move.

Send yourself a test invoice before a client sees one, and save a PDF each month. If the tool you will outgrow is the one your preparer already uses, read the QuickBooks and FreshBooks comparison before you open a second free account.

Sources

Checked October 26, 2026: Is Wave free?, Wave payments, Wave Pro, Zoho Invoice pricing, Square invoices pricing, Square fees, PayPal merchant fees, Invoice Ninja pricing.

How we score

Desk scores are editorial. They summarize how useful the vendor’s own pricing and help pages were for a solo US business on the date in this guide. They are not customer star ratings, lab benchmarks, or paid placements.

See a price or feature that has changed? Send a correction. Guides are updated from the vendor’s page, not from memory.

FAQ

Is free invoicing software really free for US small businesses?

Several vendors still list a $0 monthly plan for creating and sending invoices. Card processing fees still apply when a client pays by card, and each free plan has its own caps. Check the vendor’s pricing or help page for the current limits.

Which free invoicing tool is best if I also want basic bookkeeping?

Wave’s Starter plan is positioned for basic accounting and invoicing in one login. Recurring invoices and some automation sit on Wave Pro according to Wave’s own Pro page.

Do free invoice tools charge card fees?

Yes. Published rates vary by vendor. For example, Wave Starter lists percentage-plus-fixed fees for cards, and Square Free lists its own invoice card rates. Always confirm the rate on the vendor’s fees page before you send a live invoice.