The 8 Top Free and Open Source Billing & Invoicing Software Solutions

“Money hardly sticks to anybody. How you collect and organize it counts.”

Statistics report that 69.4% of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the United States used advanced software programs in 2018 to aid them in accounting, billing, invoicing, and other forms of financial management.

The era of e-invoicing is in today.

Nearly 40% of the 19 million invoices generated every year are through e-invoicing solutions, and the figures are surprisingly improving.

Business enterprises have reported 50% cost reductions in the past decade due to utilizing advanced billing and invoicing software solutions and secured annual savings of $450 million.

Billing and invoicing software solutions are thus immensely used by businesses today. This particular post discusses how advantageous they are for an enterprise.

Billing and Invoicing Software

Invoicing orders for payments, and clients process account payables accordingly. A dedicated system that functions at the back end isbilling and invoicing software that shortens the invoicing time and proceeds faster payments.

This software sends invoices via e-mail or a cloud-based model. It allows users to track payments, calculate fees, send official invoices, and offer clients online payment options. It offers strategic and operational benefits to users like suppliers, shop owners, etc. In addition to being a cost-saving method, the ability to automate the invoicing and billing process and further integrate it with other business functions leads to better efficiency and revenue generation.

It is surprising that sending a paper-based invoice is 57% costlier than electronic invoicing, and receiving it is even 60% more expensive than receiving an e-bill. So, paper, ink, and pens are better used where they are needed most!

Bills and Receipts Years Back!

Handwritten paper invoices were prevalent earlier, and they were the only source for documenting deals. However, they became challenging to manage and maintain, especially for organizations engaged in multiple businesses and hundreds of transactions in a day. Just check out an example of how old-school bills looked.

How do the E-Invoices look now?

The new age invoices are well-documented and professional-looking e-receipts. They are electronically generated, so the chances of errors are comparatively less. They are easily maintainable and can be stored safely on your computer, laptop, or mobile device. Just check out how an e-invoice looks with a sample given below.

Recent research forecasts a significant growth of the Global E-Invoicing Market at a (CAGR) of 18.91%, i.e., the Compound Annual Growth Rate during the period 2018-2022. The amateur and professional computer coders from the open source community are contributing significantly to this ratio with everyday introducing new and promising free invoicing software solutions for small businesses. Hence, the Small to Medium level market players can now take total advantage of these cost-effective and time-saving solutions.

The vast majority of small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) confirm a 9% increase in on-time payments when using e-invoicing. They call it a more comfortable and safer option to deal with their verified vendors and suppliers online. These researches also depict that an average buyer spends $15.02 and 12 days to process one invoice, which is far less than the outcome of traditional invoicing options.

Types of Billing and Invoicing Software

The market comprises a wide variety of billing and invoicing tools. Some are just basic suites or programs, whereas others are advanced and come with a substantial price factor. Their features may also differ. For example, some programs take online records of their customer’s details, whereas others come with robust features, and they allow businesses to set up currencies, use predefined communication templates, and even perform some custom branding. Deployment can also be considered an essential factor behind them. Here are the types of different Billing & Invoicing Software solutions that will help you understand them better and choose the best one to use.

1. On-premise billing and invoicing software These software packages cover a single license and are hosted on the client's local server. They are the most expensive as they require a complicated setup and, occasionally, some hardware installation.
2. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) billing and invoicing software:: These programs are usually paid per month and hosted on the vendor's server. The vendor remains responsible for the installation, upgrading, and maintenance of the software.
3. Cloud-hosted billing and invoicing systems: Most of these software programs offer free basic plans. These are the most affordable plans, and they are universally accessible to all types of buyers who do not need to update them or pay for their maintenance.
4. Open Source billing softwareis another category that comes with its source code made available to the users under a specific license. One can use them or disseminate them at any point. The source code is open to use as well as modified as per the requirements.

Key Features of Billing and Invoicing Software

• Creating professional and customized invoices.
• Creating customer records, including customers' personal and purchase details.
• Predefined communication templates for more personalized accounting.
• Currency setting for seamlessly connecting the billing & invoicing system with the rest of the software architecture.
• Accept PayPal or credit card for time-saving and securing customer management requirements.
• Import/export customers, including sending quotes to them using a centralized database.
• No external system is needed for invoicing, payment, and tax reporting.

Benefits of Billing and Invoicing Software

In addition to managing all invoice-related jobs, the best billing software should provide certain benefits to their users. Let us explore them all.

1. Minimizes late payments: Selecting the best open-source billing and invoicing software streamlines the entire process, allows users to receive payments on time, and keeps their data and schedule organized.
2. Minimizes missed payments: Billing and invoicing software monitors and tracks billing commitments so that one receives all the payments timely.
3. Maintains a professional image: A billing and invoicing software program helps improve a business's reputation in the market. Most software systems also support customized logos and other design improvements to invoices and payment documents.

Free and Open Source Billing and Invoicing Software Programs

In the case of freelancers or proprietors holding small to medium-sized businesses, they have to handle unending business-related responsibilities. Every penny spent and every hour invested counts, with every part of a job compensated. To speed up the payments, keep away the painful admin duties, get automatic accounts receivables, streamline tax filings, and send invoices from anywhere, they need a suitable and most appropriate software solution. Hence, free and open-source billing and invoicing software serves the best purpose.

Entrepreneurs who have access to the source code of their chosen application can get total control over their day-to-day billing and invoicing operations. They do not have to work with the fixed norms set for any particular proprietary or commercial software and can work on it according to their needs. The digital technology associated with the billing and invoicing efforts lets the consumers meet their business necessities within time.

A leading logistics company expert recently indicated that 78% of the world's businesses rely upon open-source platforms, entirely or partially. 93% of consumers agreed that the usage of open-source technology in their organization has increased or remained the same in the previous year.

He further shared, “They can spend their valuable time wearing their CFO hat instead of their manual data entry hat.”

Free and open-source invoice billing software programs are a superb fit for a vast group of businesses and individuals. Let us check out some of the best free and open-source billing and invoicing software programs that can help your business operations run smoothly.

Have a look at the comparison of some of the best free and open-source software solutions. The comparison chart will provide users with insight into the differences between these software programs.

* Earlier known as FusionInvoice version 1.x written by Jesse Terry
** Kovah, the InvoicePlane project leader from v2.x.
*** Former and new developers

Most billing software programs have unique features. However, they all serve the same purpose: to save costs on billing and invoicing, increase the pace of payment receivables, and maintain profitable earnings. Let's explore these software programs in detail to learn more about them.

1.InvoicePlane:

InvoicePlane is an excellent free and open-source invoicing application. It is the successor of the formerly open-source project FusionInvoice. The first official version, 1.0.0, of InvoicePlane, came on July 12, 2014, and the software was downloaded more than 100,000 times from 196 different countries until January 2017. It is a web-based software written in PHP and works on an Apache server or Nginx. It supports MySQL or MariaDB DBMS and can work on any modern and updated web browser.

(Source: InvoicePlane)

Features:

• InvoicePlane is a self-hosted open-source application that can translate into 23 languages.
• One can customize amount formats, application interface, and email & PDF templates as per their needs.
• This application provides CRM-style management for the clients. Users can also add their contact details, notes, and custom fields for project identifiers.
• The software can easily create new invoices with simple clicks, such as entering saved products and tax rates and then sending the invoice through the mail to the customer within the app.
• The software lets users keep track of their client's balances by linking all payments to an invoice involving different payment methods.
• Users can register their merchant account at PayPal by entering their credentials, and InvoicePlane will readily forward easy, one-click payments through PayPal to their clients.

2.BoxBilling:

BoxBilling is a 100% open-source and free billing and client management platform. It is powered by an Intuitive Web 2.0 AJAX interface with a 100% usability score. The software was initially released in 2011. It supports automated billing, invoicing, and product provisioning. It operates on Linux OS, is written in PHP, and supports MySQL with the latest Version 4.20.

(Source: BoxBilling)

Features:

• Experts always recommend installing BoxBilling on a VPS server with APC cache enabled for security reasons and the best performance.
• The software automatically creates the hosting accounts when the payment is received.
• It accepts multiple currencies for a transaction and one/or multiple-time payments.
• BoxBilling software is perfect for selling shared and reseller hosting accounts, downloadable products, software licenses, or any recurrent billing product.
• It facilitates help through the helpdesk system, news, knowledge base, and announcement systems.

3.BambooInvoice:

BambooInvoice is one of the best free and open-source software for small entrepreneurs and independent contractors. It is built on the AJAX framework and uses PHP 7. x. It needs a database: MySQL and MySQLi 5+ and databases MSSQL, Postgre, OCI8, SQLite, and ODBC. It works with all modern and standard-compliant web browsers.

(Source: BambooInvoice)

Features:

• BambooInvoice is an easy-to-use and actively used software program among users.
• It is built using modern coding standards.
• It stands on one of the excellent web frameworks, i.e., CodeIgniter.
• It is available in more than 11 languages, with more languages being added continuously to the list.
• It holds MIT licensing.

4.InvoiceNinja:

InvoiceNinja is one of the most sought-after open-source platforms for invoicing, billing, and payment management. It works on the cloud-hosted system and supports cross-platform devices such as Windows, Linux, Android, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and web-based tools. Within four years, the company owns 60,000+ users associated with its varied software programs.

(Source: InvoiceNinja)

Features:

• InvoiceNinja lets users create quotations and invoices in real-time.
• It facilitates the organization of tasks and projects and tracks time for complete invoicing and billing.
• It supports 40+ payment options and creates auto-bills and recurring invoices.
• InvoiceNinja facilitates professional invoice template design and customizes invoices with client logos.
• It accepts deposits and partial payments.
• It owns a unique item & product library system.

5. jBilling:

The world’s leading open-source billing solution, jBilling, produces more than 10 million monthly invoices for its clients. The software, which evolved in 2002, is deployable on a cloud platform or on-premises. It supports the English language and works on Windows and web app platforms for Small—to medium-level enterprises and agencies.

(Source: jBilling)

Features:

• jBilling is an Enterprise-grade open source billing system that comes with a scalable design.
• It facilitates deep configurability, integration API and plug-in expansions.
• It facilitates customized invoice presentation, accurate invoicing, and flexible invoice delivery.
• It provides payment gateway plug-ins, credit control, and an automated payment processing facility.
• It assures internationalized language support, tailored invoicing, and flexible currency options.

6.CitrusDB:

CitrusDB is a well-known open-source billing and customer service software. It operates on Linux/Unix and Amazon Linux 2018.03.0. It requires PHP 5.2 and recommends MySQL 5 or later. It holds the GPL version 2 license. Many different service providers, including consulting, internet service, subscriptions, and telecommunications, use this software program.

(Source: CitrusDB)

Features:

• CitrusDB facilitates custom billing cycles for each product.
• It supports sending email invoices and allows users to send prepayment reminders.
• It lets the users import/export credit card batches.
• The software also handles service records and account management.
• It also provides services like searching old bills, printing the required billing statement, adding multiple users, and creating an admin user to control the platform's operation.

7. LogicInvoice:

LogicInvoice is powerful, user-friendly, and feature-rich invoicing and billing software. It is an open-source software solution that is free to download under the GNU General Public License Version 3. It works with PHP 5.3 and MySQL Databases.

(Source: LogicInvoice)

Features:

• LogicInvoice creates journal entries and manages users’ accounts.
• It keeps track of bills and invoices that need to be cleared by the customers.
• It automatically generates recurring invoices for the customers.
• It provides necessary reports for accounts, invoices, and recurring payments.
• It is a multi-language and multi-currency-based system.
• It offers customized email notifications to the users as well as their customers.
• This system also supports integrated payment gateways.

8. Siwapp:

Siwapp is free open-source invoicing software that helps users manage and create invoices simply and efficiently. It supports PHP 5.2 or higher and MySQL database server 5.0 or higher. It runs on UNIX/Linux and Windows XP or later and is an online invoicing software program that facilitates automatic invoice generation on a periodic basis and rectification invoice management.

(Source: Siwapp)

Features:

• Siwapp is a flexible software that manages invoices with different serial numbers.
• It saves the draft of the bills and invoices, and one can continue editing them later.
• Users can obtain the printable PDF version of their invoices.
• One can manage customers and invoices programmatically directly from the application.
• One can create, search, and list invoices on the dashboard in a slap-up style.

We have taken one more Billing Software for discussion-ZohoBooks. Zoho Books outstands all if we are talking about the commercial billing and invoicing tools. Let us see what it holds for its users that makes it extremely popular in the world of e-invoicing.

Zoho Books

It is a premier online accounting, billing and invoicing software solution that is GST compliant, automates business workflows, and aids in collective working across all departments in an organization. It has powered thousands of businesses with its out-of-the-box integrations. The best thing is that the Zoho Books mobile app lets you easily manage your finances wherever you go.

(Source: Zoho Books)

Features:

• Zoho Books is cloud-hosted software available in English and supports Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone/iPad, and web-based platforms.
• The software is part of the Zoho productivity suite and handles all users' accounting and invoicing requirements.
• It automates bank feeds and payment reminders, helps engage customers, and sends and tracks invoices.
• It is well integrated with robust and restful APIs to be exposed to third-party systems.
• It is a fully responsive and mobile-ready tool.

QuickBooks Online, Xero, Wave, FreshBooks, Sage 50Cloud Accounting, Online Invoices, Invoice Meister and And Co are some other billing and invoicing software programs that are ruling the market with their best online invoicing services. Users can investigate and select the best suitable software solution for their enterprise. If you are already using one from the software listed above, you can freely share your reviews here.

Conclusion:

Online invoicing and its benefits have rapidly grown over a few years. The US government has also found it in the interest and benefit of consumers. Recent government mandates have fuelled the advancement of e-invoicing processes and led the majority of businesses, especially SMEs, to opt for e-invoicing options for their business deals.

The average small business owners in the United States wait for more than $5,000 in overdue payments every year due to being engaged in a traditional system of billing and invoicing. Hence, 28 million small to medium-level businesses have decided to adopt the option of free and open-source invoice billing softwareto meet their financial deals and requirements effectively. Small companies require more affordable solutions to achieve their day-to-day requirements. Hence, digital invoicing options have proved to be perfect to meet their demanding speed and simplicity features. Now, they have become able to save up to 60% to 80% of the invoicing cost in comparison to the paper-based processes.

According to recent reports, an annual reduction of 10 billion paper invoices in the previous year in the US has eliminated the usage of 200 tons of paper. It saved 1 million trees and reduced the emission of greenhouse gases by 360 tons. So, other than operational and business-related benefits, e-invoicing also secures some societal benefits. However, to eliminate the usage of paper bills, the majority of e-invoicing and billing companies are planning to urge their customers to switch to their cloud operations along with focusing on creating extraordinary software programs to fit their specific needs.

The future of digital billing holds a significant scope for mobile invoicing. Mobile apps and services have started playing a vital role in supporting businesses and finances these days. They allow the companies to send, review, and approve e-bills and invoices on the go. The growing number of mobile-compatible invoicing apps that are catering to different business requirements, especially among freelancers and Small and Medium-sized Entrepreneurs (SMEs), is highly expected to contribute towards market growth and opportunities with an increased level of data protection, integration, security, and trust.

The proverb by an expert well suits here;

“It’s time to migrate from Excel and PDFs to cloud invoicing applications. There is heaps of software out there, and you will save time and money if you choose one.”