If you’re used to scribbling out invoices on the back of a piece of paper, then you might be confused by the very concept of invoicing software.
Invoicing software is a platform to generate an invoice, update it, and issue invoices online. Typically, they are hosted in the cloud, but there are on-premises options on the market too, designed to be hosted on your own servers—whether they’re public-facing or just for use on your company intranet.
The best online invoice software usually offers the following functionalities:
Additionally, invoicing software can typically be integrated with a number of payment gateways and processors. This allows users to take payments through Paypal, Stripe, credit card, and other online payment means directly online—and most invoicing platforms can auto-generate receipts after the payment has cleared. Compared to doing the same process manually, the cost saving is obvious.
Invoicing software usually has built-in reporting functionality too—and can integrate directly with accounting and bookkeeping software. If you need an up-to-the-minute figure of revenue for the month so far, for example, then this information can be easily extracted from an invoicing platform.
Using invoice software can improve the functionality of your business and save companies time and money.
With an online invoice tool:
Additionally, using an invoicing softwarer is actualy substantially more cost-effective than condicting the same process manually. This is especially true when using platforms that support automation.
Not sure which of the many optinos on the market to spend money on? We took a look at 3 of the most popular options on the market: Freshbooks, Square and Sage.
Freshbooks bills itself as "invoice softwarer that saves you time"
Pros:
Freshbooks is also great for generating a wide variety of different documentation types. In addition to creating invoices for clients, the tool lets you generate:
Freshbooks is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. Its yearly plans cost between $13.50 per user per month (for the Lite plan) up to $45 per user per month (for the Premium plan). The higher tier plans allow users to issue more business documents, handle advanced payment methodologies, and create automatically recurring retainer invoices for clients on that billing plan.
Square is another major player in the invoice software space and a lot of users like it thanks to its streamlined user interface. Compared to Freshbooks, there are less advanced functionalities and document types to choose from, but it still contains plenty of features designed to make it quick and easy for teams to generate invoices and receipts for their customers.
Some of its standout functionalities include:
Square offers a wide variety of Point of Sale (PoS) hardware—which naturally integrates perfectly with the online platform.
In terms of the online functionality, Square offers:
Sage is one of the most established accounting softwares in the industry and its online invoicing system has quickly staked out a reputation for itself as a powerful and reliable tool.
Sage Business Cloud Accounting takes all the power that desktop users are familiar with and puts it online so that users can issue invoices and get an overview of their monthly revenue from a computer—no matter whether it’s in the office or off-site.
Some of the advantages of Sage Business Cloud Accounting for those issuing invoices include:
No matter what platform you go with for online invoicing, moving your bookkeeping and invoice-issuing to the cloud can only realize productivity gains for your bookkeeping team. Additionally, cloud-based systems can be easier to back up and allow users to access them wherever they are physically situated. Choose from one of our recommended options and get sending your invoices online today!
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