When I started my freelancing business and my clientele began to grow, I knew I had to manage my invoices and clients. So I thought in my tiny mind that everyone uses Quickbooks for this sort of task. I blindly purchased Quickbooks without a second thought. Boy, what a mistake.
If your a freelancer, Quickbooks is a waste of money. It has way too many functions you just don’t need and it lacks in areas you actually do need. The entire software is so complicated to use and you literally should be taking a class to learn how to use it. There are plenty of people banking on that business alone. I’m a freelance web designer, I’m freakin busy 24/7. Ain’t nobody got time fo that!
I spent the next few months testing out demos and viewing feedback for various different Invoicing software solutions. Here is a list of some of the ones I liked best. One thing I was not going to submit to was a monthly payment to use an online invoicing system like Freshbooks. Freshbooks is cool and all, but I would rather own my own software and be in control.
1. FusionInvoice – Free
[notice]As of 2014, Fusion Invoice is No Longer Free. But still affordable and awesome![/notice]
My Number 1 Invoicing management software is Fusion Invoice. I’ve been using it for over 2 months and can’t believe I did without this program for so long. This is my software of choice. Not only is it frickin FREE! it does every single thing I need it to. It’s absolutely perfect for a freelance web designer like myself.
- FREE
- Self Hosted
- Create Quotes, Link to Quote and Client Can Print Quote Out
- Convert Quotes to Invoices with a Click of Button
- Create Invoices
- Enter Tax Rates
- Create Reaccuring Invoices
- Enter Payments on Invoices
- Creat Clients and add all Details Needed.
- Custom Form Fields
- Dashboard shows Outstanding Balances, Recent Payments Etc…
- Reports on PDF
- Create Guest Accounts and More..
I highly recommend using Fusion Invoice. There is a free online demo so you can try it out before you install it. The one thing that they don’t currently have that I wish they did would be the ability to keep track of expenses and/or expenses per client/project.
The following Invoice Client Management Software Are all Self Hosted, One Time Payment Options. Still worth the small amount they are asking. Most all of these should have live demos to try out the software before you buy.
2. Ultimate Client Manger – $30-$60
Visit UCM Software Website
3. Adaptive Client Manager – $25
Visit Adaptive Client Manger
4. Client Response – $15
View Client Response Software
5. QuickManager – $20
View Quick Manager Software
6. Freelance Cockpit – $20
View Freelance Cockpit Software
7. Simple & Lightweight Project/Client Manager – $14
View Simple & Lightweight Client Manager Software
Hey – just wanted to say thanks for the quick write up on FusionInvoice!
Wow that was quick! haha, your welcome. And thank you for the awesome free software! 🙂
Terry.. your software really rocks… have to say that… very good job…
Now, just try to figure it out how to customize all the thing in quotes… mean, add extra info, images and all the stuff, and how can I add that to the pdf´s. I will, I ll do that, and when its done ill say that your Software is very useful. You should sell it. well, if I can customize my quotes Ill buy it. No doubt. any way.. very good job.
salutes from chile !!!!
Good write up + alternatives list 😀 Will definitely check out Fusion !
Thanks for the info! Definitely going to check out some of these suggestions! Time to get organized 😉
Regarding FusionInvoicing, have you found a way to customize the invoice when exported to PDF etc? I have played with the demo but could not easily find a way to do so. Do you know if it supports this? Great write up, thanks!
I don’t think so currently. I know the developer is working on some premium features to add on to Fusion Invoice. That’s sounds like a really cool feature and I will make sure to bring it up to the developer. Thanks!
I’ve been manually doing all of my invoicing via InDesign and tracking via Numbers for the last 6-8 years as I’ve never been able to find an invoicing software that seemed to fit the bill for freelancers. I’ve tried a few others but always went back to what I was comfortable with. FusionInvoice looks like it might just work. Thanks for posting your review Heather.
Invoicing Thru InDesign Gordon? For 6 years? Whew! I was using Microsoft word with tables to manage my invoicing before. Fusion Invoice is Awesome! Very easy to use 🙂
Hey Heather, I was looking for a review on Fusion Invoice before I installed it, it looks really good, and most importantly it gets the Tax Amounts correct, not like Siwapp & Simple Invoice, I will let you know how I get on.
Side Note – I was also using InDesign, compresses the PDF’s a bit smaller than word, 😉
I’m not a InDesign expert. I did however notice it does compress PDFs much smaller than Photoshop for sure. I love your website design by they way! Very cool!
Hey Heather – just wanted to let you know FusionInvoice 1.2.7 was released a couple of days ago. Lots of bugfixes and some general enhancements and improvements. I’d love to hear your thoughts if and when you get a chance to update!
As soon as I get a chance to upgrade I will for sure! I’m very excited to see the new release. Thanks so much for updating me 🙂
Is there any design themes or styles that are available for fusion invoice to customise the look of the software – this would a great feature, being a designer the look or the stuff is important to me too – petty I know…..
Fusion is great. I’m loving it. As I’m just starting out it’s great that it’s free (for now, I assume it won’t be forever)
Nice to have this list.
Hey, I think Invoicera.com should be added to the list as well. Haven’t you tried it yet?
No I haven’t. I’m just not a fan of monthly payments to manage my income and expenses 😉
I think you should consider to review INV24.com. Wouldn’t you mind? 🙂 I’ll bet you’ll like it.