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Free alternatives to FreshBooks

Top pick: Invoice Ninja. Switching saves about $276 USD a year.

FreshBooks, Lite plan (5 billable clients), billed monthly

$276 USDa year

≈$393.49 CAD (converted from USD)

Every pick below has a free version.

Runs on
  • Web
  • iOS
  • Android
Key file formats
Not listed

Filter alternatives

3 alternatives

Top pick

1 tool

The editor’s first choice for most people switching.

  1. Rank 1: Invoice Ninja

    Best for free invoicing with time tracking and expenses

    License: Source-available
    • Web
    • Self-hosted
    Status: Active

    The hosted Free plan allows 5 clients. Self-hosting is free under the Elastic License 2.0, which is source-available, not open source. Free version: Hosted Free plan covers 5 clients with unlimited invoicing. Pro is $14 a month. Self-hosting is free under the Elastic License 2.0.

Strong

2 tools

Covers most of the same work, with trade-offs noted on each card.

  1. Rank 2: Zoho Invoice

    Best for free hosted invoicing for small businesses

    License: Freeware
    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Status: Verified

    Free for small businesses with limits: 2 users, 3 projects and 500 invoices a year per Zoho's pricing page. Closed source.

  2. Rank 3: Wave

    Best for free invoicing plus bookkeeping

    License: Free tier
    • Web
    • iOS
    • Android
    Status: Verified

    Starter is free. Pro costs US$19 or CA$25 a month. It is a bookkeeping app first, so project and time features are thin. Free version: Starter is $0 with unlimited invoices, bills and bookkeeping. Pro (US$19 or CA$25 a month) adds automatic bank import.

Sponsor this page: $149 for 30 days. Sponsors appear above the ranking, labeled; the ranking itself is not for sale.

Feature parity

How each alternative covers what people use FreshBooks for. Numbers link to editor notes.

Feature parity with FreshBooks
FeatureInvoice NinjaZoho InvoiceWave
Billing
Invoices and recurring billingYesNote 1YesNote 2YesNote 3
Estimates and proposalsYesNote 4YesNote 5YesNote 6
Online paymentsYesNote 7YesNote 8YesNote 9
Projects
Time trackingYesNote 10PartialNote 11NoNote 12
Accounting
Expense trackingYesNote 13YesNote 14PartialNote 15
Clients
Client portalYesNote 16YesNote 17PartialNote 18
Reporting
Accounting reportsPartialNote 19PartialNote 20YesNote 21
Parity score93%86%71%
  1. Invoice Ninja, Invoices and recurring billing: Unlimited invoices with recurring billing
  2. Zoho Invoice, Invoices and recurring billing: Invoices and recurring invoices
  3. Wave, Invoices and recurring billing: Unlimited invoices with recurring billing
  4. Invoice Ninja, Estimates and proposals: Quotes and proposals convert to invoices
  5. Zoho Invoice, Estimates and proposals: Estimates convert to invoices
  6. Wave, Estimates and proposals: Unlimited estimates
  7. Invoice Ninja, Online payments: Online payments through payment gateways
  8. Zoho Invoice, Online payments: Payment gateways supported
  9. Wave, Online payments: Card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.60 on Starter
  10. Invoice Ninja, Time tracking: Projects with billable time and kanban boards
  11. Zoho Invoice, Time tracking: Timesheets for up to 3 projects
  12. Wave, Time tracking: No time tracking
  13. Invoice Ninja, Expense tracking: Vendors and expense tracking
  14. Zoho Invoice, Expense tracking: Expense tracking
  15. Wave, Expense tracking: Manual entry on Starter; receipt capture and bank import need paid options
  16. Invoice Ninja, Client portal: Client-side invoice and payment portal
  17. Zoho Invoice, Client portal: Client portal
  18. Wave, Client portal: Customers open and pay invoices from an emailed link
  19. Invoice Ninja, Accounting reports: Reports are listed under the paid Pro plan
  20. Zoho Invoice, Accounting reports: Invoice and expense reports, not full accounting
  21. Wave, Accounting reports: Profit and loss and balance sheet reports

What switching saves

Switching saves about $276 USD / ≈$393 CAD (estimated from the USD price) a year. Prices checked ; ≈ means converted from USD.

Based on Lite plan (5 billable clients), billed monthly. Price source. USD to CAD at 1.4257 as of Oct 7, 2026.

About this page

Last verified . Ranking: tier first, then the published score.

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FreshBooks is a product of FreshBooks, named here for comparison only. Platforms listed for FreshBooks: Web, iOS, Android.