Hello. Does anyone know of a good Mac or iPad invoice App that is a ONE TIME purchase? I'd rather not go with one that is subscription based. Thank you for your time!
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Freelance Invoice App
- Thread starter SigEp265
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I use waveapps.com and have done for years now. Great product and free to use. There's an iPhone app - not sure about iPad.
I'll second Davidjearly's recommendation of WaveApps. I had to replace an invoicing app I had been using for years because Catalina doesn't run 32-bit apps. Unfortunately, the company has switched to a subscription model - as most decent apps have. To be honest, the apps I came across that are a one-time purchase are all garbage. WaveApps is easy to use, free, and offers the ability to offer credit card payments for the same (or less) fee as other companies.
One of the "cons" of standalone apps, these days in particular, is system updates disturbing their functionality (or app updates requiring system updates).
How much invoicing do you do? No need to answer but some subscription services (Zoho for instance) have a "free" level that allows a limited number of invoices per month.
How much invoicing do you do? No need to answer but some subscription services (Zoho for instance) have a "free" level that allows a limited number of invoices per month.
Just go to WaveApps. It's 100% free. It's a web-based service, so there is no "app" that conflicts with the OS. There is no limit on the number of clients or invoices you create/send. The only time you pay is if you offer credit card payments - at which time they charge standard rates.
I was quite skeptical of WaveApps at first because I had tried ZoHo and a number of other services. All had restrictions I couldn't deal with, or the invoicing system itself was lacking in some way (like it wouldn't store the dollar amount I charge for certain services). WaveApps actually turned out to be nearly perfect in every area.
Because there is no fee to use WaveApps, you can try it for free without entering any manner of banking/credit card info.
I was quite skeptical of WaveApps at first because I had tried ZoHo and a number of other services. All had restrictions I couldn't deal with, or the invoicing system itself was lacking in some way (like it wouldn't store the dollar amount I charge for certain services). WaveApps actually turned out to be nearly perfect in every area.
Because there is no fee to use WaveApps, you can try it for free without entering any manner of banking/credit card info.
Yeah because that's a great selling point for something that'll have your financial information: you aren't paying for it, and thus you have zero idea what they do with your data to make money.
I'd be interested in this as well. A software subscription is a dealbreaker for me but I wouldn't mind paying for a software upfront if it does what I need it to. Everything I looked at so far was unable to handle international invoices, and limited to US only or, in some rare cases, North America. Does anyone know how WaveApps handles these? Especially regarding differing international billing requirements, different currencies, OANDA exchange rate integration or even automatic conversion, etc.? Those are some of the reasons why I continue using a self-written and increasingly complex Excel spreadsheet for my invoicing.
I'm a developer and own a small software development company. I personally hate subscriptions as well. BUT in the case of invoicing, where do you want the data stored? On a cloud server to protect from data loss and have access anywhere and on any device? That costs me/you every month ( could be as cheap as $9US or as high as $25US ).
Prefer to store the data on your own computer and you handle the data backups? No monthly cost to me.
If I spent 200 hours building the best multi-platform invoicing system available, how much should I charge you?
Do you want a customer support line?
I've built several invoicing systems that do not have subscriptions for companies, they just pay the transaction fees to the card merchant (2-5% plus $0.30 / transaction). They cost $5000 - $15000 each.
I would double check any invoicing that does not handle global transactions. Very easy to integrate into the initial build. Basically add a couple of lines of code that adds the extra 1-3% / transaction when purchase is from non US card. The transaction fee is determined by the specific international card.
Try not to worry too much about companies selling your data, that is being done already, even before you purchase an app. This forum will be scraped and your questions (keywords) will be added to a fingerprint of you on some server somewhere.
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I don't quite get this part. I've been freelancing for over a decade, and never once has any client ever wanted to pay me by credit card.
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This forum doesn't have people's specific billing details, legal/company name, bank accounts, etc in it.
You raise some fair and excellent questions, sir
Ideally, I would want my data to be stored either locally or in an external cloud service such as OneDrive or Dropbox. An application that is limited to the company's own cloud services only (e.g. 1Password) would be another no-go and deal-breaker for me for two reasons: a) I don't trust small companies to have the expertise, manpower, and experience to run a cloud service with the same level of security as Dropbox, Google, or Microsoft, and b) a small company is much more likely to abandon their service or go out of business overnight leaving me cold-turkey and holding my data hostage. Leave things like this to the pros and don't think you're smarter and better than everyone else is my motto.
I am also not referring to global transactions as none of my customers would ever pay by credit card. I am simply talking about international invoicing requirements that I have to meet.
As to how much I would be willing to pay I cannot give you an honest answer as it depends on many factors. How long will I be most likely able to use the software? How dependable is the company behind it? How well does the software work? Etc.
You've built an invoice system, for a customer, that did not allow clients to pay by that customer by credit card in the last decade? AND/OR you've never been paid by credit card for work? Both of those scenarios seem extraordinarily odd. I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood.
Every US company that has anything to do with online payments has to follow PCI standards. Developers that write invoicing systems also must comply with PCI standards. This does not promise your data will be safe (obviously, check the BIG companies for many times data was compromised), but does at least set a standard of security/safety.
This. I find it very odd that a freelancer would accept credit card payments.
An invoicing system needn't have anything to do with online payments.
Could not agree more. Back in the day, I did not trust these upstart BAAS companies ( you may have read about them - AWS, Firebase, ect ). Over the years, I've come to believe in BAAS.
Just for curiosity sake. What would those requirements be? Bank transfers are easy, but international bank transfers are NOT due to US financial law ( money laundering, ect ). Do you send an invoice by mail and receive a paper check back by mail that is then scanned into a bank account?
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Fantastic! Glad to add a bit of oddity to anyone's life. I do accept payments by credit card, ACH, a couple of bagels and coffee, ect. I prefer electronic payments, as they are immediate, guaranteed, safe and easy for both parties.
Absolutely true. However, I would not spend time writing something so narrowly focused in 2010, let alone 2020. Maybe you are on to something. Maybe there is a higher need and we (me) are overly complicating it. A simple PWA that did not require PCI (DSS) compliance would be easy to write.
You weren't replying to me, but my process is:
Generate an invoice (for now, using MarketCircle's Billings Pro in a VM because they abandoned their self-hosted version) and export as PDF. Email to client, with accepted payment details on the last page.
For me, accepted payment methods are: bank/wire transfer, or TransferWise, unless I explicitly agree to something else.
Once they pay, I record the payment in Billings.
If there's an outstanding amount when I next invoice them, it can optionally include that as a 'previous balance' line on the new invoice.
Re: cheques:
I've seen about 4 paper cheques in my life, and they were bank cheques (i.e. when buying something like a car, with a loan from a bank) at the turn of the century.
FYI the vast majority of the rest of the world doesn't have "scan a paper cheque", because we've had electronic banking for decades.
I think far too much software tries to be everything to everyone.
My needs for invoicing software are:
- either lets me track time, or has flexible import of tracked time from e.g. a csv file
- lets me define clients with different rates and currencies
- lets me record payments
- has a not-insane template system for producing pdf invoices
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No, no checks. Nobody outside the United States uses checks anymore.
I generate my invoice using my overly complicated Excel spreadsheet, export it as PDF, and then send it by email. Either upon receipt or on the payment's due date the money is then wired into one of my bank accounts, either US or European, or transferred via TransferWise and then deposited into my US bank account. For the money that is wired to my European accounts I then have to look up the exchange rate of that day on OANDA, which will then in turn give me the correct taxable USD amount to record.
The requirements for international invoices vary from country to country. Some countries require you to get a national tax ID number that needs to be present on all invoices if you want to conduct business in that country even if you have neither residence nor a branch office in that particular country. Others require you include a statement exempting yourself from collecting national VAT. Some require all invoices to be written in the national language and will not accept English invoices. Some require all invoices to be made out in that country's national currency while others will accept invoices made out in USD. For the latter some require the official exchange rate for that day as determined by the ECB while others have their own national banks determining daily exchange rates. Some will ask for a total at the end of each year for their national census bureau while others want a detailed list of all transactions performed throughout the year. Yadda-yadda-yadda. And to add insult to injury those requirements change every year. Which is why I absolutely understand that it's impossible for a small developer to keep track.
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@mj_
@Stephen.R
Thanks for the great info and a deeper understanding of where the invoicing realm is missing a bunch of client needs.
@Stephen.R
Thanks for the great info and a deeper understanding of where the invoicing realm is missing a bunch of client needs.
WaveApps allows for various currencies and international billing, credit card payments, auto-email reminders, etc. Given that's it's completely free (until you use credit card payments), you should just check it out yourself instead of asking here–you'll know better than anyone here if it offers what you need.
The INVOICING portion is free. They make plenty of money from all the other services they offer, including credit card payments. They've been around for quite a long time and have no history of issues that I could find.
While it's prudent to be cautious, it's also important to remember that not every company has nefarious intentions.
Thank you everyone for their reply! I have been using waveapps invoicing and so far so good! Thanks again