Guides · Comparison · Facts checked 2026-09-05
Invoice Simple alternatives that don't cap your invoices
If you are paying a monthly fee for a set number of invoices, here is what the free options actually include — with the numbers and the dates they were read.
Invoice Simple is a good invoicing app with a very large user base, and its pricing ladder is built around one number: how many invoices you may send a month. As of the date at the top of this page, its Essentials plan is $6.99/mo for 3 invoices a month, Plus is $14.99/mo for 10, and Premium is $21.99/mo for unlimited (read from invoicesimple.com/pricing-packages; check the current page). If you send more than three invoices in a busy month, you are on a paid plan. That is the thing most people are looking to change when they search for an alternative.
What to compare, and what not to
Do not compare on the length of the feature list; every product on this page writes an invoice, tracks who paid, and takes cards. Compare on three things: whether invoices are capped, what a card payment costs you in total, and which everyday features sit behind the paid tier.
The comparison
| Invoices on the free tier | Card payment cost | Cheapest paid plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pocket Business | Unlimited, every month | Your own Stripe rate (2.9% + 30¢ US) + 0.5% to us, capped at $25/payment | Starter $9.99/mo — adds our-domain email, receipt scanning, logo on the invoice, more seats |
| Invoice Simple | No free tier — Essentials $6.99/mo for 3/mo | Not published on the pricing page; set by their processor | $6.99/mo (3 invoices/mo) |
| Wave | Unlimited | 2.9% + $0.60 per card transaction on the free plan | Pro $19/mo |
| Zoho Invoice | Free; their page states a yearly invoice allowance — check it | Bring your own payment gateway; the gateway's rate | None — upsells Zoho Billing |
| Square Invoices | Unlimited | 3.3% + 30¢ on the free plan for invoices | Plus, roughly $20/mo |
All figures read from each vendor's public pricing page on the date at the top of this page. They change; check the vendor's page before deciding.
Where each one is genuinely better
- Wave includes real double-entry bookkeeping on its free plan, and its fixed 60¢ per transaction is cheaper than our 0.5% once your average invoice passes about $120. If you want accounting in the same app and your invoices are large, Wave is hard to beat on price.
- Zoho Invoice sits inside a very large suite. If you already use Zoho for CRM or books, staying there is the sensible answer.
- Square has free hardware, free tap-to-pay on newer phones, and a retail POS that ours does not try to match. If you run a shop counter, Square is the default for a reason.
- Invoice Simple has native iOS and Android apps with an enormous review count, a receipt maker and an estimate maker, and years of polish. Nothing on this page has its install base.
Where Pocket Business is different
There is no invoice cap on any plan, including the free one, and there will not be one — writing an invoice costs us nothing, so we do not meter it. The free builder writes a complete invoice or estimate with no account at all; you sign up only to save it, and connect Stripe only to take cards. The QR code payment for on-site card payments needs no reader. Estimates convert to invoices without retyping. And the money side is a percentage rather than a flat fee: a quiet month costs you nothing, a $500 month of card payments costs $2.50.
Where we are honestly worse: no native app store app yet (it installs from the browser, and an Android listing is in review), no bookkeeping, and if your average invoice is over about $120 and you take everything by card, Wave's flat fee is cheaper. We would rather you knew.
Switching without losing anything
- Export your customers from your current app as a CSV and import them in one go — Customers → Import accepts the common column names.
- Keep the old app installed until the last invoice on it is paid. There is no reason to migrate open invoices; just write new ones here.
Common questions
Is Pocket Business really free, or is it a trial?
Free is a plan, not a trial. Unlimited invoices and estimates, the PDF, the share link, customers, the cash till and the QR page are free and stay free. The paid plans exist for the things that cost us money per use — emailing from our domain, scanning receipts with AI, storing your logo, extra seats.
How does a free app make money?
Mostly from the 0.5% on card payments, which only happens after your customer has paid you. And from the paid plans, for the businesses that grow into needing what they include.
Can I import my Invoice Simple customers?
Yes, from a CSV export. The importer recognises the common header names and checks each row before anything is saved.