Online Invoice Generator A Viable Alternative?

Courtesy of stock.xchng - Going for online invoice generator software?

Everything seems to be moving to the cloud these days. It is no surprise giving this development that so many online invoice generators are popping up. Why shouldn't you move this part of your business into the cloud? The advantages are numerous. You can often do it much cheaper than with commercial software. In fact, online invoice generator software is often free! Before moving everything online it's important to look at the pros and cons. It's no good switching software just because it sounds like a good idea. Your job, or at least one of them, is to know whether or not it is a good idea.

we will then look at 5 different online invoice generators and discuss the main selling points of each one. Finally, the most important part of this article in my opinion. The requirements you need your invoice software to meet.

Free Or Paid Online Invoice Generator

There is an old saying:

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

It's true. That doesn't mean you can't find invoice software you don't have to pay for. Most of it will, in that case, be financed through advertising. If you can live with that there are a lot of good free options, as you'll see later. The feature level of the free online invoice generators vary a lot. You have to test them to make sure you get what you need. Even if you have to pay for a subscription, which will typically be less than $10 a month, it will usually still be far less expensive than purchasing commercial software. The cost is one of the advantages of going with online software.

Why Choose Online Invoice Generator Software?

When I first started discussing cloud based software with my colleagues one point came up that is incredibly strong. By placing your software in the cloud based environments you make it somebody else's problem. It is no longer your problem to make sure that it works. If you think about it that is just such an unbelievable advantage. There is no maintenance, again somebody else's problem. It is accessible anywhere you go that has an Internet connections, these days that's pretty much everywhere. In most cases it is far cheaper than investing in commercial invoice software. So, what's not to like? Making it somebody else's problem means you live by somebody else's rules. In this case, it is hardly a problem, but if it is a problem for your business, then online software is definitely not the way to go. It differs depending on which product you choose.

5 Online Invoice Generator Products

What are your options? Right here you will see 5 popular options for online invoice generator software. The list is no where close to being extensive. And only the main points of each solution is shown here. I highly recommend you take a closer look at each one. They are not listed in order of preference.

• Billable.me - no sign up required. Fill in the fields and print or download.
• Invoicera - a solution with customizable templates and lots of features.
• Invoicebubble - a free solution with Paypal integration.
• Invoicejournal - a solution with commercial features that is free to use.
• Billpdf - a free solution with no log in.

The 5 solutions differ in various ways as you can see. Some can be used for recurring invoices, others can't. I highly recommend that you test them yourself and look for others as well.

Online Invoice Generator Requirements

Let's face it, invoices aren't the most complicated things in the world. Having said that, it is important that you go for something that does what you need it to do. Some have commercial features, some don't. The question is what you need. Accessibility is also an important factor. If you're doing a lot of invoices you want your system of choice to be easy to use. Do you need online archiving facilities? If you print your invoices and save a physical copy you might not.

There are many really good reasons to consider online invoice generator software. Fortunately it isn't very expensive, which is probably also one of the reasons you're considering it. Remember to make sure that it has all the features you need! I can't stress too much how important it is to make an educated decision.