Invoice Ninja Review: Features, Pricing, & Alternatives

Struggling to keep up with your business expenses and need a way to track them accurately? Start using invoicing software. Invoice Ninja excels at it.

It helps small businesses track expenses and time-billable tasks. However, Invoice Ninja has a downside: It isn’t a comprehensive accounting software.

So, how does it perform as invoicing software? Let’s find out in this Invoice Ninja review.

SMB Guide’s Verdict for Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja gets an 8.2 out of 10. Here is why:

It offers an affordable invoicing platform for users to create, send, and manage invoices. Its expense tracking, automated invoicing, and multi-currency support make it stand out.

However, Invoice Ninja has a drawback: it lacks comprehensive accounting capability.

The good thing is that it delivers capable invoicing software that suits small businesses struggling with basic invoicing.

Factor	Rating (out of 10)
Pricing & Plans	8.5
Feature Set & Customization Options	8
Automated Invoicing	9.5
Expense Tracking	7
Multi-Currency Support	9
User Interface and User Experience	9
Integrations and Compatibility	8
Customer Support	8
SMB Guide Rating	8.2

In this review of Invoice Ninja, I’ve followed SMB Guide’s detailed criteria for evaluating invoicing software.

Pricing & Plans

Invoice Ninja’s pricing structure is straightforward. It offers three scalable plans: a forever-free package, a Pro, and an Enterprise plan.

The billing cycle is monthly or yearly, with annual payments discounted by two months. Invoice Ninja also offers a money-back guarantee of 30 days after upgrading to paid plans.

Here are the plans:

Free

It is the entry package offering the basic features of the invoicing software.

Price

• Free

Features

• Automatic currency conversions
• 20 clients + unlimited invoicing
• Inventory management
• Auto billing and recurring invoices
• Accept deposits and partial payments
• Real-time invoice PDF creation
• Track expenses and set up vendors
• 4 professional invoice templates

Who it’s for: Freelancers who are getting started with invoicing and have less than 20 clients.

Pro

It is an upgrade from the free plan and offers advanced features for growing businesses.

Price

• Monthly: $12
• Annually: $120 (2 months off)

Features

• All features in the free plan
• Customize invoice designs
• Set auto-reminder emails
• Remove the ‘Invoice Ninja’ watermark
• Branded URL
• Unlimited clients and invoices
• Password-protect client-side portal
• Bulk email quotes, invoices, and credits

Who it’s for: Growing businesses who are looking for advanced invoicing features, including brand customization.

Enterprise

It is the top plan offering advanced invoicing capabilities for established businesses.

Price

• Monthly: $16
• Annually: $160 (2 months off)

Features

• All features in the Pro plan
• Create up to 20 additional users
• Set access permission per user
• Attach files to the client portal and email
• Fully branded client portal
• Connect banks and sync transactions
• API access
• Email invoices via MSN and Gmail

Who it’s for: Established businesses that are looking for advanced accounting and invoicing capabilities.

Feature Set and Customization Options

Invoice Ninja offers users customization options, such as uploading company logos and changing color schemes. These customizations allow users to inject a professional look while maintaining brand consistency.

Users also have control over fonts, choosing from pre-set options. However, compared to competitors, the font selection is smaller.

Given that Invoice Ninja lacks a dedicated field message on invoices, users can add personalized text, such as a thank you note, to the invoice footer.

Regarding custom field additions, Invoice Ninja excels at it. Users can add them to capture specific details unique to the business. These include drop-down menus, text, checkboxes, and more.

The best part is that Invoice Ninja has a Live PDF view feature that allows previewing the changes made to the invoice in real-time. It ensures the invoices look exactly as intended before sending them to clients.

Automated Invoicing

Invoice Ninja allows users to create and schedule automated recurring invoices for ongoing clients or subscription services. Businesses can define the invoice details, set the billing cycle (bi-weekly, monthly, or annual), and specify the due date.

Invoice Ninja also integrates with payment gateways like Braintree and Stripe, allowing businesses to enable auto-billing with tokens. With token billing enabled, recurring invoices get charged automatically on due dates without client action.

Setting up automated invoicing is straightforward. The platform guides businesses in defining the invoice details and picking a billing cycle when creating an invoice.

Expense Tracking

Invoice Ninja allows businesses to track expenses and link them to invoices directly. Businesses can mark expenses billable and simplify the reimbursement process for client-related expenses.

Users can also record expenses by entering information like amount, category, vendor, date, currency, and more.

Income Ninja also supports expense categorization for businesses to organize their spending. Users can create custom categories that fit their unique business needs, making tracking and managing expenses granular.

Invoice Ninja also allows for attaching receipts to expense records, simplifying auditing of each transaction. Regarding financial reports, Invoice Ninja provides granular insights into them.

Multi-Currency Support

Invoice Ninja supports invoicing in 100+ currencies, making it fit global businesses with international clients. The software also allows automatic currency conversion, a feature crucial for global companies.

It ensures accurate amounts get reflected on the invoices in a client’s local currency at up-to-date rates.

Invoice Ninja also supports setting currency at a company or client level for better flexibility. However, it lacks support for one client, who may have invoices in multiple currencies.

User Interface and User Experience

Invoice Ninja offers a clean and modern interface, making it easy for users to create, send, and manage invoices. The layout is easy to navigate, making it simple for beginners to pick up the basics quickly.

The platform also provides tutorials and guides that help users with challenges when on the platform. The best part of the platform is that it organizes the tabs, menu, and features logically, simplifying finding what you need quickly.

The platform lacks advanced customization capability. Users can only view key metrics but cannot personalize them to their liking. The interface also doesn’t offer custom shortcuts for frequently used functions.

Integrations and Compatibility

Invoice Ninja lacks direct integration with popular accounting systems like Xero, QuickBooks, or FreshBooks. However, users can use Zapier to integrate with other accounting, CRM, and other platforms.

Invoice Ninja also integrates with common payment processors like PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, and more. These processors facilitate global transactions and provide variety.

Users will find a restful API on Invoice Ninja for integrating custom integrations. The platform also provides extensive documentation on setting up the integrations. However, API requires tech skills.

Invoice Ninja also offers a capable and responsive mobile app (Android and iOS). It allows seamless sync with the desktop app and includes all the essential features.

Customer Support

Invoice Ninja support channels include Slack, Discord, Forum, and email. Response times on Slack and the forum are quick, taking 10 – 15 minutes. The feedback is helpful, and the support agents are knowledgeable about technical issues.

Users looking for self-help resources will find a blog, documentation, and a vibrant community forum. The content offered is in-depth and covers the software’s inner workings.

Invoice Ninja – Unique Features

Besides offering free invoicing software for small businesses, Invoice Ninja has some unique features that make it the best.

Here are three that make it stand out.

• Kanban Boards for Project Management: Businesses can organize their client work via Kanban boards with a visual project management tool. The tool helps visualize multiple tasks and workflows in a central spot.
• Bulk Emailing Invoices and Quotes: Businesses can save time by selecting multiple invoices and quotations and sending them out together. Users can choose to automate the process by queueing them.
• Customize Email Subjects and Text: Businesses can tailor their email text and subject line to improve open rates and brand recognition. Whether it’s payment, reminder, or invoice emails, Invoice Ninja has you covered.

What The Experts Say About Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja has received many online reviews, both positive and lukewarm, on sites like G2.com. Here is what the users said.

Invoice Ninja is an invoicing software that can make your business look that much more professional. For the small price tag, you get a very powerful, fully customizable system that will make your invoicing headaches disappear. We have linked Stripe and Authorize.Net to it with a simple copy and paste of the payment gateway key and within minutes we were charging customers. I highly recommend Invoice Ninja!

Alberto O., President – Verified Capterra review

Overall, I really love Invoice Ninja however! The team listens to feedback, and actively works to fix issues. They care about their product, and offer it at a reasonable price. I self host, which is free, and I support them by buying a white label license to remove the invoice ninja branding on invoices.

Kyle G., Technician – Verified Capterra review

Invoice Ninja Alternatives

Invoice Ninja offers one of the best invoicing and accounting platforms today. However, it isn’t well-rounded software for most business sizes.

That’s why we researched and found these three software alternatives to fit most businesses.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks offers a powerful accounting and invoicing platform with automation features. Like Invoice Ninja, it includes features like recurring invoices, payment reminders, and more. However, unlike Invoice Ninja, FreshBooks offers more all-rounded project management and reporting features.

Try FreshBooks for free today!

Zoho Invoice

Zoho Invoice provides a capable invoicing platform with more than basic features. Like Invoice Ninja, it includes time tracking, inventory management, and more. However, unlike Invoice Ninja, Zoho Invoice has a powerful integration with the Zoho ecosystem.

Try Zoho Invoice for free today!

Wave

Wave offers a free plan similar to Invoicing Ninja. Its core invoicing capability allows for creating, sending, and managing invoices. The company also provides a dedicated mobile app (iOS and Android) and customizable invoice templates.

Create your free account of Wave today!

Get Started with Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja is a decent invoicing software for businesses that don’t need a full-fledged accounting platform. Its selling points are the free plan, 100+ currency support, and integration stack.

We recommend Invoice Ninja to small businesses with a small network of clients.

Sign up to Invoice Ninja for free!

FAQs