Wave vs Zoho Invoice vs Invoice Ninja: free invoicing 2026

Wave is the most generous free invoicing tool, Zoho Invoice is the most polished one if you can live with its caps, and Invoice Ninja suits you if you want to self-host and own your data. All three send invoices for $0. The real differences are usage limits, branding and what it costs when a client pays.

That last part is where "free" stops being free. The sections below use each vendor's own pricing page, and prices change, so confirm them before you commit. If you also want a view of paid tools, our roundup of the best invoicing software for small businesses covers those.

Free invoicing is real, but collecting the money costs

Creating and sending an invoice costs nothing in all three tools. Getting paid by card is where fees show up.

Wave's free plan charges 2.9% + 60 cents per card transaction, and its $19 a month Pro plan waives the fixed 60 cents on the first ten transactions each month, according to Wave's pricing page. Zoho Invoice is free with a limit of 500 invoices a year and two users, per Zoho's pricing page. Invoice Ninja's Free plan handles unlimited invoices for up to five clients, and Pro costs $14 a month, as listed on Invoice Ninja's pricing page.

So the honest comparison is not the sticker price. It is the cap and the processing fee. A free tool that takes 2.9% + 60 cents costs you a little on a $200 design job and a lot on a $5,000 retainer. An open-source tool you host yourself costs nothing per invoice, but it costs you time.

The tiers side by side

Wave is the loosest on the free tier, with no client cap and no invoice cap. Zoho Invoice looks the best of the three but boxes you in at 500 invoices and two users. Invoice Ninja allows unlimited invoices on Free but only for five clients, and the open-source version is free forever if you run it on your own server.

Why the pay button matters more than the price

An invoice is only worth sending if it gets paid, and late payment is the default. In the QuickBooks 2025 Late Payments Report, 56% of small businesses said they were owed money on unpaid invoices and 47% had invoices overdue by more than 30 days, according to Intuit. Xero says customers who use online invoice payments get paid up to twice as fast, per its payment-times guide.

That is why every free tool pushes you toward its own payment processing. It is also why the fee deserves more attention than the subscription. If invoices in your business average $3,000, a 2.9% fee is $87 each time, plus 60 cents. If you are choosing between a free tool with a high fee and a paid one with a lower fee, run that sum for a typical month before deciding.

Where each tool wins

Wave wins as the default pick for a new business. The interface is clean, there is no client cap, and the Pro plan adds bank imports and receipt scanning when you outgrow the basics. The catch is the 60 cent fixed fee, which stings on a run of small invoices.

Zoho Invoice wins if you invoice fewer than 500 times a year and want something that looks finished. It handles estimates and reminders well and connects to the rest of the Zoho suite if you already use its CRM. Past two users or 500 invoices, you hit a wall.

Invoice Ninja wins for technical users and anyone who wants control. Self-hosting means you own the database and pay nothing per month. The hosted Pro plan at $14 is cheaper than Wave Pro if you do not need bookkeeping alongside it.

One clear limit applies to all three. They are invoicing tools. A quote, a contract and a file delivery live somewhere else, and you stitch them together yourself. For a business that sends five invoices a month, that is fine. For one that does the whole cycle with every client, it adds up. We compare that trade-off in CRM vs project management vs portal.

Recurring invoices and reminders

Two features separate a tool you tolerate from one that saves hours: recurring invoices and automatic reminders.

Recurring invoices matter if you bill the same client the same amount every month. Instead of remembering, the tool sends it. All three support some form of recurring billing, so check how each handles a change in amount or a client who pays by bank transfer instead.

Reminders do the chasing for you. A nudge sent on a schedule feels less personal than one you write, which is the point. It keeps you out of awkward emails and keeps the invoice near the top of the client's inbox.

The extras beyond that depend on your setup. Wave bundles basic accounting, which helps at tax time. Zoho Invoice plugs into Zoho Books if you outgrow it. Invoice Ninja gives you the most control over templates and branding. Match the extras to what you do each week, not to the longest feature list.

Late payment is stubborn even with reminders. About 43% of B2B sales on credit in North America end up overdue, according to Atradius data cited by Xero. A tool that makes paying a single click and chases stragglers on a schedule is doing the two things that shorten the wait.

What invoice tools do not cover

Tax rules are where free tools show their limits. If you need a tax invoice with a registration number, a reverse charge line, or credit notes, check the template before you rely on it, and ask your accountant what your country requires. None of the three is a substitute for accounting advice.

For a quick one-off, you do not need an account at all. Delivvo has a free invoice generator that makes a PDF without signing up.

How Delivvo handles invoicing as part of the whole client cycle

Delivvo is not a standalone invoicing app. It is the client cycle for a service business, and the invoice is one step in it. That changes what you compare. Here is how the invoice step works.

1. A client fills in your inquiry form and lands on your lead board. You send a quote built from your own packages and add-ons.
2. The client accepts the quote, signs the contract (typed or drawn signature) and pays the deposit from one link. Delivvo creates the client, the project, the contract, the invoice and the payment schedule for you.
3. Invoices get sequential numbers in your own format. You can issue credit notes, void an invoice, mark a Tax Invoice and apply reverse charge, and set up a payment schedule of up to 12 payments.
4. Clients pay through your own payment processor: Stripe, PayPal or Square. The money goes straight to you. Delivvo takes 0% and is never the merchant of record.
5. If an invoice is unpaid, a rule in Automations sends reminders at 7, 14 and 30 days, and stops once it is paid.
6. Every invoice, receipt, contract and quote carries a verification code that anyone can check on the Verify page.

Two details are worth knowing before you compare prices. And because the portal holds the quote, the contract and the invoices together, the client has one link to open instead of four attachments.

The Free plan costs $0 with no card and includes 3 clients and 3 active projects. Solo is $12 a month, Pro is $29 a month and adds one-page close for quotes. Compare that with the processing fees above, since you pay the gateway's rate directly and Delivvo adds none. See how invoicing works from first draft to paid.

Next, look at how Delivvo compares with FreshBooks or how the CRM fits around it.

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