Billing and Invoicing Software
View:
Oh no! Some styles failed to load. 😵
Please try reloading this page
Compare the Top Billing and Invoicing Software of 2021
Sort By:
Billing and Invoicing Software Guide
Billing and invoicing software is designed to help in the task of automating all invoice production, sending, delivery and receipt processes. Compare the best Billing and Invoicing software currently available using the table below.
Need help deciding?
Talk to one of our software experts for free. They will help you select the best software for your business.
-
1
FreshBooks
FreshBooks
Make invoicing and billing painless for your small business with FreshBooks. A top-rated invoice and accounting software for self-employed professionals and small businesses, Freshbooks offers a fast, easy, and secure way of crunching numbers so companies can focus on doing the work they love. It offers a wealth of powerful features that includes invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, project management, payment processing, and reporting. Freshbooks also lets users work from anywhere with the Freshworks mobile app.
Starting Price: $6/month -
2
BQE CORE Architect - Project Accounting
BQE Software
Effortlessly provide principals, project managers, and entire staff with the information they need. Monitor KPIs like project performance, time and expense, and profitability on BQE Core Architect's powerful dashboard. Watch real-time status of tasks by phase, track progress, and compare budgeted hours and costs vs. actual so nothing falls through the cracks. Efficiently allocate resources with interactive Gantt charts and accurately forecast every time. Manage your new sales opportunities, activities, and performance through Core CRM, specifically built to address the needs of professional services. Discover how BQE Core Architect helps you focus on the essential parts of your practice while effectively managing client projects. Sign up for a free 15-day trial today.
Starting Price: $7.95/month/user -
3
Chargebee
Chargebee
Chargebee is a recurring billing and subscription management tool that helps SaaS and SaaS-like businesses streamline Revenue Operations. Chargebee integrates with the leading payment gateways like Stripe, Braintree, PayPal etc. around the world to let you automate recurring payment collection along with invoicing, taxes, accounting, email notifications, SaaS Metrics and customer management. Chargebee handles all your crucial workflows from lead to ledger with power-packed integrations that include Salesforce, Xero, Quickbooks, Avalara, Slack, among others.
Starting Price: $299/month -
4
Yooz
Yooz
Yooz provides the smartest, most powerful, and easiest-to-use cloud-based Purchase-to-Pay (P2P) automation solution. It delivers unmatched savings, speed, and security with affordable zero-risk subscriptions to more than 4,000 customers and 200,000 users worldwide. Yooz’s unique solution leverages Artificial Intelligence and RPA technologies to deliver an amazing level of automation with extreme simplicity, traceability, and end-to-end customizable features. It integrates seamlessly with more than 250 financial systems, exceeding any other solution on the market. Yooz North America is headquartered in the Dallas, Texas metropolitan area with global offices in Europe. Visit us at www.getyooz.com
Starting Price: $111 -
5
OneBill
OneBill
OneBill is a United States software company that was founded in 2009, and offers a software title called OneBill. OneBill offers training via documentation, live online, and webinars. OneBill is membership management software, and includes features such as application management, automatic renewals, dues management, member portal, member types, membership database, payment processing, and website management. With regards to system requirements, OneBill is available as SaaS software. Costs start at $399.00/month. OneBill includes business hours support, 24/7 live support, and online support. Some alternative products to OneBill include EvolveSPM, Compgun, and Xactly Incent.
Starting Price: $399.00/month -
6
Datagate Telecom Billing
Datagate Innovation
Datagate is a SaaS, telecom billing solution for MSPs that sell UCaaS, VoIP, mobile voice & data services under their own brand. Datagate integrates with popular software systems that MSPs use including ConnectWise Manage, QuickBooks, Xero, Stripe, Authorize.net and others. Suitable for MSPs in USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand; Datagate & partners handle all telecom tax & compliance requirements.
-
7
Fattmerchant
Fattmerchant
Founded in 2014 and based in Orlando, Florida, Fattmerchant delivers merchant services through 0% interchange fee markups, access to wholesale credit card processing rates, fixed monthly subscriptions with no contracts, and proprietary technology. It offers services ranging from integrations into existing systems, e-commerce, and online, mobile and virtual terminals. Fattmerchant helps business owners of all sizes take in person, over the phone, on-the-go, and e-commerce payments from anywhere within a single, simple platform. In addition, Fattmerchant’s Omni software platform provides meaningful data analytics and integrates with popular business tools such as QuickBooks Online and Google My Business to let merchants see the health of their business. The payment processing company will work with each customer to help them choose the payment option that will work for their business.
Starting Price: $99/month -
8
Emburse Certify
Certify
Emburse brings together some of the world’s most powerful and trusted financial automation solutions. As part of our product portfolio, Emburse Certify carries a promise to humanize work while delivering expense, accounts payable, and business travel solutions for growing organizations. Certify Expense effortlessly streamlines your operations through automation and superior customer service. Automatically create reports for employees, streamline approvals, and make reimbursement and reporting effortless for accountants. Certify is rated as a Leader in expense management by analyst firm, IDC, and is trusted by more than 4,000 organizations including Boot Barn, H&R Block, and Virgin Galactic, to streamline expense processing, purchasing and travel booking.
Starting Price: $8/user/month -
9
Tipalti
Tipalti
Tipalti automates the entire payment process, liberating you to focus on making a strategic impact. Cut the manual work and focus on revenue growth and cash flow management instead of back-office financial operations. End-to-end automation provides the infrastructure for long-term success. KPMG-certified FATCA tax compliance, audit trails, and role-based views mitigate risk and ensure compliance. Best-in-class supplier payment experience, with global coverage, rich payment method choice, and unparalleled supplier visibility.
-
10
Chrome River EXPENSE
Chrome River Technologies
Emburse brings together some of the world’s most powerful and trusted financial automation solutions. As part of our product portfolio, Emburse Chrome River carries a promise to humanize work while delivering expense and accounts payable solutions for complex, global enterprise organizations. Chrome River EXPENSE is a highly-configurable, automated expense management solution that delivers the same intuitive and elegant interface on a mobile phone, tablet or laptop. Our SaaS products provide a world-class business rules engine and technology infrastructure that CFOs, finance and accounting teams, travel managers, and business travelers all love. Chrome River enables your organization to streamline processes, reduce costs and increase visibility and compliance, all while providing the ultimate employee experience. By partnering with Chrome River, you can future proof your business by leveraging tools that move with you as your business grows.
-
11
BlueSnap Accounts Receivable Automation
Armatic
BlueSnap's All-in-One Accounts Receivable Automation solution, formerly Armatic, is the highest rated software solution for Payment Processing, Billing/Invoicing, Recurring Billing and Subscription Management. Billing and Invoicing: Create beautiful invoices with our powerful invoice editor synced into your accounting system. Provide a customer portal, automatic charging, payment collection, and apply late fees. Recurring Billing & Subscription Management: Armatic provides enterprise-class subscription billing management for fast-growing businesses worldwide. Enable trial periods, manage plans, or prorate subscriptions. Payment Processing: Armatic is processor agnostic and provides integrations to all types of payment solutions from credit card payments, ACH, SEPA to wires. We handle partial payments, automatic failed payment retry, and automatic payment recovery.
Starting Price: $35/user/month -
12
Odoo
Odoo
Odoo is a fully integrated, customizable, open-source software packed with hundreds of expertly designed business applications. Odoo’s intuitive database is able to meet a majority of business needs, such as: CRM, Sales, Project, Manufacturing, Inventory, and Accounting, just to name a few. Odoo is an all-in-one software solution designed to meet the needs of companies, regardless of their size (or budget). The unbeatable, seamless nature of Odoo helps businesses become more efficient by reducing redundant manual processes, which helps companies save countless hours of labor. Every module is interconnected to provide a fully-integrated experience from app to app, and users can automate many processes that would’ve otherwise required manual inputs into multiple applications. Odoo keeps all business functions in one place, allowing teams to collaborate with other departments from one unified platform in the most efficient way possible.
Starting Price: $12.00/month/user -
13
NetSuite
NetSuite
One unified business management suite, encompassing ERP/Financials, CRM and ecommerce for more than 20,000 customers. Adaptability has never been more important. We give you the visibility and control to make the right decisions, now. Scale up, spin off, adopt new business models, NetSuite’s flexibility lets you do it all, quickly and easily. With every NetSuite upgrade, your configurations and customization migrate seamlessly. Your core business system now becomes your customer-facing commerce system with a customizable, customer-specific, pixel perfect experience. Real-time analytics is the NetSuite user interface. Users know what they should be doing and how they’re helping the business, with vital business data displayed from right within the system.
-
14
GeoNext
Geo
GeoNext is job management software for small businesses working in trades and services looking to simplify their day-to-day tasks. Its a complete toolkit to help businesses save 14 hours on admin time a week, win more jobs and get paid faster. Assign jobs, create quotes and invoices, fill out timesheets and integrate directly with accounting software - GeoNext does all this and more. With GeoNext, you can replace annoying and time-consuming paper processes that are holding your business back. GeoNext is our next-generation app that allows Trade and Home/Field Service business to manage quotes, schedule jobs to staff, track job completion, send invoices and get paid faster. The GeoNext job management software helps you feel more in control by bringing all your existing manual processes online into our easy to use apps and web console. Enter client/job information once, and manage your jobs from quote to payment, saving up to 14 hours a week in admin/paperwork.
Starting Price: $15 per user per month -
15
CommentSold
CommentSold
CommentSold is the #1 comment selling platform and complete e-commerce solution powering 4K+ online retailers. With CommentSold, retailers post images, videos, and live videos on Facebook and Instagram, and shoppers comment “sold” to purchase items. Behind the scenes, we are a full e-commerce stack for small businesses, providing social selling tools, personalized websites, white-labeled mobile apps, and a complete backend for intake, inventory management, and shipping/fulfillment.
Starting Price: $49.00/month -
16
CrossConcept Continuum PSA
CrossConcept Continuum PSA
CrossConcept Continuum goes beyond traditional PSA solutions available today by incorporating cutting-edge UI technology making the solution more user-friendly, resulting in fewer clicks within the solution and time spent logging data. CrossConcept Continuum has been built from the ground up to integrate with all major accounting systems to seamlessly synchronize projects and accounting within one unified system. Our innovative PSA solution allows organizations to maximize profitability by integrating connecting projects and financial accounting, enabling you to manage all stages of your project from conception to completion and deliver on your promises. CrossConcept has decades of experience helping service organizations automate their processes. Clients have ranged in size from a handful of people to over thirty thousand. The founder's and team’s real-world experience is what drove and shaped the creation of CrossConcept Continuum. Our solution is a simple, yet powerful PSA!
Starting Price: $15.00/month/user -
17
DeskTime
Draugiem Group
DeskTime is secure and easy-to-use time tracking software. It features a number of tools that help users work smarter, boost productivity, and minimize business losses. It's also a great tool for remote work management and promotes ways to maintain a healthy life-work balance. DeskTime's features include fully automatic online and offline time and project tracking, shift and absence scheduling, invoicing, integrations with project management apps and calendars, as well as optional screenshots, custom reports, and more. With the ability to track projects and tasks separately DeskTimes allows teams to identify how much time they take and plan a more efficient workflow. This eliminates micromanaging and helps managers and employees make better decisions about time spent working. Time tracking is a great way for managers to have an overall view of what's going on while giving employees the freedom to plan their workdays according to the goals and productivity levels set within the company.
Starting Price: $6/month/user -
18
DocuSend
Mail Technologies Inc
Remotely send your documents directly to the U.S. Post Office through our cloud-based mailroom. DocuSend works with any accounting, billing or CRM software that produces PDF documents containing a valid mailing address. Users can upload directly or developers can integrate our REST API to offer a "Send Mail" button in their software, either as a reseller or for internal direct connectivity. There are enormous economic advantages for any business or organization that needs to safely print and mail documents on-demand.
Starting Price: $0.85 for 1pg 8.5x11" document -
19
vcita
vcita
vcita is an all-in-one business management app built for small to mid-sized businesses. vcita boasts a wide range of features that helps SMBs streamline daily tasks and operations and improve how they interact with clients, fueling growth and success. Top features include client and calendar management, billing and invoicing, online scheduling, lead capturing, and email campaigns. vcita also integrates with dozens of platforms, including Facebook, PayPal, Quickbooks, and more.
Starting Price: $12.00/month/user -
20
HouseCall Pro
Housecall Pro
Run your home service business more smoothly with Housecall Pro. A cloud-based field service management app, Housecall Pro helps service professionals automate their business processes and workflows to increase efficiency and productivity. Housecall Pro makes it easy to schedule, dispatch, estimate, invoice, accept credit cards and get booked online by customers.
Starting Price: $49.00/month -
21
Paymo
Paymo
Paymo is a collaborative work management application that allows small and mid-size teams and individuals to get their job done wherever they are. The software bundles advanced task management, resource scheduling, native time tracking, and billing under a single platform - eliminating the need for any messy and costly integrations.
Starting Price: $8.95/month/user -
22
Zahara
Zahara
Zahara's cloud based platform automates budget management, suppliers, purchase requisitions, multi-level purchase approvals, deliveries and invoice reconciliation and approvals. Zahara integrates with most leading accounting software such as QuickBooks Online and Xero to give expanding SME's real time visibility and centralized control of their purchasing. Zahara can be used to control spend in an organization. We take the initial request to buy something and automate the approval process and sending of the PO to the Vendor. Deliveries can be receipted, vendors invoices matched and processed and then exported to finance. Zahara adds control yet speeds up processing.
Starting Price: From $129.00/month -
23
InfoFlo
Carmel Vision
Infoflo is an easy to use CRM that is perfect for managing customer relationships and includes the most robust Outlook sync on the market! It is a fully integrated contact, relationship, email, calendar, document, sales, task management solution and VoIP. It includes a Quick Books, Outlook and Google Sync. InfoFlo includes FREE Life-Time and is an affordable $99 ONE-TIME cost per user
Starting Price: $99.00/one-time/user -
24
CAFLOU
CAFLOU
Drive your company and team performance and economy. 100% digitally with CAFLOU, the business management system. With CAFLOU you gain 100% control over your company & team & projects. CAFLOU logically and online links your customers, projects, tasks, timesheets, cash flow, invoices, offers or orders.
Starting Price: $11.00/month/user -
25
BQE CORE Legal - Time and Billing
BQE Software, Inc.
It's now easier than ever for Law firms to capture all their billable hours with BQE Core Legal, a robust, fully-integrated cloud-based time billing, accounting, and matter management platform. BQE Core lets Legal Professionals track billable hours and manage expenses effortlessly from anywhere, anytime, on any device. BQE Core's powerful, easy-to-use dashboards deliver real-time insight of your firm’s financials, matters, tools for tracking staff performance and customizable and automated reporting. Discover how BQE CORE Legal helps you focus on the essential parts of your business while effectively managing client matters. Sign up for a free 15-day trial today.
Starting Price: $7.95/month/user
What Is Billing Software?
Companies of all types and sizes use billing software to create invoices and deliver them to customers as a primary means of requesting payment for their goods and services. By utilizing this specialized software, companies are able to streamline their invoice creation and management processes, allowing for improved accuracy and less time and effort.
Billing software allows companies to better manage invoicing for a variety of products and services. While this kind of software is widely used by office managers and accounting professionals, project managers or sales personnel can also use it to perform estimates and provide customers with necessary invoices.
These billing solutions are designed to integrate with both accounting software and CRM or ERP software solutions to store customer information and details regarding the services or products they received. Meanwhile, accounting software or an ERP module is used to perform the last act of the billing process, receiving payment.
The Truth About Billing and Invoicing Software
Billing software solutions deliver the functionality needed to collect revenue and help successful businesses achieve their end goal. Despite targeting businesses of different sizes or certain professions and varying greatly in the breadth of their capabilities, each of these solutions allow users to automate and streamline the billing process. For many businesses, collecting payments from customers is a time-consuming hassle. Billing software helps in this regard by automating workflow and making the collection process much easier.
With billing software, users are able to create invoices to be automatically sent to customers for payment collection. Many billing solutions provide pre-made invoice templates ideal for users needing nothing more than simple and straightforward invoice layouts. Some also offer a custom invoice creator to personalize and brand invoices to meet a company’s specific needs. Once created, users can choose to deliver the invoice online or print and mail the invoice to a client's physical address.
Today, most businesses opt for the online approach for a number of reasons. Not only can users set invoice reminders to alert customers of an impending payment due date, but customers are able to immediately reply to payment requests by making a payment via a payment gateway or by using one of several payment methods through the invoice directly. Digital invoices can be set to receive payments via credit card or any number of electronic payment systems on a one-time, subscription, or monthly recurring basis.
For service-oriented companies and those offering project-based services, billing software also offers time tracking functionality to accurately record and bill for hours worked. Not only can hourly rates be adjusted for specific projects and employees, but the expenses incurred to complete each project can also be documented. When the information is entered, an invoice can be delivered and payment received.
Creating invoices and billing customers is but a single aspect of responsible financial management, and it should fit seamlessly into a greater accounting software environment. Therefore, the majority of these solutions are designed to integrate with a variety of other CRM, ERP, and accounting tools for improved insights into important business data and processes. Billing software provides a business with a central location for taking care of all of its invoicing, billing, and collection needs, allowing it to remain highly efficient and organized as its customer base grows.
Billing Software - Who Uses It?
Billing software plays a key role in a wide-variety of businesses and is used by various employees in a number of roles within an organization. That said, it is most widely used by in-house accountants responsible for accounts payable and receivable or anyone tasked with collecting payments from customers. Some larger companies have collection specialists, billing coordinators, billing analysts, and so on who use billing software as well.
In the world of healthcare, medical coders and billers are responsible for collecting payments. However, this form of bill collection is highly regulated and more complex in nature as it requires dealing with insurance claims and the various complications that often arise on that end of the business. With private practices who choose not to outsource the work to a medical billing service, it is often the office administrator or even the doctor who is responsible for filing claims and bill collection.
When it comes to professional services, the duty of invoicing customers may be left to the project manager. This is done on a per project basis and reflects the specifics of the project, such as the cost of materials, the number of hours spent on the project, the hourly labor cost, and the overall cost for the customer. Generally, the project manager is the one responsible for working with customers to ensure payments are received in a timely manner, regardless of a project’s progress.
For small businesses without a dedicated accounting team, the business owners are typically responsible for invoicing customers and collecting payments. These users often use an accounting tool designed for small businesses with invoice templates for easy invoice creation. Such solutions are built from the ground up for those without accounting or collections expertise.
Why Use It?
At first, the reasons for utilizing billing software seem apparently simple. Upon second glance, however, modern billing solutions appear to offer businesses and accounting professionals a wide range of advantages. From better record keeping and basic invoice organization to automated payment collection and improved customer relations, the problems solved and the benefits provided by billing software are vast:
Automated Billing
Prior to the advent of billing software and automated billing, businesses would have to painstakingly create invoices using Microsoft Word or some other document creation software. The invoices would then need to be individually printed and mailed to customers one by one. After receiving an invoice several days later, a customer would typically write a check and send it back in the mail to the business.
Billing software significantly streamlines this process. Users can choose from templates or create custom invoices online and instantly send them out to customers via a client portal or email. With this system of online invoicing, customers are able to pay instantly and businesses can receive payment in a matter of minutes rather than days.
In addition to saving businesses time and effort, invoice and billing automation also allows for greater tracking capabilities, the ability to send payment reminders, and substantially reduce the occurrence of late or missed customer payments. As a result, businesses can boost revenue growth and overall valuations from one month, quarter, and year to the next.
Better Organization
When dealing with multiple customers, businesses may find it challenging to organize and keep track of every single invoice. Billing software is helpful in this regard as well. These software solutions provide businesses with a single centralized location for each and every invoice, so there’s no need to scramble in search of documents related to paid and unpaid bills.
The online billing hub helps businesses keep better track of every customer and their payment status. By being able to consistently follow-up with customers and request payments, customer relationships are improved.
It also improves overall accounting by helping keep track of incoming finances. Without billing software or another payment management solution, accounting departments operate less efficiently and spend unneeded hours simply organizing and trying to make sense of invoices.
Accurate Tracking and Record Keeping
By integrating with accounting solutions, billing software is designed to let users easily store and track accounting records. In addition to keeping track of all expenses and invoice records, the software also records customer payments for added transparency and more accurate accounting throughout each billing cycle.
This data is helpful in a number of ways, particularly in its ability to provide deeper insights into customers and their financial standing. This is extremely beneficial, especially for companies whose customers are billed on a subscription basis.
Stronger Customer Relations
Sending timely alerts to customers with unpaid balances not only helps ensure timely payments – it also allows businesses to reach out to customers and build stronger customer relationships. Although payment reminders may seem annoying at first, customers ultimately want to make payments on time, so taking a proactive approach to bill collection is helpful. Through the use of client portals with alert and inquiry functions, accountants and customers are also able to converse, allowing for improved customer service and more positive relationships.
Types of Billing Software
Types of Billing SoftwareSmall Business Billing Software
Time is an invaluable resource for small businesses. In addition to a bevy of other tasks needed to keep a company’s finances in order, small businesses must rely on a small team or a single accountant to manage accounts payable and receivable, manage invoicing and billing, and keep the books balanced. Billing software solutions for small businesses can help streamline the collection process and alleviate some time constraint.
When it comes to billing practices, efficiency is a must for small businesses looking to maximize both time and revenue. Billing software helps maximize efficiency by offering features for invoice creation, time tracking, due dates and payment reminders, payment collection, automatic tax calculations, and much more. These features help busy accountants stay on top of the finances and out of the weeds by automating virtually the entire invoicing, billing, and collections process.
Perfect for small business owners just starting out, several billing software products are completely free or offer a free trial. However, it’s important to note these options are less focused on robust features and more focused on ease of use.
Medical Billing Software
Physician’s offices, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and other health institutions use medical billing software to create, send, and manage the invoice and billing processes for their patient services. Unlike other industries, which can use more generic billing software, the unique requirements of the healthcare industry demand the use of specialized medical billing software solutions. These tools provide added functionality specifically designed to help medical coders and billers, who must code patient charts and file insurance claims.
Medical billing software is often created to seamlessly integrate with other software tools necessary for successful medical or hospital operations, such as medical practice management software. These tools generally include native invoicing and billing features, so there is no need for a separate billing tool. Often, the decision to use medical practice management software or a standalone billing tool depends on the size of the medical office and the procedures being conducted. Hospitals and most larger facilities or practices opt for a more comprehensive solution.
Legal Billing Software
Legal billing software serves as a foundational piece of any law firm. It allows attorneys to easily and accurately calculate billable hours and create invoices requesting payment for services rendered. This specialized billing solution can be utilized by entire law firms and legal departments or by independent practices.
Most law firms bill hourly, creating the need for accurate time tracking features. Legal billing software tools provide features specific to an attorney’s needs, such as split- and retainer-fee functionality. They also offer native activity coding functions designed to align with the uniform codes of the American Bar Association.
The automation of uniform billing information is helpful for companies and clients who want to keep a closer eye on their legal expenses and track them more accurately. What was once a much more manual and subjective administrative task is now automated and streamlined thanks to legal billing software.
Choosing a legal billing software largely comes down to the type of legal institution it is being used for. Large firms, small firms, and standalone legal practitioners all have different needs in terms of features and functionality. That said, every necessary legal billing feature is included in most legal practice management software solutions. They provide tools specific to the management of a law firm’s daily operations, including legal billing, client management, case management, and more.
Inventory-Centric Billing Software
Companies in the business of selling physical goods often opt for an inventory-centric billing software tool. As detailed above, many invoicing and billing software tools focus on billing by the hour or for services rendered. Businesses who sell products rather than services and maintain an inventory can benefit from billing software with specific features related to both financial and inventory management.
Features of Billing Software
The features offered by billing software provide users with a range of benefits, but most revolve around automating the collection process and minimizing the occurrence of late payments. Nonetheless, here are several reasons for businesses to begin using billing software, including:
Digital Invoicing
Not long ago, businesses had no other option than to manually create each invoice and send them out to customers through the mail one by one. From invoice creation and delivery to receipt of payment, this was an extremely time-consuming process every step of the way.
Many invoicing or billing products allow users to print invoices the old-fashioned way. However, by using modern billing software, businesses can utilize online invoicing to send invoices to customers instantly. This software also allows businesses to send out invoices simultaneously to customers around the world.
Furthermore, since customers can immediately submit payments via the online invoice, businesses can collect payment much more quickly. This is helpful for all types of businesses, but particularly for companies who conduct business around the globe.
Other features of billing software, such as the ability to record and convert financial documents in all currencies, only make the argument for using this software more compelling. The ability to automate and streamline billing procedures is quite important and a major reason for the software’s popularity and widespread use.
Invoice Creation
Billing software provides users with quick and easy invoice creation. Prior to this software, users had to manually build out each invoice, which was both labor intensive and time-consuming. With billing software, templates can be used to quickly create invoices and streamline the process.
To customize an invoice, users can include a logo, branded colors, business address, and any other personalized information allowed in the form. There are also additional fields to include receipts, tax rates, and other items to justify expenses and correctly bill a customer.
Estimates
Much like invoice creation, many billing software solutions also allow users to create estimates via pre-made templates and a variety of customization features. By creating estimates within invoicing software, users can seamlessly turn estimates into invoices without needing to repopulate all of the information into an invoice. It also allows users to effortlessly record estimated histories, giving them the ability to track acceptance rates, evaluate promotions, optimize pricing, and so on to increase revenue and profits.
Revenue Tracking
A major advantage of billing software is its ability to help businesses keep track of revenue. These software solutions often integrate with accounting tools and CRMs to record and track every financial detail. They allow businesses to not only know which customers have paid their bills, but they also help provide deep insights into a company’s overall financial status. This data can also be used in corporate performance management solutions to create forecasts, build budgets, and more.
Time Tracking
Prior to modern billing software, companies and firms were reliant on spreadsheets to record billable hours. In addition to their many other functions, billing tools also offer billable time tracking features, which allow employees to record exactly how much time it took to complete a project and bill appropriately. Different rates can also be set for different projects, giving both users and clients deeper insights into project costs.
Payment Tracking
Billing software allows businesses to easily see who is lapsing on their payments. Not only do most solutions send an automated payment alert or reminder to help facilitate timely payment, but they also offer payment reports, giving companies a quick rundown on at-fault customers. Conversely, the same reports can also offer insights into those who require a refund or may have earned a credit by overpaying their invoice.
Automated Payment Reminders
Small businesses, lawyers, or project managers with just a few clients may not be too burdened by giving them a friendly call as a reminder of an upcoming payment. However, businesses with thousands of clients will find this a time-consuming hassle. Billing software gives users the ability to set up automated payment reminders to alert customers of an upcoming payment due date.
By making use of this feature for all customers, accounting and accounts receivable departments save substantial time, effort, and stress by no longer having to call and pester clients for money. Automated payment reminders also help ensure fewer missed payments as well.
Flexible Billing
Billing software often includes subscription management features, allowing users to create unique billing structures and provide different pricing packages for different customers. Different billable hours or service rates can also be set for different employees based on specialty, experience, or the nature of the job. These flexible billing options help accountants and sales teams provide the reasoning behind the pricing, the level of discount being provided, and details regarding the one-off value customers are receiving.
The flexible billing options offered by billing software are very important for project-based businesses and professional service providers. Rather than having a single standard rate, billing rates can be set for specific projects or employees. Businesses can also use this feature to bill anytime during a project, such as at the halfway point or when another milestone is reached. This is particularly helpful when procuring materials for client projects.
Recurring Billing
Businesses with long-term customers can utilize billing software to establish recurring payments. This common feature allows businesses to automatically charge customers weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, annually, or any other agreed upon time frame. If a credit card is submitted by a customer as their preferred method of payment, the card will be automatically charged on each pre-set date.
This is beneficial for the company and the customer because the software ensures every payment is made and received in a timely manner. Subscription-based businesses often refer to these solutions as subscription management software, but the two overlap in several ways.
Mobile Billing
Most billing solutions also provide users with a mobile application to both receive invoices from vendors and send invoices out to clients while on the go. This accounting mobility is particularly beneficial for service-based business. Whenever a job is completed, an invoice can be immediately sent by the employee. By sending it right there on-the-spot from a mobile device, there is no need to spend the time writing an invoice up later. It can be sent and received right then and there. For small businesses, mobile billing is a big time-saver and an invaluable tool.
Client Portals
Some billing software solutions provide a client portal where accountants and clients can log in to answer questions each party may have. It also provides different departments with a central location to view billing details. Businesses can also use the client portal to clearly state payment options and information.
Plus, client portals provide customers with somewhere to view their account details, such as their transaction and payment history. From here, they can also see whether they have any outstanding payments. Rather than submitting a request for a particular receipt or invoice, customers can also simply download the documents directly from the portal. In addition to being a huge time-saver for businesses and customers, it provides a higher level of transparency between clients and project managers.
Billing Software – Potential Issues?
The risk of error is always present whenever transactions are being made. When it comes to billing software, errors can take place or form in a few ways:
Issues with Automatic Billing
For the most part, this is a potential issue with software specifically created for managing subscriptions, but it can be a potential source of problems for billing software as well. If a client or customer enrolls in automatic billing but doesn’t have enough funds in the account to cover the payment, then the transaction would be denied.
Automatic billing may also become problematic when attempting to collect payment by a specific date. Of course, despite safeguards against it, there is also the risk of a customer being enrolled in automatic billing unknowingly, which could result in headaches and possible civil litigation.
Failed Transactions
The risk of a failed transaction also exists. This could happen due to insufficient funds, an expired card, or any number of reasons. Regardless of why it occurred, a failed transaction can cause cash flow problems for certain businesses and headaches for the accounting teams of larger companies.
Promotions and Discounts
Flexible payment options are a feature of many billing software products, but this can result in customers paying the wrong amount when not communicated properly. If a sales team member provides an incorrect discount, an error could easily occur. However, many billing solutions also display a credit whenever a customer overpays, so this is rarely an issue.
Billing Software Trends
Innovation has come slower to the billing software world than it has to many other software forms. However, billing software has benefitted from recent trends in the software industry as a whole. This includes the advent of integrations and mobile and cloud-based applications.
Continuing to follow greater software trends, the future of billing software may include the use of blockchain technology. Blockchain accounting ledgers would help alleviate security concerns by encrypting data like contract terms. It would also speed up transaction speed and help ensure the privacy of the transaction amount.
With blockchain, users would also be able to optimize their ledgers and time by automating even more of the recording and billing processes. For instance, payment could automatically go into the blockchain ledger while the information is simultaneously recorded. This would improve accountants’ lives month after month, quarter after quarter, and year after year.
Billing Software – Similar Software and Services
Billing software seamlessly integrates and works with software in several other related categories, particularly accounting software. By connecting their billing software with their accounting software, businesses can improve data recording and tracking while automating a number of accounting tasks. Smaller businesses may benefit from small business accounting software, which includes online invoicing, invoice creation, and all of the necessary accounting functions a small business needs.
ERP systems can also be used for access to billing modules within a greater accounting environment. Meanwhile, CRM systems can automatically connect to billing solutions for added insight into the billing history of specific accounts and any outstanding payments a customer may have. This can help align accounting and sales departments by offering transparency from one business unit to another.
For companies in the professional service sector who tend to bill hourly, connecting billing to time tracking is crucial. Knowing how long an employee spent on a project and how much revenue they earned the company while on the project is critical for business success. Often billing and time tracking functions are both featured in professional services automation software, or PSA.
Lastly, subscription management software provides subscription-based businesses with recurring billing functionality. With it, recurring payments are automatically processed, making it a huge help for companies relying on monthly or yearly subscriptions.