Zoho Invoice
Zia, Zoho's assistant, identifies likely payment delays and generates follow-up emails for overdue invoices
Free invoicing, quotes, time tracking and expenses for small businesses, with a REST API included on the free plan.
- Starting price
- Free
- Free trial
- Free plan; no paid tier
- API
- Yes, a REST API on the free plan, limited to 1,000 requests per day, 100 requests per minute and 5 concurrent calls
Overview
Zoho Invoice is free invoicing software for small businesses and part of the wider Zoho suite. It covers professional invoices and custom quotes that convert to invoices, recurring invoices on a schedule, and payment collection by card, ACH and e-wallets through integrated gateways. Billable hours are tracked against projects and turned into invoiced timesheets, and expenses become billable line items. Unlike the rest of the category it has no paid tier, and the free plan is capped at 2 users and 500 invoices a year.
Our take
Zoho Invoice is worth knowing about because of where it stops rather than what it costs. It is genuinely free rather than a trial, and the API allowance on that free plan is more generous than several paid tools in this category offer. The trade is that this is billing software and not accounting software, so the yearly return still happens somewhere else, whether with an accountant or in a fuller package. A growing business will hit the ceiling on users and invoices, and the vendor's own answer at that point is to pick another Zoho product. For a freelancer or a small consultancy that only needs to quote, bill and chase, that boundary is a fair one.
Key Facts
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Starting price | Free There is no paid tier. The free plan covers up to 2 users, 500 invoices per year and 2 organisations under one Zoho account, and adds a Zoho Invoice line to documents. |
| Free trial | Free plan; no paid tier |
| API | Yes, a REST API on the free plan, limited to 1,000 requests per day, 100 requests per minute and 5 concurrent calls |
| Users | Up to 2 users on the free plan |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS), with apps for iOS, Android, Windows and Mac and a Chrome extension |
Screenshots
Placeholders. They are replaced as soon as the vendor sends material, and both open the same short form.
Features
- Invoicing and quotes
- Yes, professional invoices and custom quotes that convert to invoices, recurring invoices, a client portal for viewing and paying, and payment collection by card, ACH and e-wallet through integrated gateways
- Bookkeeping and bank feeds
- No, Zoho Invoice covers billing and payment collection rather than bookkeeping; bank reconciliation and the general ledger sit in Zoho Books
- Expenses and receipts
- Yes, expenses are recorded and converted into billable line items on an invoice
- Tax and compliance
- Yes, taxes are calculated automatically from the tax authorities and rates defined for the organisation
- Payroll
- No
- Reports and exports
- Yes, a dashboard and business reports covering accounts receivable ageing, top customers, product performance and expenses
- Integrations and API
- Yes, a REST API covering invoices, estimates, recurring invoices, contacts, expenses, projects, payments, credit notes, items, taxes and time tracking, plus integration with Zoho CRM
Integrations
- Zoho CRM
- Zoho Books
Deployment and Support
- Deployment
-
- Cloud (SaaS)
- Browser-based
- Onboarding
-
- Documentation and knowledge base
- Company size
-
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Suitability
| Industry | Freelancers | Small and mid-sized | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agencies | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Architecture & Engineering | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Consulting | Stated as a fit | Stated as a fit | Not stated |
| Media & Creative | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Technology | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
The table combines the industries the vendor addresses with the company sizes the tool is aimed at. An empty cell means the combination is not stated, not that it is ruled out.
Pros and Cons
Strengths
- Genuinely free rather than a trial, with no paid tier to upgrade to
- REST API included on the free plan, with a 1,000-request daily allowance
- Time tracking and expenses convert straight into invoiced line items
- Client portal lets customers view invoices, pay and respond to quotes
Limitations
- Billing only: no bank reconciliation, no general ledger and no payroll
- Capped at 2 users, 500 invoices per year and 2 organisations
- Documents carry a Zoho Invoice line
- Outgrowing the limits means moving to a different Zoho product
Pricing
-
Free
$0
The only plan. Up to 2 users, 500 invoices per year and 2 organisations under one Zoho account. Includes invoices and quotes, recurring invoices, payment gateways, expenses, time tracking, the client portal, tax calculation, reports and the REST API. Documents carry a Zoho Invoice line.
Best For
Alternatives and Comparisons
FAQ
- Is Zoho Invoice really free?
- Yes. Zoho Invoice has no paid tier. The free plan allows up to 2 users, 500 invoices per year and 2 organisations under one Zoho account, and adds a Zoho Invoice line to documents.
- Does Zoho Invoice do bookkeeping?
- No. It handles invoices, quotes, expenses, time tracking and payment collection, but not bank reconciliation, the general ledger or payroll. Zoho positions Zoho Books as its accounting product for that work.
- Does Zoho Invoice have an API?
- Yes, a REST API is available on the free plan and covers invoices, estimates, contacts, expenses, projects, payments, items, taxes and time tracking. It allows 1,000 requests per day, 100 requests per minute and 5 concurrent calls.
- What happens when a business outgrows Zoho Invoice?
- Zoho points businesses that pass the free plan's limits to its other products, and recommends contacting support about moving to Zoho Billing.
What users say
Reviews
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0 reviews
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
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