Five invoicing apps for small businesses

BillingTracker Pro

BillingTracker Pro  is designed to automate the invoicing process and track cash flow. Out of all the invoicing apps I looked at, BillingTracker Pro offered the best support for foreign clients.

BillingTracker Pro

I didn't choose BusinessTracker Pro because some of the field lengths are too limiting for my  needs. For instance, project names are limited to 40 characters, and although you can append a note to the end of an invoice, the space allotted isn't sufficient for including wire transfer instructions.

A single user license of Billing Tracker Pro costs $179, and you can download a free trial.

kBilling

kBilling is the package I decided to purchase for my own business. It's flexible, has an easy-to-use interface, and includes a number of customizable invoice templates. You can also append extra information to an invoice if you have a client with special requirements.

kBilliing

kBilling offers various reporting options. You can export reports to PDF format or view the data in Excel, and you can export quotes and invoices to PDF files.

One note: When I tried to install the purchased version of kBilling, my antivirus software reported that a DLL file was infected with a virus. However, technical support assured me that AVG Antivirus generates false positives. I confirmed that the product was not infected by scanning it with other antivirus products.

kBilling sells for $99, and you can download a free trial.

Ezy Invoice

Ezy Invoice offers a dizzying array of reporting options, and it will allow you to track practically anything you want. Unfortunately, I found the user interface to be cumbersome and somewhat confusing at times.

Ezy Invoice

Ezy Invoice ranges in price from $99 to $899 depending on the features you want and the number of users you want to license. You can download a free trial.

Invoice Expert

Invoice Expert lets you build a customer list, as well as lists of products and vendors. When you create invoices and purchase orders, it uses an array of reports and dashboard objects to show you your current cash flow situation.

Invoice Expert

I almost chose Invoice Expert for my own use. The thing that stopped me was that the invoices themselves are difficult to customize. Don't get me wrong -- you can create custom invoices. It's just that my business requires a higher degree of customization than Invoice Expert could easily handle.

Invoice Expert sells for $69.95, and you can download a free trial.

Volutive

Volutive uses a simple relational database to create tables for customers, vendors, and salespeople, as well as invoices and purchase orders. It can generate reports of outstanding invoices on a per-customer basis and allows you to create a product list and manage your inventory.

Volutive

Volutive has the basics covered, but I found it to be pretty inflexible. It might work well for someone who operates a small business that sells specific products, but it doesn't lend itself to service businesses or businesses with a dynamic product line. Still, it's hard to argue with the price: free!