Awesome Invoicing

A curated list of invoicing and e-invoicing tools for freelancers and small businesses — with a focus on free, standards-compliant, and AI-native options.

Sending an invoice sounds simple until you factor in tax rules, formatting standards, and the growing number of countries that now mandate structured e-invoicing (EN 16931, XRechnung, ZUGFeRD, Peppol BIS, Factur-X). This list collects the tools worth knowing — from no-signup PDF generators to compliance networks to the new wave of AI-native invoicing that runs inside assistants like Claude and ChatGPT.

Everything here is a real, usable tool that a solo freelancer or a small business could adopt today. Enterprise-only compliance platforms are listed separately for reference.

Contents

• How to choose an invoicing tool
• Comparison matrix
• AI-native & conversational
• Free invoice generators
• E-invoicing & compliance (EU / Germany)
• Freelancer & small-business suites
• Enterprise compliance networks
• Standards glossary
• Contributing

How to choose an invoicing tool

Most invoicing tools are variations on four questions. Decide which of these matter to you before picking, because very few tools do all four well:

• Is it free — actually free, forever? Many "free" tools cap you at 3 clients or 5 invoices a month, then require an upgrade. A true free-forever tool has no such wall.
• Is it standards-compliant? If you invoice public-sector or business customers in the EU, you increasingly must send a structured e-invoice conforming to EN 16931 — in Germany that means XRechnung or ZUGFeRD; across the EU, Peppol BIS; in France, Factur-X. A pretty PDF is not the same as a compliant e-invoice. (No such mandate exists for US domestic invoicing.)
• Is it AI-native? A new category of tools lets you create an invoice by asking — through a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, an assistant skill, a CLI, or a chat interface — instead of filling out a web form. Distinct from tools that merely bolt an "AI assistant" onto a traditional app.
• Can you start without signing up? No-signup tools let you produce an invoice in seconds; account-based tools trade that friction for saved clients, history, and payment tracking.

Tools below are tagged so you can scan for the combination you need.

Comparison matrix

Legend: ✅ yes · ⚠️ partial or conditional · ❌ no

Tool	Free forever	EN 16931 e-invoicing	Conversational / AI-native	No signup to start	Surfaces
Scribo	✅	✅	✅	✅	Web · API · MCP · Skill · CLI
einvoice-mcp	✅	✅ (XRechnung)	✅	✅	MCP
Invoice My Clients MCP	❌	❌	✅	❌	MCP · Web
Zoho Invoice	✅	❌	⚠️ in-app (Zia)	❌	Web · API · Mobile
sevDesk	⚠️ generator only	✅	❌	⚠️ generator only	Web · API
Lexware Office	❌	✅	⚠️ community MCP	❌	Web · API
easybill	✅ (50 docs/mo)	✅	❌	❌	Web · API
PDF24 e-invoice	✅	✅	❌	✅	Web
kostenlose-erechnung.de	✅	✅	❌	✅	Web
B2Brouter	✅ (SMB tier)	✅	❌	❌	Web · API
Qonto	⚠️ with account	✅	❌	❌	Web · API · Mobile
Wave	✅	❌	❌	❌	Web · Mobile
PayPal Invoicing	✅	❌	❌	⚠️ PayPal account	Web · API · Mobile
Invoice Simple	⚠️ freemium	❌	❌	✅	Web · Mobile
FreshBooks	❌	❌	⚠️ light	❌	Web · API · Mobile
Bonsai	❌	❌	⚠️ light	❌	Web · Mobile

AI-native & conversational

Tools you operate by asking, rather than by filling out a form — via MCP servers, assistant skills, CLIs, or dedicated chat interfaces.

• Scribo — Free, conversational e-invoicing that generates EN 16931–compliant invoices (ZUGFeRD, XRechnung, Peppol BIS) from natural language. Runs as an MCP server, a Claude skill, a CLI, a public API, and a web app — no signup required to create your first invoice. Free forever EN 16931 MCP Skill CLI No signup
• einvoice-mcp — Open-source MCP server that creates and validates German XRechnung e-invoices from an assistant. Free EN 16931 MCP
• Invoice Generator MCP (M1Vision) — MCP server that turns natural-language requests into PDF invoices; published on Smithery. Free MCP
• invoice-mcp (markslorach) — MCP server that generates PDF invoices from natural language with an editable template. Free MCP
• Invoice My Clients MCP — MCP server bundled with a hosted SaaS; create invoices and log billable hours from an assistant. Paid MCP
• Zoho Invoice — Forever-free invoicing with in-app AI (Zia) for natural-language invoice creation and reminders; part of the wider Zoho suite. Free forever In-app AI API
• Jenova AI — General AI agent platform with an invoice-generation capability; web-based, no external assistant integration. Free Web
• HubSpot AI Invoice GPT — HubSpot-branded invoice GPT on the OpenAI GPT Store. Free GPT Store
• Poe — InvoiceGenerator — Invoice-creation bot on Poe. Free Poe
• Invoicer.ai — Web SaaS pairing an AI invoice generator with an AI expense manager. Paid Web

Free invoice generators

No-signup or free-tier tools for quickly producing a PDF invoice. Most are US/global and produce a formatted document rather than a compliant structured e-invoice.

• invoice-generator.com — The canonical no-signup, no-watermark online invoice generator, from Invoiced. Free No signup
• Invoice Simple — Widely-used free generator and top-ranked mobile app with no-signup PDF download. Freemium No signup Mobile
• Wave — Genuinely free invoicing plus bookkeeping, backed by H&R Block; one of the most complete free-forever options in the US. Free forever
• PayPal Invoicing — Free invoicing inside a PayPal merchant account, with payment collection built in. Free Payments
• Canva Invoices — Template-driven invoices inside Canva; strong on design, requires a Canva account. Free Templates
• Wise Invoice Generator — Free no-signup invoice templates aimed at cross-border freelancers. Free No signup
• SumUp Invoices — Mobile-first invoicing inside SumUp's payment ecosystem (formerly Debitoor). Free Payments Mobile

E-invoicing & compliance (EU / Germany)

Tools that produce structured, standards-compliant e-invoices — required for public-sector and, increasingly, B2B invoicing across the EU.

• kostenlose-erechnung.de — Free, no-signup XRechnung and ZUGFeRD generator with Leitweg-ID support. Free EN 16931 No signup 🇩🇪
• PDF24 e-invoice generator — Free no-signup ZUGFeRD and XRechnung generator from the well-known German PDF-tools brand. Free EN 16931 No signup 🇩🇪
• xrechnung-erstellen.com — Free XRechnung generator with assisted data extraction. Free EN 16931 🇩🇪
• easybill — Cloud invoicing for SMEs and marketplace sellers, with a meaningful free tier (50 documents/month) and full e-invoice support. Free tier EN 16931 API 🇩🇪
• sevDesk — Popular German cloud invoicing and accounting suite; also runs a free public e-invoice generator. Paid Free generator EN 16931 🇩🇪
• Lexware Office — Market-leading German cloud accounting and invoicing suite; a community MCP server exists. Paid EN 16931 API 🇩🇪
• Accountable — English-first freelancer tax and invoicing app with native EN 16931 support; strong in Germany and Belgium. Freemium EN 16931 🇩🇪 🇧🇪
• Norman Finance — English-friendly accounting and invoicing for German freelancers, with a free tier. Free tier EN 16931 🇩🇪
• Papierkram — German accounting with a project- and time-tracking-led invoicing workflow; free tier available. Free tier EN 16931 🇩🇪
• B2Brouter — Peppol Access Point with a free portal for SMEs and freelancers, plus a public REST API. Free tier EN 16931 Peppol API
• Storecove — Developer-first Peppol Access Point with a RESTful JSON API and a free sandbox. Paid Peppol API
• Qonto — EU SMB neobank bundling a compliant e-invoicing module into its business account. Paid EN 16931 Banking API

Freelancer & small-business suites

Broader tools where invoicing is one feature among CRM, contracts, time-tracking, or payments. Mostly US-focused; strong brands, generally paid.

• FreshBooks — Cloud invoicing and accounting built for freelancers and service businesses; one of the largest SMB accounting brands. Paid API
• Bonsai — All-in-one freelancer operations: contracts, proposals, invoicing, and time tracking. Paid
• HoneyBook — Client-flow CRM and invoicing for service entrepreneurs, with strong in-app AI. Paid In-app AI
• Harvest — Time tracking with built-in invoicing; long-standing, with a real free tier. Free tier
• Indy — All-in-one freelancer suite with a genuine free tier and AI assistance for contracts and proposals. Free tier
• Square Invoices — Free invoicing tied to the Square payments ecosystem. Free Payments
• Zoho Invoice — See AI-native & conversational; notable here for its forever-free plan. Free forever API

Enterprise compliance networks

Reference only — enterprise-grade e-invoicing and Peppol networks, generally sold to larger organizations rather than freelancers or small businesses.

• Pagero (Thomson Reuters) — Global e-invoicing network and Peppol-certified service provider. Enterprise Peppol
• Sovos — Tax and e-invoicing compliance cloud across 65+ countries. Enterprise
• Basware — Large purchase-to-pay and e-invoicing network. Enterprise Peppol
• Avalara E-Invoicing — E-invoicing and live reporting layered on Avalara's tax-compliance platform. Enterprise API
• Tradeshift — Cloud platform for e-invoicing, AP automation, and global compliance. Enterprise

Standards glossary

• EN 16931 — The European standard defining the semantic data model of a compliant electronic invoice. Most EU e-invoicing formats are compliant implementations of it.
• XRechnung — The German XML-based e-invoice format for public-sector (and increasingly B2B) invoicing.
• ZUGFeRD / Factur-X — Hybrid formats that embed structured XML inside a human-readable PDF/A-3 (Factur-X is the French equivalent, technically aligned with ZUGFeRD).
• Peppol BIS — The pan-European delivery network and business specification for exchanging e-invoices between trading partners.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. Please suggest tools that a freelancer or small business could actually use, and keep descriptions neutral and factual. Spotted an error or a missing tool? Corrections to any entry are welcome via pull request.

License

CC0

To the extent possible under law, the maintainers have waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.