The best Invoicing tools
About Invoicing
This is for anyone who does the work and then has to chase the money for it, whether that is a single freelance invoice or a subscription business collecting the same amount every month. The lever it moves is cash landing on time: a catalogue and payment terms set up once, quotes and invoices that generate themselves from a won deal, and reminders that go out before you have to think about them, so being paid stops depending on you remembering to ask. Set the plumbing up before you switch it on. Get the product catalogue, tax settings and payment methods right first, connect a processor, and run one small transaction end to end before real invoices flow through it. From there, automate the parts that need no judgement, the recurring invoice, the reminder, the receipt, and keep the parts that do, such as a payment plan for a client in trouble, in your own hands. - What is a commerce hub in a B2B sales setup? - What should I set up before turning the commerce hub live? - What should I automate first in solo finance ops? - What counts as "first revenue" for a new venture? - Can I automate quotes and invoices through the commerce hub? - How do I connect payments to the commerce hub? - Invoicing and getting paid - Accounts Receivable - Invoices / contract - Invoicing - The Best Billing & Subscription Tools for Lean B2B Founders - Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) - Billings
Top picks
Polar
Bills digital products as merchant of record, handling subscriptions, usage metering, tax compliance and payouts.
Best for: Developers and small software teams selling subscriptions, licences or usage-based services worldwide who want a merchant of record to handle tax compliance and billing infrastructure for them.
- Free plan
- Yes
- Price
- From $20/mo
- MCP server
- Yes
- API
- Yes
Paddle
Handle global subscriptions, payments and tax compliance without managing VAT registration across 300+ markets.
Best for: SaaS, app and digital product companies selling internationally that would rather have a merchant of record handle tax, compliance and failed payments than build it in house.
- Free plan
- Yes
- Price
- Not listed
- MCP server
- Yes
- API
- Yes
Lemon Squeezy
Acts as merchant of record for software and digital product sales, handling global tax compliance.
Best for: Software makers and digital creators who sell globally and want a merchant of record to handle checkout, licence keys, subscriptions and sales tax instead of setting up their own tax compliance.
- Free plan
- Yes
- Price
- Not listed
- MCP server
- API
- Yes
Stripe
Query and visualise your Stripe payment and subscription data with SQL or natural language.
Best for: Software and online businesses that take payments, run subscriptions or send invoices through code and want one provider for payments, billing, tax and reporting.
- Free plan
- Price
- Not listed
- MCP server
- Yes
- API
- Yes
Chargebee
Manages subscription billing, invoicing and revenue recognition for recurring businesses with your own payment gateways.
Best for: Subscription businesses, from SaaS to usage-based AI products, whose finance or revenue team needs billing, quoting and revenue recognition handled by one vendor.
- Free plan
- Yes
- Price
- From $99/mo
- MCP server
- Yes
- API
- Yes
The top 4 side by side
| 8 points compared | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $20/mo | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| API | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Dunning & churn recovery | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hosted self-serve checkout | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Merchant of record | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Usage-based metering | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Links |
All Invoicing tools
- Bills digital products as merchant of record, handling subscriptions, usage metering, tax compliance and payouts.
- Handle global subscriptions, payments and tax compliance without managing VAT registration across 300+ markets.
- Acts as merchant of record for software and digital product sales, handling global tax compliance.
- Manages subscription billing, invoicing and revenue recognition for recurring businesses with your own payment gateways.
- Send invoices, track expenses, reconcile banks and prepare VAT returns for Dutch small businesses.
- Ties agency projects, time, budgets and profitability together in one place for managing client work.
Provides a free business banking account and invoicing inside the Revolut app for freelancers.
Put Invoicing to work
How we rank
Every tool in a category is ranked by the same rule, worked out from the data we hold, not by who pays us. In order:
- How many of the category's shared features it has.
- Whether there is a free plan to start on.
- How open it is to AI: an API and an MCP server.
- Whether its pricing is public.
- Name, A to Z, when all else is equal.
When we add a tool or learn more about one, the ranking updates by itself.