Invoice Ninja

Open Source

Open source invoicing with time tracking and expense management.

Generous Free TierOpen Source

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About Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja is an open source invoicing and payment platform. The free plan supports unlimited invoices and up to 5 active clients, making it a solid choice for freelancers just starting out.

What You Get on the Free Plan

Unlimited invoices - Create and send as many invoices as you need
5 active clients - Manage up to 5 clients
Payment processing - Accept credit cards and bank transfers
Expense tracking - Log and categorize business expenses
Time tracking - Track billable hours and convert to invoices
Proposals - Create and send proposals to potential clients
Client portal - Let clients view and pay invoices online

What to Know

The 5 active client limit is the main restriction. The Pro plan ($10/month) removes this limit and adds custom branding. Invoice Ninja is also open source and can be self-hosted for free with no client limits.

Key Features

Invoicing

Proposals

Time tracking

Expense tracking

Recurring invoices

Client portal

Payment gateway integration

Reports

Pros & Cons

Open source

Feature-rich

Multiple payment gateways

White-labeling

Self-hosting for best value

Cloud free tier limited

The free plan in practice

What you can actually do on Invoice Ninja's free plan (Unlimited if self-hosted), where it stops, and when it's worth paying.

What you can do free

Unlimited invoices
Unlimited clients
Time tracking
Expense management
Client portal
Proposals

Where it stops

Self-hosting for full free
Cloud free limited to 20 clients

When to upgrade to a paid plan

Invoice Ninja is open source, so self-hosting is free and unlimited. The only reason to pay is convenience: choose a hosted or cloud option when you'd rather not run and maintain it yourself, or need official support.