Send invoices and get paid as a freelancer
Set up a lightweight billing workflow to send professional invoices, collect payments online, and track what you are owed
Categories: freelance, billing, clients, solo
Tools that power the Send invoices and get paid as a freelancer stack
Wave — Free invoicing and accounting
Create and send unlimited invoices and track income for free
Stripe — Online payment collection
Accept card payments and send one-time or recurring payment links
Bonsai — Contracts and invoices
Freelance-native tool that combines contracts, invoices, and client CRM
Notion — Client payment tracker
Log invoice status, due dates, and client notes in a simple database
Setup guide
- Wave: Choose Wave if you want a simple invoicing workflow. Create a customer and a draft invoice, review currency, line items, tax and due date, then preview it. Scheduled reminders require online payments enabled or a Pro subscription; confirm eligibility in your account. Test the reminder setup with your own address before using it with clients. (Read official instructions)
- Stripe: If you take payments through Stripe, choose a supported invoice/payment integration and explicitly reconcile its payment status with your accounting system. Pasting a Payment Link into a Wave invoice does not create automatic reconciliation. Check your account’s payout schedule: initial payouts typically take 7–14 days and subsequent timing varies by country, risk and account settings. (Read official instructions)
- Bonsai: Use Bonsai as an alternative when you need proposals, contracts and invoicing together. Confirm the plan and payment options you need, create a draft project and invoice, and test the client-facing preview. Keep one accounting source of truth rather than issuing duplicate invoices from multiple tools. (Read official instructions)
- Notion: Keep a Notion invoice register only if it helps your workflow. Record invoice ID, client, amount, due date and a link to the authoritative invoice. Reconcile paid status with the payment/accounting provider; a manually maintained Notion status is not proof that funds arrived. (Open Notion instructions)
Check: A draft invoice shows the correct customer, currency and totals; any test payment is reconciled in the authoritative system, not merely marked paid in Notion.