Zoho Invoice Review 2023

Creating invoices and tracking expenses and payments can be very time-consuming and, frankly, a lot of hassle for freelancers and small businesses. This is where invoice software comes in very handy. Zoho Invoice is a great option when it comes to making these tasks simple and easy.

It offers a free way to manage and send requests for payments as well as actually being able to receive payments too. There are customization options, a range of features to keep the process streamlined, and a whole lot more. So, let’s take a look at this invoicing software and see if this is the option for you. Read on as we cover all you need to know about Zoho Invoice.

Before you get stuck into using Zoho Invoice, it’s important to determine whether this is actually the best option for you. While this is a free invoicing service it’s not for everyone. In fact, big businesses are better off avoiding this completely. However, if you’re a small business owner, a solopreneur, or a freelancer, then this is the perfect way to keep on top of your accounting in a very professional and organized manner as it produces professional invoices at the click of a button.

However, each year, you can only set up a maximum of 1000 invoices. This means that it’s not great if you’re planning on expanding or already have a large customer base. You can also send payment reminders, record offline payments, check out invoice history, track online payments, and more.

If you are creating an invoice, there are customizable templates so that you can keep it in line with your brand. This is a great way to keep your accounting software looking professional. Zoho Invoice offers full customization throughout the platform and can even be used to generate invoice templates in multiple languages and send bills and payment reminders in different currencies. If tax is important, then there is also tax-related information available to add to recurring invoices depending on the client you are sending to.

You can also use Zoho Invoice to create project estimates and an overview of the details likely to come up. These can include discounts, terms and conditions, track Zoho projects, and more. There’s a reporting dashboard too, that Zoho Invoice offers and here you can check out insights such as your pending payments or the status of invoices, and you can send automated payment reminders.

There are ten different payment gateways that can be managed on Zoho Invoice and these include PayPal and Stripe. You can charge regular customers through recurring invoices, claim recurring payments, and even get advance payments when you start accepting online payments through Zoho Invoice. However, it is worth noting that while you can use Zoho Invoice for free, the payment gateways do have their own separate processing fees that you will have to cover. Typically, these tend to be 3% for credit card payments and 1% for payments made by ACH bank transfer. This is standard in the industry and has nothing extra added from Zoho Invoice.

Finally, you can keep track of the time spent working on projects and bill clients by each task or project too. In short, Zoho Invoice makes everything very easy for freelancers and small business owners.

There are other benefits and features of Zoho Invoice as well, so let’s take a look in detail in the next section at what this free service has to offer you within its client portal.

Here we’re going to cover some of the features available on Zoho Invoice in greater detail. This way small business owners and freelancers can see exactly what the free service will give them.

The Zoho Invoice dashboard is made up of graphs and charts so that you can keep abreast of your activity when using this software. You can check how much you have received, your sales, expenses, projects, receipts, dues, and so on all in one convenient place. If you want, you can also change the color of the dashboard and its interface, which is a nice personalization touch that this software provides.

Without a doubt, this dashboard and client portal is one of the best out there. This is not much of a surprise though, as Zoho Invoice is an invoicing solution designed to make things as easy as possible for small businesses. With this software, it’s possible to calculate the billable and unbillable hours attached to a project, deal with estimate change requests, and more. However, the icing on the cake is the real-time notifications about invoices and estimates, so that you know exactly when they’ve been seen or even been paid.

There’s really not much better out there when it comes to invoicing than this software. There are 16 different invoice templates for you to use. Better yet, these are customizable so that small business owners can design branding across all of their invoices. The invoicing solution is designed to make it easy for you, so it’s possible to include shipping charges, sales tax, discounts, attachments, and more to each invoice. With the custom fields that are available, you can add a salesperson to your invoice templates if that’s required too.

You can also create invoice reminders, packing slips, retainer invoices, and add late fees. If that wasn’t enough, you don’t just send invoices as the software also offers recurring invoices and even auto-schedule invoice options. Finally, when it comes to invoicing, you have the option to invoice in 14 languages and can watermark those invoices to improve security. You can send invoices by email or regular post.

When it comes to estimates on Zoho Invoice, there are 15 templates for a small business to choose from. As such, Zoho Invoice makes the process very easy by allowing you to duplicate and even convert estimates into invoices or even projects. It’s also got a unique feature in that you can add expiration dates to the estimates you create here too.

Zoho Invoice makes it very easy to keep track securely of all contact details and other information relating to your clients. This includes being able to keep track of shipping addresses, tax, payment preferences, home addresses, notes, and more. There’s the option to have different currencies and languages set as the default for each client too. You can even use the dashboard area to request reviews from your clients. And, there is the option to set up emails for ten different email types including invoices, statements, ‘thank yous’ for payments, and so on.

When it comes to project billing, it’s possible to do this automatically or manually. Bills can be added one by one or in bulk. Alternatively importing your transactions from your connected bank account makes this even easier. Categories and recurring expenses can be separated easily in the client portal.

This is one of the most limited options on Zoho Invoice, and it is better to get some of the other Zoho apps to complement this section. You can, however, manage some inventory features such as recording the name and number of the item. However, you cannot track your inventory which is why, if you do what to keep track of all your sites, you need to download Zoho Inventory.

There is no Project tab on Zoho Invoice, but it’s still possible to keep track of a project and all subsequent tasks that are attached to it. On top of this, it is possible to add tracking expenses to a project as well as time tracking. You can also change projects to invoices. Then, when you click on each of the projects you’ve got, a new dashboard is created and this is where you will be taken to view all the graphs showing the real-time project progress so that you can keep track.

There is a built-in timer in the Zoho Invoice platform as well. This means you can perform time tracking easily by clocking hours that aren’t billable as well as those that are. However, if this is to occur properly, you do need to be connected with the project directly for the time tracking to work properly. It does make the process of creating timesheets and timely billing to customers a breeze though.

There are 30 reports available on Zoho Invoice. These center on sales and business activities. You can get a weekly report that is emailed to you for added convenience. A recent addition to this part of the platform is being able to favorite some of your preferred reports. However, if you do want more specific reporting on profits and losses, then small business owners will need to upgrade and get Zoho Books, which is a subscription-based platform.

Within this reporting section, you can also make mileage deductions, add sales tax or exceptions and even assign specific default tax to items in your inventory. Impressively Zoho Invoice integrates well with Avalara, which is a sales tax solution for automatically calculating the rates based on the location of each of your customers.

Multiple currencies can be accepted — 170 to be exact — and 14 invoice languages are available. Finally, you can also import and export invoices as .csv, .tsv or even .xls files. Data can be exported to a variety of different devices in this manner.

If you need help with accepting online payments or any other aspect of Zoho Invoice, then there is a rather comprehensive support system available in the client portal. There are many ways for you to get in touch if you need help and these include phone, email, live chat, and an FAQ section. On top of that, there is a detailed section with videos and tutorials, a blog, and various social media channels. The only thing lacking is a dedicated support manager, but this is not surprising as the service is completely free.

The support is available 24/5 when it comes to live chat. Phone lines are not open as often, but they are answered very quickly ensuring short wait times. Some email wait times are longer, though you may find you get an answer after three hours or so. All resources and support options can be accessed from any device too. The only real downside is that there is no weekend support. This is where the tutorials can come in very handy.

So, while Zoho has a lot of good things going for it, how does it actually compare when we look at some of the other invoicing software out there? Let’s take a look. In this next section, we’re going to see what the differences are between Zoho Invoice and other options such as Square Invoices, PayPal Invoice, and QuickBooks.

In terms of being able to customize features, Zoho is on the same level as Square. However, both PayPal Invoice and QuickBooks offer far more options, which makes them a little superior here. Of course, you do have to pay for these additional features as these are paid plans rather than the free plan offered by Zoho. In fact, the free plan is the greatest asset since QuickBooks, for instance, doesn’t even offer a free trial at all. Yes, it has more features, but smaller businesses will struggle to afford some of the plans from QuickBooks which once again sees Zoho come out on top.

In terms of apps and client portals, all of these software providers have them in place. For the most part, they’re all relatively equal with nothing too much setting them apart. Zoho does ensure that all its features are available on the app, while the QuickBooks app is slightly more limited when it comes to some features like the ability to send reminders.

When it comes to integrations, this is where Zoho falls down. There are 14 options for Zoho but bizarrely it can’t integrate with its own Inventory app. As both invoicing and inventory are part and parcel of the way a business works, this is a little concerning and may be an issue for many small business owners. If you need the inventory, then getting the paid Zoho Inventory system is a better option as it also has its own invoicing service as part of that app. This is not great when compared to apps like QuickBooks, which has a full inventory service combined alongside its invoicing solution designed to make it easy to do all these parts of a business.

Finally, there are a number of different support options available across all of these platforms. All of them have phone, email, and live chat support but, surprisingly, most don’t offer 24/7 support. Square even lacks a live chat completely. At the end of the day, Zoho’s support is much more comprehensive and useful. And, the turnaround time is one of the shortest out there, particularly when it comes to phoning for help.

Overall though, for some options, Zoho come out on top and for others it doesn’t. This is why you need to be really sure what you want out of this software before signing up and using it for your business.

Yes, there are Zoho apps available for both Android and iPhone. There are other Zoho apps for other features too. The apps, both Android and iOS, are touted as some of the best around. They’re both very strong and offer the same features and functions as the main desktop version of the site. It’s easy to jump between the two platforms and access all your data from both, as well as getting real-time updates on the way your business is running.

Zoho uses 256-bit SSL encryption protocols to ensure that all the data you have added to your account is kept safe. On top of that, when logging in, you’re required to go through two-factor authentication to get into your account. The software also has virus detection scanners to ensure that everything is still clean. Finally, the software has regular backups in place so that your data are stored on multiple servers in locations around the world.

For other security measures, there is 24/7/365 surveillance and video monitoring of the buildings that hold the servers. There are even bulletproof walls in place to prevent access in that way. In short, your data is very secure.

The only thing you need to consider is your own team and the passwords used, since if someone from your side doesn’t follow all the required protocols then there could be a data leak.

Yes, Zoho Invoice is a free project billing service. However, while you do not have to provide any credit card information to sign up, you also don’t necessarily get access to all the possible features available. There are other Zoho business applications available too. These include Zoho Subscriptions, Zoho Books, and Zoho Expense. These do have monthly subscriptions in place and can be integrated with Zoho Invoice for better Zoho analytics and business planning. Other add-ons also cost money as do implementing payment gateways if you intend to collect online payments through this service as well.

If you want to record payment for an invoice then the process is very easy. First, you need to go to the sales module in the sidebar. Here you can then select Invoice. Pick the invoice you want to record the payment for and then click the record payment button that can be found at the top of the page. Simply write the amount that you have received, the date of receipt, and the deposit into the required fields. You can even add credit notes at this point. Once all the data is added, just click save and the record has been kept.

As with all invoicing software, there’s a lot to like about Zoho Invoice. However, there are some downsides to this application as well. Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages that come along with this software for small businesses.