Invoice Ninja

Overview

Invoice Ninja has been operating since 2014 and describes itself as bootstrapped and founder-run. The hosted service is the simpler route; self-hosting gives businesses control over where invoice, client, and financial data reside, but also makes them responsible for securing that server.

Key features

Quotes, invoices, and payments

Users can create quotes and invoices, manage products, and preview PDFs. Clients can e-sign quotes, which can then be converted into invoices. Recurring invoices, estimates, and payment requests support common billing workflows without needing to separate quoting from collection.

Clients can pay online through gateways including Stripe, PayPal, Square, GoCardless, Authorize.net, and Mollie. That range is useful for businesses serving clients with different payment preferences. The Free plan includes online payments, while Pro adds custom invoice designs and automatic reminders.

Projects, time, and integrations

Billable time tracking, task management, and Kanban project boards connect project work to billing: tracked time can become invoice line items. Vendors and expenses are also included in Free, giving very small operations a broad starting set of tools. Businesses that need automation can connect through Zapier, Make, Pabbly, n8n, or Integrately, or use the REST API and webhooks; API access is included with Pro.

Security and self-hosting

The hosted service states that it encrypts data in transit with TLS 1.2+ and at rest with AES-256, and offers MFA. It reports a completed SOC 2 examination and identifies PCI-DSS and GDPR compliance; customers and prospective customers can access the SOC 2 report under NDA. Self-hosting keeps business data on the customer’s server, but shifts environment security to the customer.

The self-hosted code is free to download under Elastic License v2. It permits business use and modification, but commercial resale or providing it as a managed service to others requires a separate agreement—a significant distinction for agencies or hosting providers.

Pricing

The hosted Free plan costs 0.00 USD per free, billed Forever free. It includes five clients, unlimited invoicing, 11 professional invoice templates, online payments, projects, time tracking, vendors, and expenses. The invoice allowance is generous, but the client cap can make Free a poor long-term fit for a growing customer list.

Self-hosted costs 0.00 USD per free to download; server hosting is paid separately. It has no stated client or invoice caps or feature paywalls. This is the lower-cost choice for teams able to manage their own infrastructure, not a way to avoid hosting responsibilities.

Ninja Pro costs 14.00 USD per month, billed monthly, or $140 billed annually. It removes the client limit and includes unlimited invoices, API access, custom invoice designs, automatic reminders, reports, and up to 10 interlinked companies. It suits growing businesses that need more clients or those paid capabilities without user-management features.

Enterprise costs 18.00 USD per month, billed monthly, with price scaling by account users. It supports up to 100 account users and adds user permissions, bank sync, e-Invoicing and PEPPOL, 250 PEPPOL credits, and document uploads. It is the more relevant paid tier for teams with multiple users or e-invoicing needs; the per-user scaling matters when budgeting.

Premium Business is custom pricing, from $280/year. It includes Pro and Enterprise features, developer concierge, direct priority support, invoice design service, data migration assistance, and custom reports. Community forums and documentation are available on all plans; direct priority support is listed for paid plans. There is no free trial.

Platforms

Invoice Ninja offers web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android apps, with data syncing across devices. Its platform range suits businesses that work across desktop and mobile, while the API and self-hosted options also accommodate technical workflows.

Who it's for

Invoice Ninja is a strong fit for freelancers and small businesses that bill clients for projects or tracked time and want payments, expenses, and quoting in the same system. Free is most attractive to a solo operator with no more than five clients. Pro is a clearer fit once that cap becomes restrictive; Enterprise is better suited to teams that need permissions, bank sync, or PEPPOL. It is less suitable for a business that needs a hosted free plan with a large client base, or one unwilling to manage security on a self-hosted server.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Free combines unlimited invoicing with online payments, projects, time tracking, vendors, and expenses.
• Con: The hosted Free plan stops at five clients, even though invoicing itself is unlimited.
• Pro: Self-hosting has no stated client or invoice caps and keeps financial data on the business’s own server.
• Con: Self-hosting requires separate server hosting and makes the business responsible for securing its environment.
• Pro: Multiple payment gateways, integrations, and project-to-invoice workflows cover more than basic invoice generation.
• Con: Enterprise pricing scales by account users, so the monthly starting price does not settle the cost for larger teams.

Alternatives

Contractor+ is worth considering for a contractor who wants CRM and estimates or invoices, and can stay within five monthly documents on its free plan; it also offers a free trial.

Invoice Plus may suit someone who values offline mobile use and basic expense tracking, but its free plan is limited to 10 invoices per month.

Just Invoice offers a no-account guest invoice generator for users who want to create unlimited invoice PDFs without maintaining saved client details; those details must be re-entered each time.

Zoho Invoice is a free alternative for businesses that fit its Indian-business eligibility and limits of two users, three projects, and 500 invoices per year.

Billdr is an iOS option for users who need job cards, GST calculations, PDF invoices, and revenue reports, with a free plan capped at three jobs.

ElysionOne offers a web-based free plan with unlimited estimates and invoices, branded documents, online approval, and Stripe payment links.

Invoicely may fit a mobile or web user with modest billing needs who can work within five invoices per month and PayPal-only payments on its free plan.

Bookipi is another option for mobile, web, and browser-extension users, though its free plan allows up to three invoices and three eSignatures per month.

For more options, see Contractor Invoicing Software.

Verdict

Choose Invoice Ninja if you want one system for quoting, project work, time-based billing, and online payment, with the choice to host it yourself. Its strongest case is the breadth of the free plan and the path to higher client limits and team features. Look elsewhere if five hosted clients are too few and you do not want to pay, or if you want self-hosting without taking responsibility for server security.