Billbooks vs Online Invoices

Billbooks is an online billing application for freelancers and small businesses, covering invoices, quotes, scheduling, expenses, and reports. It supports recurring invoices, online payments, payment reminders, multi-currency invoicing, digital signatures, and a client portal. Every paid plan includes recurring invoices, automatic reminders, multi-currency support, digital signatures, and reports. Payment gateway options include PayPal, Stripe, Braintree, and Authorize.Net. The public REST API covers invoices, estimates, clients, items, expenses, expense categories, and taxes; API keys are not limited by plan. The API has no webhooks and is limited to 300 requests per five minutes per resource. Xero, QuickBooks Online, and Zapier connectors are available on Professional; Xero connects directly, while the other listed apps connect through Zapier. Billbooks offers iOS and Android apps that sync with the web app, alongside web, macOS, Windows, and API access. Pricing starts with Basic at $7.95 a month. A 30-day trial costs nothing and includes one user, five clients, 100 items, three projects, and five invoices and estimates. Billbooks says it encrypts data in transit and backs it up daily off-server to Amazon S3, with a seven-day retention window.

Online Invoices is a web-based invoicing and business-management service with a free plan and a 14-day trial. It lets users create and send invoices from templates without registering, and supports recurring invoices, online payments, reminders, multi-currency invoicing, and client portals. Staff can create invoices, enter timesheets, and record expenses, with roles, permissions, reports, and action logs; clients and staff can also receive dashboards for tracking invoices and payments. Accounting tools cover income, expenses, profit and loss, tax, and finance reports. Inventory functions include products and warehouses, purchase orders, stock updates, and low-stock notices. The cloud service is accessible from PC and mobile devices, and the maker says it uses 256-bit SSL encryption and automatic backups. PayPal is listed as one payment gateway. Pricing lists Small at $6.50 a month, Silver at $9.95 a month, Gold at $19.95 a month, and Platinum at $39.95 a month. Listed plan limits vary by clients, invoices, subscriptions, estimates, and layouts.