Hiveage vs Invoice Ninja (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Hiveage if

• Fits if you bill fewer than 5 clients and want invoices without a subscription
• Works for freelancers who want an invoice, a timer and a payment link

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you have more than 5 clients, as the free plan stops there
• Not for you if you need bookkeeping, since there is no general ledger
• Watch out: financial reports start on Basic, team members on Pro and the API on Plus
• Pricey if you bill monthly, at $19 on Basic against $16 annually

Pick Invoice Ninja if

• Fits if you're a freelancer with 5 clients or fewer and want invoicing for free
• Works for people who'd like to self-host their invoicing

Look elsewhere if

• Tight if you have more than 5 clients: the free plan stops there
• Skip it if you want the API, branding removed or payment reminders for free, as they're Pro
• Not for you if you need bank sync or PEPPOL e-invoicing but don't want Enterprise
• Watch out: self-hosting is under the Elastic License v2, not an open-source license
• Too light for bookkeeping: it's invoicing, expenses and time, not a ledger

Hiveage

• The free plan stops at 5 clients, and financial reports are listed only from Basic upward.
• Team members start on Pro (5) and Plus (10); Basic has none listed.
• API access is limited to the Plus plan.
• The site says it has no accounting features; it covers invoicing, not a general ledger.

Invoice Ninja

• The free plan stops at 5 clients; the API, branding removal and payment reminders need Pro.
• Bank sync and e-invoicing are Enterprise only, and Enterprise is priced by number of users.
• Self-hosted use is under the Elastic License v2, not an open-source license; reselling it as a service needs a separate agreement.
• Paid plans carry a 30-day money-back promise, per the pricing page.

Hiveage

Invoices and estimates

Branded invoices and estimates with taxes, discounts and shipping, and estimates that clients accept online and convert to invoices.

Online payments

Clients can pay through more than a dozen gateways, including PayPal, Stripe, Square and Braintree, with partial payments supported.

Recurring billing

Invoices can be scheduled daily, weekly, monthly or annually and sent automatically or after manual approval.

Time, expense and mileage tracking

Billable hours, expenses and trip mileage are logged and can be turned into invoices.

Financial reports

Reports cover income and expenses, invoice details and accounts aging, with CSV import and export of data.

Teams and multiple businesses

Pro and Plus allow team members with access levels, and the site says they can manage several businesses in one account.

Invoice Ninja

Invoices, quotes and recurring billing

Create invoices with 11 templates, take deposits and partial payments, and set up recurring or automatic billing.

Online payments

Clients pay from a portal with gateways such as Stripe, PayPal, Square and GoCardless.

Time tracking and projects

Track billable time against projects, view them on Kanban boards and invoice the hours.

Expenses and vendors

Record expenses and vendors, and run reports on invoices, expenses and profit and loss on paid plans.

E-invoicing

Enterprise includes PEPPOL network access with 250 credits and bank account sync through Yodlee or GoCardless.

Self-hosting

The source code is on GitHub under the Elastic License v2, so you can run it on your own server using Docker.

Hiveage

• Free$0

  5 clients with unlimited invoices, estimates, time and expense tracking and payment gateways.

• Basic$16

  per month, billed annually ($19 billed monthly)

  50 clients, plus recurring billing and financial reports.

• Pro$25

  per month, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)

  250 clients and 5 team members, with your own domain, email from your domain and automatic payment reminders.

• Plus$42

  per month, billed annually ($49 billed monthly)

  1,000 clients and 10 team members, with API access and personalized help migrating data from other services.

Invoice Ninja

• Free$0

  Up to 5 clients, unlimited invoicing, online payments, recurring invoices, expenses and time tracking.

• Ninja Pro$14

  per month, billed monthly ($140 billed annually)

  Unlimited clients, removes Invoice Ninja branding, REST API access, late-payment reminders and profit and loss reports.

• Enterprise$18

  per month for 1-2 users, billed monthly

  Everything in Pro plus bank sync, e-invoicing with PEPPOL, user permissions and up to 100 users; $300 a month at 51-100 users.

• Premium BusinessCustom

  Priority support, a developer concierge, invoice design service and data migration help; from $280 a year, sold through sales.

Hiveage

• Annual discount

  Save up to 17% with yearly billing

  The pricing page offers yearly billing at a lower monthly rate, for example Pro at $25 a month against $29 billed monthly.

Invoice Ninja

• Annual discount

  Two months free on annual billing

  Paying yearly costs $140 for Pro instead of $14 a month, which the pricing page presents as two months free.