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

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

Pick Quaderno if

• Fits if you sell online across countries and need VAT and sales tax worked out
• Makes sense if you sell through Stripe or Shopify

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a ledger, as it's sales tax and invoicing only
• Tight if you're on Hobby: 25 transactions, 1 user, 1 jurisdiction and 1 integration
• Watch out: every sale, refund and purchase counts, and going over moves you up a tier automatically
• Watch out: registration and filing done by Quaderno are quoted separately

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.

Quaderno

• Plans are priced by transactions, counting every sale, refund and purchase recorded; going over moves the account to the next tier automatically.
• Hobby is limited to 1 user, 1 jurisdiction and 1 integration.
• Registration and return filing done by Quaderno is quoted separately and is not part of the listed plans.
• It handles sales tax and invoicing; it is not a general ledger or bookkeeping product.

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.

Quaderno

Tax calculation at checkout

Calculates sales tax, VAT and GST for a sale from the product and the customer's location, in 150+ countries according to the homepage.

Threshold alerts

Watches sales by region and warns when a business is about to cross an economic nexus or similar threshold and needs to register.

Compliant invoices

Sends invoices automatically after each payment, branded and localized, with e-invoicing for government mandates.

Tax reports and filing

Turns sales into jurisdiction-specific reports for self-filing, or files returns on the seller's behalf for US states, EU VAT OSS and other regions.

Platform integrations and API

Connects to Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, WooCommerce, GoCardless and Amazon FBA, and exposes a REST API for custom setups.

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.

Quaderno

• Hobby$24

  per month for up to 25 transactions, billed yearly ($29 monthly)

  1 user, 1 jurisdiction and 1 integration. Other plans have unlimited users, jurisdictions and integrations.

• Startup$41

  per month for up to 250 transactions, billed yearly ($49 monthly)

  Unlimited users, jurisdictions and integrations for up to 250 transactions a month.

• Business$83

  per month for up to 1,000 transactions, billed yearly ($99 monthly)

  Same features as Startup with a 1,000 transaction allowance; the page marks it as the most popular plan.

• Growth$124

  per month for up to 2,500 transactions, billed yearly ($149 monthly)

  Same features with a 2,500 transaction allowance. Above that, Enterprise is sold through sales.

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.

Quaderno

• Annual discount

  2 months free with yearly billing

  The pricing page says yearly billing gives 2 months free, which brings Growth from $149 to $124 a month.