# Invoice Ninja review (2026): is the free plan enough?

> Invoicing, expenses and time tracking with a free plan

Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA.

Invoice Ninja is invoicing software for freelancers and small businesses, covering quotes, recurring invoices, expenses, projects and billable time. It runs as a hosted service with a free plan, or on your own server under a source-available license. Paid plans add unlimited clients, an API and, on Enterprise, bank sync and e-invoicing.

- **Category:** Accounting & Invoicing
- **Made by:** Invoice Ninja (since 2014)
- **Website:** https://invoiceninja.com
- **Runs on:** Web, macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you have more than 5 clients: the free plan stops there.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026

## Pricing

As of Nov 12, 2026, Invoice Ninja has a free plan, and paid plans start at $14 per month, billed monthly ($140 billed annually).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Up to 5 clients with unlimited invoices, 11 templates, online payments, recurring invoices, expenses and projects.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 Business | Custom | Priority support, a developer concierge, invoice design service and data migration help; from $280 a year, sold through sales. |

Read from https://invoiceninja.com/pricing-plans/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Invoice Ninja before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Two months free on annual billing** (Annual discount): Paying yearly costs $140 for Pro instead of $14 a month, which the pricing page presents as two months free. Source: https://invoiceninja.com/pricing-plans/

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- Freelancers with a handful of clients who want a free invoicing tool
- Small teams that bill for time and expenses
- Businesses that want to host their own invoicing system

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.8 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Invoice Ninja does invoices, quotes, expenses and time tracking, free for up to 5 clients. Pro is $14 a month, the API, payment reminders and branding removal need Pro, and bank sync and e-invoicing need Enterprise. It's invoicing, not a full ledger.

- **Value for money: B.** Pro is $14 a month billed monthly ($140 a year), inside the category's cheaper quarter. Enterprise starts at $18 for 1 to 2 users and rises with user count.
- **Free plan and trial: B.** A free plan with 5 clients, unlimited invoices, online payments, recurring invoices and expenses. A freelancer can live on it until the sixth client.
- **Features: C.** Invoices, payments, time tracking, expenses and e-invoicing, but no ledger, and e-invoicing is Enterprise only.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. It's a web app where you build templates and connect payment gateways, with self-hosting as an option.
- **Platforms and integrations: A.** Web, Mac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, with Stripe, PayPal, Square, Zapier, Make and QuickBooks, and a REST API on Pro.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Invoice Ninja's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among accounting and invoicing tools

- Invoice Ninja's GPA of 2.8 is higher than 56 of the 65 other accounting and invoicing tools we grade, and level with 5.
- It stands best on platforms and integrations (A, above 60 of 65) and worst on ease of use (C, above 1).
- Its paid plans start at $14 a month, against a middle price of $18.09 for the category: 21 of the 54 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 1 tool scores higher and costs less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/accounting

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** The plain part of Invoice Ninja you could make: invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking and quotes and estimates. What surrounds it you could not. The 2 things listed below take a company, not a weekend. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.8 is higher than 56 of the 65 other accounting and invoicing tools we grade. It costs $168 a year.

- You could make: Invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking and quotes and estimates: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android that stay in step with each other.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Stripe, PayPal and Square among them, and has an API.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Stripe, PayPal, Square, GoCardless, Zapier, Make, QuickBooks, Slack

**Tags:** Invoicing, Expense tracking, Time tracking, Quotes and estimates, Self-hostable, Public API

## Alternatives

- [Wave](https://toolgpa.com/tools/wave): Free invoicing and bookkeeping for US and Canadian small businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/invoice-ninja-vs-wave)
- [Zoho Invoice](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zoho-invoice): Free invoicing app from Zoho for freelancers and small businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/invoice-ninja-vs-zoho-invoice)
- [Akaunting](https://toolgpa.com/tools/akaunting): Open-source accounting you can host yourself or use in the cloud. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/akaunting-vs-invoice-ninja)
- [Manager.io](https://toolgpa.com/tools/manager-io): Free offline accounting for Windows, Mac and Linux, with a paid cloud. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/invoice-ninja-vs-manager-io)
- [FreshBooks](https://toolgpa.com/tools/freshbooks): Invoicing and accounting for freelancers and service businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/freshbooks-vs-invoice-ninja)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026:

- https://invoiceninja.com/pricing-plans/
- https://invoiceninja.com/
- https://www.invoiceninja.org/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/invoice-ninja
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).