Zoho Invoice Review: The Budget Middle Ground Nobody Talks About
I tested Zoho Invoice for 6 weeks during my great tool comparison of 2022. It’s the Honda Civic of freelance invoicing — reliable, affordable, unremarkable. Nothing about it excited me. Nothing frustrated me. It just… worked.
What Zoho Invoice Offers
At $15/month (Standard plan), you get:
- Unlimited invoices and clients
- Time tracking built in
- Basic project management
- Expense tracking with receipt scanning
- Client portal
- Automated payment reminders
- 15+ payment gateway integrations
The free plan covers 5 clients and 1,000 invoices/year — enough for very small freelancers.
Where It Fits
| Feature | Wave (Free) | Zoho ($15/mo) | FreshBooks ($33/mo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | Good | Good | Excellent |
| Time tracking | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Proposals | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Project management | ❌ | Basic | Good |
| Accounting | Good | Good | Good |
| Mobile app | Fast | Decent | Slow but capable |
Zoho fills the gap between free (Wave) and premium (FreshBooks). If you need time tracking and project management but can’t justify $33/month, Zoho at $15 is reasonable.
The Zoho Ecosystem Factor
If you already use other Zoho products (CRM, Books, Projects), Zoho Invoice integrates seamlessly. The whole suite is cheaper than buying individual tools. But if you don’t use Zoho for anything else, there’s no ecosystem benefit.
My Take
Zoho Invoice is perfectly fine. Not the best at anything, not the worst at anything. I chose FreshBooks because the invoicing UX was noticeably better and proposals saved me time. But I’d recommend Zoho to a freelancer who needs time tracking + invoicing for under $20/month and doesn’t need proposals.
It’s the kind of tool you use because it does everything adequately, not because any one feature blows you away.