Best invoice apps under $10/month (2026)
If you only need to send estimates and invoices, you should not be paying $30, $40, or $80 a month for a full accounting suite. Here's a plain-English look at the affordable options Canadian small businesses actually use in 2026.
Heads up: we make Electrified Estimates & Invoices, which is on this list. We've tried to be fair about where it fits and where the others are stronger. Prices and rates were verified in 2026 but software pricing changes — always confirm on the vendor's site before signing up.
The shortlist
Six tools that fit the "under $10/month for the entry plan" description, in alphabetical order:
- Electrified Estimates & Invoices
- Invoice Ninja (self-hosted free, cloud paid)
- Invoice Simple
- Square Invoices (free + transaction fee)
- Wave (free + transaction fee)
- Zoho Invoice (free for very small businesses)
You'll notice three of these are technically free. The trick is that "free" almost always means "we make money on payment processing instead." We'll address that in each section.
1. Electrified Estimates & Invoices — $5/month CAD
Built in Canada for Canadian contractors and service businesses. One flat plan with everything included: unlimited customers, unlimited estimates, unlimited invoices, polished PDF downloads, estimate-to-invoice conversion in one click, and proper Canadian tax handling out of the box (GST, HST, PST, QST, no province-by-province configuration to wrangle).
Good for: Canadian contractors, tradespeople, and solo service businesses who want clean PDFs, simple tax handling, and to stop paying for accounting features they don't use.
Not for: Businesses that need full double-entry accounting, payroll, inventory management, or built-in payment processing inside the app.
What you actually pay: $5 CAD + GST/HST/PST based on your province. No per-invoice fees, no per-customer fees. See full pricing details.
2. Wave — Free + 2.9% + 60¢ per credit card transaction (Canada)
The OG "free forever" invoicing tool. Owned by H&R Block since 2019. Wave gives you unlimited invoices and customers at $0/month — they make their money when you accept card payments through the platform. Their entry-level "Pro" subscription tier sits above the free plan if you want recurring billing and automated reminders.
Good for: Brand-new businesses with very low invoice volume who don't mind ads in the interface and aren't accepting card payments yet.
Not for: Businesses doing meaningful credit card volume — the 2.9% + 60¢ adds up fast. On $10,000/month in card payments, you're paying about $360/month in fees. Suddenly "free" isn't free.
Watch out for: Wave has gone through pricing changes since the H&R Block acquisition. Always check what's in the free tier versus what now requires Pro.
3. Invoice Simple — ~$5–$10 USD/month for paid tiers
Mobile-first invoicing app, especially popular with contractors who want to invoice from their phone on the job site. Free tier limits you to a small number of invoices per month; paid tiers unlock unlimited.
Good for: Solo operators who do almost everything from a phone and want a simple template-based approach.
Not for: Anyone who needs a real desktop workflow. The mobile-first design works against you when you're trying to manage a bigger customer list or polish a complicated estimate.
Watch out for: USD pricing, so the actual CAD cost fluctuates with exchange rates.
4. Zoho Invoice — Free for businesses under $50,000 USD/year
Zoho is a sprawling business-software ecosystem. Zoho Invoice is one small piece of it, and they've kept it free for smaller businesses (under roughly $50K USD/year in revenue, last we checked). It's surprisingly capable for a free tool — recurring invoices, multi-currency, client portal.
Good for: Small businesses already in the Zoho ecosystem, or those who want a feature-rich free tool and don't mind the upsell pressure to other Zoho apps.
Not for: Businesses that want to avoid being inside a sprawling software suite, or who don't want to manage migrations if their revenue grows past the free threshold.
Watch out for: Once you outgrow the free tier, pricing jumps to Zoho's Books product, which is meaningfully more expensive.
5. Square Invoices — Free, with 2.9% + 30¢ on online card payments
If you already use Square for in-person card processing, Square Invoices is a natural add-on — it's included with your Square account at $0/month. Send invoices, accept card payments from the customer.
Good for: Service businesses already using Square hardware (food trucks, salons, mobile retailers) who want all payment data in one place.
Not for: Businesses that don't take card payments through Square, or who'd rather not be locked into one payment processor.
Watch out for: Their "Plus" plan is $20/month and unlocks features (custom fields, milestone-based billing) that competitors include at the entry tier.
6. Invoice Ninja — Free (self-hosted) or $10/month (cloud)
Open-source invoicing platform. You can self-host it on your own server for free, or use their cloud plan starting around $10/month USD. Highly customizable, with a developer-friendly API.
Good for: Tech-comfortable businesses or agencies that want to customize workflows, or who already have a server and want full control of their data.
Not for: Anyone who'd rather not deal with hosting, updates, backups, and security patches on their own server.
Watch out for: "Free self-hosted" sounds great until you factor in the time cost of running a server. For most small businesses, hosted plans are cheaper than your own time.
Comparison at a glance
| App | Entry price | Canadian tax handling | Real cost gotcha |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electrified Estimates & Invoices | $5 CAD/mo | Built-in (GST/HST/PST/QST) | None — flat fee |
| Wave | $0/mo | Manual setup | 2.9% + 60¢ per card payment |
| Invoice Simple | ~$5 USD/mo | Manual | USD pricing, FX fluctuation |
| Zoho Invoice | Free under $50K/yr revenue | Manual setup | Big price jump when you outgrow free |
| Square Invoices | $0/mo | Tied to Square tax settings | 2.9% + 30¢ on card payments |
| Invoice Ninja | $0 self-hosted / $10/mo cloud | Configurable | Self-hosting takes real time to run |
How to actually pick one
Ignore the feature checklists. Ask three questions:
- How will I get paid? If most customers pay you by cheque, e-Transfer, or cash, "free" tools that subsidize themselves with card fees don't help you. A flat-fee tool is cheaper.
- How many invoices a month? Under 5? Almost any free tier works. 5–50? A $5–$10/month flat-fee tool wins on price and predictability. Over 50? Card-fee-based tools start to cost real money if your customers pay by card.
- Do I need accounting too? If yes, look at QuickBooks or FreshBooks — they're more expensive but include bookkeeping. If no (you have a bookkeeper, or you do your books in a spreadsheet), don't pay for what you won't use.
The "do I need accounting software at all?" question
A surprising number of small Canadian businesses are paying for QuickBooks or Xero just to send estimates and invoices. If that's you: you're paying $20–$80/month for a feature you could get for $5. Bookkeeping and invoicing are two different jobs. Most small operators use a dedicated invoicing tool plus a bookkeeper (or spreadsheet) for the back-end accounting, and the math works out cheaper.
The bottom line
If you're Canadian, you do estimates and invoices, you want predictable pricing, and you don't want to wrestle with tax configuration — Electrified Estimates & Invoices is built for exactly that, for $5 CAD/month plus applicable taxes. If your situation is different (heavy card payments, accounting needs, sprawling business suite), use this guide to pick something that actually fits.