Invoice Ninja
Online invoicing tool: quotes, recurring invoices, a client portal where customers view and pay their invoices, automatic reminders, reports, customisable templates and API access in paid plans. Free up to 5 clients with unlimited invoices; Pro at $14 a month ($140 a year), Enterprise from $18 to $300 a month depending on the number of users. The code is public but under the Elastic License 2.0 (source-available, not an open-source licence in the OSI sense); self-hosting is possible. Prices shown in dollars.
A quote that becomes a recurring invoice with a payment link and a viewing portal is an accessible project. But in France, issuing invoices is regulated: continuous numbering, mandatory mentions, retention, and soon exchange through an approved platform. Invoice Ninja is designed for an international market and does not guarantee these rules by itself. Check your templates' compliance before using it as a tool for issuing legal invoices. Mind the licence too: the code is readable, but it is not free software.
What you lose
- The client portal with online payment.
- Automatic reminders and recurring invoices.
- Reports and API access (paid plans).
- The app and payment integrations already connected.
Existing alternatives to Invoice Ninja
- DolibarrOpen source
Open-source ERP and CRM of French origin (GPL-3.0): quotes, invoices, customers, products and stock, self-hosted.
- SolidInvoiceOpen source
Open-source invoicing and quotes (MIT) for small businesses; compliance with French invoicing rules remains to be checked.
What a home-built tool costs once it exists
- Hosting and database: a server cost, and automatic backups you actually test.
- Security and GDPR: dependency updates, an HTTPS certificate, protection of your customers’ data.
- Upkeep time: who fixes the tool on a Saturday night in the middle of service if the server goes down?
The prompt to build it yourself
Build a small tool for quotes, recurring invoices and reminders for my business, replacing an invoicing subscription. Context: a freelancer with 15 clients, 6 of them on a monthly subscription. To do: - Clients and services stored (label, price excl. VAT, VAT rate). - Numbered quotes with a status (draft, sent, accepted, declined) and a PDF in my branding. - Monthly subscriptions that generate invoice drafts to approve each month. - A read-only portal through a secure link where the client views their documents. - Reminders suggested at D+7 and D+15 that I approve before sending. - A CSV export for my accountant. Out of scope: the legal issuing of invoices and e-invoicing, online payment. Legal invoices are still issued in compliant software. Stack: web app, SQLite. README: how to run, backup, and a reminder not to issue legal invoices from this tool.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Invoice Ninja cost, and what do you really pay for?
- Listed price: free (paid plans from €12.47/month). What the subscription covers and is hard to maintain yourself: The client portal with online payment.; Automatic reminders and recurring invoices.; Reports and API access (paid plans).; The app and payment integrations already connected..
- What free or open-source alternatives to Invoice Ninja exist?
- Dolibarr (open source), SolidInvoice (open source). Options to compare before committing to a custom build.
- Where do you start to build an equivalent of Invoice Ninja?
- Copy this page’s prompt into Claude, Codex or Cursor to get a first prototype. Then plan for hosting, data backups and GDPR compliance: that is what costs the most to maintain over time.
How are our verdicts established? Read our detailed methodology ↗
Community feedback
Readers tell what they built instead of this tool, or what broke along the way. Every entry is reviewed before publication.
No feedback published yet. Have you tried replacing this tool? Tell us about it.
Share your feedback
More like this
- Abby · free (paid plans from €9/month)Not replaceable
- Axonaut · Finance & accountingPartly replaceable
- Cegid · AccountingNot replaceable
Are you the publisher of Invoice Ninja? Badge for your site
Badge for your website
Display the casevibecode verdict on your website or documentation.
<a href="https://casevibecode.fr/en/logiciel/invoice-ninja" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://casevibecode.fr/api/badge/invoice-ninja?lang=en" alt="casevibecode verdict: Partly replaceable" /></a>