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Ask HN: How do you invoice - especially you freelancers out there?
Hi guys, I'm a relatively young bloke who does some freelance web development around my university and part-time job. This mainly means me either working from home, or driving out to an office or house with my laptop.
I'm interested in a simple invoicing solution which generates a professional PDF. I don't mind if the solution is a downloadable program or webapp, however something which I can have running real-time that takes away the burden of monitoring my time would be great, especially if it's integrated and not in itself a separate application. Something that goes further and monitors time spent on a single task would be great too, both for me so I can evaluate time management, and for the customer so they have a much more detailed invoice and are better able to see where their money is going.
So, how do you guys invoice, and (if you have time to detail further) what would you suggest for my circumstances?
- brianlash 18y agoTry http://getharvest.com http://getharvest.com for time-tracking + invoicing. Plans are cheap (the $12/mo starter plan should suit you) and you can easily interface with services such as Basecamp and QuickBooks should your business grow into the need for it.
- woodsier 18y agoI see. I'll look into it, thanks. Not too sure how keen I am on the subscription model, though. I much prefer 1-off payments if I'm going to pay.
- bstadil 18y agoWe use Blinksale http://www.blinksale.com/home http://www.blinksale.com/home for invoices and TikTrac http://tiktrac.com/ http://tiktrac.com/ for time sheets. Very cheap and easy to work with. You can try both for free.
- woodsier 18y agoIn the quest of self-research I've come across http://www.curdbee.com http://www.curdbee.com and http://www.invoicejournal.com/ http://www.invoicejournal.com/ and http://klok.mcgraphix.com/klok/index.htm http://klok.mcgraphix.com/klok/index.htm - has anyone had any experience with these services?
- justinkelly 18y agoHi, i had the same problem so developed my own lamp based app Simple Invoices - http://www.simpleinvoices.org http://www.simpleinvoices.org its free/open-source - does PDF invoices blah blah doesn't do time tracking though Cheers Justin
- woodsier 18y agoI don't have time to check it out now, so I'll gloss over it tomorrow... but I think I might just have to kiss you (run away now). This seems to be exactly what I'm looking for! I'll drop another line and some feedback after trying it in the morning!
- justinkelly 18y agono worries woodsider also you can check out a demo at http://www.simpleinvoices.org/demo http://www.simpleinvoices.org/demo if you don't have time to do the install cheers justin