Top 7 invoice software.
What each one costs, and what is free.

Which invoice software is best for a small South African business? For most, start with Zoho: Zoho Invoice is free forever, and Zoho Books has a free plan plus a R99 a month Standard plan that tracks VAT. Choose Xero if you want full accounting from R450 a month, and Yoco if you mainly want customers to pay you by card or EFT. Wave is a poor fit, because it no longer lets businesses outside the US and Canada send invoices.

// Chapter 01 — The short version

Seven tools, side by side

Here are all seven on one table. Rand prices are what you pay locally. Dollar prices are billed in US dollars, so your card adds an exchange rate and often a foreign-transaction fee on top.

// Chapter 02 — Zoho

Zoho: the best free option for most South African businesses

Zoho sells two products here, and it helps to know which is which. Zoho Invoice is the simple one. Zoho describes it as forever free, with no subscription fees, and the free version covers invoices and credit notes, automatic payment reminders, online and offline payments, expenses, a customer portal and time tracking billed to clients.

Zoho Books is the full accounting product, priced in rand. The free plan gives you one user plus your accountant, up to 1,000 invoices a year, quotes, expenses, online payments, bank reconciliation and more than 50 reports. It stays free as long as your yearly revenue is under R1 million. Paid plans start at R99 a month for Standard (three users, up to 5,000 invoices a year, VAT tracking and returns, bank feeds), then R199 for Professional, R299 for Premium, R1,290 for Elite and R2,490 for Ultimate. Zoho shows these excluding local taxes.

Watch out: VAT tracking and returns are on the paid Standard plan, not the free one. If you are VAT-registered, plan on R99 a month. Wave's own support page even recommends Zoho Books to its users outside the US and Canada, with a year free for Wave customers.

Best for: freelancers and small businesses that want to spend nothing, and VAT vendors who can spend R99.

// Chapter 03 — Xero

Xero: full accounting, no free plan

Xero is accounting software first and an invoicing tool second. In South Africa its plans are priced in rand including VAT: Starter R450, Standard R795 and Premium R1,095 a month. On 1 November 2026 these rise to R485, R857 and R1,195. Xero says existing discount and promo codes will still be honoured, but the multi-organisation discount is being removed. There is no free plan, only a free month to try it.

The pricing page I read does not list the invoice, quote and bill limits for each plan. Check those before you choose Starter, because invoice caps are where cheaper plans tend to bite.

Best for: businesses that want one place for invoicing, bank feeds and bookkeeping, and are happy to pay for it. If you only need to send invoices, it is more than you need.

// Chapter 04 — Yoco

Yoco: free invoices, you pay when you get paid

Yoco invoices are free to send, with no limit on how many. Customers pay through a link by Visa, Mastercard or American Express (including foreign cards), Apple Pay, Google Pay or EFT. Diners Club is not accepted. A once-off signup fee applies if you do not own or buy a Yoco card machine, but the page does not say how much.

What you pay is the transaction fee. On the Core plan (R0 a month) cards cost 2.30% on local transactions up to R50,000 a month, and 3.20% for international cards. Plus (R249 a month) drops that to 2.10% on debit and 2.20% on credit, and Pro (R499 a month) to 1.95% and 2.15%. Yoco's FAQ says online payments cost about 0.5% more than machine payments, which would put an online Core payment near 2.8%. Yoco's calculator shows fees excluding VAT, so confirm before you budget.

Watch out: a sent invoice cannot be edited or deleted. If you make a mistake, you send a new invoice that refers to the first. Recurring invoices are not supported yet, and Yoco is a payments tool rather than accounting software, so you will still need somewhere to keep your books.

Best for: shops and service businesses that already take card payments and want customers to pay online without extra software.

// Chapter 05 — Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja: free, flexible, and a little technical

Invoice Ninja lets you run the software yourself for free, or use their hosted cloud. The free cloud plan allows unlimited invoices and quotes for up to 20 clients. The listings I could read show Ninja Pro at $10 a month (unlimited clients, more invoice templates, branded URL, API access) and Enterprise at $14 a month for one or two users, with a client portal. These figures come from third-party listings, not Invoice Ninja's own page, so check them.

It connects to payment services such as Stripe, PayPal and Mollie. I could not confirm a South African payment gateway on the pages I read, so check that your gateway is supported before committing. Removing the white-label branding needs a paid licence.

Best for: people who are comfortable setting things up and want control, or who want to host their own invoicing.

// Chapter 06 — Invoicely

Invoicely: a small free plan with real limits

Invoicely's own pricing page shows four plans in dollars: Free, Basic $9.99, Professional $19.99 and Enterprise $29.99 a month. The free plan allows only 5 invoices a month and 3 saved clients, with online payments through PayPal only and 100 emails a month. Paid plans add quotes, recurring invoices, credit card payments, and time, expense and mileage tracking. Basic allows 100 invoices and 25 clients, Professional 250 and 100, and Enterprise is unlimited.

PayPal-only payments on the free plan make it awkward for South African customers who would rather pay by EFT or local card.

Best for: a freelancer sending a handful of invoices a month, mostly to international clients.

// Chapter 07 — monday.com

monday.com: a work tool that can also send invoices

monday.com is not invoice software. It is a project and customer-management platform with a Quotes & Invoices app, mainly attached to its CRM. monday's own page calls the app free, but does not say which plans include it. Third-party pricing guides, dated May 2026, put monday CRM at about $12, $17 and $28 per seat a month for Basic, Standard and Pro, with a three-seat minimum, and a limit on quotes and invoices of 20, 50 and 250 a month. I could not confirm these on monday's own pricing page, so treat them as a guide. Its Work Management free plan is limited to two seats.

Best for: teams already running their sales and projects on monday who want invoices in the same place. If invoicing is all you need, it is the most expensive way to get it.

// Chapter 08 — Wave

Wave: great free tool, but not for South Africa

Wave is popular because the invoicing is free and the bookkeeping is simple, and Pro is $19 a month. The problem is where it works. Wave's own support page says users outside the US and Canada can no longer send invoices or reminders through Wave, and that product and customer support is no longer available there. You can still create invoices as PDFs or links and send them yourself, but that is not much of a reason to choose it. Wave suggests Zoho Books to those users.

Best for: US and Canadian businesses. South African businesses should look at the other six.

// Chapter 09 — Costs that catch people out

What the price tag does not show

• VAT. Xero's prices include VAT. Zoho's are shown excluding local taxes. Yoco's calculator shows fees excluding VAT. Compare like with like.
• Dollar billing. Invoice Ninja, Invoicely, monday and Wave bill in dollars. A $10 plan moves with the exchange rate, and your bank may add a fee.
• Payment fees. Free invoicing often means the money is made when your customer pays. Yoco's 2.30% on a R20,000 invoice is R460.
• Limits. The free plans cap invoices, clients or users. The cap is where free turns into paid.
• Per-seat pricing. monday sells seats in blocks, so a small team can pay for more seats than it has people.

// Chapter 10 — Which one should you pick?

A quick way to decide

• I want to pay nothing: Zoho Invoice, or Zoho Books on the free plan while revenue is under R1 million.
• I am VAT-registered and need VAT returns: Zoho Books Standard at R99 a month, or Xero from R450.
• I want customers to pay me by card or EFT straight from the invoice: Yoco, or Zoho with an online payment option connected.
• I want full bookkeeping and bank feeds: Xero, or Zoho Books Standard or higher.
• I want to host it myself: Invoice Ninja.
• I already live in monday.com: use its Quotes & Invoices app, and check the plan.
• I am a freelancer with a few international clients: Invoicely's free plan can work.

One honest limit: all seven are built for a business that fits the standard mould. If you need approvals, several branches or franchises, staff who may only see some customers, clients logging in to see their own documents, or invoicing wired into the rest of how you work, you will outgrow any of these quickly.