How to Create an Invoice Online for Free

Creating an invoice online is the fastest, cheapest, and most flexible way to bill clients in 2026. You do not need to install software, learn Excel formulas, or pay a subscription before you have your first client. This guide walks you through making an invoice online from scratch, covers the must-have features in any good free tool, and explains how to handle the trickier parts like sales tax, international clients, and partial payments.

Why Online Invoicing Beats Desktop Software in 2026

A decade ago, businesses bought QuickBooks Desktop or used custom Excel templates. Today, online invoicing has eaten the market for very good reasons:

• Access from anywhere. Your phone, your laptop, a borrowed computer — all work the same.
• No installation. Open a browser, start invoicing.
• No version conflicts. Everyone always has the latest features.
• Cloud backup. Your invoices are not lost if your laptop dies.
• Real-time sync. If you and a partner both send invoices, no conflicts.
• Mobile-first. Many clients pay on their phone now.
• API integrations. Your invoice tool can talk to Stripe, your CRM, your tax software.

The one trade-off is internet dependency — if your wifi is down, you cannot invoice in real time. But you can always draft offline in a text file and finalize when you reconnect. For 99% of US freelancers and small business owners, online is the right choice.

Step-by-Step: Creating an Invoice Online (No Account Needed)

Let us run through the actual flow using a real freelance example. You are a freelance video editor in Portland, OR, billing a client in Boston, MA, for a corporate explainer video.

Step 1 — Open a Free Online Invoice Generator

Go to Eonebill.ai's free invoice generator. You should see fields for business info, client info, line items, and terms — no signup wall, no email gate.

Step 2 — Fill in Your Business Profile

• Business name: Cascade Cuts LLC
• Address: 1812 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR 97214
• Email: hello@cascadecuts.com
• Phone: (503) 555-0167
• Logo: PNG file, 600px wide

Step 3 — Fill in Client Details

• Client: Riverway Software Inc.
• AP Email: ap@riverwaysoftware.com
• Bill-to: 88 Causeway St, Boston, MA 02114
• PO: RWS-26-0314

Step 4 — Build the Line Items

• "Corporate explainer video production (90-second, 2D animation)" — 1 unit at $4,500 = $4,500
• "Voiceover talent and music licensing" — 1 unit at $650 = $650
• "Two rounds of revisions per contract" — included
• Subtotal: $5,150
• OR has no state sales tax. MA does not tax most B2B services.
• Total: $5,150

Step 5 — Set Terms and Generate the PDF

• Invoice number: 2026-0089
• Invoice date: May 17, 2026
• Due date: June 1, 2026 (Net 15)
• Payment methods: ACH preferred. Stripe accepted with 3% convenience fee.
• Late fee: 1.5% per month after due date
• Click "Download PDF." The file is on your computer in 2 seconds.

Step 6 — Send the Email

Subject: "Invoice 2026-0089 from Cascade Cuts — $5,150 due June 1"

Attach the PDF, write three sentences in the body, send to ap@riverwaysoftware.com with the project manager CC'd. Done.

Total time from opening the tool to sending the invoice: under 5 minutes.

Handling Sales Tax on Online Invoices

Sales tax is the area where online invoice tools either help you or quietly let you make expensive mistakes. The 2026 rules:

For services:

• Most states do not tax professional services (consulting, design, writing, coding)
• Exceptions: Hawaii, New Mexico, South Dakota, and West Virginia tax most services
• A few states tax specific services (data processing in Texas, lobbying in some states)
• Always check your state's department of revenue website

For physical products:

• 45 states + DC have a state sales tax
• You must collect tax on products you ship to states where you have nexus
• Economic nexus thresholds typically: $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions per year per state
• Marketplace facilitators (Amazon, Etsy, eBay) collect on your behalf

For digital products:

• About 30 states tax digital goods (ebooks, courses, music files)
• SaaS subscriptions are taxable in about 20 states
• Rules change frequently — this is a moving target

If you operate in one state and only sell services to in-state clients, sales tax is usually not your concern. If you sell products or operate across multiple states, you need either a sales tax automation tool (TaxJar, Avalara) or quarterly CPA review.

Accepting Payments Online: Methods That Actually Work

The goal of an invoice is to get paid. The faster the payment method, the better your cash flow. Compare the main options:

| Method | Speed | Fee | Best For |

| ------ | ----- | --- | -------- |

| ACH | 1-3 days | $0-$5 flat | Recurring B2B, large invoices |

| Credit card | 1-2 days | 2.9% + $0.30 | B2C, small invoices, urgency |

| Check | 5-10 days | $0 | Older clients, government, large corporates |

| Wire transfer | Same-day | $15-30 | International, very large invoices |

| Zelle | Minutes | $0 | Trusted clients, sub-$5,000 |

| Venmo Business | Same-day | 1.9% + $0.10 | Small consumer transactions |

| PayPal | 1-2 days | 2.99% + $0.49 | International, consumer-facing |

| Stripe Link | Instant | 2.9% + $0.30 | Anyone with a Stripe-enabled invoice |

The winning combo for most US freelancers: ACH for invoices over $1,000 (you avoid the 2.9% card fee), Stripe credit card for everything else (faster payment outweighs the fee). Avoid check unless the client insists — they take 7-10 days and require physical handling.

Online invoice tools that integrate Stripe or ACH directly let your client click "Pay Now" from the invoice itself, which can cut average days-to-payment from 30+ down to 7 or fewer. Free generators do not always include this, but you can manually add a Stripe Payment Link or Zelle info to the payment terms section.

Tracking Payments and Following Up Without Being Annoying

The invoice is sent. Now you need a system to know what is paid, what is overdue, and how to follow up gracefully.

The minimum viable tracker:

A Google Sheet with these columns: Invoice #, Client, Sent Date, Due Date, Amount, Paid Date, Notes. Update every Monday.

Follow-up cadence that works:

• Day +0 (due date): No action — give them the day.
• Day +3: Friendly nudge. "Hi — just wanted to confirm you received Invoice 2026-0089. Let me know if you need anything from my end."
• Day +7: Slightly firmer. "Following up on Invoice 2026-0089, now 7 days past due. Could you let me know the expected payment date?"
• Day +14: Apply late fee. "Per the terms, a 1.5% late fee has been applied. Updated balance: $5,227."
• Day +30: Stop new work for this client. Send formal demand letter.
• Day +60: Consider small claims (under $10K) or collections agency.

Most overdue invoices get paid after the Day +3 or Day +7 nudge. The polite, professional tone matters — never accusatory, always assume good faith first.

If you find yourself manually following up on more than 5 invoices a month, the time spent justifies a paid tool that automates reminders. Eonebill.ai pricing includes automatic reminder emails that go out on your behalf, in your tone, on the schedule you set.

When to Switch From Free Online Tools to a Paid Platform

Free online invoice generators handle the basics beautifully. But they have ceilings. Switch when:

• You send 10+ invoices a month and re-entering business info wastes too much time.
• You have recurring clients and want monthly invoices to send themselves.
• You want a dashboard showing real-time accounts receivable.
• You want clients to pay by card or ACH directly from the invoice.
• You need to attach time logs or expense reports automatically.
• You want to integrate invoicing with QuickBooks, Xero, or another accounting tool.
• Multiple team members need to send invoices.
• You want to brand the invoice email itself (not just the PDF).

A paid plan at $9 to $29 a month covers all of this. The break-even calculation: if you bill $75/hour and a paid tool saves you 2 hours of admin a month, that is $150 in time saved — many times the subscription cost. Most freelancers find the upgrade pays for itself in the first month.

Until then, the free online invoice generator is enough. Build the habit of invoicing fast, send clear PDFs, follow up politely, and your cash flow will improve faster than you expect.

How Online Invoice Workflows Save Real Time

Manual paper invoicing at 30 invoices a month takes about 12-15 hours of administrative work — creating, sending, tracking, following up, filing. The same workload through a well-designed online system takes 2-3 hours. The difference (10+ hours a month) is significant time that can go to billable work or rest.

The specific time savings:

Creation: Manual = 8-12 minutes per invoice. Online with saved profile = 1-3 minutes. Savings: 5-10 minutes per invoice times 30 invoices = 2.5-5 hours/month.

Sending: Manual = 2-3 minutes per send (find PDF, attach, type email). Automated = 30 seconds (one click). Savings: 1-2 hours/month.

Tracking: Manual = constant spreadsheet updates. Automated = dashboard shows status in real time. Savings: 2-3 hours/month.

Follow-up: Manual = remember dates, write personalized emails. Automated = pre-set reminder sequences. Savings: 2-4 hours/month.

Filing: Manual = save PDFs, name correctly, backup. Automated = filed automatically. Savings: 1-2 hours/month.

Total savings: 8.5-14 hours/month. At a freelance rate of $75-200/hour, that is $640-2,800/month in opportunity cost. The math overwhelmingly favors online invoicing for any business above the lowest volume tier.

Online Invoicing for Multi-Currency and International Clients

US freelancers working with international clients face additional invoicing complexities that online tools handle better than offline alternatives.

Currency handling: Most online tools support multiple currencies and can show both your contract currency (USD) and the client's local currency on the invoice. Some auto-update exchange rates daily so the client sees current values.

International wire info: Online tools store SWIFT codes, IBANs, and intermediary bank info, then auto-fill on invoices to international clients. Beats remembering this info from memory every time.

Time zone handling: Online tools show invoice dates in your time zone but adjust for client time zone when relevant (especially for due dates that fall on weekends).

Language: Some tools offer multi-language invoice generation, so you can send English invoices to US clients and Spanish invoices to clients in Latin America from the same tool.

VAT/GST handling: If you bill EU or UK clients, online tools handle the reverse-charge rules and the documentation language required ("Reverse charge applies — no VAT charged").

For freelancers with even occasional international work, a tool with these features beats trying to handle the complexity manually.

When You Should Not Invoice Online

There are rare cases where online invoicing is the wrong choice:

Federal government contracts: Most US federal contracts require invoice submission through specific portals (WAWF, IPP, or contract-specific systems). You generate the invoice in your tool, but submission happens through the government portal.

Cash-heavy retail: A barbershop or food truck doing 50 transactions a day needs a POS system, not an online invoicing tool. POS handles speed and integrates with payment processing differently than invoicing platforms.

Some healthcare billing: Medical practices billing insurance need specialized software that handles ICD-10 codes, EOBs, and insurance claim formats. General online invoicing tools cannot do this.

Very high security industries: Defense, classified work, and some financial services have data residency and security requirements that may rule out cloud-based invoicing.

For 99% of US freelancers and small businesses, online invoicing is the right answer. The above exceptions affect a small fraction of businesses.

Online Invoicing Security Considerations

Sending invoices online creates data security responsibilities. Specific concerns and best practices:

Invoice email phishing risk. Scammers sometimes impersonate freelancers and send fake invoices to corporate AP teams. Protect yourself: use your real business domain email, include a clear signature with multiple contact channels, and watch for unusual replies that might be your client trying to verify legitimacy.

Payment redirect scams. A common scam: someone intercepts an invoice email and replies pretending to be the freelancer, asking the client to redirect payment to a fraudulent account. Protect yourself: tell new clients that your payment details will never change mid-invoice via email. Verify any changes by phone.

PDF malware risk. Rare but real — malicious PDFs can deliver malware. Use clean tools (Eonebill.ai, Wave, FreshBooks) that produce safe PDFs. Avoid suspicious free tools whose origin you cannot verify.

Client data protection. When you save client info in an invoice tool, you have implicit responsibility for that data. Choose tools with strong security records and clear data handling policies.

Backup security. Cloud storage of your invoices is generally safe with major providers (Google, Microsoft, Dropbox). Avoid storing on USB drives or personal email — both are vulnerable.

Access control. If your business grows and you give team members access to invoicing tools, use role-based permissions. Not everyone needs to see every client's billing.

For most solo freelancers, basic precautions handle 99% of security risk. For larger businesses, formal information security policies become necessary.