Vocino Labs

There are a ton of easy-to-use, lightweight, out-of-the-box invoicing applications out there. So when I set out to find something that meshed well with my style, it was no simple task.

Luckily, I found Freshbooks — which does all and more than I could ask for. The best features, in my opinion, being (1) the ability to fully customize your login screens and (2) create an entirely seamless payment experience for your clients.

What is Freshbooks?

FreshBooks is an online invoicing and time tracking service that saves you time and makes you look professional.

• Easily create, send and manage invoices
• Track time (for you and staff) and expenses
• Send invoices by snail mail or email
• Accept payment with PayPal, Authorize.Net, & more
• Automatically send invoices & late payment notices
• Create robust reports and import/export your data

My Process of Elimination

Although the Freshbooks feature-set is very nice, it took me a while to really give it a go.

This is mainly because I’m addicted to high levels of customization and control. I assumed I would be giving up some of that control when using a hosted application rather than something on my desktop or on my servers.

My invoicing/timetracking application of choice was Billings2, which is a beautiful one. I loved that little app because my invoices looked amazing. I think I spent more time designing my invoices than actual invoicing.

Clients Like Simple

The problem with Billings is it lacks in the client interaction field. My clients are all super connected most of the time (Basecamp, for example), and then I send them an invoice via email pdf where they have to copy and paste a url to pay or send a check. Plus there might be printing involved (oh god).

Now my clients simply log into their areas and view the vitals of their project’s financial health. They pay seamlessly through an interface connected to Amazon FPS or PayPal Payflow Pro.

Developers Like Simple, Also

Shit, I like things simple too! The best way to look into it, is just to sign up for a free account and test drive.