Short version: the free tools stop where your business starts, and the accounting suites start where your budget stops.
What this is, and what it is not
This is invoicing software and quotation software in one place: quote a customer, and when they say yes, convert quote to invoice in one tap without retyping a line. Some people call it billing software, some call it bookkeeping software, some search for an invoice generator or an estimate tool. It also does the part nobody enjoys — debtors management, so you know who owes you what without building a spreadsheet.
What it is not is full accounting software. Its payroll covers the basics (PAYE, UIF, SDL and ETI from SARS’s own tables, payslips and your EMP201 figures, including the medical aid and retirement contributions the business pays), not company cars or other fringe benefits, travel allowances or tax directives, and the general ledger and trial balance come only on the Pro plan. If you need more payroll than that or a full accounting suite, Sage, Xero and QuickBooks are the right answer and we will say so. What most small South African businesses actually need is to send a proper quote, turn it into a proper invoice, and chase the ones that have not paid.
What must appear on a South African tax invoice
This is the question that makes people nervous, so here is the answer. Under section 20(4) of the VAT Act, a full tax invoice from a VAT vendor must show: the words "Tax Invoice", "VAT Invoice" or "Invoice"; your name, address and VAT registration number; the customer's name and address, and their VAT number where the supply exceeds the prescribed threshold; a serial number and the date; a description of the goods or services; the quantity or volume; and the value, the VAT charged and the total — either shown separately or with a statement that VAT is included at the applicable rate.
Miss one and SARS can disallow your customer's input claim, which is how a small formatting habit becomes an awkward phone call. Every document this produces carries all of it, numbered in an unbroken sequence, with VAT worked to the cent at the current rate. We are not your accountant and this is not tax advice — but these are the SARS tax invoice requirements and they are checkable.
Quotes, credit notes and the documents in between
A quote is not an invoice and the difference matters legally as well as practically. A proforma invoice is a request for payment before supply and is not a tax invoice — it does not entitle anybody to claim input VAT. A credit note is how you correct or reverse an invoice properly; deleting the original is not an option once it has been issued, because your numbering has to stay unbroken for SARS.
The app produces all of them: quotes with validity periods and acceptance tracking, tax invoices, proformas, credit notes, deposit invoices with the balance carried forward, and a statement of account at month end. It knows which is which so you do not have to.
Getting paid, which is the actual job
Sending the invoice was never the hard part. The app runs an age analysis so you can see at a glance who is 30, 60 and 90 days late. On every plan you can send a reminder on a late invoice; from Intermediate the reminders go out automatically once you switch them on, and instead of matching every proof of payment by hand, you import your bank statement and the payments are matched to the open invoices.
Recurring invoice runs handle retainer and subscription clients on their own each month. Every document goes out by email as a link your customer opens in any browser, and you can paste the same link into WhatsApp yourself if that is where your customer lives — a branded invoice with my logo, your colours and your banking details either way. When your accountant asks, you export invoices to excel and hand over the lot. It installs on your phone like an app, so it is one tap away on a customer's driveway; it needs a data connection to save and send.
What it costs
No setup fee — the only product we sell with none, so checkout takes your first month and nothing else. No contract. The tiers are Minimum, Intermediate and Pro, priced on documents per month, and the table above sets out each allowance.
Two honest comparisons. Against Sage, Xero and QuickBooks, which usually price per user and per company: we do less — basic payroll only, and the ledger only on Pro. Against the genuinely free invoicing software in South Africa: free is fine, and if you send six invoices a month you should use it. It stops being fine when you need recurring runs, a real document history, an age analysis and something SARS-defensible five years later. That is the gap we sit in, and it is why the cheapest invoicing software in South Africa that is still a proper system is worth having.
It suits invoicing for freelancers, sole proprietors, trades and small professional firms. We work remotely from Vanderbijlpark with clients in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. It pairs naturally with a website chatbot that captures the enquiry the quote comes from.
Invoicing and bookkeeping software by city: Johannesburg · Pretoria · Cape Town · Durban · Port Elizabeth · Bloemfontein · East London · Vanderbijlpark
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