Invoice Ninja vs Invoicely Comparison 2026
Invoice Ninja gives away unlimited invoicing to up to 5 clients for free, with Pro at $14 a month billed monthly lifting that client cap and adding branding and automation. Invoicely's free plan caps at 5 invoices a month total, regardless of client count, with Basic at $9.99 a month raising that to 100 invoices and 25 clients. The free tiers are shaped differently: Invoice Ninja limits by how many clients you serve, Invoicely limits by how many invoices you send.
Open-source invoicing, free for 5 clients
Invoicing with a free plan that stays free
At a glance
- Invoicely starts cheaper, at $9.99.
- Both have a genuinely free tier.
Side by side
Invoice Ninja | Invoicely | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $14 | From $9.99 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Yes |
Invoice Ninja
Open-source invoicing, free for 5 clients
Invoice Ninja issues invoices, quotes and recurring bills, takes payment through a long list of gateways, and gives the whole thing away for up to five clients with no time limit and no invoice cap. The application is open source, so anybody who would rather hold their own data can run it on their own server instead of paying for the hosted version. Paying lifts the client limit and adds the branding and automation a business wants. Five clients is the ceiling that decides it, and it arrives sooner than most people expect.
Our note
Count your clients rather than your invoices, because that is the limit that actually bites and it arrives sooner than the free plan suggests. Self-host only if you were going to maintain a server anyway, since the hosted Pro plan costs less than the hours will.
Only on this side
- Covers creator finance
Invoicely
Invoicing with a free plan that stays free
Why people weigh these two
- Invoicely instead of Invoice Ninja
- Invoicely is another invoicing tool with a free plan that stays free, and its paid plans start at $9.99 against Invoice Ninja's $14.
- Invoice Ninja instead of Invoicely
- Invoice Ninja is open-source invoicing whose free plan is capped at five clients rather than five invoices a month, a better fit when you bill the same few clients often.
Which one should you pick
Pick Invoice Ninja if client count stays small and steady, since the free plan sends unlimited invoices to up to 5 clients forever. It is also open source, so self-hosting is an option for anybody who would rather not keep client financials on someone else's server.
Pick Invoicely if invoice volume is what matters more than client count, or multi-currency billing is needed for clients who do not all pay in dollars. Basic starts at $9.99 a month, cheaper than Invoice Ninja's $14 Pro plan, for 100 invoices and 25 clients, though Invoicely has no self-hosting option at all.
Common questions
- Which free plan is more generous?
- It depends on the shape of the work. Invoice Ninja's free plan allows unlimited invoices to up to 5 clients. Invoicely's free plan caps at 5 invoices a month total, no matter how many clients that covers, so a freelancer sending one invoice each to five clients fits Invoicely's cap exactly once.
- Which is cheaper once the free plan is not enough?
- Invoicely's Basic plan is $9.99 a month, against Invoice Ninja's Pro at $14. Invoicely's cheaper tier caps at 100 invoices and 25 clients, while Invoice Ninja's Pro removes the client cap entirely rather than raising it to a new number.
- Can either be self-hosted?
- Invoice Ninja can. It is open source, so a business can run it on its own server instead of the hosted version. Invoicely has no self-hosting option; it is a hosted service only.
- Does either bill in multiple currencies?
- Invoicely does, on every paid tier starting at $9.99 a month, which matters if clients do not all pay in dollars. Invoice Ninja's listing does not describe multi-currency billing as a stated feature.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.