Free invoice generator
What you send after the work, to ask to be paid by a certain date.
An invoice is a request for payment for work you have already done. That is the whole definition, and it is what separates it from everything else on this site: a quote offers a price before the work, a pro forma asks to be paid before you supply, and a receipt confirms money that has already arrived. Only an invoice creates a debt.
What actually has to be on one
Four fields do most of the work. A unique number, so that you and your client can still refer to the same document a year from now. An issue date and a due date— “Net 30” makes the client work out when day thirty was, so this tool prints the real date instead. A description specific enough for someone who was not thereto approve: “Photography” gets queried, “Half-day product photography, 14 August, 24 retouched selects” gets paid. And your tax registration number if you have one, because without it your client cannot reclaim the tax and their bookkeeper will send it back.
Where invoices go wrong
Late payment is usually a filing problem rather than a money problem. An invoice that is missing the client’s PO number, when their system requires one, does not get rejected — it sits. An invoice emailed to the person who hired you rather than to accounts payable sits too. Both are worth a one-line question before you send.
The other common mistake is editing an invoice after sending it. Once it is out, it is a record, and there are now two versions of INV-0042 in the world. If the amount was wrong, leave the original alone and issue a credit note against it. If you want the reasoning, invoice numbering that survives an audit covers what an auditor is actually looking for.
About the fields here
The invoice number advances on its own. It is allocated from what you have already downloaded rather than by adding one to whatever is on screen, so two open tabs cannot both produce INV-0008. Tax and discount are worked out on the rounded line totals, which is why the printed lines always add up to the printed total — three lines of $0.34 come to $1.02 here, not the $1.00 that naive rounding produces.
How to pay is free text, and it is the field most worth filling in: put your e-transfer address, your bank details or your payment link there. Deposits and payment terms is the guide for deciding what to ask for in the first place.
Questions people ask
- Do I have to make an account?
- No. Nothing on this page asks you to sign up, and the tool works fully signed out. Open it, fill in the form, download the PDF.
- Is my client's information sent anywhere?
- No. The invoice is built inside your browser using your own device, and the PDF is created there too. Nothing you type is uploaded to us, because there is nothing on our side to receive it. You can check this yourself: open your browser's developer tools, go to the Network tab, and fill in the form — you will see no requests carrying your data.
- Do the ads on this page see my invoice?
- No, and not because we promise it — because they cannot. Every ad on Bindery is served from a separate website address inside a sealed frame, and your browser will not let anything in that frame read the page around it. The advertiser cannot see your client's name, the amounts, or anything else you type. That is enforced by the browser itself, not by our good behaviour.
- Will there be a watermark or a limit on downloads?
- No watermark, and no limit. The PDF is yours.
- Where is my information saved?
- In your own browser's local storage, so your business details and client list are still there when you come back. Clearing your browser data clears them. Nothing is stored on a server.
- Can I use this for my business legally?
- Yes. An invoice is a commercial document, not a regulated form. Include whatever your tax authority requires — usually your business name and address, a unique invoice number, the date, a description of what you sold, the amounts, and your tax registration number if you have one. There are fields for all of it.
- Does it handle sales tax, GST, VAT or HST?
- Yes. Name the tax whatever your country calls it and set the rate; it is applied to the subtotal and shown as its own line.