Free purchase order generator
Your written order to a supplier, so their invoice has something to match.
A purchase order is the one document here where you are the one paying. It is your written instruction to a supplier: these items, at these prices, delivered by this date. Everything else on this site is addressed to someone who owes you money. This one goes the other way, and the labels change accordingly — the other party is a Supplier, the date is Deliver by, and there is deliberately no pay button, because payment belongs on the invoice they send back.
What it is really for
A purchase order exists so that the invoice arriving later has something to be checked against. Finance teams call it a three-way match: the order, the delivery, and the invoice should agree, and anything that does not match gets held rather than paid. That sounds like bureaucracy until the day a supplier bills you for eleven units you never ordered.
It also settles disagreements cheaply. A disputed invoice with a PO number on it is a five-minute conversation about one line. The same dispute with nothing in writing is your recollection against theirs, and the person with the paperwork usually wins.
When a PO is the wrong document
If you are asking what something would cost, you want a quote from the supplier, not a purchase order — a PO commits you. If you are selling rather than buying, you want the invoice generator. And if a client has asked you for your PO number, they mean the one their own system issued; the number on this document is yours, for your own ordering.
About the fields here
Deliver by is the field that gives a purchase order its teeth, and it prints in a band across the top rather than in small grey type beside the currency. A delivery date buried in the details is a delivery date nobody read.
There is an acceptance block at the bottom — signature, printed name and date — so the supplier can confirm the order and send it back. That confirmation is most of why you would send a purchase order rather than an email. Numbering runs PO-0001 onwards and advances by looking at what you have already issued, so two browser tabs cannot both produce PO-0008.
One line worth adding to the terms: ask the supplier to quote the PO number on their invoice. The document already prints that request under the total, and it is the single thing that makes matching the invoice possible later.
Questions people ask
- What is a purchase order for?
- It is the buyer's written instruction to a supplier: these items, these prices, delivered by this date. It matters because it is what the supplier's invoice gets checked against. A disputed invoice with a PO number on it is a five-minute conversation; the same dispute without one is your word against theirs.
- This is the only tool here where I am the one paying — does that work?
- Yes, and the labels change accordingly. The other party is your Supplier rather than a client, the date is Deliver by rather than Due, and there is deliberately no pay button or bank details — those belong on the invoice the supplier sends you back.
- Can the supplier confirm the order?
- Yes. There is an acceptance block at the bottom — signature, printed name and date — so the supplier can sign and return it. That confirmation is most of why you would send a purchase order instead of an email.
- How should I number purchase orders?
- Sequentially, with no gaps, starting from something like PO-0001. This tool allocates the next number by looking at what you have already issued rather than by adding one to whatever is on screen, so two browser tabs cannot both produce PO-0008.
- Do I have to make an account?
- No. Nothing here asks you to sign up, and the tool works fully signed out.
- Is my supplier's information sent anywhere?
- No. The purchase order is built inside your browser on 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.
- Does it handle sales tax, GST, VAT or HST?
- Yes, though on a purchase order the tax is usually indicative — the supplier's invoice is the document that charges it. Name the tax whatever your country calls it and set the rate; it is applied to the subtotal and shown as its own line.