Free Invoice Generator: Create and Download an Invoice
Fill in your details, add your line items, and watch a clean invoice build itself in the preview beside you — then print it or save it as a PDF. Six currencies, tax, discounts, and payment terms. No sign-up, no watermark, and nothing leaves your browser: everything you type stays on this page and disappears when you reload it.
Invoice details
Who it is from and to
Line items
Columns: description · quantity · rate
Tax, discount & notes
Opens your browser’s print dialog — choose “Save as PDF” as the destination. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is saved, so keep the PDF once you have it.
Live preview
INVOICE
INV-0001
From
Your business
Bill to
Client
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | 1 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
TL;DR
An invoice is just a clear, dated request for money: who is billing, who owes, what for, how much, and by when. Type those into the form above and the preview becomes your finished document — use Print or save as PDF to keep it. The two fields people leave out and then regret are the due date and the payment details. One important limitation: this tool saves nothing and uploads nothing. There is no account and no invoice history, so if you close or reload the tab before saving your PDF, the invoice is gone.
What belongs on an invoice, and why each part matters
Most invoices that get paid late are not disputed — they are simply missing something the client’s accounts department needs, so they sit in a queue while somebody emails you a question. Here is every element worth including and the practical reason it earns its space.
| Element | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The word “Invoice” | Separates it from a quote, estimate, or proforma. A document that does not call itself an invoice may not be treated as one. |
| Unique invoice number | The reference both sides quote in every email and payment. Keep it sequential so gaps are visible in your own records. |
| Issue date | Starts the clock on your payment terms and fixes which accounting period the income belongs to. |
| Due date | The most commonly omitted field. “As soon as possible” is not a deadline, and you cannot chase a payment that was never late. |
| Your name, business name and address | Identifies who is owed. Companies also need it to file the invoice against the right supplier record. |
| Your tax, VAT or GST registration number | Where you are registered, it is normally required — and your client may need it to reclaim the tax. Include it in the “from” block. |
| Client’s legal name and address | Bill the entity that owes the money, not the individual who emailed you. A wrong bill-to name is a standard reason for rejection. |
| Purchase order or reference number | Many corporate accounts-payable systems will not process an invoice without one. Ask for it before you start the work. |
| Line items: description, quantity, rate | Vague descriptions invite questions, and questions delay payment. “Homepage redesign, 12 hrs” beats “design work”. |
| Subtotal, discount, tax, total due | Shows your arithmetic so nobody has to redo it. The final total should be the most prominent number on the page. |
| Currency | Obvious to you, ambiguous to an overseas client. “$” alone means at least four different currencies. |
| How to pay | Bank name, account and sort code or routing number, IBAN, or a payment link. An invoice with no payment instructions cannot be paid. |
| Payment terms and late-payment policy | Sets the expectation in writing and gives you something concrete to point at when you follow up. |
What is legally mandatory on an invoice differs by country and by whether you are registered for VAT, GST, or sales tax. Check your own tax authority — GOV.UK for the UK, the IRS or the SBA for the US — before you assume a field is optional.
Payment terms decoded: Net 30, 2/10 net 30, and the rest
Payment terms are shorthand, and the shorthand is not always obvious the first time you meet it. Type whichever of these fits into the Payment terms field above — ideally spelled out in full, so nobody has to look it up.
| Term | What it means | Typically used for |
|---|---|---|
| Due on receipt | Payment expected as soon as the invoice arrives, with no credit period at all. | New clients, small one-off jobs, deposits before work starts. |
| Net 7 | Full amount due within 7 days of the invoice date. | Fast-turnaround freelance work and small suppliers who cannot carry a float. |
| Net 14 | Full amount due within 14 days. | The usual compromise between a freelancer’s cash flow and a client’s payment run. |
| Net 30 | Full amount due within 30 days. The most common business default. | Most B2B work and any client big enough to have an accounts-payable process. |
| Net 60 | Full amount due within 60 days. | Large corporates, retail chains, and public-sector buyers. Brutal on a small supplier’s cash flow. |
| 2/10 net 30 | Take 2% off if you pay within 10 days; otherwise the full amount is due in 30. | An early-payment incentive — you trade a small discount for getting paid three weeks sooner. |
Two details cause most of the arguments. First, what the clock starts from: “Net 30” usually means 30 days from the invoice date, but some buyers work to end-of-month terms, where the count begins at the close of the month the invoice landed in — which can stretch a nominal 30 days to nearly 60. Say which you mean. Second, what happens when it is late: rules on late-payment interest, maximum permitted terms, and statutory compensation vary from country to country and sometimes by contract type, so check your own jurisdiction rather than copying a clause from an American template into a British invoice.
How the totals above are worked out
Every line is quantity times rate; the lines add up to the subtotal; and then the order of operations matters:
In other words, the discount comes off first and the tax is charged on what is left. That is the normal treatment, because tax is generally due on the amount the customer actually pays rather than on a price you did not charge. Applying the tax before the discount would overstate the bill, so the tool never does it that way.
The tax label is free text on purpose — type VAT, GST, Sales tax, Service tax, or whatever your own paperwork calls it — and the rate is yours to enter. The tool has no opinion about which rate applies to you, because that depends on where you are, what you sell, where your customer is, and whether you are registered. Your tax authority’s guidance is the place to settle that, not a calculator.
Four things that genuinely get you paid faster
Chasing is the expensive part of invoicing. Almost all of it is avoidable, and none of these cost you anything.
- Invoice the moment the work is done. Payment terms run from the invoice date, so an invoice you send a fortnight late is a fortnight of your own money you chose to lend out. If it helps, invoice on delivery of each milestone rather than saving everything for the end.
- Make the payment method impossible to miss.Put the full bank details, or a payment link, in the “from” block or the notes — not in the covering email, which gets detached from the PDF the second it reaches the finance team. If a client pays by one specific method, name that method.
- Get the purchase order number before you start. In larger organisations the PO is the key that lets accounts payable match your invoice to an approved budget. Without it, the invoice is not late — it is invisible. Ask for it at the point the work is agreed, and put it in the PO field above.
- Agree the terms in writing before the work starts. Price, scope, currency, payment terms, and what happens if payment is late all belong in the email or contract that starts the job. An invoice is a request for money under terms already agreed; it is a poor place to introduce them for the first time.
One more small habit: send the invoice to the person who pays, not only to the person who hired you, and ask who that is early. A friendly, factual reminder a few days after the due date resolves the overwhelming majority of late payments, because most of them are administrative rather than deliberate.
What this tool deliberately does not do
This is a one-invoice-at-a-time document builder, and it is honest about its edges:
- It does not save anything. There is no account, no cloud storage, and no invoice history. Everything lives in the page while it is open; reload or close the tab and it is gone. Save the PDF before you leave.
- It does not upload anything. Nothing you type is sent anywhere — which is the flip side of the same coin, and the reason you can put bank details in it without thinking twice.
- There is no client database. Billing the same client next month means typing their details again. Keeping a copy of last month’s PDF makes that quicker.
- There are no recurring or scheduled invoices, no numbering that advances by itself, and no paid/unpaid tracking.
- It does not send or process payment. It does not email the invoice for you and it takes no card or bank payments — you download the PDF and send it yourself, and the money goes straight to whatever details you put on the page.
That is a fair trade for occasional invoicing, and a bad one past a certain point. Move to proper accounting or invoicing software when you are issuing more than a handful of invoices a month, when you need to see at a glance which are unpaid, when you bill the same clients on a repeating schedule, when you want automatic reminders or an embedded pay-now link, or when your tax filing needs your sales records in digital form — some countries now require exactly that of registered businesses, so check what your own authority expects. The point at which re-typing your client list stops being a two-minute job is usually the point at which the subscription pays for itself.
This page is general information about invoicing practice, not legal, accounting, or tax advice. Invoicing requirements, tax obligations, and late-payment rules depend on your country and your registration status — check with your tax authority or a qualified professional before relying on anything here.
Frequently asked questions
How do I create an invoice for free?
Fill in the form above: invoice number, dates, who it is from and to, one line per item of work with a quantity and a rate, then any tax, discount, payment terms, and notes. The preview beside the form is the finished invoice. Press Print or save as PDF and choose Save as PDF as the destination in your browser print dialog. There is no sign-up, no watermark, and no limit on how many you make.
Is my invoice saved anywhere?
No. Nothing is saved and nothing is uploaded. The invoice exists only in the page while the tab is open, so if you reload or close it before saving the PDF, your work is gone. That is a real limitation and also the privacy guarantee: your client list, rates, and bank details never leave your computer.
Do I have to be a registered company to send an invoice?
In many countries sole traders, freelancers, and individuals can invoice under their own name without forming a company, but the rules on registration, what the invoice must show, and how you report the income differ from place to place. Check your own authority before you assume — GOV.UK for the UK, the IRS or the Small Business Administration for the US — or ask an accountant. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Should I add tax to my invoice?
It depends on where you are, what you sell, where your customer is, and whether you are registered for VAT, GST, or sales tax. There is no universal answer and no universal rate, which is why the tool lets you set both the label and the percentage yourself and defaults to zero. Confirm what applies to you with your tax authority. Note that in this tool any discount comes off the subtotal first, and the tax is then calculated on the discounted amount.
What is the difference between an invoice, a receipt, and a quote?
A quote or estimate is an offer to do work at a stated price before it happens. An invoice is a request for payment for work already delivered or goods already supplied. A receipt is confirmation that the money has been paid. They are three different documents at three different moments, and calling one by another name is a common cause of confusion in accounts departments.
What should I do if a client does not pay on time?
Start with a polite factual reminder that restates the invoice number, the amount, the due date, and how to pay, sent to the person who actually handles payments. Most late payments are administrative rather than deliberate. If reminders fail, your options and any right to interest or compensation depend on your contract and your country, so check the guidance for your jurisdiction or take professional advice before escalating.