September 22, 2026
FreshBooks is built for freelancers and small businesses that invoice regularly and want time tracking, estimates, and client management alongside it — but it's a paid subscription after the trial ends, which is more than most people need for the occasional invoice.
FreshBooks' invoicing is polished and includes features like automatic late-payment reminders and online payment collection, which genuinely save time if invoicing is a regular part of how you run your business. That polish comes at a monthly cost once the free trial ends.
For a single invoice — a one-off job, a side project, an occasional client — paying for a subscription just to generate one PDF doesn't make sense. SMBkits' invoice generator produces the same kind of clean, professional invoice with no trial, no card on file, and no account to cancel later.
There's also a category of user this matters most for: someone searching for an online invoice maker for small business who isn't sure yet whether they'll need recurring invoicing at all — a new freelancer's first client, a side hustle's first sale. Starting with a free tool and only adopting paid software once the volume justifies it avoids paying for a subscription during the exact period cash flow is tightest.
The honest trade-off: you lose FreshBooks' payment collection, reminders, and saved client history. If those matter to your business, a paid tool earns its cost. If you just need to send invoices for free today, the free version does the one job you actually need.
| Feature | SMBkits | FreshBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Cost after trial | Free, always | Paid subscription |
| Online payment collection | Not included | Included |
| Time tracking & estimates | Not included | Included |
| Sign-up required | No | Yes, credit card for trial |
FreshBooks runs on monthly subscription plans that scale with the number of clients you bill, starting at a paid tier once the trial period ends — check freshbooks.com for current pricing.
The tool generates a downloadable PDF, which you then send however you'd normally reach your client — email attachment, messaging app, or print. It doesn't send or host the invoice for you.
Visually, yes — both produce a clean, itemized invoice with your branding details. What FreshBooks adds isn't invoice design, it's the surrounding workflow: reminders, tracked payment status, and a client history.