Comparison
An Invoice Simple alternative that's free in the browser
Invoice Simple earned its user base fairly. Its iOS and Android apps are genuinely well built — you can create an invoice standing on a job site, photograph a receipt, capture a client signature, and send the whole thing before you get back in the van. For trades, mobile service businesses and anyone whose office is their phone, that is a real advantage, and no browser tool matches the ergonomics of a native app designed for one-handed use.
The friction shows up in the pricing model. Invoice Simple is subscription software with a limited free allowance — you can try it, but continued use past the free limit means an ongoing monthly or annual payment, and the app's paid tiers are what unlock unrestricted invoicing and branding. That is a normal and legitimate business model. It just isn't the right shape for everyone, particularly people who invoice occasionally, or who want the cost to end. Crossbill is the alternative for that group: unlimited invoices and quotes free in any browser, and a one-time unlock if you want the extras.
Create a compliant invoice free — no signup
Crossbill builds the correct tax fields and wording for your country in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Open the free invoice generator →What Invoice Simple does better
Say the true things first. Invoice Simple's mobile experience is the product's core strength and it is a good one. Creating an invoice on a phone in under a minute, with a saved client list, saved items and prices, and tap-to-send by email or text, is a workflow that suits field trades far better than typing into a browser form.
It also handles the things that come with mobile work: receipt photos attached to expenses, on-site signature capture for job sign-off, push notifications when a client opens your invoice, and payment links so someone can pay by card immediately. Your data syncs across devices, so an invoice raised on the phone is on the tablet when you get home.
If you invoice mostly from a phone, mostly at a customer's premises, Invoice Simple is a sound choice and switching to a browser tool would be a downgrade in convenience. Be honest with yourself about how you actually work before you move.
The subscription question
Invoice Simple's free use is limited — you get a small number of invoices to evaluate the product, after which continued use requires a paid plan billed monthly or annually. Exact allowances and prices change and differ between the app stores and the web version, so check Invoice Simple's own pricing page rather than relying on a comparison written elsewhere.
The structural point is that the cost never ends. For a busy trades business turning over steady work, a monthly fee against invoices you are actually sending is easy to justify. For a freelancer sending six invoices a year, a part-time consultant, or someone who bills only occasionally, paying every month for a document generator is poor value — and the moment you stop paying, you stop having the tool.
Crossbill inverts that. The free tier has no invoice limit and no quote limit: unlimited invoices, unlimited quotes, every jurisdiction preset, 25+ currencies, unlimited PDF export. The only constraints are a small "Made with Crossbill" line in the footer and a cap of three invoices saved locally. Crossbill Pro is A$29.99 once, for life — it removes the footer line, adds your logo and brand colour, unlocks premium templates and unlimited saved history, supports multiple company profiles, and adds JSON backup. There is no renewal because there is nothing to renew.
Where your invoice data actually lives
An app that syncs across your devices has to keep your data somewhere central, which means your client names, addresses, rates and revenue history sit on the provider's servers. Most people are fine with this and it is what makes sync and payment links possible.
Crossbill takes the opposite approach for the opposite benefit. There is no backend at all. It is a static site, and the invoice is assembled and rendered to PDF inside your browser tab. Nothing you type is transmitted anywhere. There is no account, no login, no analytics profile following you, and no database that could be breached, sold, or subpoenaed, because there isn't one.
The honest trade-off: without a server there is no cross-device sync, no push notification when a client opens the invoice, and no hosted payment link. Saved invoices live in that browser on that device, so download your PDFs and use Pro's JSON backup if you want a durable record.
Tax formats: presets instead of manual setup
Most simple invoice apps give you a tax rate field and leave the compliance thinking to you. That is fine if you already know what your jurisdiction requires on the face of an invoice — and a genuine trap if you don't.
Crossbill includes presets that configure the fields and wording for specific situations rather than making you research them: UK VAT for registered businesses and the distinct case of a non-registered sole trader; EU cross-border B2B reverse charge including the Article 196 reference; Australian GST for registered businesses and for sole traders under the threshold; Canadian GST/HST; US invoices generally and for 1099 contractor work; and German Kleinunternehmer status under §19 UStG, where VAT must not be charged and the invoice should state the basis.
Use these as a well-informed starting point, not a guarantee. Registration thresholds, rates and place-of-supply rules change, and international supply of services in particular has genuine complexity. If your situation is unusual, verify with an accountant or your national tax authority.
Choosing between them
Pick Invoice Simple if your invoicing happens on a phone, on site, often — if signature capture, receipt photos and instant payment links map onto your actual day, and a monthly fee against steady work is easy to absorb.
Pick Crossbill if you invoice from a computer, invoice irregularly, want the cost to be a single small payment rather than a recurring one, need a specific VAT or GST format produced correctly without configuring anything, or want your client data to stay on your own machine. Trying it costs nothing and requires no account: open the page, fill the form, download the PDF.
This page is general information and not tax or legal advice. Invoice content requirements vary by country and change; confirm your obligations with a qualified adviser.
A note on who builds Crossbill
Crossbill is made by one person. That is relevant context, not a marketing line — it explains both the strengths and the limits.
It is why the pricing works: a static site on Cloudflare Pages with no backend has almost no running cost, so a A$29.99 one-time unlock is sustainable in a way it wouldn't be for a company carrying servers, a support team and investor expectations. It is also why Crossbill doesn't try to compete on recurring billing, payment processing or native mobile apps — those need infrastructure and staff, and a solo project that pretended otherwise would do them badly.
What you get instead is a tool that does one thing carefully: producing a correct, professional, jurisdiction-appropriate invoice or quote without asking you for anything first.
Templates and tax presets are provided for convenience and are not tax or legal advice. Verify the correct fields, rates and wording for your situation before sending.