Free invoice generator

How the invoice generator works

Fill in the form and the invoice preview updates as you type. When it looks right, press "Download PDF". The button opens your browser's print dialog with a print stylesheet that hides everything except the invoice, so you can choose "Save as PDF" as the destination. The PDF has no COLO logo, no watermark and no footer advert. It is your document.

Nothing you type is sent anywhere. The page does the arithmetic in your browser and never uploads the invoice, your client's name or your bank details. If you tick "Remember my details on this device", only the "Your details" block is saved, in this browser's local storage, so next month's invoice starts with your name, address and tax number already filled in. Clients, line items and amounts are never stored. Untick the box, or press "Forget saved details", to remove the saved copy.

"Copy as text" puts a plain-text version of the invoice on your clipboard. Paste it into an email or a chat message when the client only needs the figures, or keep it as a record next to the PDF.

The formula behind the totals

Every total on the invoice comes from five steps. The order matters, because tax is charged on the price after any discount:

Each figure is rounded once to the smallest unit of the currency. That is cents for USD, EUR, SAR and AED, and fils for the Bahraini dinar, Omani rial and Kuwaiti dinar, which have three decimals. Because the total is built from the rounded discount and the rounded tax, the lines on the printed invoice always add up to the total due. A client checking your maths with a calculator will get the same number you did.

Worked example

A designer bills 12 hours of design at $85 and a $150 licence fee. They give the client a 10% returning-customer discount and charge 15% VAT.

If the discount had been applied after VAT instead, the total would be $1,210.95 either way, but the VAT line would read $175.50 and overstate the tax you owe by $17.55. That is why the generator always discounts first.

What a professional invoice should include

Requirements differ by country, but the invoices that get paid fastest have the same few things on them:

• A unique, sequential invoice number. "INV-0042" after "INV-0041", never two invoices with the same number.
• Your legal or trading name, contact email and address, and your tax or VAT registration number if you have one.
• The client's legal name and billing address. Use the entity named in the contract, not the person you emailed.
• An invoice date and a due date, plus the payment terms in words, such as "Net 30".
• One line per deliverable or block of time, with quantity, rate and amount, so nothing needs explaining on a call.
• The tax rate and tax amount shown separately, not hidden inside the line prices.
• How to pay: bank details, a payment link, or both. Put these in the notes field.

If you need a fuller layout, with a logo area, a remittance slip or a timesheet, start from the freelance invoice template or the hourly invoice template . For clients abroad, the multi-currency invoice template shows how to state the currency and the exchange basis.

Common invoicing mistakes

1. Reusing or skipping invoice numbers. Gaps and duplicates are the first thing an accountant or tax auditor asks about.
2. Taxing the discount. Discount first, then tax, as in the formula above.
3. No due date. "Payment on receipt" with no date gives a busy client nothing to schedule against. Net 14 or Net 30 with an actual date gets paid sooner.
4. Billing the wrong entity. Large clients route invoices by legal name and purchase-order number. An invoice made out to a person's name can sit unpaid in a shared inbox.
5. Mixing currencies. Invoice in one currency per invoice, and say which one. Exchange-rate questions are a common reason payments stall.
6. Forgetting the payment details. If the client has to email you for your bank details, you have added at least a day.

Our guide to getting paid as a freelancer covers deposits, late-payment clauses and reminder schedules in more depth. If you are not sure what to charge in the first place, the freelance pricing guide and our freelance rate calculator will help.

When a one-off generator stops being enough

A free generator suits a handful of invoices a month. Once you are sending recurring invoices, chasing overdue ones or taking card payments, keeping track in PDFs and a spreadsheet gets error-prone. COLO invoicing and payments issues each invoice from the project and client it belongs to, handles recurring invoices for retainers, and lets clients pay by card from their portal. COLO finance then shows what is paid, what is outstanding and what is overdue, without a spreadsheet.