Invoice Simple vs Bonsai vs Quire: the van, the office and the desk

Every invoice tool will send an invoice. That is the boring part. The useful question is: what kind of freelancer were they built for? Because a tool built for someone else will cost you money every month and annoy you every week.

So here are three, each built for a different person: one who works from a van, one who runs an office, and one who sits at a desk with a few good clients. Prices are list prices as published in 2026; check before you buy.

The van: Invoice Simple

You finish the job, wipe your hands, and bill the client before you leave the driveway. Invoice Simple was made for that moment. It started as a phone app and still thinks like one: add a line, tap send, and your client can pay the invoice by card right there.

• Price: Essentials about $6.99/mo (around 3 invoices a month), Plus about $14.99 (around 10), Premium about $21.99 (unlimited).
• Best at: speed on a phone, estimates that turn into invoices, and letting your client pay the invoice by card (a processing fee comes off each payment).
• Not for: anyone who cares how the invoice looks. The templates are tidy and generic. No contracts.

The office: Bonsai

Bonsai isn't an invoice tool. It's a back office in a browser tab: proposals, contracts, a client portal, time tracking, expenses, and invoices your client can pay by card, or that charge their card automatically each month. A signed proposal becomes a contract, and the contract becomes invoices.

• Price: per user. The cheapest plan with invoicing is about $25/user/mo, Premium about $39. Short trial, no free plan.
• Best at: running retainers and a pipeline of clients from one place.
• Not for: someone who sends four invoices a month. That's paying for a cockpit to drive to the shops.

The desk: Quire

Full disclosure: we make this one. Quire is for the freelancer with one to four clients who wants the invoice to look as good as the work. Your client pays you directly, using the bank details, payment link or UPI QR code you put on the invoice, so no fee comes off. Open it, type on the left, and an exact A4 invoice sets itself on the right. No account, no card.

• Price: free for 5 invoices at a time. Pro $3.99/mo, Studio $6.99/mo.
• Invoices: 19 templates, your logo, any brand colour, dark paper. Any currency, tax lines, deposits, payment terms and a QR code to pay. The PDF is the preview, to the pixel: exact A4.
• Contracts: project, retainer, change order, and an NDA that's free. Press Bill from this and the contract becomes the invoice, deposit and all.
• Sending: a share link that carries the whole invoice inside it, so it's never uploaded. The due date goes straight into your client's calendar.
• Clients: a clients page showing what each one has paid and still owes. On Studio, saved clients, and read receipts that tell you the moment they open your invoice.
• Not for: clients who want to pay by card on the invoice itself, or automatic payment reminders. Quire doesn't do either yet. If you need them, pick one of the other two.

The whole thing on one page

So which one?

On a job site, billing from your phone? Invoice Simple.

Running a small studio with retainers, proposals and a team? Bonsai.

A few good clients, and you want the invoice to look like your work? Try Quire. It takes about a minute, and there's nothing to sign up for. If it's not for you, you've lost a minute.

New to this? Read how to write an invoice first, or see free invoice generators with no sign-up.