freelance invoice generator

Include your business name and contact information, the client’s company and billing contact, an invoice number, issue and due dates, clear deliverable descriptions (article titles and word counts, or the type of editorial pass), payment terms (e.g. Net 14), payment/bank transfer details, and a late fee clause. If the project runs in phases, list each as its own line item so the client can see exactly what they’re paying for.

Per-word suits article writing and manuscript-style editing. List the finished word count as the quantity and your rate per word (1,500 words at $0.25 = $375). Per-page is common for editorial work with a stable page definition. Hourly is safer when scope can shift or effort is hard to predict. Flat or per-project works best for defined deliverables like whitepapers, case studies, or SEO briefs. Set the unit type to “Deliverable” or “Flat fee” and enter the agreed total.

Most freelancers use Due on Receipt or Net 14 Days for one-off deliverables. For larger enterprise clients or agencies, Net 30 is common. For new clients or projects over $1,000, always require a 50% upfront deposit before starting work.

Yes. Hidden work is still work, and scope creep happens when extra deliverables aren’t line-itemed. Use the preset buttons to itemise SME interviews, research, review cycles, extra revision rounds beyond contract scope, CMS uploading in WordPress or Webflow, AI cleanup, and 48-hour rush premiums. On complex projects, roll that effort into the total project price instead.

Click the Upfront Deposit Credit preset to add a negative line item (e.g. -$400 for a 50% deposit received at kickoff). The generator subtracts it from your subtotal so the client only sees the remaining balance due.

Proofreading is usually the lightest pass, copy editing sits in the middle, and developmental editing usually deserves the highest rate because it involves deeper structural and content work.

Never bill raw AI editing at light proofreading rates ($0.02 to $0.03/word). Raw AI drafts require substantive structural rewrites. Professional editors charge at least $0.08 per word or an hourly rate for tone calibration and source auditing.

Use the AI fact-check & QA line-item preset to bill citation verification and hallucination audits as a distinct, high-value editorial service.

Specify the exact editorial pass (e.g. “Includes 1 substantive restructuring pass and 1 final polish pass”) on the invoice or in the terms. If they want another major revision after you’ve turned your work in, make it a separate line item.

Fractional work is a commitment, not a deliverable, so bill it as a recurring retainer rather than itemising every task. Use the Fractional retainer preset and state the commitment in the description, for example “Fractional Head of Content, 6 days per month, October.” Invoice on the same date each month, and set the scope boundary explicitly (which channels, which meetings, what turnaround) so anything beyond it can be added as a separate line item without renegotiating the retainer.

Bill per project for work with a defined output: an audit, a messaging framework, a quarterly editorial calendar. The client is buying the artefact and the thinking behind it, not your hours, and hourly billing on strategy work quietly penalises you for being fast. Keep hourly for open-ended advisory, review calls, and async feedback where scope genuinely can’t be pinned down. Many strategists run both: fixed-price deliverables plus a monthly advisory block.

Charge for it, and put it on the invoice as its own line. Discovery and workshops are billable work. They carry prep, facilitation, and written follow-up. Use the Strategy workshop preset and include the prep and recap time in the quantity, not just the hours in the room. If you run discovery free as a sales step, that’s a choice, but don’t let a paid engagement absorb it invisibly.

List the monthly retainer as its own line, then itemise anything outside it: extra post packages, short-form scripts, community management hours, and reports. Naming platforms in the description (“12 posts across Instagram and LinkedIn, October”) prevents the “what did I pay for?” email. Bill deliverables beyond the retainer with the per-post unit so the maths is visible.

As a passthrough line at cost, clearly separated from your fee. Use the “Ad spend passthrough” or “Music licensing” preset and label it billed at cost, no markup. Mixing spend into your management fee makes your rate look inflated and makes reconciliation painful for the client’s bookkeeper. If you do mark up spend, state the percentage in your terms instead of hiding it.

Per project for articles, newsletters, and LinkedIn packages: the client is buying outcomes in their voice, and per-word framing invites word-count haggling on work where fewer words are often better. Per word still makes sense for books and long manuscripts, where scope is measured in tens of thousands of words. Voice-capture interviews and extra revision rounds go on as their own lines either way.

Yes, one line prevents most disputes: state whether the client owns the deliverables outright on payment, or is licensed to use them while you retain authorship. Ghostwriting should say the byline and copyright transfer on full payment. The contract carries the detail, but repeating the rights position on the invoice ties the transfer to the money changing hands.

It swaps the preset buttons for the way your discipline actually bills. Writing gives you per-word articles, long-form guides, and SME interviews; editing gives you developmental edits, line editing, and AI content QA; social gives you post packages, management retainers, and ad spend passthrough; strategy gives you audits, workshops, and fractional retainers. Copywriting, ghostwriting, technical writing, and video each have their own set too. Switching work type only changes the presets on offer, so anything you have already typed stays where it is.

Yes, exactly. Both are rendered from the same underlying invoice data rather than being built separately, so the preview cannot show one thing and the downloaded file another. What you check on screen is what your client receives, including your logo, accent colour, line items, and totals.

Free, unlimited, and no signup. There is no account, no email wall, and no watermark on the PDF.

In your own browser, and nowhere else. Nothing you type is sent to a server, so your client names, rates, and payment details never leave your device. Your sender details, logo, and style choices are remembered locally so you do not retype them next time; clearing your browser data clears them too. That also means invoices do not sync between devices or browsers.

Yes. Upload a PNG, JPG, or WebP logo and it appears on both the preview and the PDF. For colour, pick one of the four presets or choose Custom and enter any hex code: it is applied to the header band, table header, total box, and the INVOICE badge. Bands are lightened automatically and label text flips between black and white as needed, so any colour you pick stays readable.

Hourly suits documentation tied to a moving product: API references and release-notes retainers, where engineering changes can invalidate finished work overnight. Per project works for bounded artefacts like a user guide, a docs audit, or a set of knowledge base articles against a fixed style guide. Whichever you choose, bill SME and engineer interviews as their own line, since access delays are the most common reason docs projects run long.