7 best invoice apps for small businesses in Ireland

Invoicing software has come a long way in Ireland. Not only do tradespeople, businesses and sole traders send digital invoices online (as opposed to snail mail) – many prefer to do it from a mobile app, which is what we will be looking at.

To complicate matters, invoice apps in Ireland are not always advertised as such. Apart from a few dedicated invoicing companies, you could be looking at apps from:

• Accounting systems
• Payment providers
• Digital business accounts

What’s more, some are only worth the price for high-turnover companies while others are free or worth the cost for cash-strapped sole traders.

We’ve tested and researched the most viable of these solutions, looking at the things that matter for small businesses. This includes payment options, features that get you paid faster, and features that make billing management easier on the go.

Compare the best invoice software in Ireland for a small business:

Payments are deposited in your bank account within 1-2 business days. After registering via the simple online form, Square performs identification checks to verify your business and bank account.

It can take a few business days for your bank account to link up, but invoices can be sent straight away.

On the paid plan, the app allows you to send estimates converting into invoices when the client accepts the quote. You can also set up recurring invoices, invoice tracking and deposit requests. If the client does not pay directly through the invoice link, you can mark it as paid with cash, gift card, bank transfer or other method.

Pricing

Monthly cost: €0 (Free plan), or €20 + VAT (Plus plan)

2.5% + VAT per card transaction

The invoicing feature is accessed via a “Request money” button in the Business app dashboard on your iPhone or Android smartphone. The menu gives you a choice between sending a payment link, generating a QR code, creating a payment page to share online, or sending an email invoice.

When you choose ‘invoice’, a user-friendly screen lets you create one. You can add a customer, email message, currency, items, costs and an invoice note. Invoices can recur on a schedule or be sent as a one-off, with or without automatic reminders to pay.

We really like the fact you have full control over which payment methods the customer can use. This includes card payments (Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay), Revolut Pay (from other Revolut accounts), and ordinary or streamlined bank transfers where the payer doesn’t need to manually enter account details.

Pricing

Monthly cost: €0-€100 for business account

EEA consumer cards, bank transfers, Revolut Pay: 1% + €0.20 per transaction

All commercial and non-EEA (incl. UK) cards: 2.8% + €0.20 per transaction

The easy bank transfer option lets the payer pick their bank from a list and verify the payment via their banking app, which is simpler than manually entering account details.

“It was very easy for me to create invoices in the Revolut Business app. The fact you can choose different currencies is great for those offering services across borders.”

– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, MobileTransaction

Transaction fees are low for Irish and EEA consumer cards and bank transfers, while all other cards (including British) cost more. The free Business account plan makes Revolut great value, particularly if you need a multi-currency business account to save money on cross-border transfers.

Just beware that all of the payment features are only available with a Merchant Account requiring a separate application after getting the Business Account. Once approved, you receive payouts the next day in the Revolut account.

Integrated payments: Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Revolut Pay, bank transfer

Best for: Revolut Business account users whose clients like a choice between card and bank payments.

SumUp has no contract terms, and there’s no monthly fee for standard-template invoicing, just a pay-as-you-go rate of 1.69% per card transaction. Upgrading to the Pro plan gives you invoice customisations, bank transfers to any bank account, and 14 invoice languages. Crucially, the transaction rate drops to 0.99% for all cards on Pro.

It’s easy to get started: just sign up on the website, connect your bank account and start invoicing clients from the SumUp App or browser dashboard.

SumUp App is actually a payment and simple point of sale (POS) app. It has a product library, transactions overview and checkout interface for accepting cards, cash, QR code payments, keyed transactions and payment links.

In another section of the app, you can create, manage and monitor invoices and quotations with your own terms and conditions attached.

Pricing

Monthly fee: €0 (Free plan) or €8 + VAT/month (Pro plan)

Transaction fee: 1.69% (Free plan), 0.99% (Pro plan)

There is no limit on how many email invoices you can send, and items from your library of products and customers can be added. If you log into your SumUp account on a computer, you can create credit notes and delivery notes as well, neither of which are available in the app.

“As a popular payment solution in Ireland, I recommend SumUp for invoicing too. I find the app very simple, and the invoices look professional with the perk of a very low card rate on the Pro plan.”

– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, MobileTransaction

Payouts take 1-3 working days to reach your bank account. With the free SumUp Business Account and Card (online account and prepaid debit card), you can receive transactions the next day, including weekends.

Integrated payments: SumUp (Visa, V Pay, Mastercard, Maestro, American Express, Discover), bank transfers

Best for: Selection of free payment methods, not just invoices, from the same app.

Invoice2go has three plans that can be paid upfront monthly or annually (which would be cheapest per month). The cheapest subscription, Starter, includes 30 invoices for the whole year on an annual plan (€4.17 + VAT/month) or 2 invoices per month on the monthly plan (€4.99 + VAT/month).

“The complicated limits on how many invoices you can send on each plan make Invoice2go less attractive to me. This is a solution that could be simpler and with fewer app issues.”

– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, MobileTransaction

The annual Professional plan (€5.83 + VAT/month) includes 100 invoices annually. The same plan paid monthly (€6.99 + VAT/month) allows for 5 invoices per month. If you noticed, annual plans come with more invoices when calculated per month.

Premium (€32.99 + VAT monthly or €329.99 + VAT annually) includes unlimited invoices.

All the subscriptions allow you to have unlimited clients, team members and projects, and send unlimited estimates. The system integrates with Stripe for card processing, taking around 7 calendar days to reach your bank account – quite slow!

Higher plans get lower transaction fees through Stripe. You can expect additional fees for cross-border payments and currency exchanges both through Stripe and PayPal.

Pricing

Monthly fee: €4.17-€27.50/month for annual plan, €4.99-€32.99/month for monthly plan (excl. VAT)

Card payments (Stripe): 1.9%-2.4% + €0.25 for domestic cards and Amex, 3.4%-3.9% + €0.25 for foreign cards

PayPal transactions: From 3.4% + €0.35 (standard rate)

On the plus side, Invoice2go specialises in invoicing rather than the general accounting tools that QuickBooks and Xero offer along with invoicing. But many users have said the app is cumbersome, that features and saved data may disappear, and that the price is too high for an increasingly problematic user experience.

Integrated payments: PayPal, Stripe (Visa, Mastercard, American Express)

Best for: Those who don’t mind paying more for a reputable, dedicated invoice app.

Considering how old the company is (founded in 1981), the invoice app is surprisingly modern, although you do have to pay a monthly fee that covers accounting as well as invoicing features.

The lowest monthly cost is €14 + VAT for the Accounting Start subscription that’s suitable for one user. With this, you can send and track sales invoices, create VAT returns and link bank transactions with your accounting records.

The next step up is the Accounting subscription for €29 + VAT monthly, which can have unlimited users. It sends and manages quotes, estimates and purchase invoices, can pull data from uploaded paper invoices and receipts, and handles multiple currencies. Of course it also has more accounting features.

Pricing

Monthly fee: €14 + VAT (Accounting Start plan, single user), €29 + VAT (Accounting plan, unlimited users)

Stripe card payments: 1.5%-1.9% + €0.25 for EEA cards, 2.5% + €0.25 for UK cards, 3.25% + €0.25 for international cards, 2% currency conversion

You can connect the digital invoices with Stripe to accept cards online. It would then be Stripe charging transaction fees separately, rather than Sage handling that.

“Sage doesn’t overwhelm with too many features, like Xero might do for individual entrepreneurs. But you have to pay for the higher subscription to benefit from all the invoicing features.”

– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, MobileTransaction

The Sage Accounting app looks attractive and easy to use, but isn’t updated as often as most other invoice apps in this article. We are therefore a little cautious about rating Sage higher, since a good mobile experience is dependent on regular updates to quash bugs and optimise the user flow.

We should also highlight that the monthly cost makes this better for tradespeople who are definitely going to use Sage for accounting too. You can get cheaper, equally good invoicing tools for a lower cost elsewhere if that’s all you need.

Integrated payments: Stripe (Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay)

Best for: Tradespeople, sole traders and startups who want an all-in-one system for invoicing and accounting.

To use the app and online account for payment acceptance, you sign up online for a PayPal Business account. If you already have a personal account, this can be converted into a Business account, which adds online payment tools to the browser dashboard.

Having personally used PayPal Business to send invoices, we can confirm it’s easy to customise and manage them. Clients will be eased with the familiar brand of PayPal, and the merchant can keep funds in their online business account along with other PayPal transactions received online.

Quotations can be sent and turned into invoices when accepted, and payment reminders are easily sent from the app if the client hasn’t paid.

Pricing

Monthly cost: None

Transaction fees: 3.4% + €0.35, plus 0.5%-2% for non-Irish cards, plus 3% for currency conversion

Many merchants use PayPal for online payments because of its brand recognition/trust, Seller Protection, reliable app and – importantly – lack of monthly fee. These are good aspects, but the transaction fee is high (3.4% + €0.35) and eye-watering if a client pays with a foreign card for an extra 0.5% 0r 2% fee depending on the country of issue.

“Many of my clients have preferred PayPal invoices because they’re convenient, but I don’t like the high transaction fees, especially with international clients and currency exchanges.”

– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, MobileTransaction

As standard, you can choose to charge clients in many currencies, making it suitable for cross-border business – if you can afford the additional 3% cost of currency conversion. Other fees may be added depending on the type of transaction.

And beware: if you ever need customer support, it can be very difficult to get any helpful answers from PayPal.

Integrated payments: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal

Best for: Merchants already using PayPal for ecommerce.

The cheapest plan, Starter (USD $29/month), lets you send quotes and up to 20 invoices per month from the app, and enter 5 bills monthly. The higher plans, Standard (USD $46/month) and Premium (USD $62/month) give you unlimited invoices, quotes and bills.

Regardless of the plan, you get accounting reports, Hubdoc receipt capture and reconciliation of bank transactions. The Standard plan reconciles transactions in bulk, while Premium also works in multiple currencies.

You can add a button to invoices for accepting card payments via Stripe and bank account-to-account payments via GoCardless.

Pricing

Monthly fee: USD $29-$62 + VAT

Stripe card payments: 1.5%-1.9% + €0.25 for EEA cards, 2.5% + €0.25 for UK cards, 3.25% + €0.25 for international cards, 2% currency conversion

GoCardless direct debits: 1%-1.25% + €0.20 (domestic), 2%-2.25% + €0.20 (international)

Rather than paying transaction fees to Xero, each accepted card payment or direct debit transfer incurs a cost via Stripe or GoCardless. It’s possible to add a payment button on invoices that’s handled by another card processor – Xero is flexible like that.

“Xero caters to a lot of businesses, so it might be the best choice for small businesses with accountants who prefer it. We like it for its versatility, but it’s not worth the price if you’re just looking for invoicing.”

– Emily Sorensen, Senior Editor, MobileTransaction

The system reportedly has a steep learning curve that some only find worth the time if they use it for a larger company. But the interface has improved over the years, and it is generally a solid system for keeping the books in order.

Integrated payments: Stripe (Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay), GoCardless bank transfers

Best for: Xero users who’d like their invoices integrated with bookkeeping.