Compare · Alternative · Updated September 24, 2026
A Zoho Invoice Alternative: No Account, No Branding, Any Currency
Zoho Invoice is about the most generous free invoicing suite there is — recurring invoices, reminders, a client portal and payments, all for nothing — and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. It is for the person who does not need a suite: who wants an invoice PDF without opening a Zoho account, invoices clients in more than one currency, or would rather not carry a "Powered by Zoho Invoice" footer. It sets the two side by side, including everything Zoho does that Invoice to PDF does not. Every fact was checked on September 24, 2026 against Zoho's own pricing page, help center and app-store listings.
The short answer
- Switch to Invoice to PDF if you want the invoice, not the system: a PDF with no account, in any of 159 currencies, with your own footer — plus a free dashboard for clients and statuses when you do sign in.
- Stay with Zoho Invoice if you send recurring invoices, want automatic reminders and a client portal, take card payments through a gateway, or track expenses and time — Zoho does all of that for free, and Invoice to PDF does not do most of it yet.
Why people look for an alternative
The account comes first. Zoho Invoice is an application, not a form: before the first invoice you create a Zoho account — company name, email, a phone number that receives a verification code — and then set up an organization with its name, business location, address, currency, language and time zone. That is fine for a business that will live in it, and a lot of steps for one invoice.
One currency per organization. On the free plan you invoice only in your organization's base currency; Zoho's help center says multi-currency invoicing is a Zoho Billing feature, and that the base currency cannot be changed once transactions exist. You can have two organizations under one account, so two currencies at most.
The footer. Free invoices carry "Powered by Zoho Invoice" branding. Zoho's current help article says it cannot be removed and points to Zoho Billing; an older article, still online with a 2023 copyright, described a setting to switch it off, and the current preferences page no longer lists it.
The cap and the clock. The free plan allows 500 invoices a year, two users and three projects. Its pricing FAQ also says that an account inactive for more than 180 days has its data deleted within the following 20 days, after notice — a detail that matters if you invoice a few times a year.
What is not on this list: ads or data. Zoho shows no ads and says it never sells your information, and neither does Invoice to PDF. If that was your worry, both are safe choices.
Side by side
| Feature | Zoho Invoice | Invoice to PDF this site |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Full suite: quotes, recurring, reminders, portal, reports | Unlimited invoices and PDFs, no account |
| Cap on the free plan | 500 invoices a year, 2 users, 1 base currency | None |
| Account to make an invoice | Required: email, phone code, then organization setup | Not needed |
| Ads on the free version | None; free invoices carry a Powered by Zoho footer | None |
| Sending and reminders | Email, automatic reminders, recurring | 3 emails a month on Free (coming soon); unlimited with reminders in Pro (launching soon) |
| Online payments | Gateways at their rates (8 listed for the US); no Zoho fee | Pay Now coming: 1% on Free, 0% on Pro |
| Paid plans from | No paid plan; Zoho Billing from $39/mo billed yearly | $9.99/mo Pro (launching soon) |
| App | iOS, Android, Mac; Windows in beta | Web, works on phones |
What stays the same
Both are free with no trial clock and no card. Both produce a clean PDF with your logo, tax, a discount and the amount still due. Neither shows advertising, and both say in plain words that they do not sell your data — Zoho has run its business on that promise since 1996, and it deserves the credit.
What you would give up
This is the long list, and it should be. Zoho Invoice gives away for free what most tools charge for.
- Automation. Recurring invoices, automatic payment reminders and quotes that convert to invoices. On Invoice to PDF these are the Pro plan, which is launching soon.
- Getting paid inside the invoice. Zoho connects to ten-plus payment gateways worldwide (eight are listed for US organizations) — Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net and Braintree among them — and adds no fee of its own on top of the gateway's. Invoice to PDF's Pay Now is still to come.
- A client portal, expenses, time and reports. Clients see their invoices and pay in a portal; you log expenses and mileage, track projects and hours, and get around 30 reports. Invoice to PDF's free dashboard shows invoices, clients and statuses — no portal, expenses or time.
- Apps, an API and a phone line. iOS, Android and Mac apps plus a Windows app in beta, a REST API with a free allowance, and email and phone support on weekdays (Zoho advertises 24/5; its help pages list 9 AM to 9 PM ET). Invoice to PDF is a web page that works on a phone, with email support.
What you gain
- No account for the PDF. Open the page, fill in the sheet, download. No company name, no phone code, no organization setup — the first invoice takes about as long as typing it.
- Any currency, on any invoice. 159 currencies, chosen per invoice, formatted correctly — a client in euros today and one in dollars tomorrow, from the same sheet.
- Your footer, your labels. No "Powered by" line. Every label on the invoice is editable, so the same sheet becomes an estimate, a proforma or an invoice in your client's language.
- No cap, no clock — with one honest caveat. There is no yearly invoice limit and no inactivity rule. Without an account, though, your downloads stay on that device for 14 days; a free account keeps every invoice, with clients and paid, unpaid and overdue statuses.
- A head start on the line items. 26 industry presets fill in a trade's usual lines, and the calculators work out due dates, late fees and deposits.
| Feature | Zoho Invoice | Invoice to PDF this site |
|---|---|---|
| Documents you can make | Invoices, quotes that convert to invoices, recurring invoices; expenses, mileage and timesheets | Invoices; estimates, quotes, proformas and receipts by renaming the editable labels |
| Templates and design | A gallery of customizable templates; a "Powered by Zoho Invoice" footer that cannot be removed on the free plan | One clean sheet with your logo, editable labels and industry presets |
| Currencies and languages | One base currency per organization (two organizations per account); invoices in 10+ languages | 159 currencies; English interface, labels editable into any language |
| Where your invoices are kept | In your Zoho organization; US accounts sit in Zoho's Quincy and Dallas data centers; 180 days inactive and the data is deleted after notice | Drafts autosave in your browser; without an account downloads stay on that device for 14 days; a free account keeps them all |
| Card processing | Payment gateways — Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, Braintree among the eight listed for US organizations; Zoho adds no fee of its own | Not yet — Pay Now through your own Stripe is coming (1% on Free, 0% on Pro) |
| Who is behind it | Zoho Corporation — private, bootstrapped, founded 1996; Chennai, with US offices in Austin and Pleasanton; no ads, never sells data | A small independent team; online since August 2026; no ads |
| Public ratings | Capterra 4.7 (823 reviews); App Store 4.9 (15K), Google Play 4.8 (32K) | New in 2026 — too few public reviews to quote |
Make an invoice in any currency — free, no account — no signup, no watermark, and your PDF is ready in seconds.
About Zoho's own free generator
Zoho also has a no-account tool, its "Free Invoice Generator" page, and it is worth knowing what it is. You can fill in an invoice, pick one of three formats and download or print it without signing up. Its own FAQ lists what the tool cannot do: no discounts, no change of date format, no customization of the blank invoice; the preview carries a "Crafted with ease using Zoho Invoice" line, and the "Save online" button is the door into a Zoho account. It is a lead-in to the suite. Invoice to PDF's editor is the product — discounts, deposits, editable labels and all — and stays that way whether or not you ever sign in.
Switching
- Back up your Zoho data. Zoho's pricing FAQ mentions a data backup, and its help center has a Data Backup page under Settings; take it before the account goes quiet, and keep the PDFs you have sent.
- Continue the numbering. Type the next number on the sheet. Without an account, "Create another" continues from the number you typed; a free account numbers from INV-0001, and you can overtype the number on each invoice. Our guide to invoice numbers covers the formats.
- Enter your business details once. With a free account, your logo, address, default currency and payment terms appear on every new invoice, and clients are saved once and picked from a list.
- Keep the automation until you need it. If Zoho's reminders and recurring invoices are doing real work for you today, there is no rush: Invoice to PDF's Pro plan brings them, and its price is public.
If Invoice to PDF is not the right fit
If what you want is Zoho's kind of suite without Zoho — free bookkeeping and payments in one app — look at Wave. If you need a no-account PDF and can live with ads, Invoice-Generator.com. Both are covered, with their limits, in the comparison of seven invoicing tools.
Frequently asked questions
Is Zoho Invoice really free?
Yes — Zoho calls it forever free and there is no paid plan of Zoho Invoice itself. The free plan allows 500 invoices a year, two users, three projects and two organizations, invoices in one base currency, and carries Powered by Zoho Invoice branding. The upgrade path is Zoho Billing, from $39 a month billed yearly.
Can I use Zoho Invoice without an account?
The full application needs a Zoho account — email, a phone verification code and an organization setup. Zoho's separate Free Invoice Generator page lets you fill in and download an invoice without signing up, but its own FAQ says it has no discounts, no date-format choice and no customization, and its Save online button leads into a Zoho account.
Does Zoho Invoice support multiple currencies on the free plan?
No. Zoho's help center says you invoice only in your organization's base currency, that multi-currency invoicing is a Zoho Billing feature, and that the base currency cannot be changed once transactions exist. Invoice to PDF lets you pick any of 159 currencies on each invoice.
Can I remove the Powered by Zoho Invoice branding?
Zoho's current help article says the branding is part of the free product and cannot be removed, and points to Zoho Billing for invoices without it. An older article described a setting to switch it off, which the current preferences page no longer lists.
What happens to my Zoho Invoice data if I stop using it?
Zoho's pricing FAQ says that a user inactive for more than 180 days has their data deleted within the following 20 days, with notice first; logging in or taking a data backup keeps it. Zoho's general terms mention a 120-day rule for inactive unpaid accounts.
What does Zoho Invoice do that Invoice to PDF does not?
Quite a lot, for free: recurring invoices, automatic reminders, a client portal, payments through gateways such as Stripe, PayPal and Square with no Zoho fee, expenses and time tracking, around 30 reports, mobile and desktop apps, an API and weekday phone support. Invoice to PDF's automation arrives with its Pro plan; its free layer is the no-account generator, 159 currencies, editable labels and a dashboard for clients and statuses.
Prices and features were checked on September 24, 2026 on each product's own site, help center or app-store listing — and on Trustpilot, Capterra or the Internet Archive where those are named — and are quoted in US dollars at regular prices; introductory discounts come and go. Zoho Invoice is a trademark of its owner; Invoice to PDF is not affiliated with it. Spotted a change? Tell us and we will update the page.
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Create your invoice now — free — no signup, no watermark, and your PDF is ready in seconds.