A Square Invoices alternative is invoicing software that works the same way whichever payment processor your clients use, and that adds what Square’s free invoicing tool leaves out: multi-currency invoicing, expense tracking, and real control over how an invoice looks.
Square Invoices makes obvious sense if you already take card payments through Square. It costs nothing to switch on, and it sits in the same dashboard as the reader on your counter. That convenience is real. It starts to work against you at the point where invoicing stops being an extension of the till and becomes the way the business actually bills.
What Square Invoices does well
Free to start, with the fee structure doing the work
Square’s free plan costs nothing to sign up for. Card processing runs at 2.6% plus 15 cents for tap, dip or swipe, and 3.3% plus 30 cents for invoices paid online. The paid tiers buy a lower rate rather than a different product: Square Plus at $49 a month brings online processing to 2.9% plus 30 cents, and Square Premium at $149 a month adds 24/7 phone support (GetApp’s Square Invoices pricing, corroborated by Capterra).
For a business sending a handful of invoices between counter sales, that is a sensible arrangement. Nothing to cancel, nothing to justify in a quiet month.
It plugs straight into the rest of Square
Square Invoices runs off the same account as the card readers, the point of sale and Square Appointments, so a business already taking payments through Square can raise an invoice without leaving the dashboard. Recurring invoices and estimates are included on every tier rather than gated behind a paid plan (Capterra’s Square Invoices pricing breakdown).
That is a genuine advantage, and it is the thing any alternative has to be weighed against rather than pretend away.
See what invoicing looks like outside one ecosystem
Billbooks is built around invoicing rather than attached to a card reader. Start a free 30-day trial, no credit card required.
Where Square Invoices stops short
There is no multi-currency support
Reviewers are direct about this one: Merchant Maverick lists no multicurrency support as a con of Square Invoices (Merchant Maverick’s Square Invoices review).
This is a gap that stays invisible until precisely the moment it is not. One client in another country, one contract quoted in euros, and you are either absorbing the conversion yourself or explaining to a customer why the figure on your invoice is not the figure they agreed to.
Expense tracking is not part of the product
Square Invoices is built around sending a bill and collecting on it, not around what the job cost to deliver. Merchant Maverick lists expense tracking as unavailable, and it does not appear as a feature on Software Advice’s listing either.
So you can see what came in. You cannot see, in the same place, what went out to earn it. Revenue without cost is half a picture, and the missing half is the one that tells you whether a client is worth keeping.
Customisation stays limited unless you pay more
Merchant Maverick notes limited invoice templates and customisation, with more options held behind the paid tiers. A Capterra reviewer put it more plainly, saying their invoices do not look quite as nice as some of the other invoices they send (Capterra’s Square Invoices reviews).
Worth counting the impressions before dismissing that as vanity. A monthly retainer client receives twelve of your invoices a year, and each one is a small statement about whose business is doing the asking.
Every paid invoice carries a fee, on top of any subscription
On Square Plus or Premium you are paying a flat monthly fee and a percentage of every card payment. ACH bank transfers are capped at $10 on Plus and above, which helps on large invoices, but card payments keep their own cut regardless of what the subscription already cost you.
The structural point is not that the rates are unreasonable. It is that your software bill and your payment volume are the same number, so a good month costs you more to invoice than a quiet one. We have covered how that compares across providers in our guide to invoicing software with the lowest fees, so this article stays on the functionality side.
What to look for in a Square Invoices alternative
Pricing that does not move with your payment volume
A flat subscription means next month’s software cost is knowable today, and does not scale with how many clients paid you or how they chose to pay.
Multi-currency invoicing as a setting, not a workaround
If even one client pays in another currency, you want that handled in the software rather than in a spreadsheet and a conversation.
Expense tracking beside your invoices
What a job earned and what it cost, in one view, while the work is live rather than reconstructed from a bank statement two quarters later.
Freedom to choose your own payment gateway
Software that connects to a gateway of your choosing, rather than requiring one processor’s ecosystem, keeps a rate change from becoming a migration.
How Billbooks compares
Billbooks runs on flat monthly pricing per organisation: Basic at $7.95 a month, Standard at $14.95 and Professional at $29.95, each with a 30-day free trial that does not ask for a card. Every paid plan carries unlimited invoices and estimates, unlimited expenses and the complete feature set. The higher tiers add users, clients and projects rather than unlocking functions (Billbooks pricing).
That answers the four gaps above fairly directly. Multi-currency invoicing is a built-in setting rather than an omission. Expenses sit alongside invoices, with recurring expenses and a filterable report, so cost and revenue live in one view. Invoices carry your own branding on every plan rather than the better templates being a reason to upgrade. And Billbooks does not add a transaction fee of its own on top of whichever gateway you connect, so your software cost and your payment volume stay separate numbers.
The honest comparison: if your invoicing is genuinely an extension of a Square counter, and everything is in one currency, Square Invoices is a reasonable answer and the free tier is hard to argue with. If invoicing is how the business bills, the question stops being what this costs to start and becomes what it costs at volume. Our Billbooks versus Square Invoices comparison puts the two side by side feature by feature.
Your software bill should not grow with your good months
Flat monthly pricing, multi-currency built in, expenses tracked beside your invoices. Compare plans and start free.
Two free tools to work out what card payments actually cost you, and to send an invoice today without signing up for anything:
Frequently asked questions
Is Square Invoices actually free?
The free plan costs nothing to sign up for, and there is no monthly software fee on it. You still pay card processing on every invoice a client pays, at 2.6% plus 15 cents in person and 3.3% plus 30 cents online, so the cost arrives per payment rather than per month.
Does Square Invoices support multiple currencies?
No. Merchant Maverick’s review lists the absence of multicurrency support as a specific limitation of the product. If a client pays in a currency other than your account currency, that has to be handled outside the software.
Does Square Invoices track business expenses?
Expense tracking is not listed as a feature in independent reviews of Square Invoices, which cover invoicing and payment collection rather than spend tracking. Merchant Maverick lists it as unavailable.
Do I have to use Square’s payment processing to use Square Invoices?
Square Invoices is built around Square’s own payment ecosystem, including its card readers and point-of-sale tools, so the product is designed for businesses already processing payments through Square rather than for connecting a gateway of your own.
What does a Square Invoices alternative need to fix?
Four things come up repeatedly in reviews: per-transaction fees that scale with revenue, no multi-currency support, no expense tracking, and invoice customisation that stays limited outside the paid tiers.
Is Billbooks cheaper than Square Invoices?
They price differently, so it depends on volume. Square has no software fee on its free tier and charges per transaction; Billbooks charges a flat monthly fee per organisation from $7.95 with a 30-day free trial and no card required. At low volume Square’s model can cost less; as payment volume grows, a flat fee stops scaling with the size of the invoices you send.
