What is the cheapest invoicing tool for UK freelancers?

Zoho Invoice is free — up to 500 invoices a year and 2 users, with no time limit. Tide's free plan is also £0 a month but caps you at 3 invoices a month. If you need MTD tax filing as well, the cheapest paid options are Xero Simple at £7 a month (not VAT-registered, 10 invoices a month) and QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus at £10 a month.

Is FreeAgent really free?

Yes, but only if you hold a business account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle — then the full version is free for as long as you keep the account. Otherwise a sole trader pays £19 a month excluding VAT (£190 a year).

Which invoicing tools are MTD-compatible?

FreeAgent, Xero and QuickBooks are all MTD-compatible for Income Tax as well as VAT. Zoho Invoice on its own is not — it is invoicing only, and you need Zoho Books for MTD filing. Tide is banking plus invoicing, not an MTD filing tool.

How much does Xero cost in the UK in 2026?

After the price rise on 1 September 2026: Simple £7, Ignite £18, Grow £39, Comprehensive £55 and Ultimate £70 a month, all excluding VAT. Simple is for non-VAT-registered businesses and caps you at 10 invoices a month; Grow is the first plan with unlimited invoices.

Is QuickBooks Self-Employed still available?

QuickBooks now sells the plan as Sole Trader Plus at £10 a month excluding VAT. Simple Start, which adds VAT returns, is £16 a month excluding VAT (checked October 2026 — one November source listed £18, so confirm the current price before you buy).

Can I use Tide for invoicing if I bill lots of clients?

Only up to a point. Tide's Free, Smart and Pro plans all cap invoicing at 3 invoices a month; only Max at £69.99 a month makes it unlimited. If you bill more than three clients a month, use a dedicated invoicing tool instead.

Do I need accounting software if my turnover is under £50,000?

Not yet for Making Tax Digital — MTD for Income Tax starts at over £50,000 of qualifying income from 6 April 2026, then over £30,000 from April 2027 and over £20,000 from April 2028. But even below the threshold, software saves hours and prevents missed expenses, and a free tool like Zoho Invoice costs nothing to start with.

Best Invoicing Tools for Freelancers UK

TL;DR: If you only need invoices, Zoho Invoice is free (up to 500 invoices a year, 2 users). If you need full accounting and Making Tax Digital filing, FreeAgent is £19 a month ex VAT for sole traders — or free if you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle. Xero starts at £7 a month (Simple, not VAT-registered) and QuickBooks at £10 a month (Sole Trader Plus). All prices exclude VAT and were checked in October–November 2026 — confirm the current price before you buy.

We compared five real tools on four things that matter to a UK freelancer: what it costs, whether there is a genuinely free tier, whether it is MTD-compatible for Income Tax, and who it suits best. There are no affiliate links on this page and no tool paid to be here. Prices change often — every price below is dated, and where sources disagreed we say so instead of picking a number.

Comparison table

Tool	Price (ex VAT)	Free tier	MTD-compatible	Best for
FreeAgent	£19/mo sole trader (£190/yr); £27 partnership; £33 limited company	Free with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account	Yes — MTD for Income Tax, MTD VAT, Self Assessment filing	Sole traders who want one tool from invoice to tax return
Xero	Simple £7/mo; Ignite £18/mo; Grow £39/mo; Comprehensive £55/mo; Ultimate £70/mo (from 1 Sep 2026)	No free plan; 30-day free trial	Yes — MTD VAT and MTD for Income Tax	Freelancers who may grow into a small business with staff
QuickBooks	Sole Trader Plus £10/mo; Simple Start £16/mo; Essentials £38/mo (checked Oct 2026)	No free plan; introductory discounts for new customers	Yes — Sole Trader Plus is MTD-ready; VAT filing from Simple Start	Freelancers who want the best-known brand and mileage tracking
Zoho Invoice	£0 — free forever	Yes: free, up to 500 invoices a year, 2 users	No — invoicing only; Zoho Books (from £10/mo billed annually) does MTD	Freelancers with a few clients who only need invoices
Tide	£0/mo free plan; Smart £12.49/mo; Pro £27.49/mo; Max £69.99/mo	Yes: free business account with invoicing, 3 invoices a month	No — banking plus invoicing; use an accounting tool or add-on for MTD filing	Freelancers who want invoicing inside their bank app

FreeAgent — £19 a month, or free with the right bank

FreeAgent is built for UK sole traders and freelancers, and it shows: invoicing, expense tracking, bank feeds, payroll, VAT returns, Self Assessment filing and MTD for Income Tax are all in the one subscription. The price is set by business type, not by feature tier — a sole trader pays £19 a month excluding VAT (£190 a year), a partnership £27 and a limited company £33. There is a 50% discount for the first six months for new customers.

The detail that changes the maths: FreeAgent is free for life if you hold a business account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle. If you already bank with one of them, FreeAgent costs you nothing and there is no reason to pay for a rival. If you do not, £19 a month is mid-table — more than QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus, less than Xero Grow. Receipt scanning is capped at 10 a month unless you pay £5 extra for unlimited Smart Capture. Check the current price on FreeAgent’s own site before signing up.

Xero — from £7 a month, but watch the invoice caps

Xero replaced its old Starter, Standard and Premium plans in September 2024. The current UK line-up, after the price rise on 1 September 2026, is Simple at £7 a month, Ignite at £18, Grow at £39, Comprehensive at £55 and Ultimate at £70, all excluding VAT. Simple is for businesses that are not VAT-registered and is built for sole traders and landlords under MTD for Income Tax, but it caps you at 10 invoices and quotes a month. Ignite adds VAT returns but still caps you at 20 invoices and 10 bills a month, and payroll costs extra. Grow is the first plan with unlimited invoices.

Xero is the most powerful tool on this list and the most expensive once you need its full feature set — payroll, expenses and projects are add-ons or higher tiers. Choose it if you expect to grow: take on staff, invoice internationally (multi-currency is on Comprehensive and above), or hand the books to an accountant, because almost every UK accountant knows Xero. For a one-person freelancer sending a handful of invoices a month, Simple or Ignite is enough, and the caps are the thing to check before you commit.

QuickBooks — £10 a month for sole traders

QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus costs £10 a month excluding VAT and is designed for self-employed people who need basic accounting, MTD compliance and Self Assessment filing, with mileage tracking and invoicing included. Simple Start, at £16 a month excluding VAT, adds VAT returns to HMRC — you need Simple Start or above if you are VAT-registered. Essentials is £38 a month. All prices were checked in October 2026; Intuit discounts heavily for new customers (90% off for the first 6 to 12 months has been running), so the price you actually pay in year one is much lower, and the full price applies after that. One November 2026 source listed Simple Start at £18 rather than £16, so confirm the current price on QuickBooks’ own pricing page before you buy.

QuickBooks is the best-known accounting brand in the world, which matters if you ever hire a bookkeeper — they will already know it. The Sole Trader Plus plan is the cheapest paid route to MTD-ready accounting on this list after FreeAgent-via-a-bank. Its weakness is the same as Xero’s: the entry plan is deliberately limited, and the price climbs steeply as you add features.

Zoho Invoice — genuinely free, but invoicing only

Zoho Invoice is free forever, with no time limit and no credit card required. On the free tier you get up to 500 invoices a year, 2 users, quotes, time tracking, automated payment reminders, recurring invoices and a client portal, with UK VAT handling and multi-currency. That is the most generous free invoicing plan available to a UK freelancer, and for many people it is all they will ever need.

The catch is scope: Zoho Invoice sends invoices, it does not do your books or file your tax. It is not MTD-compatible on its own. If your turnover is over £50,000 and MTD applies to you from April 2026, you need Zoho Books alongside it — the free Books plan covers one user with a 1,000-invoice-a-year limit and includes VAT and Self Assessment filing, and paid Books plans start at about £10 a month billed annually. Choose Zoho Invoice if you have a few regular clients, send under 500 invoices a year, and either do your tax return separately or pair it with Zoho Books.

Tide — invoicing inside your bank account

Tide is different from the other four: it is a business bank account first, with invoicing built into the app. The free plan costs £0 a month and includes 3 invoices a month and 5 free bank transfers a month, after which each transfer in or out costs 20p. Paid plans are Smart at £12.49 a month, Pro at £27.49 and Max at £69.99 — but note that Free, Smart and Pro all cap invoicing at 3 a month, and only Max makes it unlimited. So if you bill more than three clients a month, Tide’s invoicing will not be enough on its own, whatever plan you are on.

Tide suits an invoicing-led freelancer with low payment volumes who wants to raise an invoice, send it and watch the payment land without opening a second app. It does not do MTD filing itself; for that you need an accounting tool or add-on (Tide’s own accounting add-on and its Xero connector cost extra). Deposits in new Tide accounts are FSCS-protected up to £120,000 via ClearBank.

How to choose

You only send invoices, under 500 a year: Zoho Invoice, free. Add Zoho Books free if MTD applies to you.
You bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle: FreeAgent, free. It is the full product, including MTD filing.
You want the cheapest paid MTD-ready tool: QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus at £10 a month, or Xero Simple at £7 if you are not VAT-registered and send 10 or fewer invoices a month.
You want invoicing inside your bank app: Tide free, as long as you bill three or fewer clients a month.
You plan to grow, hire, or invoice abroad: Xero Grow or above, and budget for the add-ons.

Whichever you pick, check two things before paying: that the plan you are buying is listed as MTD-compatible for Income Tax (not just for VAT — they are different things), and that the invoice cap, if there is one, covers the number of invoices you actually send in your busiest month. A tool that is £7 a month but caps you at 10 invoices is no bargain if you send 15.

Sources: FreeAgent pricing (freeagent.com, via reviews checked Nov 2026); Xero UK pricing and 1 Sep 2026 price notice (xero.com/uk, via multiple reviews checked Oct 2026); QuickBooks UK pricing (quickbooks.intuit.com/uk, via Startups.co.uk and Expert Market, checked Oct 2026); Zoho Invoice pricing (zoho.com/uk/invoice/pricing); Tide pricing (tide.co/pricing, via Business Expert, checked Oct–Nov 2026). Checked 13 November 2026.

Important: Everything on this site is general information for planning purposes only. It is not professional financial advice, not tax advice, and not a substitute for advice from a qualified adviser. Rates and thresholds are for the UK tax year 2026/27 (6 April 2026 – 5 April 2027) unless stated otherwise, and can change. Figures are estimates — your actual pay depends on your tax code, pension scheme, student loan plan and other deductions. Check the current figures on GOV.UK or speak to a qualified adviser before acting.