The premise
Every review assumes you have a team. Seat pricing. Staff permissions. Approval flows.
None of it applies when the receptionist, the practitioner and the accounts department are the same person.
So we compare the only two things that decide your bill: what the subscription costs, and what each payment costs you on top. Both numbers, at your volume, with every figure linked to the vendor's own page. Where a vendor does not publish a figure we can verify, we say so rather than guess.
Where to start
Five of the seven invoicing tools we costed charge nothing a month. What separates them is the cut taken from each payment — 1% on a bank transfer, 3.3% on a card.
Three of the free plans are real and uncapped. One gives you a single event type and charges for the second. One has no free plan at all — only a seven-day trial.
The same $1,000 invoice costs between $5.00 and $58.30 to receive. Every route under 1% is a bank transfer; every route over 2.6% is a card. Nothing sits in between.
All thirty-one pieces are bound as a book you can open and turn, or as a plain list if you would rather not. Same thirty-one either way.
Put your invoice size and volume into the calculator and it prices eighteen routes against each other. Past $625 one of them stops charging you more; the rest never do.
Receiving $3,000 from abroad costs $13.74 through Wise and $174.30 on a card — 12.7 times the same work. The bank-transfer escape does not cross a border.
Comparisons
Wise vs Payoneer vs the card processors
We said twice that not costing Wise and Payoneer was the biggest hole on this site. This closes it. The same $3,000 from abroad costs $13.74 through Wise and $174.30 through Stripe Invoicing — 12.7 times.
Everything we have costed
Thirty-one pages, fourteen tools, every price read from the vendor’s own page and recomputed before publishing. What each tool costs, which free plans are real, and the six findings that matter more than any product choice.
Three Calendly alternatives that are actually free
Calendly’s free plan sells one thing; unlimited costs $120 a year. Cal.com, Setmore and Square Appointments all give more at $0 — and each holds back something different. Which one depends on whether money changes hands.
Four FreshBooks alternatives that cost nothing
FreshBooks Lite is $276 a year for a five-client cap. Invoice Ninja has the same cap at $0. Four free tools, what each one withholds, and the three cases where FreshBooks is still the right answer.
Wave vs Zoho Invoice
Both cost $0. Wave takes 2.9% + 60¢ when a client pays by card; Zoho takes 0% because it never touches the money. And Zoho gives away the automated reminders Wave sells for $190 a year.
What card processing actually costs
Twenty verified routes for receiving the same $1,000, from $5.00 to $58.30. At $25,000 the spread is 290 times. Every annual subscription on this site is worth fewer than eleven invoices of route difference.
Acuity vs Setmore
Acuity has no free plan and starts at $192 a year. Setmore takes deposits and card payments at $0. What Acuity’s price actually buys is intake forms and packages — not the ability to hold a deposit.
Square Appointments vs Setmore
Both free plans are unusually generous, about opposite things. Square gives unlimited bookings and staff but cannot charge a no-show without a $588-a-year plan. Setmore takes deposits at $0 and stops at 200 bookings.
What an overseas client actually costs you
The same $3,000 invoice costs $87.30 from a domestic client and up to $174.30 from an overseas one. Two surcharges do all of it, one is avoidable by writing a different currency on the invoice, and the bank-transfer escape hatch does not cross borders.
Stripe vs PayPal
Stripe advertises 2.9% and PayPal 3.49%, and PayPal is usually cheaper — because Stripe Invoicing adds 0.4%. Remove that one fee and Stripe wins everywhere, including $5 flat on a $25,000 bank transfer.
Zoho Invoice vs Invoice Ninja
Both are genuinely $0 and both take 0% of your money. Zoho caps how many invoices you may send and will not publish the number; Invoice Ninja caps you at five clients. Only one chases a late payer for free.
Setmore vs Calendly
Setmore’s free plan takes deposits and card payments across four users. Calendly’s gives you one event type. Each withholds one essential thing from its free plan — and they are not the same thing.
Cal.com vs Calendly
Calendly’s free plan gives you one event type. Cal.com’s gives you unlimited ones, multiple calendars and payment at booking — the exact set Calendly sells for $120 a year. The ranking reverses over $24 when branding enters it.
Is PayPal Invoicing actually free?
Yes — no monthly fee, no limit. But paying with PayPal costs 3.49% where a plain card costs 2.99%, and a bank transfer caps at $10. On one $5,000 invoice the spread inside PayPal alone is $10 to $249.99.
Is Stripe Invoicing actually free?
No. There is no monthly fee, but 0.4% of every paid invoice stacks on top of the 2.9% + 30¢. The real rate is 3.3% + 30¢ — identical to Square’s free plan — and 5.8% from an overseas client.
Is Cal.com actually free?
Yes — unlimited event types, unlimited calendars and Stripe/PayPal payments at $0. That is the exact feature set Calendly charges $120 a year for. One thing it withholds costs more to fix here than at Calendly.
Is Setmore actually free?
Yes — 200 appointments a month across four users, with deposits and card payments included. Acuity charges $192 a year for that machinery. The catch is not volume: the free plan cannot sync with the calendar you already keep.
Is Square Invoices actually free?
Yes — $0/mo, no client limit. But the same $5,000 costs $0, $50, $145.30 or $165.30 depending on which button your client presses, and Square shows the expensive one first.
Is Invoice Ninja actually free?
Yes, and it is the most generous free tier we have costed — recurring invoices, deposits and time tracking at $0. It keeps two things back: your invoice footer, and anything that chases a late payer.
Is FreshBooks actually free?
No — and the price on the pricing page is not the price either. It is 90% off for three months, so month four costs ten times month three. The meter is your client count: the sixth one costs $240 a year.
Is Zoho Invoice actually free?
The one that holds up. No plan fee, no cut of your money, and automated reminders included — a feature Wave charges $190 a year for. One catch: a limit Zoho won't publish.
Is Calendly actually free?
Free forever, unlimited meetings. But you get one kind of meeting — and the second one costs $120 a year.
Is SimplyBook.me actually free?
Fifty bookings a month for nothing, permanently. It also has to be renewed by hand every month — and three misses deletes the account, address and all.
Is Square Appointments actually free?
The $0 plan is unusually generous and really is free. It also cannot charge a no-show — which for a solo practitioner is the most expensive thing missing from any page here.
Is Wave actually free?
The $0 plan is real. The 60 cents on every card payment is what decides your bill — and the paid plan can never earn back what it costs.
SimplyBook.me vs Square Appointments
The two tools solo practitioners actually shortlist, settled on what each really costs at your volume, who owns the client, and which one you can leave.
FreshBooks vs Wave
One charges a subscription and counts your clients. The other is free and takes a cut of every payment. At $1,500 invoices the free one costs a thousand a year more.
Square Invoices vs Wave
Both cost nothing a month, and one charges 1% where the other charges 2.9% + 60¢. Which is cheaper is decided entirely by how your clients choose to pay.
Acuity vs Calendly
Calendly books meetings. Acuity books appointments. That sounds cosmetic and decides which one you will still be using in a year.
Best Invoicing Software for a Business of One
Which plans actually include invoicing, how per-client limits catch you out, and why the free ones are rarely the cheapest way to be paid.
Best Appointment Scheduling Software for Solo Practitioners
What each tool really charges, whether it collects payment before the chair is empty, and whether you keep the client afterwards.