Best automated invoicing software of 2023

Generating, sending, and managing invoices manually is a time-consuming and resource-heavy process. For that reason, businesses are turning to automated invoicing: a faster, more efficient, and more accurate way to process invoices, which can help streamline business processes, reduce costs, and eliminate human error.

In this article, we will cover what automated invoicing software is and share with you our picks for the 5 best automated invoicing software solutions of 2023.

What is automated invoicing software?

Automated invoicing is a core feature of recurring billing software that helps companies generate, send, and manage invoices. The software generates invoices in advance to be issued automatically to customers at a specified time and date.

The automated invoicing system charges the customer for goods or services they have purchased before confirming that the payment has been made. This enables companies to streamline the invoicing process, making it more efficient, accurate, and timely.

Key features of automated invoice processing software include:

• Invoice generation: Automated invoicing software automatically pulls in data such as customer information, product or service details, prices, taxes, and discounts, allowing users to automatically create invoices.
• Recurring invoices: For companies charging customers on a recurring basis — e.g. monthly subscriptions — the software can automatically generate and send invoices at specific intervals.
• Invoice delivery: An automated invoicing system can automatically deliver invoices to customers via various channels, such as email or through a customer portal, based on certain triggers or schedules.
• Payment reminders: The software can send automated reminders to customers about upcoming or overdue payments. This can help to reduce payment delays.
• Tracking and reporting: With an automated invoicing system, users can track the status of invoices — e.g. sent, viewed, paid, and overdue — and generate reports to analyze invoicing and payment trends.
• Integration: Many automated invoicing software solutions integrate with other systems, such as CRM systems, ERP systems, accounting software, and payment gateways, ensuring seamless data flow between different parts of the company.

By automating these and many other processes, automated invoicing software allows companies to save time, reduce human error, and improve cash flow by ensuring that invoices are sent and paid promptly. This makes automated invoicing software beneficial for any organization in need of a streamlined approach to invoicing.

Our picks: 5 best automated invoicing software solutions of 2023

1. Upodi

The world is moving from transactions between merchants and their customers to long lasting relationships. Upodi is a software solution designed to support this fast-growing change in buyer behavior and help companies optimize their subscription-based services.

Upodi offers two types of solutions: an automated recurring billing engine and a subscription management platform, both of which include automated invoicing software. With an API-first approach, Upodi enables smooth and secure integration with your existing technology stack while ensuring compliance with regulations. 

Key features of Upodi include:

• Automated invoicing: Upodi’s automated invoicing collects data such as customer information, product or service details, prices, discounts, and taxes, allowing you to create customizable invoices automatically to suit your needs. You can also raise invoices a pre-set number of days in advance of the subscription renewal date, allowing you to improve your planning and budgeting.
• Customizability and scalability: You do not have to change your workflows or build custom modules to accommodate Upodi. Upodi offers a flexible solution that can be customized to accommodate your needs. The solution is scalable, allowing you to change your pricing, run offer campaigns, conduct A/B testing, and much more — whether your subscriber count is 500 or 500,000+.
• Security and stability: One of the biggest challenges of automated billing is to provide stable billing without compromising the server. Upodi guarantees the stability of your automated invoicing and ensures that your billing happens at the right time.
• Payment and dunning management: Upodi connects with multiple Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and manages charge claims, reclaims, and failed payments, as well as communicating with customers to ensure that their subscriptions remain active.
• Integrations: Upodi integrates with your ERP system, ensuring the right invoice information is automatically synced correctly with your bookkeeping software. The software can also easily be integrated with other platforms and tools, such as CRM systems and Business Intelligence reporting tools to streamline your business processes.

Upodi pros:

Upodi offers a powerful invoice generation and billing engine that can handle high volumes of invoices, as well as an extremely customizable solution that allows you to build the invoice automation flow as you wish. Upodi also integrates with any payment service provider, ensuring that you can always offer your customers their preferred payment methods.

Upodi cons:

The platform offers a limited choice of native integrations and no customer self-service portal, meaning that customers cannot manage their own subscriptions or view their invoice history.

2. Zuora

Zuora is a cloud-based subscription management platform suitable for businesses of every size. One of the best-known subscription billing platforms, Zuora offers automated invoicing among a suite of features designed for subscription-based businesses.

The platform’s billing solutions help businesses monetize their innovations through flexible pricing strategies and simple, automated billing operations.

Key features of Zuora include:

• Automated invoicing: Zuora generates and sends customized invoices automatically. This way, the solution supports complex billing scenarios, including usage-based billing.
• Revenue recognition: The solution helps to automate revenue recognition and ensure compliance with accounting standards.
• Payment gateways integration: Zuora supports a variety of payment gateways and methods, which helps to streamline payment collections and reconciliations.
• Quoting and orders: Zuora provides tools for creating and managing quotes and orders, as well as integrations with CRM systems such as Salesforce.
• Analytics and reporting: The platform offers robust reporting and analytics features, enabling businesses to gain insights into subscription data, customer churn, retention, and revenue growth.
• Customer-centric approach: Zuora enables businesses to understand customer behavior and preferences through data, and to tailor their products and services accordingly.

Zuora pros:

Zuora is a comprehensive solution that offers a wide range of features to address the needs of subscription-based businesses. The solution also integrates well with third-party services — especially CRM systems — which enhances its many capabilities.

Zuora cons:

The extensive features and configurations in Zuora make it a complex solution that requires a steep learning curve. The solution’s many features also come with a hefty price tag, which can make Zuora too expensive for small businesses and startups.

3. Stripe Billing

A product offered by Stripe, Stripe Billing provides tools for subscription and billing management, including recurring payments, metered billing, and automated invoice generation.

Stripe Billing allows you to collect and retain more revenue, automate revenue management workflows, and accept payments globally. The solution is focused particularly towards small businesses and startups.

Key features of Stripe Billing include:

• Invoice generation and automation: Stripe Billing supports automated generation and sending of invoices. The solution allows you to bill customers on a fixed schedule, per usage, or using a combination of billing models.
• Payment processing: Stripe Billing integrates with Stripe’s payment processing capabilities. This allows you to accept a wide range of payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, and digital wallets.
• Dunning management: By automatically sending reminders to customers and retrying payments, Stripe Billing helps you manage failed payments.
• Customization: The platform allows for customization of invoices, including branding elements such as logos and custom messages.
• Global payments: Stripe Billing supports multiple currencies and international payment methods, which helps to facilitate global business operations.
• Integration: The solution can be integrated with other services and tools through APIs, as well as third-party integrations.

Stripe Billing pros:

Stripe Billing is known for its user-friendly interface and ease of setup, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes and particularly well suited for small businesses and startups. However, the solution is also scalable and can handle the billing needs of both small businesses and large enterprises.

Stripe Billing cons:

Stripe charges transaction fees, which can be costly for some businesses, depending on the volume of transactions. Some users have also noted that Stripe Billing may lack some of the advanced features offered by other similar platforms.

4. Oracle NetSuite

Oracle NetSuite is a comprehensive suite of cloud-based business management software applications that encompasses ERP, CRM, and e-commerce. NetSuite includes modules for financials, billing, and revenue recognition, all of which support automated invoicing.

NetSuite is an all-in-one business management solution that can help you streamline your operations and improve your overall efficiency and productivity.

Key features of Oracle Netsuite include:

• Billing and invoicing: NetSuite supports the automatic generation and sending of invoices. The solution can handle multiple billing scenarios such as recurring, one-time, usage-based, and milestone-based billing.
• Subscription management: For subscription-based businesses, NetSuite provides tools to manage customer lifecycles from acquisition to renewal.
• Financial management: The platform includes a full-featured financial management system that integrates with its automated invoicing capabilities, including accounts receivable, accounts payable, and general ledger.
• Revenue recognition: Netsuite supports automated revenue recognition. This feature is integrated with billing and can be based on various triggers such as sales completion, or specified dates.
• Dunning management: The platform helps manage outstanding payments with an automated, customizable dunning process.
• Integrations: NetSuite integrates with other systems and can be extended with third-party applications via SuiteApp.com.

Oracle NetSuite pros:

NetSuite is a comprehensive solution that provides a wide range of integrated business applications in one platform and is designed to scale with businesses as they grow. The platform can handle a variety of complex billing scenarios and supports customization to fit specific business needs. For many companies, these factors can help simplify processes and reduce the need for multiple separate systems.

Oracle NetSuite cons:

Because of its extensive range of features, NetSuite can be a complex solution to integrate and use. Users may therefore require training and potentially additional consulting support to become familiar with the solution. NetSuite can also be expensive — especially for small businesses. 

Automate your invoicing with Upodi

As your SaaS business experiences growth and scales up, you'll encounter two key dynamics: increased pressure on your tech stack and a heavier workload for your employees. Your need for faster, more efficient, and more accurate invoicing will increase, compelling you to explore new setups or solutions for handling your invoice processing.

At Upodi, our core expertise lies in subscriptions. Our product is exclusively dedicated to handling subscription management and recurring billing — and automated invoicing is a core feature of our service.

By choosing our solution, you gain a flexible automated invoicing system that can be customized to suit your needs. You don’t have to change your workflows to accommodate us, and you won’t have to deal with a cumbersome system that impedes efficiency and disrupts your existing setup.

We automate your invoicing, subscription management, and payment tracking work. With an API-first approach, we smoothly and securely integrate with your existing tech stack while ensuring compliance with regulations.

Handle your invoice processing with full confidence and flexibility. From generation to sending and managing, we help you automate your invoicing to streamline your business processes, reduce costs, and eliminate human error.

See how Upodi can help you optimize your invoicing, billing, and subscription efforts; start a free trial today: