Comparison
WaffleInvoice vs Invoice Ninja
Invoice Ninja is the long-standing open-source invoicing app. You can self-host it for free, or use their hosted cloud (Forever Free + paid Pro/Enterprise). It is feature-rich - projects, tasks, expenses, vendors, 40+ payment gateways - and very developer-friendly. WaffleInvoice is a hosted-only product focused on a tighter feature set: invoices, estimates, recurring, a client portal, SMS reminders. This page is for people choosing between a sprawling do-everything platform you can host yourself and a focused hosted SaaS.
Quick verdict
Who should pick which?
Pick WaffleInvoice if...
You want a hosted, focused invoicing tool with sensible defaults for a US service business. You do not want to self-host, manage upgrades, or wade through configuration to send your first invoice.
Pick Invoice Ninja if...
You want open-source, full control, self-hosting, or a deeply customisable platform. You want projects/tasks/expenses/vendors in one place, multi-language support, and a payment gateway list as long as your arm.
Why we built WaffleInvoice
We built WaffleInvoice for service operators who do not want to choose between a payment gateway, a server, a backup strategy, and an upgrade cadence just to send an invoice. Invoice Ninja is genuinely great for tinkerers, agencies that want white-labelled multi-tenant billing, and anyone who needs to self-host for data residency or cost reasons. If you want to send an invoice in five minutes and never think about hosting, the tradeoffs flip.
Try WaffleInvoice free — no credit card
See if it fits your workflow in under 5 minutes. Free tier is unlimited invoices, forever.
Create your free account →Side-by-side feature comparison
Where Invoice Ninja wins, we say so. Anything else would get penalized by Google and wouldn't help you make a real decision.
| Feature | WaffleInvoice | Invoice Ninja |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free forever (Pro $19/mo) | Forever Free (hosted, 20 client cap) / self-host free / Pro from $12/mo |
| Self-hosting option | No - hosted only | Yes - PHP/MySQL, full source on GitHub |
| Open-source license | No - proprietary | Yes - AAL |
| Branded invoices on free tier | Yes (no watermark) | Hosted free: Invoice Ninja branding present; self-host: full white label |
| Removing branding on hosted Invoice Ninja requires a paid plan. | ||
| Estimates / quotes | Yes - accept / decline | Yes - full quotes module |
| Recurring invoices | Yes (Pro) | Yes - included on free tier |
| Client portal | Yes - unified view of invoices + estimates | Yes - feature-rich client portal |
| SMS payment reminders | Yes - built in (Pro) | No native SMS |
| Payment gateways supported | Stripe Connect (primary) | 40+ gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.Net, GoCardless, Mollie, Square, BTC, etc.) |
| Projects + tasks + time tracking | No - we are invoicing-only | Yes - projects, tasks, kanban, time tracking |
| Expenses + vendors + purchase orders | No | Yes - expenses, vendor management, POs |
| Multi-language | English-first | 25+ languages |
| Multi-currency | Limited | Yes - extensive |
| Setup time for non-technical users | Sign up and send your first invoice in minutes | Hosted Forever Free is quick; self-host requires a server + PHP stack |
| UI / modern web stack | Vue 3 SPA - fast, modern | Flutter web + Laravel - feature-dense, heavier UI |
| Focused vs full ERP-lite | Focused - invoicing + payments + portal | Wide - invoicing, projects, expenses, vendors, recurring, tasks |
| Focused wins on speed-to-value; wide wins if you actually need the modules. | ||
| White-label for agencies | No | Yes - white-label add-on / self-host |
Pricing and feature info reflects each vendor's publicly listed plans as of May 2026. Invoice Ninja is a trademark of its respective owner. We are not affiliated with Invoice Ninja.
Try WaffleInvoice free — no credit card
Free tier is unlimited invoices. Pro is $19/mo and adds recurring billing, Stripe payments, SMS reminders, time tracking, and automation. Cancel any time.