Top 10 Best Free Contractor Estimate And Invoice Software of 2026

Wave is a completely free accounting platform tailored for small businesses, freelancers, and contractors, offering unlimited professional invoicing, estimate creation, expense tracking, and receipt scanning. It allows users to generate customizable estimates that seamlessly convert to invoices, send them via email or shareable links, and track payments in real-time. The software also includes basic accounting tools like income/expense reports and bank reconciliation, all accessible via web or mobile app without any core feature limitations.

Zoho Invoice is a cloud-based invoicing platform designed for freelancers, contractors, and small businesses to create, send, and track professional estimates and invoices. It includes time tracking, project management, client portals, and integration with payment gateways for seamless billing. The free plan provides robust features without invoice limits, making it a top choice for cost-conscious users managing contractor workflows.

Invoice Ninja is an open-source invoicing and estimation platform tailored for freelancers, contractors, and small businesses, allowing users to create professional invoices, quotes, and estimates with ease. The free self-hosted version provides core features like client management, payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal), time tracking, expense logging, and automated recurring billing. It excels in converting estimates directly into invoices and supports multi-company setups for scalability.

ZipBooks is a cloud-based accounting platform offering a robust free plan for contractors, focusing on unlimited estimates, invoices, time tracking, and basic bookkeeping. It automates transaction categorization and provides profitability insights per client or project, with customizable templates for professional-looking documents. Ideal for small businesses, it scales with paid upgrades for advanced features like project management and integrations.

Square Invoices is a free tool from Square that enables contractors to create professional estimates, convert them to invoices, and accept payments online without monthly fees. It offers customizable templates, automated reminders, recurring billing, and real-time tracking of invoice status. Integrated payment processing supports cards, ACH, and digital wallets, making it simple for small businesses to get paid faster.

Crater is a free, open-source invoicing and accounting software tailored for freelancers, contractors, and small businesses to create estimates, send invoices, track payments, manage expenses, and handle taxes. It offers a self-hosted solution via a web-based dashboard, ensuring full data ownership without usage limits or subscription fees. Users can customize templates, automate recurring invoices, and generate reports for efficient financial management.

Akaunting is a free, open-source, self-hosted accounting software tailored for small businesses, freelancers, and contractors, providing tools for creating professional estimates, invoices, and managing financial transactions. It supports converting quotes to invoices seamlessly, tracking expenses, payments, and generating reports, all while offering multi-currency and multi-company capabilities. Ideal for those prioritizing data ownership, it runs on your own server without recurring fees.

Odoo is an open-source ERP platform with dedicated modules for sales, quoting, and invoicing, enabling contractors to create professional estimates, convert them to sales orders, and generate invoices seamlessly. The free Community edition offers core functionality for estimate creation, time tracking, and payment processing, integrated with CRM and project management tools. It's highly modular, allowing users to add features as needed without initial costs, though it shines in scalability for growing businesses.

Dolibarr is a free, open-source ERP and CRM software suite designed for small businesses, offering robust tools for creating estimates, proposals, invoices, and managing customer relationships. It excels in converting proposals directly into invoices and tracking payments, with support for products, services, and inventory. Highly modular, users can enable only the features needed, making it versatile for contractors handling estimates and billing without ongoing costs.

ERPNext is a free, open-source ERP platform that provides comprehensive tools for contractors to create detailed quotations (estimates), convert them to sales orders, and generate invoices with automated accounting integration. It supports project management, time tracking, and multi-currency transactions, making it suitable for scaling businesses. While powerful for end-to-end operations, it extends far beyond basic estimating and invoicing into full business management.