The price anchor
| Billcraft | FreshBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 — no subscription | $19/mo |
| Annual | $0 after purchase | $228 |
| 5-year total | $99 | $1,140 |
| 10-year total | $99 | $2,280 |
Subscription figures from the vendor's published pricing ($19/mo, ~$228/yr); the Billcraft column is the full price, paid once.
Break-even analysis
Six months of FreshBooks pays for Billcraft outright. Everything after that is free, forever.
- After 1 year: Billcraft has cost you $99 total — FreshBooks has cost $228.
- After 3 years: Billcraft is still $99 — the subscription is at $684.
- After 5 years: Billcraft is still $99 — the subscription is at $1,140.
What you get for $99 once
- Business profile. Name, logo, address, tax ID, currency and payment/bank instructions printed on every invoice.
- Unlimited clients. Full CRUD with company, email, address, notes. FreshBooks Lite caps you at 5 billable clients.
- Real invoices. Line items (qty × rate), tax %, discount %, notes, due dates, configurable numbering.
- Professional PDFs. Clean server-side template (pdfkit — no headless browser) with your logo and status pill.
- Public share links. Clients open /inv/
, see a polished invoice page, download the PDF — no login. - No renewal, ever. The license does not expire and there is no per-seat meter — $99 is the whole price.
Pricing questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes — MIT source at github.com/bensblueprints/invoice-generator-mvp. $99 gets you the signed installer, 1-click setup and updates.
Does it do accounting / bookkeeping?
No — and that matters. Billcraft is invoicing: clients, invoices, PDFs, recurring billing. FreshBooks also does expenses, time tracking and accounting reports. If you need double-entry books, keep an accounting tool.
Can clients pay online through it?
Invoices carry your payment/bank instructions and share links, but there's no built-in card processing. Add your Stripe/PayPal link in the payment instructions.
Do invoice emails come from my address?
Yes — bring your own SMTP (Gmail app password, Mailgun, Postmark…). Unlike FreshBooks, mail goes out from your own sender.
Billcraft — $99, one time
Or get Billcraft plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.