Freelance invoice template
A general-purpose invoice for freelance work: a few dated lines of hours, a flat fee and a cost passed on. Swap in your own details and save it as a PDF.
Opens in the free invoice generator. No account, and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
What to put on it
- A date on every line
- “Work, 13 hours” invites a question. “Nov 4–6, first version delivered for review” does not.
- An invoice number
- Any scheme works as long as no two invoices share a number. Most freelancers count up: INV-001, INV-002.
- A due date, not just terms
- “Net 14” makes the client do arithmetic. Print the date the money is due.
- How to pay
- Your PayPal, Venmo or Zelle details, or bank instructions. A client who has to ask how to pay pays later.
Hourly, flat fee, or both
Most freelance invoices are hours at a rate. A flat fee suits work with a clear end, like a setup or a fixed deliverable. Both can sit on one invoice: the hours on dated lines, the fee on a line of its own.
Costs you pass on
If you bought something for the project, such as a license, stock assets or printing, list it as its own line at what you paid. Keeping it apart from your fee shows the client what was your time and what was a cost.
Questions
More on writing invoices in the guides.
What should a freelance invoice include?
Your name or business and contact details, your client’s name, an invoice number, the invoice date and due date, a line for each piece of work with its hours and rate or its price, the total, and how to pay.
Do I need a business name to send an invoice?
No. Your own name works. Use whatever name your client has on file for paying you, so their records match yours.
When should a freelancer send the invoice?
When the work or the billing period ends, the same day if you can. The clock on payment terms starts at the invoice date, so every day you wait is a day added to when you are paid.
Related templates
Beyond a template
Have the lines written from your notes.
A template still leaves the writing to you. With a free Sandglass account you paste the notes you kept, a time-tracker export or a git log, enter your hours and rate, and it drafts the dated lines. Then it emails the invoice and tracks whether it was paid.