I built BuildInvoice because I got tired of invoicing clients in a Google Doc that kept losing my formatting every time I edited it. I'd spend 20 minutes making a table look right, send the PDF, and immediately regret not having the due date more prominent. Then I'd either chase the payment two weeks later or just let it go.
The obvious tools — FreshBooks, QuickBooks, Wave — are great if you're running a real accounting operation. But if you're a freelancer or contractor sending four invoices a month, they're overkill. You don't need dashboards and reports. You need to fill in a form and get a PDF.
A form on the left, a live PDF preview on the right. Add your logo, pick your accent color, enter your line items. Done in under two minutes. The PDF is generated server-side so it looks exactly the same in every PDF reader, on every device — no browser print weirdness.
I later added Receipt and Credit Note modes because once you're sending invoices, you inevitably need those too. And the Amount Paid / Balance Due fields came from realizing that partial payments are more common than people think — especially in longer projects.
The same engine that powers this tool is available as a REST API. POST your invoice data as JSON, get a PDF back. It handles tax types (flat or percentage), multi-currency, logo embedding, and all three document modes. Read the API docs →
Your invoice data isn't stored anywhere. The PDF is generated, returned in the HTTP response, and that's it. Nothing is written to a database. Nothing is logged beyond basic request metrics. Your clients' details stay between you and them.
BuildInvoice is one of five tools I've built for independent contractors and developers: BuildPDF, BuildQuotes, BuildChangeOrder, and BuildCertificates. Same philosophy across all of them: tools that do one thing well, no login required.
Questions, bugs, or feature requests? buildpdf.help@gmail.com