The self-hosted Zoho Invoice alternative
Invora — Invoicing & Billing System (PHP + MySQL, Self-Hosted) — Self-hosted invoicing software, bought once — $99 one-time, full PHP source, runs on ordinary shared hosting. Own it once, run it on your own server, and stop paying Zoho Invoice every month.
Zoho Invoice Free - $0 (single plan, no paid tiers) Invora — Invoicing & Billing System (PHP + MySQL, Self-Hosted) is $99.00 once, runs on your own server, and never invoices you again.
How Zoho Invoice pricing grows with you
Zoho Invoice is a single free plan but caps usage by user count, project count, and invoices per year, pushing growing businesses toward the separate paid Zoho Billing product.
“Add up to two users. Create a maximum of three projects. Send up to 500 invoices per year.” — their own page, read 2026-08-11
What Zoho Invoice does that we don't
Zoho Invoice is genuinely free for small businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, not a limited trial.
“Absolutely! Zoho Invoice has been made free to cater to the needs of small business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.” — their own page
Who should stay with Zoho Invoice
If you need free recurring invoicing with automated payment reminders and built-in online payment collection, stay with Zoho Invoice — Invora has no recurring or subscription billing and no built-in online card payment collection. Full honest limitations are on the product page.
Why owning beats renting Zoho Invoice
- One payment. No monthly, per-seat, or per-location fees — the license is perpetual.
- Your data stays on your server. It never lives in Zoho Invoice's cloud.
- No plan ceilings. Records and users are limited by your hosting, not a pricing tier.
- It keeps working if the vendor doesn't. Self-hosted software can't be sunset or price-hiked out from under you.
Fair trade-offs: you host it, back it up, and apply updates yourself — see the product page for honest limitations, and the full Invora — Invoicing & Billing System (PHP + MySQL, Self-Hosted) vs Zoho Invoice comparison.
Sources
- Zoho Invoice — price checked 2026-07-05 —
source “$0 for Seamless & Dependable Invoicing”
Competitor prices change — always confirm on the linked page. We only print figures we could verify on the date shown. This vendor is tracked in the Price Observatory — every figure verbatim, dated, re-checked quarterly.