Best Invoicing App for Builders Australia (2026): 8 Apps Compared

The best invoicing app for builders in Australia is InvoiceSonic, because it takes a percentage deposit up front and then raises each progress claim as its own tracked tax invoice. If you only need one compliant claim as a PDF, the free tradie invoice template on this site does it with no signup. Builders running subbies and supplier bills across a long job need job-management software instead, and it costs more. We put all eight apps through one test: can it break a fixed-price contract into a deposit, staged claims and a retention, and show what is still unclaimed?

Quick comparison

How we tested: the progress-claim test. Three questions per app. Can it raise a deposit as a percentage of the contract sum, before you order a frame? Can it raise staged claims that stay tied to one job instead of floating free as unrelated invoices? And can it show what is still unclaimed, including the retention you are holding back?

The worked example we ran through all eight. A $180,000 fixed-price build. A 5% deposit is $9,000. Four progress claims of $40,000 cover $160,000. That leaves $11,000 held as retention until practical completion and the defects period ends. Five documents, and every one has to reconcile back to a contract sum of $180,000. If that $180,000 is GST-inclusive, each $40,000 claim carries $3,636.36 of GST and the deposit carries $818.18, so the GST on one build arrives across five BAS periods, not one lump at handover. Our GST calculator does the split.

What the test found. Not one of the eight gives you a clean claimed-versus-contract-sum figure out of the box. Square Invoices on Plus is the only one that models a staged total up front, as a milestone schedule. Fergus is the only one that tracks the cost side per job. Everything else, InvoiceSonic and this site included, leaves the reconciliation of $9,000 + $160,000 + $11,000 back to $180,000 with you. Put the claim number and the amount claimed to date on every claim and the arithmetic looks after itself.

1. InvoiceSonic — Best overall

InvoiceSonic is a free invoicing app that builds and sends a tax invoice from a phone or browser in under a minute, with no signup for the first one. For a builder it is the cheapest way to run a deposit and staged claims that get chased.

It passes the first two test questions. It takes a percentage or fixed deposit up front, so stage one is invoiced before you order materials, and each progress claim is raised as its own invoice against the same job. It converts an accepted quote in one click, formats Australian GST and the ABN field correctly, and takes payment by PayID or bank transfer with no gateway to set up and no InvoiceSonic transaction fee. Open tracking tells you when the client has opened claim three. Question three is where it fails: nothing totals the claims against the contract sum, and there is no cost tracking. There is an iPhone app; Android users add the web app to the home screen.

Pros

• Percentage or fixed deposit up front, then each claim as its own tracked invoice.
• Automatic reminders and open tracking chase the claim for you.
• PayID and bank transfer with no InvoiceSonic transaction fee — that matters on a $40,000 claim.

Cons

• No materials, expense or cost tracking per job.
• Nothing totals the claims against the contract sum, so reconciliation is manual.

Price: at the time of writing, free (3 saved invoices, 1 tracked send, 1 reminder a month), Pro A$19/month, or A$168/year annually — A$14/month, saving A$60. The 7-day Pro trial requires a card. Best for: solo builders with five or six claims to raise, not fifty.

2. Invoice-Generator.com.au — Best free tool

Invoice-Generator.com.au is a 100% free tax invoice generator that produces a finished PDF in your browser: no signup, no watermark, no ads, no limit. Nothing you type leaves the browser.

The tradie invoice template is pre-set with an ABN field, 10% GST and a live compliance checklist that catches a missing ABN before you send. On the progress-claim test it does what you tell it and nothing more: you can produce all five documents from the $180,000 example, each headed "Progress claim 3 of 5" with a line for the amount claimed to date, but nothing links them and nothing tracks the retention. The free quote generator shares the layout for the fixed-price quote.

Pros

• Free, no signup, no watermark, no limit on how many claims you raise.
• Compliance checklist catches a missing ABN or GST line before the claim goes out.

Cons

• PDF only: no sending, tracking, reminders or payment collection.
• No saved customer list and no link between the five claims on one contract.

Price: free, always. Best for: builders under the A$75,000 GST threshold, and anyone who needs one compliant claim in the next five minutes.

3. Fergus — Best for long builds with materials and subbies

Fergus is job-management software for plumbers, electricians and builders running longer jobs with several people on them. It is the only app here that treats a build as a cost centre, not a stack of invoices.

Materials, supplier bills and labour are tracked against the job, so at claim three you can see what the build has consumed against what you have billed. That is the half of the test everything else fails. Progress claims are not spelled out on its pricing table, so confirm the workflow on the trial: ask whether a claim shows amount claimed to date and retention held.

Pros

• Tracks materials, supplier bills and labour per job, not just the invoice total.
• Built for multi-week jobs with subbies, which is what a build actually is.

Cons

• No free plan, and overkill for a one-person building business.
• Office-desktop-centric, and the claim workflow needs confirming on the trial.

Price: at the time of writing, from AUD $53 (Essentials) or $77 (Professional) per month. Best for: builders with an office, a crew and supplier accounts to reconcile.

4. Tradify — Best for small building crews

Tradify is trade job-management software covering quotes, scheduling, job cards, timesheets and invoicing in one record per job. For a builder with two or three people to place each morning, scheduling is the reason to buy it.

It passes the first two test questions on the right plan: progress invoicing is not on the cheapest tier, so deposits and staged claims need Pro or Plus, not Lite. It pushes invoices into Xero or MYOB, and there is a 14-day trial. The catch is per-user pricing. At the time of writing a crew of three on Pro is 3 × AUD $52 = AUD $156 a month, or AUD $1,872 a year ex GST. ServiceM8 at AUD $79 a month is priced per business, so the same three people cost AUD $948 a year including GST — AUD $924 apart before you compare a single feature.

Pros

• Quote, schedule, job card and claim all live on one job record.
• Deposit and progress invoicing on Pro and Plus; pushes to Xero or MYOB.

Cons

• Per-user pricing, so a crew of five is five subscriptions.
• No free plan, and progress invoicing is not on the cheapest tier.

Price: at the time of writing, AUD $48 (Lite), $52 (Pro) or $62 (Plus) per user per month, ex GST. Best for: builders with two to ten people whose day falls apart without a schedule.

5. ServiceM8 — Best free plan with scheduling

ServiceM8 is an Australian-built job-management app that runs a job from enquiry to payment, and its free plan covers 30 jobs a month for one user with scheduling. Nothing else here gives you scheduling for A$0.

Here is what the rest of this category misses. The 30-job cap that makes the free plan useless for a maintenance plumber doing 30 call-outs a month barely touches a builder: six builds and a dozen small jobs a year is nowhere near it, and each build is one job with several invoices against it. That is a free way to hold a $180,000 contract, its schedule and its five claims in one place. The hard limit is the field app: iPhone and iPad only.

Pros

• Free plan includes scheduling and 30 jobs a month, which suits a builder's low job count.
• Paid plans are per business, not per user.

Cons

• Field app is iPhone and iPad only, so an Android crew cannot use it.
• Job-based rather than contract-based, so the contract-sum maths is still yours.

Price: at the time of writing, free for 30 jobs a month, then AUD $29, $79, $149 or $349 per month including GST. Best for: iPhone-based builders who want scheduling without paying per head.

6. Xero — Best if your bookkeeper already uses it

Xero is accounting software rather than invoicing software, and plenty of builders never buy anything else. On a build where GST arrives in five instalments, having claims and bank transactions in one system saves an argument at BAS time.

It fails the third test question the same way the pure invoicing apps do. Xero shows what a customer still owes on invoices you have raised; it cannot tell you $11,000 of a $180,000 contract sum is unclaimed, because it has never seen the contract. Deposits and staged claims are raised by hand.

Pros

• Invoicing, bank reconciliation, GST and BAS in one system.
• Handles the five-instalment GST of a staged build cleanly across BAS periods.

Cons

• No free plan, and more than a solo builder needs.
• No scheduling, job cards or contract-sum tracking.

Price: paid plans available — check current pricing. Best for: builders whose bookkeeper already runs the books in Xero.

7. MYOB — Best for established builders already on AU accounting

MYOB is the long-standing Australian accounting incumbent, and the argument for it matches Xero's: it is where the books already are. If your accountant has run your file for a decade, moving costs money with no upside.

As a progress-claim tool it is manual. You raise the deposit invoice, then each staged claim, then keep the contract-sum arithmetic elsewhere. Like Xero it has no scheduling or job cards, so a builder with subbies pays for two systems — less a criticism of MYOB than of expecting accounting software to run a build.

Pros

• Australian GST and BAS handling with a deep local accountant network.
• Already installed at most established building businesses, so no migration.

Cons

• No free plan, and heavier than a solo builder needs.
• No claim schedule: every progress claim is raised by hand.

Price: paid plans available — check current pricing. Best for: established builders whose accountant already works in MYOB.

8. Square Invoices — Best for milestone schedules on a small build

Square Invoices is the invoicing half of the Square payments platform, and its free plan covers unlimited invoices, estimates and automatic reminders. It is the only app here shipping something shaped like a claim schedule: estimate auto-convert and milestone payment schedules, both on Plus.

That makes it the surprise pass on question three: a milestone schedule holds the staged total in one place instead of five loose invoices. Then the fee arithmetic bites. Online card payments cost 2.2% at the time of writing, so a $40,000 claim paid by card costs $880, and running the whole $180,000 contract through cards costs $3,960 — more than four years of annual InvoiceSonic Pro. Card money lands fast, but on claims this size the fee is the story.

Pros

• Milestone payment schedules and estimate auto-convert on Plus.
• Unlimited free invoices with automatic reminders; clients pay by card from the claim.

Cons

• 2.2% on online card payments is $3,960 across a $180,000 contract sum.
• Milestone schedules sit behind Plus; no scheduling or job costing at all.

Price: at the time of writing, free, or Plus at AUD $30 per month; 2.2% on online card payments. Best for: small builds where the client pays by card and speed is worth the fee.

What to look for in an invoicing app for builders

• A deposit you can raise before you spend anything. The deposit funds the first materials order, so the app has to raise it before there is any work to describe. What you can charge, and when, is set by your building contract and your state's rules for residential building work.
• Staged claims that stay attached to the job. Five invoices sharing one contract reference beats five unrelated ones. If the app cannot link them, put "Claim 3 of 5" and the amount claimed to date on every one.
• Retention shown as held, not lost. The $11,000 in our example is still yours, just not claimable yet. If the app writes it off, you find out at practical completion.
• Whatever your payment claim has to contain. Your state's security of payment legislation and your building contract both have a say in what makes a valid claim and how long the other side has to respond.
• Fee arithmetic on big numbers. A 2.2% card fee is invisible on a $200 job and $880 on a $40,000 claim. Bank transfer and PayID cost nothing but arrive slower; our guide to invoice payment terms in Australia covers the due dates.
• ATO compliance on every claim. If you are registered for GST, each claim needs the words "Tax invoice", your identity and ABN, the date, a description of what was supplied, the GST amount, and the buyer's ABN on sales of $1,000 or more. Our guide to tax invoice requirements in Australia has the full list; the ATO is the source.

Which one should you choose?

• If you build alone and raise fewer than five claims a month → the free Australian tax invoice generator, emailed as a PDF.
• If you want every claim sent, tracked and chased → InvoiceSonic.
• If you are on an iPhone and need scheduling for nothing → ServiceM8's free plan; a builder rarely reaches the 30-job cap.
• If a build runs for months with subbies and supplier bills → Fergus, or Tradify Pro if scheduling matters more than job costing.
• If the client wants a milestone schedule and will pay by card → Square Invoices Plus, with $880 per $40,000 claim budgeted for the fee.

When not to use InvoiceSonic or a free generator. Once a build has subbies to schedule, timesheets to approve and supplier bills to match against the job, an invoicing app is the wrong tool. Fergus or Tradify will tell you what a job cost against what you claimed, and that number decides whether a fixed-price contract made money. Payroll, bank feeds and BAS lodgement are accounting software: Xero or MYOB. And a free generator fails the moment you need a record of when a payment claim was served, because it sends nothing and stores nothing. Our wider comparison of invoicing software for tradies works through the same trade-off for shorter jobs.

Frequently asked questions