Best Invoicing Software for Childcare Providers in Australia (2026): 8 Tools Compared

The best invoicing software for childcare providers Australia-wide in 2026 is InvoiceSonic, because a family day care place is billed on the same cycle every week and that invoice should go out without you opening anything. If you only need one compliant PDF, the free Australian tax invoice generator on this site builds it in the browser with no signup. If you also record attendance and claim subsidy, that is a childcare management system's job, not this one's. We put all eight tools through one test: can it invoice the parent's remaining gap fee on a recurring weekly cycle, after subsidy is applied, without you rebuilding the invoice every time attendance changes?

Quick comparison

"Not listed" means exactly that: the tool's own Australian page did not state the feature at the time of writing, so we have not marked it a yes. Confirm it on a trial first.

How we tested: the gap-fee test. Three questions per tool. Can it invoice the parent's remaining gap fee on a recurring weekly or fortnightly cycle, after subsidy is applied, without you rebuilding the invoice? Can you change one line — a day added, a day missed — without starting again? And does it produce a proper Australian tax invoice with your ABN on it?

A worked illustration — and it is only an illustration. Take one family with a place three days a week at $130 a day. The full fee is $390 a week. If that family's subsidy covered 70%, the gap fee you invoice the parent would be $117 a week — 52 recurring invoices a year for one family. Treat the 70% as a made-up number for the arithmetic. What a family actually receives depends on their own income and activity level, so ask them to check their own rate with Services Australia rather than invoicing on an assumption.

Now scale it. Four families on that pattern is 208 invoices a year. At four minutes each — copy last week's invoice, change the dates, send — that is 832 minutes, or 13.9 hours a year spent retyping $117. At $45 an hour that is about A$625 of unpaid work to avoid A$168 of software. Your turnover is the full fee, not the gap: four families at $390 a week is $74,880 over a 48-week year, close to the A$75,000 GST registration threshold. Whether you must register, and how GST applies to what you supply, is one for the ATO or your accountant.

Who fails the test. Only two of the eight publish recurring invoicing as a confirmed feature: InvoiceSonic on Pro, and Bookipi on every plan including free. A free PDF generator fails outright — it builds a document, it never sends one. Zoho Invoice, Square, Xero, Rounded and Wave all send proper Australian invoices, but none stated an automatic recurring send. And none of the eight tracks attendance.

1. InvoiceSonic — Best overall

InvoiceSonic builds a professional tax invoice in about a minute, and on Pro it sends that invoice on a schedule and chases it if nobody pays. For a weekly gap fee that is the whole job: set the family up once a term, then leave it.

It passes all three questions. Invoice open tracking shows the moment a parent has looked at the invoice, and an email receipt goes out when you mark it paid. Families pay by bank transfer or PayID with no gateway to set up and no InvoiceSonic transaction fee, so a $117 gap fee arrives as $117. Australian tax handling is built in — ABN field, BSB formatting, 10% GST label — as part of localised support across 19 countries. There is an iPhone app and no native Android app.

Pros

• Recurring invoices and automatic reminders on Pro, so 52 weekly gap fees per family go out untouched.
• Bank transfer and PayID with no InvoiceSonic transaction fee, so nothing is shaved off a small weekly amount.
• Annual Pro is price-locked: the rate never rises while the subscription is active.

Cons

• No attendance records, timesheets or staff management, so it sits alongside your attendance system.
• Recurring billing is Pro only. A free account is capped at 3 saved invoices, 1 tracked email send and 1 automatic reminder a month, which one weekly family uses up inside the first month.

Price: at the time of writing the free plan is A$0 and the first invoice needs no sign-up or card; Pro is A$19 a month billed monthly, or A$168 a year billed annually, which is A$14 a month and saves A$60. The 7-day free Pro trial requires a card. Best for: family day care educators, in-home carers and nannies billing the same families weekly.

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

Invoice-Generator.com.au is a free tax invoice generator that builds a finished PDF in your browser with no signup, no watermark and no invoice limit. It is the right tool when a parent asks for an invoice today.

The Australian tax invoice generator is pre-set with an ABN field, a 10% GST line and a live compliance checklist that flags a missing ABN before you send. Nothing you type leaves the browser, which matters here: a childcare invoice carries a child's name and a family's home address. There are free tools for the GST maths and receipts, and our guide to tax invoice requirements sets out what the document must show. It fails the gap-fee test outright.

Pros

• Free forever, no signup, no watermark and no invoice limit.
• Invoice data never leaves your browser, so a child's details are not sitting on someone else's server.

Cons

• No sending, tracking or automatic reminders, so a weekly cycle means rebuilding the invoice 52 times a year.
• No saved family list and no payment collection.

Price: free, always. Best for: nannies and casual carers invoicing a handful of families a month.

3. Zoho Invoice — Best free tool that actually sends

Zoho Invoice is free — Zoho states no cost and no contracts — and unlike a PDF generator it sends the invoice, saves the family as a contact and keeps the history. For sending and a paper trail at no cost, it is the strongest free option here.

It half-passes. It sends, and it formats an Australian invoice properly, but an automatic recurring send was not something we could confirm. The trade-off is the surroundings: a very large product suite, a dense interface, and support aimed at paying customers.

Pros

• Genuinely free with no contract, and it sends and stores invoices rather than just building a PDF.
• Multi-language invoicing across 19-plus languages, which matters more in childcare than in most trades.

Cons

• The interface is dense, and it is the entry point to a large upsell suite.
• Support is aimed at paid-suite customers, and recurring invoicing is not listed.

Price: free at the time of writing. Best for: educators who want sending and a saved family list for A$0 and can live with a busy interface.

4. Square Invoices — Best if parents want to pay by card

Square Invoices gives you unlimited free invoices, estimates and automatic reminders, and the parent pays by tapping a card link in the email. When the gap fee lands in an awkward week, a card is sometimes the difference between paid and chased.

It half-passes: automatic reminders are on the free plan, but a recurring send is not stated, and estimate auto-convert and milestone schedules are Plus only. The real cost is the card fee. At 2.2% on online card payments, a $117 weekly gap fee is $6,084 a year per family, so the fee is $133.85 a year for one family and $535.39 a year across four. The same families paying by PayID cost you nothing.

Pros

• Unlimited free invoices with automatic reminders on the free plan.
• Parents pay by card from the invoice itself, which often gets it paid the same day.

Cons

• 2.2% on online card payments is $535.39 a year on $24,336 of gap fees.
• Milestone schedules and estimate auto-convert sit behind Plus, and a recurring send is not listed.

Price: at the time of writing, free, or Plus at AUD $30 per month; 2.2% on online card payments. Best for: educators whose families will only pay by card.

5. Xero — Best if a bookkeeper already runs your books

Xero is accounting software with an invoicing module inside it, not an invoicing app, and that decides whether it belongs on your list. It is the right answer when someone else already does your books and wants invoices, bank feeds, GST and BAS in one place.

For one educator invoicing four families it is more software than the problem requires, and there is no free plan to test it on. It fails the spirit of the test: it sends an invoice, but you are buying a general ledger to do it.

Pros

• Invoicing, bank reconciliation, GST and BAS in one system your accountant already knows.

Cons

• No free plan, and no recurring-invoice claim we could verify on the Australian pricing page.
• Considerably more software than a solo educator or nanny needs.

Price: paid plans available — check current pricing. Best for: small services whose books are already run in Xero by a bookkeeper.

6. Bookipi — Best budget app with recurring invoices

Bookipi is a simple invoice app, and it is the only tool here besides InvoiceSonic that lists recurring invoices and overdue reminders on every plan, including free. On paper it passes all three questions.

The catch is volume. The free plan stops at 3 invoices a month and four families billed weekly need about 17, so Bookipi passes on Starter, not on free. Starter is priced in US dollars, so your cost moves with the exchange rate.

Pros

• Recurring invoices and overdue reminders even on the free plan.
• Web and mobile stay in sync, so an invoice started at pick-up finishes on the laptop.

Cons

• 3 free invoices a month is far too few for weekly billing.
• Priced in USD, so what you pay changes with the Australian dollar.

Price: at the time of writing, free for 3 invoices a month; Starter US$9.99 per month; Professional US$52 per month. Best for: nannies and part-time carers with one or two families who still want the billing automated.

7. Rounded — Best for invoicing plus a tax estimate

Rounded is Australian-built for sole traders and freelancers, and it handles invoicing, expenses and tax estimates in one place. Most family day care educators and nannies are sole traders, so the tax estimate often justifies the subscription on its own.

It sends invoices and handles Australian tax properly. Recurring invoicing is not stated on the pricing page, so on our test it is unconfirmed rather than a fail. Look at the price honestly: Solo is $99 a year regular AUD at the time of writing, cheaper than InvoiceSonic Pro billed annually, and it tracks expenses and estimates your tax as well — a real reason to pick it over our number one.

Pros

• Built in Australia for sole traders, so expenses and tax estimates are shaped for the ATO.
• Solo is $99 a year regular AUD at the time of writing, cheaper than most paid apps here.

Cons

• No free plan, so there is no way to run a term on it for nothing.
• Recurring invoicing is not listed, and promotional pricing varies, so check year two.

Price: at the time of writing, Solo $99 per year regular and Pro $70 per month regular in AUD; promotional pricing varies. Best for: sole-trader educators who want invoicing, expenses and a tax estimate in one Australian app.

8. Wave — Best free option with bookkeeping attached

Wave is free in Australia at the time of writing, and it gives you invoicing with basic accounting behind it. If you want your income in something resembling a set of books without paying a subscription, it is the only free option here that does that.

The Australian fit is where it weakens. Support is thin for Australian users, GST handling is generic rather than shaped around ATO tax-invoice rules, and the payments side is built for North America. A recurring send is not listed, so it fails the gap-fee test.

Pros

• Free in Australia at the time of writing, with basic accounting included rather than sold separately.
• Invoicing and income records live in one place.

Cons

• GST handling is generic rather than ATO-shaped.
• Australian support is thin and the payments side is built for North America.

Price: free in Australia at the time of writing. Best for: educators who want free invoicing with simple books attached.

What to look for in invoicing software for childcare providers

Childcare billing is the most repetitive money job in the care sector: small amounts, the same families, every week, and the number moves whenever a child is away. Editing and re-sending beats any feature list, and the payment fee usually costs more than the subscription.

• Recurring invoicing you can edit before it sends. A saved template still needs you to open it, change the dates and press send 52 times a family. A recurring invoice you can adjust for one missed day is the requirement.
• A clear breakdown. Show the sessions billed, the full fee, the subsidy applied and the gap fee left to pay. A parent who can see all four lines does not email you about the fifth.
• A proper Australian tax invoice. Where you are registered for GST it must carry the words "Tax invoice", your identity and ABN, the date, a description of what was supplied, the GST amount, and the buyer's identity or ABN for sales of $1,000 or more. The full list of tax invoice requirements is also on the ATO site.
• Payment terms that suit a weekly amount. Seven days on a $117 invoice behaves nothing like 30 days on a $5,000 one; our guide to invoice payment terms sets out the wording.
• Automatic reminders. A reminder on the due date and another a week later recovers most late payments without an awkward conversation at the door, which matters when you see the payer every morning. Chasing overdue invoices covers the rest.
• The payment fee, priced on your real volume. Bank transfer and PayID cost nothing; card at 2.2% costs $535.39 a year on $24,336 of gap fees. The percentage is the whole decision.

Which one should you choose?

Price it on 17 invoices a month, which is what four families billed weekly produces. At the time of writing that is A$0 with the free generator, Zoho Invoice or Wave, A$168 a year with InvoiceSonic Pro billed annually, $99 a year with Rounded Solo, and $535.39 a year in card fees with Square. The cheapest subscription is not the cheapest outcome, and the free options charge you the 13.9 hours instead.

• If you have one or two families and invoice occasionally → the free Australian tax invoice generator, and email the PDF.
• If you bill three or more families every week → InvoiceSonic on Pro, so the gap fees invoice and chase themselves.
• If you want sending and a saved family list for nothing → Zoho Invoice, and accept the dense interface.
• If you also want your tax estimated as you go → Rounded, at $99 a year for Solo regular AUD at the time of writing.
• If families will only pay by card → Square Invoices, with the 2.2% built into your fee rather than absorbed.

When not to use InvoiceSonic or a free generator. If your job includes recording attendance and claiming subsidy, an invoicing app is the wrong category of software. Childcare management systems such as Xplor, QikKids and Kidsoft exist for attendance, session reporting and Child Care Subsidy claiming, and nothing on this page does any of that. Which system you need, and what your obligations are as a provider, is a question for your own advisers, not for us. If you want tax and expenses handled alongside the invoicing, Rounded is Australian-built for sole traders and Solo is $99 a year regular AUD at the time of writing, cheaper than InvoiceSonic Pro billed annually. With staff, a bookkeeper and a quarterly BAS, that is accounting software territory — Xero or MYOB. A free generator, ours included, is the wrong choice the moment the same invoice has to go out more than once.

Frequently asked questions