Best Hnry Alternatives in Australia (2026): 8 Options Compared

The strongest of the Hnry alternatives Australia has in 2026 is InvoiceSonic, which swaps a percentage of your income for a flat A$168 a year at the time of writing. If you only need one compliant tax invoice and no subscription, the free sole trader invoice generator on this site builds the PDF in your browser. Stay put if you will not lodge your own BAS, or if your income through Hnry is small enough that 1% is a couple of hundred dollars. Every option below is costed against one test: what 1% of your income comes to, and whether a flat subscription plus your own BAS beats it.

Quick comparison

The fourth column decides this. At A$120,000 of income, Hnry costs A$1,320 including GST at the time of writing. Here is what the same year costs on everything else.

"Estimates only" and "check current pricing" mean exactly that: the tool's Australian page stated an estimate rather than a lodgement, or published no price we could quote at the time of writing. Square's A$2,640 assumes every client pays by card.

How we tested: the 1% test. Three questions per tool. What does Hnry's 1% plus GST come to at your income? What would this tool cost for the same year, as one flat number? And what work lands back on you once nobody is paying the tax for you?

Start with what Hnry charges. At the time of writing it takes 1% plus GST of every payment into your Hnry account, capped at $1,500 plus GST a year, with a minimum of $0.50 plus GST on payments under $50. Including the GST that is 1.1% of your income. In return it receives the money, pays your income tax and GST, and passes on the rest. That is genuine work, and none of the eight tools below does all of it. If you are registered for GST, ask your accountant whether the GST portion comes back as an input tax credit.

Where the cap sits. 1% of A$150,000 is $1,500, so the ceiling is reached at A$150,000 of payments in, not a dollar before. Everything above that is fee-free, so the effective rate falls to 0.83% at A$200,000 and keeps falling. High earners get the best deal Hnry offers.

Where Hnry wins the test outright. Below roughly A$15,300 of payments a year, 1% plus GST is less than A$168 — and Hnry is doing your tax on top. A side income of A$12,000 costs A$132. The minimum fee pulls the other way on small amounts: a $25 payment costs $0.55, or 2.2%.

Who else fails the test. Square Invoices fails it harder than Hnry: 2.2% on online card payments is a percentage of income with no cap at all, so A$120,000 paid by card is A$2,640, twice Hnry's figure. Xero cannot be scored because it publishes no price we could quote. The free tools pass on price and fail on everything else — they replace the invoice, not the tax return.

1. InvoiceSonic — Best overall

InvoiceSonic is the clean swap: a flat price instead of a slice of your income. Pro is A$168 a year billed annually at the time of writing — the same A$168 whether you bill A$40,000 or A$400,000.

It wins the first two questions and hands you the third. At A$60,000 it saves A$492 against Hnry, at A$120,000 A$1,152, and at A$150,000 and above A$1,482 a year — 0.28% and 0.14% of income against Hnry's flat 1.1%. Pro adds unlimited invoices, recurring invoices, reminders, open tracking, custom branding and one-click quote acceptance, and clients pay by bank transfer or PayID with no InvoiceSonic transaction fee, so a $2,000 job lands as $2,000. ABN, BSB and 10% GST handling are built in.

Pros

• A flat A$168 a year billed annually at the time of writing, price-locked so it never rises.
• Bank transfer and PayID with no InvoiceSonic transaction fee.
• Quotes convert to invoices in one click, and reminders chase slow payers.

Cons

• Not accounting software: no bank feeds, no BAS lodgement, no payroll. The tax work lands on you or your accountant — the real cost of the A$1,152 you save at A$120,000.
• The free plan is capped at 3 saved invoices, 1 tracked email send and 1 automatic reminder a month, and the 7-day Pro trial requires a card up front.

Price: at the time of writing, the free plan is A$0 and the first invoice needs no sign-up; Pro is A$19 a month, or A$168 a year billed annually, which is A$14 a month and saves A$60. Best for: sole traders who will lodge their own BAS, or pay an accountant to, for a fixed bill.

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. On the 1% test it answers question two with A$0 at any income, and question three not at all.

The sole trader invoice generator is pre-set with an ABN field, a 10% GST line and a live compliance checklist, and nothing you type leaves the browser. There are separate free tools for a quote, a receipt and the GST maths, which matters more once nobody is calculating GST for you. It builds the document and stops there.

Pros

• Free forever, no signup, no watermark, no invoice limit — the cost never moves.
• The compliance checklist catches a missing ABN or GST line before the client does.

Cons

• No sending, no tracking, no reminders, no saved client list and no payment collection.
• It does nothing about tax, so it only replaces Hnry alongside an accountant or your own BAS.

Price: free, always. Best for: low-volume sole traders who want one compliant invoice without an account.

3. Rounded — Best for invoicing, expenses and a tax estimate

Rounded is Australian-built for sole traders and freelancers, covering invoicing, expenses and tax estimates in one place. It is the cheapest paid option here: Solo is $99 a year regular AUD at the time of writing.

On the 1% test it beats Hnry at almost every income: $99 against A$660 at A$60,000, and against A$1,320 at A$120,000. Even Pro at $70 a month regular, or $840 a year, undercuts Hnry above about A$76,000. The limit is question three — Rounded estimates your tax, it does not pay it.

Pros

• Built in Australia, so expenses, GST and tax estimates are shaped for the ATO.
• Solo is $99 a year regular AUD at the time of writing, the lowest flat price here.

Cons

• No free plan, so there is no way to run a quarter on it before committing.
• It estimates tax rather than paying it, 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 traders who want the tax number in front of them without paying a percentage.

4. Thriday — Best for automated bookkeeping and BAS

Thriday is the closest thing here to what Hnry does: a business transaction account with invoicing, automated bookkeeping and BAS, so the money and the paperwork sit in one place.

It is free under A$50,000 of revenue at the time of writing, and Standard is A$16.50 a month billed annually, or A$198 a year. At A$120,000 that is A$198 against Hnry's A$1,320 — A$1,122 a year — and it is still automating the books and the BAS. The catch is the one you would expect from a product built around an account: you have to bank with Thriday.

Pros

• Automated bookkeeping and BAS alongside the invoicing, the part most flat-price tools leave out.
• Free under A$50,000 of revenue at the time of writing, so a side business runs on it for nothing.

Cons

• You must move your business banking to Thriday to get the benefit — a real switching cost.
• It automates the paperwork but does not pay the tax for you the way Hnry does.

Price: at the time of writing, free under A$50,000 revenue; Standard A$16.50 a month billed annually. Best for: sole traders who liked Hnry's hands-off admin and will change banks for it.

5. Solo App — Best for phone-first sole traders

Solo App is another Australian product for sole traders, covering invoicing, expenses and tax in one app made for a phone. From $24 a month AUD at the time of writing, that is from A$288 a year.

It clears the 1% test comfortably — A$288 against A$1,320 at A$120,000 — but it is the dearest of the three Australian flat-price options, close to three times Rounded Solo. It earns the difference on habit: if you went to Hnry because admin never got done, an app you will open on site beats a cheaper one you will not.

Pros

• Australian, with invoicing, expenses and tax in one phone-first app.
• Flat monthly pricing, so the cost stops tracking your income.

Cons

• No free plan at all, so there is no trial quarter to test the habit.
• From A$288 a year is close to three times Rounded Solo at the time of writing.

Price: from $24 per month AUD at the time of writing. Best for: sole traders who do their admin on a phone and want tax kept alongside it.

6. 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 client and keeps the history. For the invoicing half, it is the strongest A$0 option.

On the test it scores A$0 at every income level, which no percentage-based product can match. The trade-offs are the surroundings: it sits inside a very large product suite, the interface is dense next to a single-purpose app, support is aimed at paid-suite customers, and it does nothing about tax.

Pros

• Genuinely free with no contract, and it sends and stores invoices rather than only building one.
• Multi-language invoicing across 19-plus languages, useful if you bill overseas clients.

Cons

• The interface is dense, and it is the front door to a large upsell suite.
• Support is aimed at paid-suite customers, and there is no tax or BAS help.

Price: free at the time of writing. Best for: sole traders who want sending, tracking and a client list for nothing.

7. Xero — Best when an accountant does your tax

Xero is accounting software rather than an invoicing app, and for a certain kind of ex-Hnry user that is exactly right. Bank feeds, GST tracking and BAS live in one system your accountant already works in.

It cannot be scored on the 1% test, because Xero published no Australian price we could quote at the time of writing. The shape is clear: a flat subscription, not a percentage, and best read as the software half of an arrangement where a bookkeeper does the work Hnry was doing. That usually costs more than A$1,320 a year, so it is not a way to switch on price.

Pros

• Invoicing, bank reconciliation, GST and BAS in one system accountants already know.
• A flat subscription, so the price does not climb with a good year.

Cons

• No free plan, and no Australian price we could verify at the time of writing.
• Far more software than a solo operator needs, and it replaces Hnry's tax work only if you pay someone to run it.

Price: paid plans available — check current pricing. Best for: sole traders with a bookkeeper, or a business that has outgrown a solo tax service.

8. Square Invoices — Best when clients will only pay by card

Square Invoices gives you unlimited free invoices, estimates and automatic reminders, and the client pays by tapping a card link. If clients take three weeks to do a bank transfer, that is worth real money.

It is also the one tool here that fails the 1% test worse than Hnry. At the time of writing online card payments cost 2.2%, a percentage of income with no annual ceiling: A$110 on a $5,000 job, and A$2,640 on A$120,000 of billings if every client pays by card, where Hnry stops at A$1,650. Square is only cheap if the card link is the exception.

Pros

• Unlimited free invoices with estimates and automatic reminders, at no cost.
• Clients pay from the invoice itself, so money often lands same day.

Cons

• 2.2% on online card payments is uncapped — twice Hnry's rate at A$120,000, and it keeps climbing past where Hnry stops.
• Estimate auto-convert and milestone payment schedules sit behind Plus at AUD $30 a month.

Price: at the time of writing, free, or Plus at AUD $30 per month; 2.2% on online card payments. Best for: sole traders whose clients insist on card and who price the 2.2% in.

What to look for in Hnry alternatives

Leaving a percentage-based service is two decisions: which tool sends the invoice, and who does the tax. Get the second wrong and the saving disappears into penalties and a bad June.

• A price that does not move with your income. A$168 is A$168 at A$60,000 and at A$300,000. At 1.1% those two years cost A$660 and A$1,650.
• Who lodges the BAS. Registered for GST means lodging quarterly, and registration is compulsory at A$75,000 of turnover — read the GST registration threshold rules first. Rideshare and taxi drivers must register regardless of turnover.
• Whether you have to change banks. Thriday's economics depend on banking with Thriday: fine when starting out, painful when clients already pay a BSB you have used for years.
• The payment fee, not just the subscription. A$0 a month with 2.2% on cards costs more at A$120,000 than A$168 a year with PayID and bank transfer. Add the two before comparing.
• A tax invoice that still meets the ATO's rules. 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. Invoice without an ABN and the payer may have to withhold 47% — see whether you need an ABN and the ATO site.
• Somewhere to put the money you now set aside. Hnry's real product is that the tax never sits in your account looking spendable. Replace it with a second account and a standing rule — the GST calculator gives the 10%, and how to invoice as a sole trader covers the rest.

Which one should you choose?

Run your own number first. Multiply your expected income by 1.1% and cap it at A$1,650: that is Hnry at the time of writing. Compare it with A$0 for the free generator or Zoho Invoice, $99 a year for Rounded Solo, A$168 for InvoiceSonic Pro annually, A$198 for Thriday Standard and from A$288 for Solo App, plus your accountant's fee.

• If your income through Hnry is under about A$15,300 a year → stay on Hnry: 1% plus GST is less than any paid subscription here, and it does your tax.
• If you bill A$60,000 to A$150,000 and will lodge your own BAS → InvoiceSonic on Pro, keeping the A$492 to A$1,482 difference.
• If you want bookkeeping and BAS automated and will move banks → Thriday, A$198 a year on Standard at the time of writing.
• If you want the cheapest Australian paid app with a tax estimate → Rounded Solo, $99 a year regular AUD.
• If you send a handful of invoices a year → the free sole trader invoice generator, putting tax aside yourself.

When not to use InvoiceSonic or a free generator. Neither does anything about tax, and tax is why people are on Hnry. If you will not set money aside, lodge a BAS on time or pay an accountant to, Hnry's 1% is buying something real, and A$1,152 a year is a fair price for never thinking about it. If you want most of that automation back at a flat price, Thriday is the closer swap, provided you bank with them. If your books need feeds and a bookkeeper, that is Xero or MYOB territory. And for the cheapest flat-price tool with a tax estimate, Rounded Solo undercuts InvoiceSonic Pro. A free PDF generator, ours included, is wrong the moment sending matters more than the document.

Frequently asked questions