Quoting and Invoicing Software Without a Subscription: The Real Math

It's 10 p.m. You are finishing a quote for a hesitating customer. The tool asks you to choose among forty options, thirty of which you have never opened. And on the 3rd of the month, the payment goes through. Again. For software where you use two screens.

So you are looking for quoting and invoicing software without a subscription. It's a good question. But the answer is not the one you are often sold. In this article, we do the math honestly, over three years, with verified prices. And we tell you when a subscription is still the right choice, even against our own offer.

Quoting and invoicing software without a subscription: what really exists

First surprise: for a standard quote and invoice, the right answer is often free, not “paid once.”

According to the Selectra comparison (prices collected in June 2026 from the vendors):

• Indy: Essentiel plan at €0 per month, then €9 excl. VAT (Plus) or €12 excl. VAT (Premium) per month.
• Facture.net: a single free plan.
• Tiime: free plan, then from €17.99 excl. VAT per month.

And according to the Tool Advisor page updated on October 14, 2026, Henrri offers a free Pro plan: unlimited quotes, invoices and users, e-invoicing included. Paid plans are €19 per month (Expert), €29 (Smart) and €59 (VIP).

Always check prices on the vendor's website before committing. They change.

One more point of honesty. A free plan has trade-offs. At Henrri, for example, the vendor's branding appears on your documents until you move to a paid plan, and online card payments carry a 1.9% fee. It's not a hidden flaw: it's the business model.

If your need is “make a quote, turn it into an invoice, chase a customer,” take a free tool. You don't need us, or to pay €29 a month.

Why the subscription weighs more than it looks

A €29-a-month subscription sounds light. Let's do the math.

These figures are simple multiplications of the prices quoted above. They do not account for any possible price increase.

Cost is not the only issue. Three irritations keep coming up among tradespeople and small businesses:

1. You pay for features you don't use. Accounting, inventory, multiple reminders, dashboard.
2. You adapt to the tool, not the other way around. Does your trade calculate per square meter, in tiers, with discounts per customer? The standard tool can't do that, so you keep an Excel file on the side.
3. You depend on a vendor. It changes the interface, removes a free plan, raises prices. You follow or you migrate.

The second point is the most expensive, and nobody puts a number on it. If you copy figures from a file into a tool, you lose time and sometimes make mistakes. Our article on the signs it's time to leave Excel for your quotes covers this case in detail.

When a subscription is still the best choice

Let's be clear. Keep a subscription, or a free plan, in these cases:

• You do simple quotes: one service, one price, one VAT line. A standard tool does that very well.
• You need built-in accounting: bank reconciliation, tax filings. A custom tool does not replace an accounting tool.
• You want turnkey e-invoicing. For issuing and receiving, the regulatory topic is moving fast. Our article on receiving e-invoices explains what to plan for. A custom quoting tool does not replace a platform dedicated to that topic.
• You are just starting out: as long as you don't know how your business will evolve, don't build anything. A free plan is enough.

That's the part where we advise you not to buy from us.

A tool of your own: what changes, and what it really costs

There is one case where a tool made for your trade becomes relevant: your way of pricing doesn't fit in a standard tool.

A few concrete examples:

• A carpenter who calculates by dimension, wood species and three finishing options.
• A landscaper who prices by zone, by season and by maintenance frequency.
• A consulting firm with fixed fees that depend on the client's size.
• A plumber with a 200-line price schedule, which he adapts to each job.

In these cases, a custom tool builds the quote in a few clicks, with your rules, your prices, your layout. The result exports as PDF or Excel.

Here are the prices for Fiddes Apps, as displayed:

• Simple tool: €790. One function (for example a quote calculator), up to 3 users.
• Business tool: €1,490. Several screens, database, user accounts, PDF and Excel export.
• Custom: from €2,900. Integrations (accounting, calendar, CRM), more than 10 users.

And now, the part many sales pages leave out. It is not “without a subscription.” The tool is paid once, at order. Hosting, backups and maintenance cost €149 per month, with a 12-month commitment, and include up to 1 hour of changes per month.

So let's do the math over three years, for a Simple tool:

• Tool: €790
• Hosting and maintenance: €149 × 36 months = €5,364
• Total: €6,154

Versus €1,044 for a €29-a-month subscription over the same period, or €0 with a free tool.

On price alone, a custom tool loses. If someone tells you otherwise, ask them to redo the math.

So why choose a custom tool?

Because the price of the tool is not the price of the problem. Ask yourself three questions.

1. How many hours a month do you lose retyping, correcting or checking your quotes? If it's three hours, at €50 an hour, you lose €150 a month. The tool pays for itself.
2. How many quotes do you lose because they go out too late? A quote sent the same evening rather than three days later changes the signing rate. We have no reliable figure to give you: measure your own over three months.
3. Has a calculation error ever cost you dearly? A coefficient forgotten on a job, a discount applied twice. A tool that applies your rules removes that category of error.

If you answer “almost nothing” to all three, stay with the free tool. If you answer “a lot” to any one of them, the math changes.

To go further on prices and alternatives, read our comparison of custom software for SMEs.

How to choose in 10 minutes

Here is the procedure, in order.

1. List what you really do with your quotes: how many per month, how many lines on average, which calculation rules.
2. Test a free plan for two weeks with your real quotes. Note what gets in the way.
3. Count the workarounds. Every time you leave the software to open Excel or a calculator, that is a signal.
4. Put a number on the lost time, in hours per month, at your own rate.
5. Compare: the lowest subscription that meets your need, against a custom tool with its hosting.

If workarounds are rare, you have your answer: keep the free tool. If they are daily, talk to us.

What we do, what we don't do

At Fiddes, the price is displayed, the deadline is met and no work starts before payment. We don't send a free mockup: you know what you are buying before you pay. The money-back guarantee applies, with 2 rounds of revisions.

We don't replace accounting software, or an e-invoicing platform. We build the tool that makes your quote, with your rules.

Details and ordering are on the Fiddes Apps page.