Don't choose the Free Tier

We've all been there. Looking for some app to make our existence easier. Google returns dozens of results and as expected a large contingent reporting that they are free. You duly click thru and the first thing you notice is that it has a pricing page. Hmmm, the plot thickens.

OK a free tier or a restricted account. I can make that work. Comparing their plans it's always odd to see that their most popular subscription option is always the paid option. Really, the most popular. hmmm

Restricted free is still free right?

So, you try it out and register without your credit card. Consider it tyre kicking and all that. And then the barrage starts in your inbox. 'Upgrade to PRO' is typically the headliner. Sometimes every day. And it's been watching what you do on site and advising that if you upgrade to pro everything will be so much better.

Hmmm. What I am getting is that the software is actually not free and their marketing phycologists recon that if you use the product enough, you'll get digitally invested and pay up. I am a sucker for a freebie I know

Ok duly noted. Move on and try another application.

Then some companies offer you the ability to invoice in any currency, but only three customers at a time. Yay.

Perhaps these free invoicing companies didn't get the memo about how people in the real work do invoicing.

Unlike doing your accounts which is generally ignored for three months, invoicing (for many) is generally ignored for weeks until you realise that you are broke, but cant understand it cos you are working flat out. Invoicing takes forever, requires that you take notes of what you've done and what equipment youve installed. Hence the requirement for some software that can handle the management & sending out of invoices.

This is where the Free tier doesn't work for us. The free tier may have a restriction of 3 customers only. You might be working with a handful of clients but the last thing you want to do is dump all your historical information in order to avoid the ubiquitous upgrade to pro.

Invoicing and quoting and indeed accounting are a cumulative endeavour. The more you invest in an app the more useful it gets.

The point is you really don't want restrictions or time limits when using this type of software unless you are super organised and are completely on top of everything.

To be completely honest, most of us that have to create invoices, find the whole process a means to an end, and is not something we chose to spend our time on. Consequently, we want invoicing software to actually be really fast & simple.

So now we have got to the nub of the issue.

The words Easy, Simple and especially the world Free do not mean that any more. We've all become jaded and when seeing these words immediately think its a technically free as in "small print" technically free so meets the legal definition. Invariably we distrusted the search engine results, ignore the sponsored results at the top and start looking for products that are Free and I mean free to use.

This is no mean feat either. You need to resist the Youtubers and the media firms pushing top 10 lists of Free software that mostly come with a monthly subscription cost. I also suspect many of the authors of these top x round-ups have never actually used the code in anger.

The net effect of all this smoke and mirrors is to normalise the language which ultimately renders these words meaningless (in this context). We don't expect the free software to be free are a pleasantly surprised when we find some (albeit rather suspicious too).

Which bring us to a message from our Sponsor.

Envoyce is actually free. Not nearly free or slightly free but 100% free. Zero risk. That’s a shock isn’t it.

Try Envoyce Free & Open Invoicing today.