1:00 AM
Paul B
In the IT world we deal with a lot of different VARs (Value Added Resellers) to provide us with quotes for purchasing hardware and software. A couple of my vendors use an online quote and invoice management service called Autotask. It's pretty handy, when I ask for a quote on a product, they load it into Autotask and it emails me a link that is good for 30 days or something. If I decide to buy, they can turn around and use that same quote to invoice me, and provide me with a receipt.
Now I'm not sure how much Autotask runs, but I'm sure it isn't cheap. At the beginning of the month I wrote a post on why new business start-ups should use open source instead of paying for expensive software and services like Autotask. I mentioned a few types of products one can find an open source alternative for, and I found another one to add to the list. It's an open source Invoice, and quote management system called Simple Invoices.
From their page:
Simple Invoices is a free, open source, web based invoicing system that you can install on your server/pc or have hosted by one of our services providers.If you don't have a web server you can run the software on, they also have a simple desktop application that runs on Windows that you can use instead. It's a self running executable so there is nothing to install. In fact, you can run it off a USB if you wanted to! Here are a couple of screen shots:
Why should I use Simple Invoices?
- Absolutely free, no monthly subscription
- Browser based application you can use from anywhere
- It's open source, developed by the community and it's yours
- Easily track your finances, send invoices as PDF's and hundreds of other great features
If you want to try out Simple Invoices without installing it, they have a web-based demo setup for you to try out here: (Simple Invoices Demo)
Are you a Simple Invoices user? Like it? Dislike it? Do you use Autotask? Can you give us an idea on how much it costs? Think you will switch up now you know about this free alternative? Let us know in the comments!
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