Invoicing Software for Web Developers
Sprints, milestones, retainers, hourly, or fixed-price — web development bills five different ways. CloudBooks handles all of them without the PSA-tool overhead that most dev shops don't need.
Built for How Developers Actually Bill
Sprint-based tracking, milestone payments, retainer automation — the dev-work billing patterns, done right.
Bill Sprints, Not Just Hours
Modern dev work happens in 1-2 week sprints. Track hours per sprint, invoice at sprint-end, and clients see clean itemization instead of a wall of 15-minute time logs.
Milestone Billing for Fixed-Scope
Fixed-price builds pay by milestone: design approved, backend deployed, frontend shipped, handoff complete. CloudBooks tracks the payment schedule so you invoice when work ships.
Retainers for Maintenance Clients
Ongoing maintenance clients on monthly retainer? Auto-invoicing every month, hours tracked against the retainer cap, overage billing when scope grows.
Timer Integration for Real Work
One-click timers that don't disrupt flow. Start when you begin a task, stop when you switch. Zero mental overhead — no more 'wait, how long did that take?' at invoice time.
Get Paid Faster Than You Ship
Send the invoice with the deploy notification. Clients pay online via Stripe or PayPal. Cash hits your account before you've merged your next PR.
Bill International Clients Cleanly
US dev, EU startup client, LATAM team? Invoice in USD/EUR/BRL, receive payments in your currency, and track everything cleanly for tax time.
Project-Based Budgets
Set a budget for the sprint or the whole engagement. See when you're at 80% of hours and either scope-cut or upsell — before you deliver work you didn't budget for.
Invoices with Real Line Items
Line items like 'Backend API — 32h', 'Frontend components — 18h', 'Deploy + DevOps — 6h'. Clients understand what they paid for, which shortens the payment cycle.
Sprint-Based Time Tracking
Group logged hours by sprint or two-week interval. Each sprint becomes a clean invoice with a proper breakdown, not 40 separate 15-minute time entries.
- Group time entries by sprint
- Task descriptions become line items
- One-click sprint-to-invoice conversion
- Auto-calculated totals per sprint
Milestone Payment Schedules
Fixed-scope builds usually pay 25/50/25 — deposit, midpoint, delivery. CloudBooks tracks all three invoices as one project, so you always know what's paid and what's outstanding.
- Multi-invoice project structure
- Milestone completion tracking
- Auto-reminders as deadlines approach
- Signed acceptance per milestone
Maintenance Retainer Automation
For clients paying a monthly retainer for maintenance and small fixes — CloudBooks sends the invoice on the 1st, tracks hours against the retainer allocation, and flags overages.
- Auto-recurring monthly invoices
- Retainer cap tracking
- Overage invoicing at set threshold
- Included-hours vs billed-hours reporting
Expense Pass-Through for AWS, Hosting, Domains
Log expenses for cloud services, domains, licenses, and third-party APIs. Mark them billable and they auto-attach to the client's next invoice — with your standard markup or at-cost.
- Billable expense tagging
- Receipt attachment
- Client-specific markup rules
- Categorized for tax deductions
CloudBooks vs Dev Agency Alternatives
Simpler than enterprise PSA tools, more complete than a spreadsheet.
| Feature | CloudBooks | PSA Tools | Spreadsheet + PayPal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint-based grouping | Built in | Manual grouping | Not applicable |
| Milestone billing | Multi-invoice project | Manual tracking | Chaos |
| Retainer automation | Full auto | Reminders only | Miss half |
| Multi-currency | 160+ currencies | Limited | USD only |
| Timer app | Built in | Toggl integration | Manual note |
| Client portal | Full | Email PDF | None |
| Starting price | $9/mo | $29+/mo | Free (but painful) |
| API for automation | REST API on Agency plan | Enterprise-tier only | N/A |
“I run a two-person dev studio doing sprint-based work for SaaS clients. We were tracking hours in Toggl, invoicing in Google Docs, and reconciling in Airtable. CloudBooks replaced all three, and I get paid ~10 days faster because the invoice ships with the deploy.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions from freelance developers and dev agencies.
Can I invoice by sprint instead of by hour?
How do I structure a fixed-price contract invoice?
Can I invoice hosting and cloud fees back to my client?
How do retainer overages work?
Can I use the API to create invoices from my project tools?
How do I handle a client who insists on Net 60?
Ready to Get Paid Faster?
Join 30,000+ freelancers and small businesses who use CloudBooks to create invoices, track expenses, and manage their finances effortlessly.