Kitebill vs Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja is a feature-rich invoicing platform you can use hosted or self-host. Kitebill is a small local-first browser app. Here is how they differ.

Facts about other products are as of Sep 2026, taken from their public pages (linked under Sources, checked 2026-09-28). Plans and prices change, so please check before you decide. Corrections: see our contact page.

	Invoice Ninja	Kitebill
How it works	Hosted SaaS, or self-host the source-available code on your own server (PHP/MySQL). Native apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android.	Web app in the browser. No account. Data stored on your device (local storage). Works offline after first load.
License	Source-available under the Elastic License 2.0 (not an OSI open-source license).	Proprietary. Free plan plus paid Pro license key.
Price (hosted)	Free: 5 clients, unlimited invoices. Pro: US$14/month or US$140/year. Enterprise from US$18/month. 30-day money back on paid plans.	Free: 3 clients, 10 invoices, bilingual EN/AR/UR labels, client CSV import up to 3 clients. Pro: US$29 one-time (unlimited clients, invoices and CSV import, expenses, CSV export, logo, no credit line). 30-day refund.
Price (self-host)	Free to self-host. White-label license to remove branding: US$40/year.	Nothing to host.
Online payments	Many gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Square, GoCardless…), client portal, auto-billing.	No online payment collection. You list bank/Payoneer/Wise/PayPal details on the invoice.
Extras	Quotes, recurring invoices, projects and time tracking, expenses, vendors, reminders (Pro), e-invoicing/PEPPOL (Enterprise).	Multi-currency with your own exchange rate, fee tracking, overdue dashboard, bilingual EN/AR/UR print labels (free plan).
Not included	—	No quotes/estimates, recurring invoices, emailing from the app, client portal, bank sync, team users, or multi-device sync.

Choose Invoice Ninja if…

you need recurring billing, payment gateways, a client portal or team users;
you want to self-host on your own server and are comfortable maintaining PHP/MySQL;
you need PEPPOL e-invoicing (Enterprise plan).

Choose Kitebill if…

you want zero setup: no server, no account, nothing to update;
you are a solo freelancer and want something simpler;
you prefer paying once (US$29) over a monthly plan, and want offline use plus Arabic/Urdu labels.

Sources

Questions

Is Invoice Ninja open source?

Its code is public on GitHub, and the repository describes it as source-available under the Elastic License 2.0 (as of Sep 2026). That license restricts offering it as a hosted service to third parties.

Is Kitebill a good fit if I need recurring invoices?

Not today. Kitebill has no automatic recurring invoices. You can duplicate last month's invoice in one click, but nothing is sent automatically.