How to make an invoice for free and save it as a PDF

How do you make an invoice for free?

Open a free invoice generator, enter your business and customer details, describe the work, add prices and payment instructions, then save the finished invoice as a PDF. In Invoice Koi's browser generator, no account or installation is required.

If you need a document now, start a free invoice here. If you want to check the format first, use our worked invoice example. The steps below take a small repair job from blank form to a file you can attach to an email.

A free PDF and a free payment are different things. Creating this document costs nothing. A bank, card processor or other payment provider may charge for the method you agree with your customer. Writing payment instructions on a PDF does not set up payment processing.

Gather the details that make the invoice usable

Have the customer's billing name, address, job description, agreed price and payment date to hand. If the customer is a business, ask whether accounts payable needs a purchase order number or a particular billing address. Put any supplied reference in the notes so the person approving payment can match it to the job.

Choose an invoice number you have not used before, such as INV-2026-014. Keep the issue date separate from the date the work was done. Write the due date in full: September 30, 2026 is easier to act on than a term the customer has to calculate.

Use the currency you agreed. An invoice for $185.00 USD should not leave an overseas customer guessing which dollar or pound amount you mean. Tax treatment depends on your circumstances; do not copy a tax setting from an example without checking it.

Enter the work as two clear line items

For this fictional repair, enter two hours of labor at $75.00 per hour and one replacement part at $35.00. The first line is $150.00, the second is $35.00, and the subtotal is $185.00. These figures demonstrate the calculation, not a suggested price for your trade.

Use a description such as “Adjust sticking internal door and test closure” instead of “Work done”. Add the service date and job reference in the description or notes. The customer should be able to recognise the work without opening an old message thread.

This example assumes no tax is chargeable and no discount or earlier payment applies, so the amount due is $185.00. Replace those assumptions with your own treatment. If you have already received part of the price, make the remaining balance explicit rather than asking the customer to subtract it mentally.

Save the invoice as a PDF and open it

In the generator, select Download PDF. This opens your browser's print controls. On desktop Chrome, choose Save as PDF as the destination, inspect the preview, then save the file. Other browsers and phones may present different print or share controls. Google's Chrome printing instructions explain where those controls live.

Check the US Letter paper setting and every page of the preview. If the browser adds a web address or date around the invoice, turn off its headers and footers. Avoid reducing the scale so far that a customer has to zoom in to read the payment details.

Name the file INV-2026-014.pdf, then open the actual saved file. Check the customer, invoice number, amount due and payment instructions. A preview is useful; the attachment is what the customer will receive.

Send the PDF and keep your own copy

The generator saves its current draft in this browser when browser storage is available. That is a convenience, not an invoice archive. Clearing site data, using private browsing or moving to another device can leave you without that draft. Save each completed PDF somewhere you can find and back up.

Attach the file to your own email and use our invoice email template to state the amount and due date. The generator does not email the document for you or confirm that a customer has paid it.

For occasional work, a generator and a folder of saved PDFs may be enough. For repeat customers, compare that workflow with the Invoice Koi app and its published free-plan allowance. The browser tool and installed app are separate choices; an unlimited browser generator does not imply that every app feature is free.

Keep the invoice with your business records. The IRS recordkeeping guide includes invoices among supporting documents. That guidance concerns records, not a universal US invoice format or sales-tax rule.