How to make an invoice on a Mac

You don’t need special software to make an invoice on a Mac: Numbers, which is free, has a template for it. But the more invoices you send, the more the typing, the numbering and the “has this been paid?” add up. Here are five ways, from free to fully automatic, and what every invoice should have.

What every invoice needs

Whatever you use, an invoice usually has the same parts. Follow these steps and you won’t miss one:

1. Pick a template or an app

   Numbers, Pages, Word and Excel all work for a few invoices a month. An invoice app is quicker once you send them often.

2. Add your business details

   Your business name, address, email and, if you have one, your tax or VAT number.

3. Add the client

   Their name, or their business name, and their address.

4. Number and date it

   Give it a unique number that follows the last one (INV-2026-025, say), today’s date and a due date, such as 14 or 30 days from now.

5. List the work

   One line for each thing you’re billing: what it was, how many hours or items, the rate and the amount.

6. Add tax and the total

   If you charge sales tax, VAT or GST, show the rate and the amount, then the total to pay.

7. Say how to pay

   Bank details, a payment link or anything else your client needs to pay you, and the due date again.

8. Save it as a PDF and send it

   Export a PDF, attach it to an email, and keep a copy so you know who has paid.

The five ways at a glance

Swipe the table sideways to see all 5 →

Ways to make an invoice on a Mac, compared November 8, 2026

Feature	Invoicewell	Numbers	Pages	Excel	Wave
Cost	$19.99 once	Free	Free	Microsoft 365, or Office Home 2024 at $179.99 once	Free; Pro $19 a month
Invoice template	5 designs	Yes, from Apple	Lay it out yourself	Free templates from Microsoft	Built in
Invoice numbers	Automatic	By hand	By hand	By hand	Automatic
Totals and tax	Automatic	Template formulas	Table formulas you add	Template formulas	Automatic
Knows who has paid	Yes	—No	—No	—No	Yes
Reminders	3 levels, and late fees	—No	—No	—No	Automatic with Pro
Recurring invoices	Yes	—No	—No	—No	With Pro or online payments
Clients pay by card from the invoice	—No	—No	—No	—No	Yes, 2.9% + $0.60 a card payment
Works without the internet	Yes (email and AI need it)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No: it’s a website
An AI assistant can make it	Claude, Cursor and others	—No	—No	—No	Not advertised

Numbers and Pages are free on the Mac App Store; their current versions need macOS 26. Word and Excel need a Microsoft 365 subscription, or Office Home 2024 ($179.99 once), per Microsoft’s pages. Wave facts are from its pricing and invoicing pages. All checked November 8, 2026.

1. Apple Numbers (free)

Numbers is Apple’s spreadsheet app, free on every Mac, and Apple says it comes with templates “from a home budget to an invoice.” It’s the quickest free way to a decent-looking invoice.

1. Open Numbers and choose File › New.
2. Pick the invoice template, and type over the sample details: yours, the client’s, the number, the dates and the lines.
3. The template adds up the lines for you. Check the total and tax.
4. Choose File › Export To › PDF, then attach the PDF to an email.

Good: free, already on your Mac, works offline. Not so good: you type everything each time, keep track of numbers yourself, and need your own list of who has paid.

2. Apple Pages (free)

Pages is Apple’s free word processor. It suits people who want to design the page themselves: start with a blank document, add your logo and details, and insert a table for the lines. Pages tables can add up a column with a formula, like a small spreadsheet. Export it with File › Export To › PDF.

Good: free, and the invoice can look exactly how you want. Not so good: the most typing of all five, and nothing checks the numbers for you.

3. Microsoft Word or Excel

If you already pay for Microsoft 365, Word and Excel do the same job. Microsoft offers free invoice templates for Excel that “calculate totals automatically,” and you can open them in Excel for Mac. To save one as a PDF, choose File › Save As and pick PDF.

Without Microsoft 365, it costs more than an invoice app: the Mac App Store listings say Word and Excel require “a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription,” and Office Home 2024 is $179.99 once. Good: familiar, and fine if you’re in Excel all day anyway. Not so good: the same typing, numbering and tracking as Numbers.

4. An online invoicing service

Services like FreshBooks, QuickBooks, Wave and Zoho Invoice run in your web browser. They number and add up invoices, send them by email, remind late clients and, most usefully, let clients pay by card from the invoice. Wave’s Starter plan is free, with card payments at 2.9% + $0.60 each.

Good: online card payments, phone apps, bookkeeping on bigger plans. Not so good: most charge every month, your invoices live on their servers, and you need an account and the internet. Compare them in the best invoice apps for Mac.

5. A Mac invoice app (Invoicewell)

An invoice app does the parts templates leave to you. In Invoicewell, you set up your business once, and then each invoice gets the next number, today’s date, a due date from the client’s terms and your usual tax rate on its own. You add the lines (from saved items, or from hours you tracked with the timer), and it makes a real PDF in one of 5 designs.

1. Open Invoicewell. The welcome asks for your business details once.
2. Add a client, or import your clients from a CSV file.
3. Make a new invoice: the number, dates and tax are already filled in.
4. Add what you’re billing. Invoicewell checks nothing’s missing before it calls the invoice ready.
5. Email it: the email comes ready with the PDF attached, and you press Send. Invoicewell then tracks whether it’s been paid, and reminds you when it’s late.

Or skip the typing entirely and ask an AI assistant. With Claude connected, “invoice Harbour Labs for this month’s work” is enough: Claude asks only what Invoicewell says is missing. Try it here:

Good: automatic numbers, totals, due dates, reminders, recurring invoices and reports, on your Mac, for $19.99 once. Not so good: no online card payments, and Mac only, with no iPhone or Windows version.

Which way should you use?

• A couple of invoices a year: the free Numbers template is plenty.
• Clients who want to pay by card online: an online service such as Wave, FreshBooks or QuickBooks.
• Regular invoices, on your Mac, without a subscription: Invoicewell, by hand or by asking Claude.