CRM with invoicing for small business: Bigin, Keap, Bitrix24, HubSpot and WebNewBiz compared

What a CRM with invoicing actually does

Vendors use the phrase for three different set-ups, so check which one you are buying.

• Invoices built into the CRM. You raise the invoice from the contact or deal and send it from the same screen. The CRM then tracks whether it was viewed and paid. Keap, Bitrix24 (from its Standard plan), HubSpot and WebNewBiz work this way.
• A connected invoicing app. The CRM and the invoicing tool are separate products that sync both ways, so you can invoice without leaving the CRM. Bigin does this with Zoho Invoice.
• CRM plus full accounting software. The CRM handles leads and deals, and invoices are raised in QuickBooks, Xero or similar, either by hand or through an integration.

What actually gets you paid is not the invoice but the reminder. A polite, automatic nudge on the due date and again a week later does the awkward part of chasing for you, and it never forgets. A CRM that offers invoices but no automatic reminders has only solved half the problem.

When the invoices in your CRM are enough

For many small service businesses, invoices inside the CRM cover everything on the sales side. That is usually enough if most of these are true:

• You send a modest number of invoices a month, mostly one per job, project or package.
• Your pricing is simple: a handful of services or products and one or two tax rates.
• You want customers to pay online by card, and you want the reminders to run without you.
• Your accountant is happy with a monthly export of invoices and payments.
• Your main problem is chasing, not bookkeeping. You know who owes what, you just dislike asking.

Coaches, consultants, cleaners, trades, studios and small agencies often fit this description. For them the CRM becomes the single record where a lead turns into a deal, the deal into an invoice, and the invoice into a paid customer. If you are still choosing your first system, our guide to the best AI CRM for small business covers more options.

When to keep accounting software alongside it

A CRM invoice is a sales document. Accounting software is the record of the whole business. Keep a proper accounting tool, or an accountant who runs one, if any of these apply:

• You file VAT, GST or sales tax returns. Returns need every sale and every purchase, including ones that never went through the CRM.
• You reconcile your bank. Matching payments to bank lines and recording refunds, fees and part payments is accounting work.
• You track expenses, payroll or stock value. CRMs are not built for these.
• Your country requires digital records or e-invoices. In the UK, under Making Tax Digital, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 have had to keep digital records in HMRC-compatible software since April 2026. That threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027. Germany already requires businesses to be able to receive structured e-invoices, and France began phasing in mandatory e-invoicing in September 2026. A PDF from your CRM does not meet those rules on its own.
• More than one person handles money. Audit trails, approvals and locked periods belong in accounting software.

The usual split is simple: the CRM sends invoices and chases payment, and the accounting tool records the finished sale, either through a sync or a monthly export. Check with your accountant before changing anything that touches tax.

Eight things to check before you choose

1. Invoice from the deal in one step. The name, address, line items and price should carry over. If you still have to type them, nothing has changed.
2. Reminders you can schedule. You should be able to send them before, on and after the due date, and edit the wording.
3. Online payment in your country. Payment tools are not global. Keap's own payment service is US only. HubSpot Payments covers the US, UK and Canada, and HubSpot's Stripe option is not available in some countries, including Brazil, India, South Africa and the UAE.
4. Quotes that become invoices, so project work is not typed twice.
5. Recurring invoices for retainers, memberships and monthly services.
6. Your tax rates, currency and invoice numbering, in the format your accountant expects.
7. A route to your books: a sync with your accounting tool, or at least a clean export.
8. How the price scales. Per-user pricing looks cheap for one person and less so for five. Flat pricing is the reverse.

People often forget one more thing: where your leads come from. If most enquiries arrive through your website, a CRM that captures them automatically saves as much typing at the start of the sale as invoicing saves at the end.

The five options side by side

Prices are in US dollars per month at the time of writing (October 2026). They change often, so check each vendor's pricing page before you buy.

Bigin by Zoho: the cheapest sensible route

Bigin is Zoho's CRM for small teams, built around simple pipelines. It has no invoice module of its own. Instead, on any paid plan you connect Zoho Invoice, which Zoho now offers free, and then create invoices and estimates from inside Bigin, with a two-way sync between the two. Zoho Invoice sends payment reminders and handles recurring invoices. Bigin's paid plans also include payment links through Stripe, PayPal, Razorpay and Paytm, plus integrations with Zoho Books and QuickBooks if you need full accounting.

The plans are Free, Express at $7, Premier at $12 and Bigin 360 at $18 per user per month on yearly billing ($9, $15 and $21 monthly). The free plan does not include the Zoho Invoice connection.

Choose it if you want the lowest cost and do not mind running two connected Zoho apps. Watch for the per-user maths as the team grows, and some set-up work to get the sync right.

Keap: strong automation at a serious price

Keap is built for service businesses that run a lot of automated follow-up. Invoicing is built in: you send a quote, the client accepts it with one click, and it converts to an invoice. Invoices can be one-off or recurring, and billing automation sends past-due reminders. Payments go through Keap Pay (US only) or processors such as Stripe and PayPal.

The catch is cost. Keap sells one plan at $299 a month on monthly billing, or $2,988 a year (about $249 a month). That includes two users, and extra users cost $39 a month each. A paid implementation package is required, and annual contracts carry an early termination fee.

Choose it if you are a US-based service business that will use the marketing automation. Skip it if invoices and reminders are the main thing you want, because you would be paying for a lot you never use.

Bitrix24: lots of tools, invoices from Standard

Bitrix24 bundles CRM, tasks, projects, chat and much more. Its invoices and estimates are built in. They can repeat on a schedule, show whether each one has been sent, viewed, paid or is overdue, and let clients pay online. Automation rules on deals can send payment reminders.

Pricing is per organisation rather than per user. The Free plan and Basic ($49 a month for 5 users) do not include invoices. You need Standard at $99 a month for up to 50 users, or Professional at $199 for up to 100 users with fuller automation. Monthly billing costs more ($144 for Standard).

Choose it if you have a team of five or more and want one workspace for sales and internal work. Watch for its sheer size: small teams often use a fraction of what they pay for. Our guide to Bitrix24 alternatives for small business covers simpler options.

HubSpot: free invoices, costs that grow with seats

HubSpot lets both free and paid users create and send invoices, one-off or recurring. To take payment you connect either HubSpot Payments (paid plans only, for companies in the US, UK and Canada) or Stripe. Once one of those is connected, you can switch on automatic invoice reminders. By default they go out on the due date and 7 and 14 days after it, and you can set up to five. A QuickBooks Online integration syncs invoices and payments both ways.

The Starter Customer Platform lists at $20 per seat per month, with discounts for new customers at the time of writing.

Choose it if HubSpot's payment options cover your country and you may grow into its marketing and service tools. Watch for payment coverage outside North America and the UK, and seat costs as you add people. Our list of HubSpot CRM alternatives covers other routes.

WebNewBiz: website, enquiries and invoices in one place

WebNewBiz comes at this from the other end. It starts as a website builder, and the AI CRM sits behind the site. Enquiries from your website land in the CRM as contacts automatically, and online store buyers become contacts too. The CRM reads and scores leads, tracks deals, tasks and bookings, and connects to your own email. Its invoices chase themselves, so reminders go out without you having to remember.

The CRM starts on the Growth plan at $79 a month, which includes 3,000 contacts, 3 team members, the website, hosting and an online store. Pro at $149 raises that to 10,000 contacts and 5 team members, and Ultimate at $199 removes the contact limit. Every plan costs $1 for the first month, yearly billing is cheaper, and there is no minimum contract.

It has honest limits. WebNewBiz is a young platform with a much smaller app ecosystem than HubSpot or Zoho, and it is not accounting software, so you will still keep your books elsewhere. The cheaper plans (Lite at $9 and Starter at $29) have no CRM, and there is no free plan. If you already have a website you are happy with and only want a CRM, Bigin or HubSpot is the more direct fit.

Choose it if you want the website, the enquiry form, the CRM and the invoice reminders under one login instead of connecting three tools.

What it costs for a team of three

Here is a rough monthly cost for three people who need invoices with automatic reminders, at the time of writing:

• Bigin Express with Zoho Invoice: about $21 on yearly billing (3 x $7). Premier would be $36.
• HubSpot: $0 on the free CRM with Stripe connected, if that covers your needs, or about $60 on Starter at list price (3 x $20).
• WebNewBiz Growth: $79 at the monthly price, including the website, hosting and store. Yearly billing is cheaper.
• Bitrix24 Standard: $99 on yearly billing, and the price stays the same up to 50 users.
• Keap: about $288 on yearly billing ($249 plus one extra user at $39), plus the required onboarding package.

For a CRM on its own, Bigin and HubSpot are clearly cheaper. The picture changes if you also pay separately for a website builder, hosting and form tools, because the WebNewBiz figure includes those. Add up what you pay today for your site, forms, CRM and invoicing app, then compare like with like.

How to set up reminders that get you paid without annoying anyone

1. Agree terms before you invoice. Put the due date and payment method in the quote, so the invoice is no surprise.
2. Invoice the day the work is done. A delay tells the client it is not urgent.
3. Keep the schedule short. Send a friendly note 3 days before the due date, one on the day, then one 7 and 14 days after. The last three match HubSpot's default schedule and suit most service businesses.
4. Be polite and specific. Include the amount, invoice number, due date and a pay-now link. Leave threats out of automated emails.
5. Pick up the phone after the last reminder. A call settles most late payments faster than a fifth email.
6. Pause reminders on disputed invoices, so a customer with a genuine complaint is not chased by a robot.

For ongoing work, use recurring invoices with card payment where you can. The best reminder is the one you never need to send.

Quick answers

What is the best CRM with invoicing for a small business?

It depends on what else you need. For the lowest cost, Bigin by Zoho with the free Zoho Invoice app starts at $7 per user per month, and HubSpot's free CRM includes invoices. Bitrix24 Standard suits larger teams, Keap suits US service businesses that want heavy automation, and WebNewBiz suits owners who want their website, enquiries, CRM and invoices in one place.

Can a CRM with invoicing replace my accounting software?

Usually not completely. A CRM can send invoices and chase payment, but VAT or GST returns, bank reconciliation, expenses, payroll and digital tax records belong in accounting software. Most small businesses invoice and chase from the CRM and keep an accounting tool, or an accountant, for the books.

Does HubSpot's free CRM include invoicing?

Yes. Free and paid HubSpot users can create and send invoices. To take card payments and switch on automatic reminders you connect HubSpot Payments, which needs a paid plan and is limited to the US, UK and Canada, or Stripe, which HubSpot does not support in some countries, including India and Brazil.

Does Bigin by Zoho have invoicing?

Not as its own module. On any paid Bigin plan you connect Zoho Invoice, which is free, and then create invoices and estimates from inside Bigin. Zoho Invoice sends the payment reminders.

How many payment reminders should I send?

Three or four is plenty for most businesses: one a few days before the due date, one on the day, then 7 and 14 days after. If the invoice is still unpaid after that, call the customer instead of sending more emails.

Which WebNewBiz plan includes invoicing?

The AI CRM, including invoices that chase themselves, starts on the Growth plan at $79 a month with 3,000 contacts and 3 team members. The Lite and Starter plans do not include the CRM. Every plan costs $1 for the first month.

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If you want it all in one place

If you would like your website, enquiries, CRM and invoice reminders under one login, have a look at how the AI website builder and the CRM fit together. You can also try the free AI Website Preview: describe your business in one sentence and it designs a homepage for free. When you are ready, you can start for $1 for the first month and cancel any time. If one of the other tools above suits you better, use that instead. Getting paid on time matters more than whose name is on the software.