Free hourly invoice generator
Turn tracked hours into an invoice a client can approve without a single follow-up question. Quantities are hours, rates are your hourly rate, and the totals do themselves.
Build your hourly invoice
Quantity is hours, rate is your hourly rate. The example below covers a two-week billing period — replace it with your own.
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|
What is an hourly invoice?
An hourly invoice bills for time rather than a finished deliverable. Each line names the work and the period it covers, the quantity is the number of hours, and the rate is what you charge per hour. Multiply, add tax if it applies, and that is the amount due.
Because the client is buying time, the invoice has to make the time legible. A single line reading “Consulting — 46 hours” is technically correct and practically unapprovable. Split the hours by task, project or week so the person signing it off can recognise what they paid for.
Hourly invoices are also the ones most likely to be checked against something else — a timesheet, a ticket system, a shared tracker. Reference that source on the invoice and the two numbers can be reconciled in seconds.
What to include
Everything below is already in the generator above — this is what each part is for.
The billing period
The exact dates the hours cover, for example “Aug 10–21, 2026”. Without it, nobody can tell which weeks were billed.
Your hourly rate
Stated on the invoice, not only in the contract. If you use more than one rate, give each its own line.
Hours broken down by task
One line per project, workstream or week. Round consistently — quarter-hour or half-hour increments are both fine if you always use one.
A unique invoice number
Many people number hourly invoices by period, such as HR-2026-08, so the sequence matches the calendar.
Reference to your time log
Say where the detail lives — a timesheet attachment, a tracker export or a ticket list — so questions resolve without email.
Terms and due date
A specific due date, the payment methods you accept, and how overtime or after-hours rates are handled if they apply.
Three steps to a finished PDF
Set the period and rate
Put the billing period in your notes and your rate in the terms, then update the invoice number for this period.
Enter hours per task
One line per task or week: quantity in hours, rate as your hourly rate. Amounts and the total calculate live.
Download the PDF
Download the invoice, attach your timesheet if the client expects one, and send both together.
Billing hours without friction
Track first, invoice second
An hourly invoice is only as strong as the record behind it. Log time as you work, in whatever tool you already use, and invoice from that log rather than from memory at the end of the month. Reconstructed hours are the ones that get disputed.
Round consistently
Most hourly professionals bill in 15-minute increments; some use 6-minute increments, and legal and agency work often does. Any of these is defensible as long as you apply it the same way every time and say so in your terms.
Handle multiple rates cleanly
- Give each rate its own line — for example development at one rate and strategy or meetings at another.
- If you bill overtime or weekend work differently, name it in the line description rather than quietly raising the rate.
- Cap-sensitive projects benefit from a line showing hours used against the approved cap, kept in the notes field.
Invoice on a rhythm
Weekly or biweekly invoicing gets you paid faster than monthly and keeps disputes small, because the work is still fresh when the invoice arrives. For long engagements, agree the rhythm up front and keep to the same day each period so the client’s finance team can plan for it.
Three mistakes that delay payment
One giant line
A month of work as a single line invites scrutiny. Split it by task or week.
Missing the period
Without dates, hourly invoices look interchangeable and get paid last.
Silent rate changes
A raised rate that first appears on an invoice reads as a mistake. Confirm it in writing first.