I Tried 5 Free GST Billing Tools in India — Here is What Actually Happened

I did not plan to spend three days testing GST billing software.

It started because a friend — a freelance content writer in Pune — called me frustrated. She had just sent an invoice to a corporate client and it came back rejected. Wrong GST type. The client was in Delhi, she was in Pune, and she had charged CGST + SGST instead of IGST.

She asked me which billing tool she should use. I realised I did not have a confident answer. So I spent three days testing every free GST billing tool I could find in India.

Here is what actually happened.

The Five Tools I Tested

I tested these five tools that claimed to offer free GST billing:

1. GST Maker
2. Zoho Invoice (free plan)
3. myBillBook
4. Refrens
5. Invoice Ninja (Indian GST version)

My criteria were simple. Can a non-accountant set it up in under 10 minutes? Does it calculate CGST, SGST, and IGST correctly? Does it look professional? And is it actually free — not free-for-14-days free?

Let me go through each one honestly.

Tool 1 — Zoho Invoice (Free Plan)

Zoho is a massive company. The product shows it — in both good and bad ways.

Setup took me about 25 minutes. There are a lot of screens. A lot of settings. Tax profiles to configure, payment gateways to connect, templates to choose. For a CA or someone who uses software professionally, this probably feels thorough. For my freelancer friend who just wants to send an invoice on WhatsApp — it felt like setting up a new phone.

The invoices look good once you get through setup. GST calculation was correct when I tested inter-state. But I had to manually set up the tax components before the first invoice — it did not figure this out on its own.

The free plan has a limit of 1,000 invoices per year. That sounds like a lot. For a small agency billing 20 clients monthly, it is 240 invoices a year — fine. But the limit exists, and hitting it means upgrading.

Verdict: Powerful. But the setup time and complexity make it a poor fit for someone who just wants to start billing quickly.

Tool 2 — myBillBook

This one is popular in smaller city markets — hardware shops, traders, kirana distributors. The mobile app is clean and Hindi language support is a genuine differentiator.

Setup was faster than Zoho — about 12 minutes. The interface is simpler.

Where it got complicated was the GST settings. I had to manually configure the tax rates before creating my first invoice. When I tested inter-state billing, I had to change the GST type manually. It did not detect the customer's state and apply IGST automatically.

For a shop owner in a tier-2 city who mostly sells within their own state — this probably works fine. For a freelancer or agency billing clients across India — it requires too much manual attention to the GST type on each invoice.

The free plan is decent but pushes you toward the paid app fairly quickly once you start using more features.

Verdict: Good for single-state retail billing. Not ideal for service businesses or multi-state sellers.

Tool 3 — Refrens

Refrens is specifically built for freelancers. The onboarding is genuinely good — focused, minimal, asks only what it needs to. I was creating my first invoice in about 8 minutes.

The invoices look sharp. Really sharp actually — better design than most tools in this list.

GST calculation was correct. But similar to myBillBook, it did not automatically detect whether to apply CGST + SGST or IGST. I had to select the tax type manually each time.

The free plan has limitations on the number of documents you can create monthly. For a high-volume freelancer or small agency, this becomes a constraint quickly.

Also — no inventory tracking, no expense tracker. If you are a freelancer doing pure service billing, you probably do not need these. But for any business that sells goods, Refrens is not built for you.

Verdict: Best looking invoices of the five. Good for pure freelancers. Limitations in volume and scope for growing businesses.

Tool 4 — Invoice Ninja (Indian GST Version)

I will be honest — this one was a struggle from the start.

Invoice Ninja is primarily built for international markets. The Indian GST version feels like it was adapted rather than designed for India. Setting up CGST, SGST, and IGST required creating separate tax rate profiles manually. It took me almost 40 minutes before I could confidently create a correct GST invoice.

The interface looks dated compared to the other tools. Some menus were not intuitive — I found myself clicking through options that did not lead where I expected.

The free plan is generous in terms of invoice limits. But the setup complexity and the feeling that India was an afterthought made it hard to recommend for the average Indian small business owner.

Verdict: Too much manual setup for Indian GST. Better options exist.

Tool 5 — GST Maker

Full disclosure — I built this. So take this section knowing that bias exists. But I am going to be as honest as I can.

Setup: 4 minutes. I timed it. Business name, GSTIN, address, logo. Done.

First invoice: Under 60 seconds. Selected a client I had saved. The tool detected the client was in a different state. Applied IGST automatically. Suggested the SAC code when I typed the service name. Calculated 18% and broke it into the correct components. Generated a PDF.

That is it. That is the whole experience.

The thing I am genuinely proud of — and I say this not as a marketing claim but because it was the hardest thing to build — is the automatic CGST vs IGST detection. Every other tool in this list required manual selection. Our AI Magic Fill does it without any input from the user.

I sent the invoice to my friend in Pune. She sent it to her Delhi client. It came back with payment — not with a rejection notice.

What GST Maker does not do: It is not a full accounting system. No balance sheets. No payroll. No TDS management. If you need all of that, you need something like Tally or Zoho Books — which will cost you. For pure GST billing, reporting, and basic expense tracking, the free plan covers everything most small businesses actually need.

Verdict: Fastest setup. Only tool that auto-detects GST type. Genuinely free with no invoice limits on the core billing features.

My Honest Comparison

What I Would Actually Recommend

If you are a freelancer or service-based business: GST Maker or Refrens. GST Maker if you bill clients across multiple states (the auto IGST detection alone saves you significant headache). Refrens if invoice design matters more than anything else and you bill within your own state mostly.

If you run a shop or trade business: myBillBook works for single-state billing. GST Maker if you have buyers in multiple states.

If you are already in the Zoho ecosystem: Zoho Invoice makes sense — the integration with Zoho Books is genuinely useful. Otherwise the setup overhead is hard to justify.

If you need full accounting alongside billing: None of these tools are built for that. Tally or Zoho Books are the real options — both paid.

The One Thing That Surprised Me

Three days of testing and the thing that stood out most was not a feature.

It was how much time people waste on something that should be trivial.

My friend in Pune was spending 20 minutes on every invoice. That is 4 hours a month for 12 invoices. 48 hours a year. Two full working days — just on invoices.

The right tool cuts that to under 10 minutes total for 12 invoices.

That is the real cost of using the wrong billing tool. Not the subscription fee. The time.

If you want to try GST Maker yourself — it is free and setup takes 4 minutes.

👉 gstmaker.com

No credit card. No sales call. Just sign up and create your first invoice.