Hourly invoice template
An invoice for work billed by the hour: each line has a date, what was done, the hours and the rate. Change the lines to match your week and save it as a PDF.
Opens in the free invoice generator. No account, and nothing you type is sent anywhere.
What to put on it
- Hours as decimals
- Write 1.75, not 1:45. An hour and 45 minutes at $60 is 1.75 × 60. The hours-to-decimal converter on this site does the conversion.
- The rate on every line
- Even when it never changes. It lets the client check each amount without scrolling for the rate.
- One line per piece of work
- Not one line per timer entry. Three short entries on the same task read better as one line with the hours added up.
- The period it covers
- If you bill every week or two, put the dates in the first line or the notes, so two invoices are never confused.
Rounding
Pick an increment and keep to it. Quarter hours are the usual choice for freelance work. Whatever you choose, say so in your agreement, and round each piece of work the same way every time.
When the hours come from a time tracker
A tracker’s export lists every entry. An invoice should list the work. Group entries by task, add up the time, convert it to decimals and write one clear sentence per line. Entries you marked not billable stay off the invoice.
Questions
More on writing invoices in the guides.
How do I invoice for hours worked?
List each piece of work on its own line with the date, a short description, the hours as a decimal and your hourly rate. Multiply hours by rate for each line and add the lines for the total. Add the due date and how to pay.
How do I convert minutes to decimal hours for an invoice?
Divide the minutes by 60. Fifteen minutes is 0.25 of an hour, 30 is 0.5 and 45 is 0.75. So 2 hours 45 minutes is 2.75 hours.
Should I show my time entries on the invoice?
Usually not. Clients want to know what was done and what it cost. Keep the raw entries in case someone asks, and put the summed, described work on the invoice.
Related templates
Beyond a template
Have the lines written from your notes.
A template still leaves the writing to you. With a free Sandglass account you paste the notes you kept, a time-tracker export or a git log, enter your hours and rate, and it drafts the dated lines. Then it emails the invoice and tracks whether it was paid.