Compare · Deep dive
HAMAR vs Zoho Invoice.
Zoho Invoice is £0 forever with unlimited invoices. HAMAR is £6.99/mo — or £79 one-off for lifetime accessif you claim one of the first 100 Founding Member seats. Both send invoices. Only one is built for UK trades. Here’s how to choose.
Pick Zoho Invoice if…
Free is non-negotiable, and you don’t need trades workflow.
- ·You need free forever. No monthly fee, ever. Unlimited invoices, no seat cap.
- ·You bill in multiple currencies — Zoho supports 200+ out of the box.
- ·You already use Zoho Books, CRM, or Projects and want the tight integration.
- ·Your business isn’t trades-specific and you don’t need chase automation, insurance tracking, or UK compliance tools.
- ·You’re comfortable configuring things. Zoho gives you every option, but the automated payment reminders need setup — they’re not on by default with a sensible cadence.
Pick HAMAR if…
You’re a UK sole trader who’s tired of chasing money.
- ·Late payment is your pain. HAMAR’s chase cadence — polite day 7, firm day 14, final day 21 — runs out of the box. Zoho’s reminders need manual setup and don’t include a UK-tone template.
- ·You need trades workflow. Site sign-in QR for CDM, insurance vault with 30/7/0-day renewal alerts, live tax pot, WhatsApp share with rich preview cards, expense capture with SA103 categories. None of this is in Zoho.
- ·You want UK VAT + MTD ready. HAMAR is built to the UK VAT threshold and MTD ITSA roadmap. Zoho is a US/India-built global product retrofitted for the UK.
- ·You value the £79 lifetime option. One payment, never billed again. First 100 sign-ups only. Even against “free forever”, a small one-off for a product built specifically for how you work often lands better than a free product that isn’t.
- ·You want to talk to the founder. HAMAR is one bloke building for tradespeople. Feature request goes to Carl, not a ticket queue in Chennai.
Feature-by-feature
The honest side-by-side.
| Feature | HAMAR | Zoho Invoice |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | £6.99/mo or £79 lifetime | Free forever |
| Automated payment chasing | Day 7 / 14 / 21 out of the box, UK tone | Configurable reminders (needs setup) |
| UK VAT + MTD-ready | Yes — designed to VAT threshold + MTD ITSA | Retro-fit; not native |
| Live UK tax pot | Yes — running income + Class 4 NI estimate | No |
| Insurance vault + renewal alerts | Yes — PI, PL, Cyber, Tools policies with 30/7/0-day emails | No |
| Site sign-in QR (CDM) | Yes — print QR, visitor register + CSV export | No |
| WhatsApp share with branded preview | Yes — wa.me deeplink + OpenGraph card | No |
| SA103 expense categories | Yes — 10 SA103S boxes + supplier auto-categorise | Generic categories |
| Offline capture (PWA) | Yes — invoices + expenses queued, syncs on reconnect | No |
| Multi-currency | GBP first (EUR supported) | 200+ currencies |
| Native mobile app | Roadmap (PWA installable today) | Yes — iOS + Android |
| Full accounting (P&L, balance sheet) | No — admin tool, not accounting | No — Zoho Books for that |
| Support | Direct line to the founder | Ticketed support |
The £0 vs £79 thing
Free is a good deal. HAMAR isn’t trying to be cheaper.
Zoho Invoice is genuinely free — that’s a great deal. HAMAR is £79 one-off (first 100 sign-ups) or £6.99/mo which comes to £83.88 a year excluding VAT.
UK small businesses are owed £70.4bnin unpaid invoices at any given moment — around £12,357 per business. If HAMAR’s automatic chase gets you paid one week faster on one invoice, you’ve made back the annual price several times over.
HAMAR isn’t trying to be cheaper than free. It’s trying to be worth paying for.
Founding Member offer · 100 seats · £79 lifetime
Claim your Founding Member spot.
£79 one-off. Never billed again. Or start on £6.99/mo, locked for 12 months.