GRYPHONENT  I second the previous review. There haven't been any major updates to the previous versions. Feedback to Bugs remained unanswered for months. Features such as multi-currency support remain missing (or so it seems). The high upgrade price is not justified. Buyer beware! I have started to support only developers who fix bugs in their current versions free of charge and introduce new features in upgrades to their apps.  
(Version 3.0)

CYBERATOMIC  Wow, $35.00 bucks for an upgrade license?

I'm sorry, but for how long this program has had signifigant bugs unanswered, and very little progress shown to the public, I'm just not sure that I want to spend the money to upgrade, even though I know I have to because of my already invested time and money.

That doesn't mean I have to like it though!

Hopefully the template editing has undergone a massive re-work (it's the most confusing and crappy system ever - especially a shame when the rest of the program seems to work the way you'd think it should)

[sigh]  
(Version 3.0)

KINGADROCK  I've tried most of the invoicing applications for the Mac. I've owned plenty too: iWork (iBiz), Studiometry, and iRatchet. I found iBiz to be buggy; Studiometry was convoluted and confusing; iRatchet was very promising but lacked proper reporting functions.

When I found Billings (2.0) I was immediately impressed. It's the cleanest and most intuitive invoicing application on the Mac. It made invoicing easy, but it was not without problems. I had no issues with bugs or memory leaks, but as others have said it was difficult to edit invoices. I struggled through that once and when they were to my liking I never dealt with them again.

Version 3 of Billings addresses the biggest problem I had with 2.0, it was not obvious to see who owed me money. Now that very critical information is right at my fingertips. The new reporting features are also improved, and I haven't messed with the new template system. The layout was great before, and they've tweaked it to be even better. Overall a very solid update.

Nobody likes to spend $35, but $35 to upgrade a program that helps me make money is well worth the price in my opinion.  
(Version 3.0.1)

MUHAMMET  I used iBiz for a long time till I read a review of Billings in a German mac magazine. I was impressed of its great interface, template system and much more so I've switched. But now, I think I could also have continued to use iBiz. Ok, there are some great improvements in version 3, however I don't think that it is €35 worth, like many others. I don't say I won't upgrade, I'll do that because I've paid for it before and there were many bugs in Billings 2, which were not fixed. I haven't used Billings 2 for app. three months - yesterday I dragged its new version to my dock again. If you release a fee required new version, you have to fix the bugs in the previous version, too, which were also mentioned in the forum. I also wonder where is the German language support that was integrated in Billings 2. I wonder why the upgrade fee is €35 if I am a customer from Germany - maybe you know it makes $50! I wonder why you ask €35 for some graphical improvements and yes- the new client groups feature.

You really don't have to respond, because I know what the answers are. I know you always have some reasons for everything.   
(Version 3.0)

MJKPHOTO  Billings will not allow users to manually input exact start and end times per work slip, only duration. Marketplace forum entries show users have been asking for the feature for two years.

Currently I'm using Billings to print my invoices but I'm tracking my time in TimeLog and producing my time sheet reports via a Timelog export to Excel. Then I manually create an invoice in Billings. A long, arduous process every two weeks!

I had hoped to find a one software solution, but alas that continues to elude me. While I like the look of my invoice created in Billings and creating a manual invoice is fairly easy, my entire process for creating bi-weekly invoices has me frustrated. Billings' lack of exact time tracking (showing start and end times per work slip) is nearly enough to make me dump this program.

Why this simple and very important feature was omitted from the program is unclear.

I suggest users work through a demo of this program thoroughly before purchasing. It is rather limited in its functionality.  
(Version 3.0.3)

ESPIRIDION  The "Smile" ratings are peculiar here at Macupdate.

Even though my brief review has a "minus one" rating, apparently the issue I addressed will be fixed by version 3.0.4.

There are various additional problems with Billings, some of them are mentioned in their forum:

Marketcircle>Forums>Billings>Troubleshooting

But some people want to rate it 5-stars and/or give negative ratings to factual comments. Maybe that makes them feel better about their purchase decision :)

For anyone seriously considering this type of application, I would recommend that you download it, try it, visit their forums to learn about additional concerns other users have, and then make an informed purchasing decision.

As of 01/21/09 the upgrade price is $25, which is quite reasonable for a paid upgrade, and $40 for a new copy. If/when bugs are fixed I will consider upgrading my copy. For now I'll still pass.  
(Version 3.0.3)

BUMBLEB  Billings... Been using it since version 2.0. The interface is nice, but somehow idiosyncratic

My invoicing always takes longer than it should. As of writing, I have a slip that is 27 hours of work, at 400 DKK, which Billings wants to invoice as 1 hour of work! I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong. It's taken me close to an hour to send this invoice!!!

All in all, there are too many fields and thing to remember to do, and way too less of needed features, so you have to shoehorn something to make it work. As an example: I can put in my identity, but there are only 3 lines, so not enough for my VAT number, and not enough room for my bank account info, so I have to either create my own template with the extremely tedious template editor, or put it into the comments field for each invoice. I can't remember it, so often I have to log on to my netbank to look up that account number.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. It's like a Microsoft app in an Apple coat.  
(Version 3.0.5)

E101  While Billings matured to a somehow usable application over the years, the lack of support in the sense of integrating requested (in my eyes necessary) features is not at all satisfying.

Further problems:

- Billings is not really usable on several synced machines, links to address book entries break

- It's not possible to switch currencies

- The report engine is very flexible, but full of bugs and quirks

- The UI design is not finished

- The internationalization is pathetic  
(Version 3.0.5)

SIDE LANE  Like many posters on here, I too have tried pretty much all the alternatives to Billings and in my mind it is simply head and shoulders above the rest. It's easy to use, stable, attractive and mac-like, and produces good reports and invoices. I've been using it daily quite happily for well over a year from v2.x.x up to 3.0.4 now.

I'm not sure what issues people have with the reports or the invoicing. It is fair to say that the custom invoice designer isn't exactly as easy as it could be but after a couple of hours I have a complete set of custom templates which I now use with no problems.

There are a couple of features that would be nice, such as being able to invoice multiple projects on a single invoice, but that's not really a deal breaker.  
(Version 3.0.4)

STEFANO CECERE  after about 2 years of Billings 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 (helped also ith lots of bug reporting) i jumped with much happiness to the GrandTotal + TimeLog combo!

very much more intuitive to use and powerful (i'm sorry but Billing's reports are quite unusable, and i spent too many days trying to study their design instruments.. very powerful but TOO MUCH complicated for non cocoa developers... then there are really simple UI design bugs that haven't been fixed yet for too much time)

Sorry Marketcircle..

ciao

stefano  
(Version 3.0.3)