Winning work often depends on how fast and clear your quote is. Searches for the best quoting software for small business surface quote generators, proposal tools and heavy CPQ platforms. Most small businesses need something modest: a clean quote, a way to track whether it was accepted, and a one-click path to the invoice.
Anatomy of a quote that gets accepted
- Who it is for, and your business details
- A quote number and date
- Itemized scope with price, tax and total
- A validity date, so old prices are not honored forever
- Payment terms and what happens on acceptance
- A clear next step: reply, sign or pay a deposit
From quote to cash
A quote can be a binding offer in some places, so state your terms and keep copies. Also see how a sales pipeline tracks quotes through to won deals.
Free tools that handle quotes
InvoicePlane manages quotes and invoices together so you can convert an accepted quote into an invoice.
- Create, send and manage invoices and quotes
- Client management with contact details and history
- Product management to reuse items on invoices
3,208 stars · MIT · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full InvoicePlane reviewInvoiceShelf includes estimates alongside invoices and expenses in a modern interface.
- Invoices and estimates exported as polished PDFs
- Record payments and see what each customer still owes
- Track expenses, taxes and business reports
1,857 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full InvoiceShelf reviewDolibarr handles commercial proposals, orders and invoices in one flow.
- Modular: enable only what you use
- Invoicing, stock and agenda built in
- Runs on cheap shared hosting
7,732 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full Dolibarr ERP CRM reviewERPNext turns a quotation into a sales order and invoice, tied to stock and accounting.
- Leads, opportunities and quotations
- Accounting and inventory included
- Very large community
40,232 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full ERPNext reviewA JavaScript ERP/CRM that includes quotes and invoices.
- Invoices, quotes and payments
- MERN stack
- Good starting point for customization
8,878 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Aug 2026
Read the full IDURAR ERP CRM reviewLedgerSMB supports quotations as part of its order and invoice documents.
- Quotations, orders and invoices
- Double-entry accounting with customer and vendor documents
- Requests for quotation sent to vendors as PDFs
570 stars · GPL-2.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full LedgerSMB reviewData verified 16 October 2026. Each card opens our in-depth page for that tool.
Which one for you?
| Your situation | Choose |
|---|---|
| Want simple quotes and invoices on cheap hosting | InvoicePlane or InvoiceShelf |
| Quotes must link to orders, stock and accounting | ERPNext or Dolibarr |
| Already use a JavaScript stack | IDURAR |
| Need CRM and quotes in one place | Pick a CRM from our directory, such as Krayin |
One popular name to double-check
Check the license before you commit. These show up often in roundups:
- Invoice Ninja: Licensed under the Elastic License 2.0, which is source-available but not open source.
Checked from LICENSE files and GitHub status on 16 October 2026. Licenses can change. Evidence links are listed at the end of this guide.
Example: a renovation contractor
An illustrative example, not a real company.
A contractor quotes about ten jobs a month. Quotes are Word documents, and he cannot tell which are accepted without searching his email.
He moves to Dolibarr. Each quote has a validity date and a status of draft, sent or accepted. When a customer accepts, one click creates the order and later the invoice. He sees open quotes in a list every Monday and calls the ones sent three days ago.
The quote-to-invoice step alone saves him retyping line items several times a week.
What usually goes wrong
- Quotes with no expiry date.
- Retyping quotes into invoices.
- Not tracking the status of sent quotes.
- Forgetting deposits and payment terms.
- Using a heavy CPQ tool for simple pricing.
Free self-hosted or paid cloud: how to decide
Paid quoting tools offer interactive web quotes, e-signature and alerts when a quote is opened. Self-hosted tools cover templates and conversion to invoices. If winning more quotes depends on presentation and speed, consider paying for the polish.
For simple tools a hosting plan from Hostinger may be enough. Check each project's requirements.
Need a server to host it?
Self-hosting a CRM needs a server. PHP and MySQL apps can often run on ordinary web hosting, while Docker, Node, Python or Java apps usually need a VPS. Check each project's requirements first. Hostinger offers both shared web hosting and VPS plans.
Affiliate disclosure: this is an affiliate link. If you buy through it we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. CRMs and software are listed independently of any hosting partner. Learn more.
Official links for the tools in this guide
Every tool above has its own page on our site with the full review. These are the official sources, so you can download the latest version safely.
- InvoicePlane: Official website · Source on GitHub
- InvoiceShelf: Official website · Source on GitHub
- Dolibarr ERP CRM: Official website · Source on GitHub
- ERPNext: Official website · Source on GitHub
- IDURAR ERP CRM: Official website · Source on GitHub
- LedgerSMB: Official website · Source on GitHub
Sources for the license and maintenance warnings in this guide, so you can check them yourself:
- Invoice Ninja: repository and LICENSE file