TLDR (Summary)
Stripe Invoicing has two percentage-based tiers. The Starter plan covers invoice generation, a hosted payment page, and basic reporting with 25 free invoices per month. The Plus plan adds automated reminders, a quotes feature, and automatic reconciliation. At both tiers, the tool covers billing and payment collection and nothing else. Time tracking, proposals with e-signatures, contracts, project management, and client portals all require separate subscriptions. The standard Stripe freelancer stack runs $44 to $65 per month in additional tools before Stripe adds the 0.4% invoicing fee and 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee on every paid invoice. Plutio's invoicing is part of a single $19/month plan that includes the proposal builder, contract tool, time tracking, project management, and client portals. Payment runs through Stripe or PayPal at standard rates, with no additional invoicing percentage on top.
The freelancer invoicing guide breaks down every billing tool in this category with side-by-side costs.
Stripe has no time tracking at any plan
Stripe Invoicing has no timer, no hourly rate configuration, and no way to log hours inside the billing tool. The freelancer has to manually enter those hours into Stripe as invoice line items before the invoice can go out.
Stripe's own documentation for freelancer invoicing recommends using a separate time tracking tool alongside it. The standard approach is to run a timer in Toggl or Harvest throughout the project, then export an hours report at the end of the billing cycle. From there the freelancer opens a new invoice in Stripe and types each task and hour count as a separate line item. One wrong number means the client receives an invoice for the incorrect amount, and correcting it means cancelling the original and sending a fresh payment link before the client can pay.
For retainer clients billed monthly, the same manual export-and-retype step runs every billing cycle. When a client questions a line item, the freelancer has to open the time tracking tool to find the original log, because nothing in Stripe records it.
Plutio's built-in time tracking runs against specific project tasks with a configured billable rate. Hours build up as the project runs and appear in real time on the client portal next to project progress. When the billing cycle closes, those hours populate an invoice draft automatically with task names, rates, and total amounts already filled in. The invoice the client receives already matches what the timer recorded, task by task, with nothing to reconcile.
In Plutio, tracked hours connect directly to invoicing. Plutio pulls those time entries into the invoice automatically, task names, billable rates, and totals already filled in, so the invoice the client receives already matches what the timer recorded.
Stripe Plus has quotes, not proposals
Stripe Invoicing Plus includes a quotes feature that sends a structured price list for client acceptance. The quote is a line-item estimate that converts to an invoice when the client clicks accept. The client sees a line-item price list with a logo on it and nothing else, with no scope description, no images, and no custom branded layout. Contract e-signatures are not available at any Stripe plan level.
A Stripe quote answers what the project costs, but not what the project includes or what the terms are. Stripe's own resource on freelancer invoicing recommends creating a contract separately and referencing it in the invoice memo field. The client receives a price list, signs nothing, and work starts without a contract tied to the invoice.
The standard workaround is a Google Docs proposal emailed as a PDF, with a DocuSign or PandaDoc link sent separately for the contract signature. DocuSign Personal runs around $10-15/month; PandaDoc Essentials is roughly $19/month on an annual plan. Neither connects to Stripe. Once the client signs, the freelancer still has to open Stripe manually and build the invoice from scratch.
Plutio's proposal builder includes scope sections, pricing tables with optional tiers, a terms section, and built-in e-signature support in one document. The client approves the scope and signs the agreement from a single link at your domain. When they sign, Plutio attaches the contract to the client record, opens the project from a template, activates the client portal, and generates the deposit invoice from the approved pricing. From that single signature, the project is live and the deposit invoice is already in the client's inbox.
A signed Plutio proposal becomes a live project with a contract, deposit invoice, and client portal in one step. A Stripe quote converts to an invoice, the client signs nothing, and the freelancer still has to set everything else up manually.
Stripe tracks payments, not projects
Stripe's customer object holds billing history, payment methods, and invoice status. There are no tasks, milestones, Kanban boards, or delivery records of any kind. The customer record answers whether an invoice was paid, not what was delivered for the payment.
A Stripe invoice shows an amount, a due date, and a paid or unpaid status. When a client disputes what they received, nothing in Stripe records what was produced against that invoice. The delivered work, the agreed scope, and the billing record each live in a different tool with no connection between them. Comparing all three at the end of a project means opening the project management tool, the proposal document, and the Stripe invoice side by side to check that the numbers match.
Each billing cycle on a multi-phase project means manually comparing what the project tool tracked against what needs to go on the Stripe invoice. Completing a milestone in Trello or Asana does nothing in Stripe. The freelancer has to open Stripe and build the invoice manually. Phase two billing looks identical to phase one billing even when the scope is different.
In Plutio, project tasks, milestones, and time logs share the same workspace as the invoice and the client portal. Delivered work and billed amounts connect to the same client record. When a milestone closes, Plutio generates the next invoice from the project billing schedule. A client question about a past payment means opening the project record, which shows what was delivered, what was logged, and what was billed, without switching tools.
In Plutio, when a client asks about a past engagement, the freelancer opens one record and sees what was delivered, what was logged, and what was billed, in one place without switching tools.
Stripe's customer portal is a billing page, not a client workspace
The Stripe Customer Portal lets clients view invoice history, download receipts, update payment methods, and manage subscriptions. Clients cannot see project task status, access shared files, view deliverables, leave comments, or communicate about the engagement through it. The default portal URL is hosted on stripe.com, not at the freelancer's domain.
A client receiving a Stripe invoice sees a payment page at a stripe.com URL with a logo and brand color overlay. Some clients flag the stripe.com-hosted page as suspicious before paying, particularly those less familiar with payment processors. Removing the stripe.com URL requires technical domain configuration that Stripe does not offer by default.
A client's experience of the full engagement is a payment link and a series of separate email threads. When a client wants to know how the project is going, they email the freelancer. When a client needs to approve a deliverable, they receive a shared Google Drive or Dropbox link. When a client has a question about an invoice, they reply to the payment notification email. Every client touchpoint outside the payment itself is just another email thread.
Plutio's client portals run at a custom domain with full branding control, including the logo, brand colors, and email templates. Clients log in to see project task status, shared files organized by project phase, communication threads attached to each piece of work, hours logged against the project budget, and invoices with payment options. File approvals, status updates, and invoice payments all happen inside the portal. The URL shows the freelancer's domain, not a payment processor.
Plutio's client portals run at your domain with full branding. Clients see project progress, approve work, and pay invoices without a stripe.com-hosted page between them and your business.
With Plutio we don't jump between apps anymore! Everything from projects to invoicing is finally connected in one fully-branded app.
How to move from Stripe Invoicing to Plutio
Moving from Stripe Invoicing to Plutio does not mean leaving Stripe behind as a payment processor. Plutio connects to Stripe and PayPal for payment collection at the same standard processing rates. The change is that Plutio sends the invoices, which means the proposal, time tracking, project management, and client portal all connect to the payment automatically.
- Start a free trial: Plutio offers 14 days of full access with no credit card required. Every feature works from day one, including the proposal builder, contract tool, time tracking, project management, and client portals.
- Connect Stripe to Plutio: Link the existing Stripe account as the payment processor in Plutio's settings. Same Stripe account, same payout schedule, same processing rates. No migration required.
- Build a proposal template: Draft the standard scope structure, pricing format, and payment terms in Plutio's proposal builder. Plutio puts the proposal scope and contract terms in one document, so the client approves and signs from a single link.
- Set up project templates: Build templates for the most common engagement types. Each template includes task lists, milestones, file folders, and the points in the project where invoices go out. When the client signs, Plutio opens the project from the matching template automatically.
- Configure the client portal: Add the custom domain, logo, and brand colors. The portal goes live at your domain from the first client project. Clients see your branding, not Stripe's.
- Send the next invoice from Plutio: Create the invoice in Plutio. Payment collects through the connected Stripe account at the same standard rate. Clients pay from a page at your domain.
- Let existing Stripe invoices close: Active recurring invoices in Stripe can run their current cycle. Migrate retainer clients to Plutio after the current billing period without interrupting payment.
- Start new client work through Plutio: Send the next proposal from Plutio. When the client signs, the project, portal, contract, and deposit invoice open automatically. New client work runs entirely through Plutio from that point.
Stripe continues processing the payments. The invoicing, proposals, time tracking, project management, and client portal all move to Plutio from the first new engagement. The separate tools you built around Stripe become unnecessary from the moment the first proposal goes out through Plutio.
Plutio starts at $19/month with no additional invoicing percentage on top of processing fees. Connect Stripe as the payment processor in settings, and every invoice Plutio sends collects through that same Stripe account at the same rates you already pay.
