What to look for when you invoice from the ropes, not a desk.
Search for an invoicing app and you get a hundred of them, and most will happily raise an invoice. The question for a rope access tech is narrower: which one fits the way you actually work, day rates, CIS, kit that needs inspecting and clients who want a clean PDF. Rather than tell you we are the best and leave it there, here is the honest checklist to judge any of them by.
A general invoicing app can tick the first few. What almost none of them do is the last one, and that is the difference between a tool you adapt to rope access and one built for it.
If all you ever need is a plain invoice, a generic app or even a spreadsheet will do. The moment your admin includes LOLER exams, certs, CIS and getting paid on time, a purpose-built tool stops being a nice-to-have. Cowstail is built for rope access from the ground up, and the Solo plan is free, so the fit does not cost you anything to try.
It understands your world: a saved day rate, UK CIS deductions, clean branded PDFs, paid tracking, and it keeps LOLER dates and certificates alongside your invoices so your admin is one app, not five.
You can for basic invoices. The difference is the rope access fit: generic apps do not track LOLER exams or certs, and you end up bolting on separate tools and losing the single view.
Yes. Cowstail's Solo plan is free for individual rope access technicians, with no card and no trial countdown, and it is built for the trade rather than adapted to it.
Cowstail is built UK-first with the Construction Industry Scheme in mind. See our CIS guide and the free CIS calculator to see how deductions land on an invoice.
Related: features, invoice generator, CIS for rope access, vs spreadsheets.