Polished PDF output
Branded invoice PDFs with logo, your company info, and configurable defaults.
Invoices: bill your customers and see who still owes you
Add clients and products once, then generate professional PDF invoices, send them by email, track who has paid, record partial payments, set up recurring invoices for retainers, and view revenue analytics. Credit notes refund or reverse cleanly.
- OutputPDF + Email
- RecurringBuilt-in
- Credit notesYes
app.nautis.io/invoices
What is Invoices?
Nautis Invoices is invoicing software for startups billing their own customers. You set company details and a logo once, keep reusable lists of clients and products, and build each invoice with tax, discounts and a live PDF preview. Send it by email with a tracked link, record full or partial payments as they arrive, issue credit notes, and check aging and revenue in Analytics.
With three customers, a document template and a sent-mail folder are enough. The trouble starts around the time you have a dozen accounts, two on retainers and one paying a large bill in parts. Someone has to remember who was invoiced, what was paid and what's late, and that memory usually sits with one founder. Invoices gives every bill a status instead: Draft, Sent, Paid, an Overdue badge once the due date passes, or Cancelled.
The module is laid out in the sidebar as All Invoices, Clients, Products, Recurring, Analytics and Settings. Fill in Settings first (company name and address, logo, default currency, notes, terms and an optional signature image), because those lines print on every PDF and stay blank otherwise. Clients can be added one by one or brought in with Import, and picking a product on a line item fills in its description and rate.
Money doesn't pass through Nautis. The customer pays by bank transfer or through your payment provider, and you click Record Payment with the amount, date, method and a reference. We think that's a fair trade for a B2B startup whose customers mostly pay by transfer, but it means the invoice record is only as current as the last payment someone logged. Those records are also what your accountant will ask for, so read how to set up startup books alongside this.
Built for
- Founders billing their first customers
- Teams managing retainer clients
- Operators tracking AR and revenue analytics
Capabilities
What you can do with Invoices
Everything ships out of the box. No setup, no plugins, no extra tools.
Recurring invoices
Set up retainer billing. Nautis generates a new invoice every cycle.
Partial payments
Record partial payments and watch the balance update live.
Credit notes
Reverse or refund cleanly without breaking your books.
Revenue analytics
Trend revenue across periods, clients, and products.
Use cases
How startups use Invoices
A monthly retainer you never want to rebuild
Under Recurring, click Create Recurring Invoice, choose the client and line items, and pick weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly with a start date and an optional end date. Nautis generates a fresh invoice each cycle. Pause it during a contract renegotiation and pick it up again later from the same page.
A customer paying one large invoice in three parts
Record each transfer as it lands. Amount Paid goes up, Balance Due stays red while anything is outstanding, and the status flips to Paid on its own once the balance reaches zero. Every partial payment stays in the invoice's activity timeline, which settles the inevitable "did we pay the second instalment?" email.
Fixing a billing mistake after the customer has paid
Open the invoice and choose Issue Credit Note, pick the lines to credit in whole or in part, and give a reason. The credit is recorded against the original and the balance updates. That leaves a clearer trail than deleting the invoice and starting over.
Chasing late payers before month-end
The sidebar badge counts overdue invoices, and Analytics shows aging analysis, so you can see what's late and by how long. Nautis doesn't send dunning emails by itself, so open each invoice and send a reminder when you decide to. Overdue invoices also appear in the morning briefing.
Quick start
From zero to using Invoices
- 1
Set invoice settings
Company info, logo, default currency, notes, terms — once.
- 2
Add clients & products
Reusable lists make every invoice fast.
- 3
Create and send
Pick a client, add line items, send by email.
- 4
Track payment
Record full or partial payments — trend in analytics.
How the Chief of Staff handles overdue invoices
Overdue invoices are one of the sources the Chief of Staff scans at 7:00 am. An overdue invoice can show a Do it action such as "Send reminder". Clicking it creates a card in the Chief of Staff chat and the Approval Center, and nothing goes to the customer until it's approved, unless Agent Autonomy lets that action run without asking, a setting only owners and admins can change. Drafts always open as an editable card.
If you connect Claude or ChatGPT through the Nautis connector, Invoices is among the modules it can read, so you can ask about open balances from there. Custom advisors follow your role: if you can't edit invoices, no advisor can edit them for you.
Invoicing software for startups: a template vs Nautis vs accounting software
Pick by the job. If invoices are the only finance task you have, a template lasts a while. If you need a general ledger and tax returns, accounting software is the tool, and many of those products include invoicing.
| Task | Document template | Nautis Invoices | Accounting software with invoicing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reusable clients and products | Copy and paste | Client and product lists, plus client Import | Usually yes |
| Status of every bill | A list you keep yourself | Draft, Sent, Paid, Overdue and Cancelled | Usually yes |
| Partial payments and credit notes | Edit the document by hand | Built in, with an activity timeline | Usually yes |
| Collecting a card payment on the invoice | No | No, payment is collected outside Nautis and then recorded | Depends on the product |
| Recurring billing | A calendar reminder | Generated each cycle, with pause and end | Usually yes |
| Posting to a general ledger | No | No | Yes |
Plans and limits
- Invoices must be enabled on your plan, and each plan caps how many invoices you can create per month. When you reach it you'll see a limit message; check pricing before a heavy billing month.
- Creating and sending invoices needs create permission and a verified email address.
- If a trial ends before a plan is chosen, the workspace pauses, but invoice pay links you've already sent keep working.
What Invoices doesn't do
- It doesn't take payments. You collect through your bank or payment provider and record each payment yourself.
- There are no automatic reminders for overdue invoices. You send them, or approve the Chief of Staff's draft.
- It isn't an accounting system. There's no ledger, reconciliation or tax filing, so your accountant still keeps the books.
- Editing is only available while an invoice is in Draft. After it's sent, use a credit note or Cancel Invoice and issue a new one.
Invoices questions
What should invoicing software for startups handle?+
At minimum: reusable client details, numbered PDF invoices, a status for each bill, partial payments and a way to correct mistakes without deleting history. Recurring billing matters as soon as you have a retainer. Nautis Invoices covers all of those and leaves bookkeeping to your accounting tool.
Does Nautis number invoices automatically?+
Yes. Leave Invoice Number blank on the create page and Nautis uses the next auto-number. You can type your own number instead if you're continuing a sequence from an older tool.
How do I add tax or a discount to an invoice?+
In the Summary section, set a Tax Name and Tax Rate in percent, which apply to the subtotal. Discount Type and Discount Value take a flat amount or a percentage off the subtotal.
I delivered the invoice outside Nautis. How do I keep the status right?+
Use the ... menu on the invoice and pick Mark as Sent. The same menu has Mark as Draft and Mark as Viewed, so the record matches what actually happened with the customer.
Can I bring in my existing customer list?+
Yes. Use the Import option on the Clients page to add clients in bulk. After that, each one appears in the client dropdown on every new invoice.
Is this for billing my customers or paying my Nautis bill?+
Customers. Your Nautis subscription billing lives separately under organization settings.
Can I send the same invoice to multiple people?+
Yes — when sending, add additional recipients in the CC field of the send dialog. Each one gets the same email with the PDF attached.
What currencies are supported?+
Most major currencies. Pick the default in Settings and override per invoice when needed. Reports roll up using each invoice's currency.
Can a customer pay through Nautis?+
The invoice email includes a tracked link with the PDF. Payment is collected outside Nautis through your bank or payment provider — you then record it manually with Record Payment so the status updates.
What happens when an invoice is overdue?+
It stays in Sent but gets an Overdue badge and counts in the sidebar badge. Nautis doesn't dunning-email automatically — send a reminder from the invoice page when you're ready.
How do credit notes affect totals?+
A credit note reduces the recorded amount due on the original invoice. If the original is already paid, the credit note records the refund — keeping your books in sync.
Can I brand my invoices?+
Yes. Your logo, company info, default currency, notes, terms, and an optional signature image are all set in Invoice Settings.
Can I set up recurring invoices for retainers?+
Yes. Create a recurring invoice and Nautis generates a new one each cycle: weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
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