Filed under: Software
iBiz 4 adds new invoice templates, iCal sync
Yesterday, IGG Software announced iBiz 4, an update to its flagship timekeeping and billing software that adds several new features for freelancers and small groups.
iBiz 4 includes an all-new library of invoice templates, payment reminder and expense tracking functionality, faster editing and entry, and a new way to back up and restore your iBiz data.
The software extends its Mac OS X integration to include creating billing events from items in iCal. Previous versions of iBiz were already integrated with Address Book, but iBiz 4 lets you further organize clients into groups. It also has a spiffy new charting engine based on Core Animation.
iBiz Professional has also been updated, and includes a server component and two client licenses. iBiz Professional allows small teams to coordinate their time and to-do items across a Bonjour network.
iBiz 4 is $40, iBiz 4 Professional is $100, and both are available for download at IGG Software's website. Both include a 10-day free trial. Users who purchased iBiz 3 after January 5 also qualify for a free upgrade.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tenmiler said 3:13PM on 5-28-2009
Worst. Software. Ever. I've suffered through iBiz 1, 2, and 3, and with a small freelance business have 600 MEGABYTES of unintelligible PDF files, a slow running program, inability to do accurate statements, and an AWFUL UI.
You'd think the support folks would respond to customer suggestions. Nope. Support runs the gamut from "we don't see that problem" to no response. They are nice guys but in over their head.
I've been holding off on transferring to Billings or something else, even Oranged's stuff, but I would say DO NOT buy this product.
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kc! said 4:37PM on 5-28-2009
I couldn't have a more opposite experience as tenmiller. I have been a customer since iBiz 1 (when it was still named iWork), and not only have the developers/customer service been extremely responsive to my suggestions or questions, but all the people I have suggested use the app love it and use it daily.
Sure, there have been other "fancier" looking billing apps (and I have tried a few based on looks alone), but none come close to the functionality that iBiz offers.
Ultimately, iBiz makes my life easier and is truly essential to my daily freelance graphic design business.
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Ian said 8:20PM on 5-28-2009
I'm not 100% happy with iBiz. I use the server solution and there are a fair amount of bugs with V3.
I would've preferred they focus on getting that bug free before launching an even more bug ridden V4 (probably).
Unfortunately, they pretty much have the small business client/server market to themselves.
In V3, they don't even have a job/task search. Just yesterday, I had to spend an hour manually looking through previous invoices trying to find out whether a particular task had been billed yet.
Hopefully they get this one right :S
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matt said 1:07AM on 5-29-2009
I started the trial and on the first open (when the preferences dialog opens) it would never save. the app is not all that user friendly. the only thing that almost worked was the ical sync except you will have to have each client on its own calendar. It wood not search my calendar for the client name. I say #FAIL.
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robgarbo said 2:21PM on 5-29-2009
My biggest complaint with v3 was their lack of backing up data in an intelligent manner.
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Nigel Hall said 3:14PM on 5-30-2009
Was thinking of springing for this today, but after reading the reviews I'm not so sure. Are there any good alternatives out there? Anybody tried StuntSoftware's In the Job?
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Tim said 2:40AM on 6-04-2009
My company just launched Timeless which offers a subset of functionality specifically for time-tracking. It syncs with iCal and even works with Mac OS X iCal Server. We use it to keep our projects on track and on budget. We also hand the reports off to the bookkeeper for billing and invoicing. It might fit for some of your needs. www.TimelessApp.com