You do not need to buy a premium plugin just to start generating PDF invoices in WooCommerce.
Some of the free options worth considering are WowInvoice, PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce by WP Overnight, WebToffee PDF Invoices, Challan, and Flexible PDF Invoices.
The differences appear when you look beyond the word free. One plugin may automate everything you need but restrict additional documents. Another may include several document types but reserve advanced customization for Pro.
So, before choosing one, it helps to understand what a useful free invoice solution should actually provide.
Then, we will compare five free options and show how to set up an automated invoice workflow using WowInvoice.
Can You Create PDF Invoices in WooCommerce Automatically for Free?
Yes. You can automatically generate PDF invoices in WooCommerce without paying for a premium plugin.
WooCommerce stores the order, customer, product, payment, tax, and shipping information required for an invoice, but WooCommerce core does not provide the complete PDF invoice workflow itself.
Free invoice plugins can use that order data to generate PDF documents and, depending on the plugin, automatically attach them to WooCommerce emails or make them available to customers.
The important question is therefore not simply “Can I create invoices for free?”
You can.
The better question is: How much of my invoicing workflow can I handle for free before I need to upgrade?
That is where the plugins start to differ.
What Should a Good Free WooCommerce PDF Invoice Plugin Include?
A free plugin is useful only if its free features cover the workflow your store actually needs. Before installing one, evaluate these areas.
- Automatic invoice generation: Ideally, invoices should be created automatically when an order reaches the relevant WooCommerce status. Otherwise, processing invoices manually becomes increasingly inconvenient as order volume grows.
- Email delivery: Check whether the free version can attach the invoice PDF to WooCommerce order emails. Creating an invoice automatically saves little time if you still have to send every document yourself.
- Customer access: Customers may need their invoices later for expenses, accounting, warranties, or business records. My Account downloads or similar self-service access can reduce manual invoice requests.
- Other order documents: An invoice may not be the only document your store needs. Packing slips, delivery notes, shipping labels, credit notes, and electronic invoice formats can become important as your fulfillment workflow grows.
- Usage restrictions: Check whether the free plan limits the number of invoices, orders, exports, downloads, or other operations. A feature being available for free is less useful if normal store growth quickly exceeds its limit.
- Free vs Pro boundaries: Finally, check exactly where the free version stops. Templates, automation, tax fields, bulk operations, advanced customization, or additional document types are common areas where plugins differentiate their free and paid editions.
With those criteria in mind, we can compare the free options more meaningfully than simply counting features.
5 Free WooCommerce PDF Invoice Plugins Compared
The five plugins below all offer a free way to handle WooCommerce invoices, but they differ significantly in automation, document coverage, and free-version limitations.
| Plugin | Automatic Invoices | Email Delivery | Customer Access | Other Free Documents | Usage Restriction | Main Free Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WowInvoice | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Packing Slip, Delivery Note, UBL Invoice | No usage cap | Additional document types, templates, VAT ID features, Bulk Export, and advanced options require Pro |
| WP Overnight | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Packing Slip + multiple e-document formats | No public document cap stated | Credit notes, proforma invoices, email packing slips, VAT collection/validation, and several advanced workflows are premium |
| WebToffee | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Packing Slip, Shipping Label, Delivery Note, Dispatch Label, UBL/XML | No public document cap stated | Credit Notes and several advanced automation/customization features require premium add-ons |
| Challan | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | Packing Slip, Shipping Label, Delivery Note | No public document cap stated | Premium templates, credit notes, proforma invoices, custom fields, barcode/QR features, and other advanced functionality require Pro |
| Flexible PDF Invoices | Manual in Free | Manual sending | No free self-service access verified | Primarily invoices | No public document cap stated | Automatic invoice generation and sending require Pro |
The comparison is based on the current free-feature information published by each plugin vendor.
If you want to compare WooCommerce invoice plugins beyond their free versions, see our broader WooCommerce PDF invoice plugin comparison.
1. WowInvoice
WowInvoice is an all-in-one WooCommerce order document solution. Its free version covers the core documents and automation many stores need without imposing a usage cap.
What you get for free:
- PDF Invoices
- Packing Slips
- Delivery Notes
- UBL Invoices
- Automatic invoice generation based on order status
- PDF invoice attachments in WooCommerce emails
- Customer document downloads
- Custom invoice numbering
- Automated Packing Slip and Delivery Note workflows
- Email notifications for Packing Slips and Delivery Notes
- One free template for each free document type
- Unlimited document generation
Main free-version limitations:
- Shipping Labels, Credit Notes, and Picklists require Pro
- Additional templates are Pro
- Customer VAT/Tax ID functionality is Pro
- Bulk Export is Pro
- Advanced metadata and customization options require Pro
Best fit: Stores that want invoices plus several fulfillment documents and automation from one free plugin.
2. PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce by WP Overnight
PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce by WP Overnight focuses primarily on invoice and packing-slip workflows.
What you get for free:
- Automatic PDF or XML invoice attachment to selected WooCommerce emails
- PDF Invoices
- Packing Slips
- Bulk invoice and packing-slip generation
- Customer invoice downloads through My Account
- Sequential invoice numbering
- Customizable HTML/CSS templates
- Electronic invoice formats including UBL 2.1 and Peppol BIS 3.0
Main free-version limitations:
- Proforma invoices require premium extensions
- Credit Notes require premium extensions
- Emailing Packing Slips requires premium functionality
- Cloud uploads are premium
- Built-in EU VAT number collection and validation require premium extensions
Best fit: Stores primarily looking for a mature invoice and packing-slip workflow with optional paid extensions for advanced needs.
3. WebToffee PDF Invoices
The free WebToffee WooCommerce PDF Invoices, Packing Slips, Delivery Notes & Shipping Labels plugin provides broad document coverage beyond basic invoicing.
What you get for free:
- PDF Invoices
- Packing Slips
- Shipping Labels
- Delivery Notes
- Dispatch Labels
- Automatic PDF invoice attachment to order emails
- Customer invoice printing from My Account
- Custom invoice-number sequences
- Bulk document printing
- UBL/XML invoice generation
Main free-version limitations:
- Credit Notes require premium functionality
- Additional invoice templates and code-editor customization require premium
- Code-editor customization requires premium
- Advanced customization for some shipping documents is premium
- Additional meta fields require premium
- Advanced customization and some extended document workflows require paid add-ons
Best fit: Stores that want invoices together with a wider set of shipping and fulfillment documents in the free version.
4. Challan
Challan – PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce offers a broad free automation and document feature set.
What you get for free:
- Automatic PDF invoice generation
- Invoice attachments in WooCommerce emails
- Packing Slips
- Shipping Labels
- Delivery Notes
- Customer invoice downloads through My Account
- Custom invoice numbering
- Bulk invoice downloads
- RTL support
- Multilingual font support
Main free-version limitations:
- Premium invoice templates require Pro
- Credit Notes require Pro
- Proforma Invoices require Pro
- Custom fields require Pro
- Product images require Pro
- Barcode and QR-code features require Pro
- Advanced multilingual features require Pro
- Deeper WooCommerce Subscriptions functionality requires Pro
Best fit: Stores that want strong free invoice automation plus several fulfillment-document features.
5. Flexible PDF Invoices
Flexible PDF Invoices for WooCommerce & WordPress is more invoice-focused than the other options and works well for users who do not require full automation.
What you get for free:
- Create and manage WooCommerce PDF invoices
- Build invoice templates with the Gutenberg editor
- Customize invoice numbering
- Manage tax rates
- Manage payment methods
- Bulk-download invoices by date range
- Add EU VAT numbers
- Create invoices outside WooCommerce orders
Main free-version limitation:
- Automatic invoice issuing is Pro
- Automatic invoice sending is Pro
This means the free version relies more heavily on a manual invoicing workflow than the other plugins in this comparison.
Best fit: Users who value invoice management and flexible WordPress invoicing more than automatic WooCommerce invoice generation and delivery.
Which Free Plugin Fits Your WooCommerce Store?
The right plugin depends on how much of your document workflow you want to handle for free.
If you only need basic PDF invoices, several of these plugins are capable options.
But once you also need automation, customer downloads, additional order documents, and room to grow without hitting a usage cap, the differences become more important.
| If You Need… | Plugin to Consider |
|---|---|
| Automated invoices plus Packing Slips, Delivery Notes, UBL Invoices, customer downloads, and unlimited free usage with extensive label-changing flexibility. | WowInvoice |
| A focused Invoice + Packing Slip workflow with a mature extension ecosystem | WP Overnight |
| Invoices alongside a broad range of shipping and fulfillment documents | WebToffee |
| Extensive free invoice automation with several fulfillment-document features | Challan |
| Flexible invoice management where automatic issuing and sending are not essential | Flexible PDF Invoices |
For stores that want a broad automated document workflow without a usage cap, WowInvoice has a strong case
Its free version goes beyond PDF invoices by including Packing Slips, Delivery Notes, UBL Invoices, automated generation, email delivery, customer access, and unlimited document creation.
That does not make it the right choice for every store.
👉 WebToffee may be more suitable if shipping labels are essential in the free version.
👉 WP Overnight is a strong fit for businesses centered primarily on invoices and packing slips.
👉 Flexible PDF Invoices also makes sense when manual invoice management is acceptable.
The key is to compare the features you actually need against each plugin’s free boundary. If your goal is to automate both invoicing and several related order documents without a usage cap, WowInvoice offers one of the more complete free starting points in this group.
Learn More: Comparison between WowInvoice and WebToffee
How to Create WooCommerce PDF Invoices for Free with WowInvoice
Now that we have compared the available approaches, let’s use WowInvoice to demonstrate how an automated free invoice workflow can work.
Step 1: Install WowInvoice Free
From your WordPress dashboard:
- Go to Plugins → Add Plugin.
- Search for WowInvoice
- Click Install Now.
- Activate the plugin.
WowInvoice requires WooCommerce to be installed and active.
After activation, open the WowInvoice dashboard and select Invoice to begin configuring your document.
Step 2: Set Up Your Invoice
Add your store information and branding, and configure the details you want to show.
You can also customize invoice numbering with your own sequence, prefix, suffix, and number length.
Keep the invoice focused on the information your customers and accounting workflow actually need, such as billing details, product information, totals, payment method, and order notes.
Step 3: Automate Invoice Creation and Delivery
Choose the WooCommerce order statuses that should trigger invoice generation, such as Processing or Completed.
Then select the WooCommerce emails that should include the PDF invoice and enable customer access so buyers can download their invoices when needed.
Once published, qualifying orders can move through the invoice workflow automatically without creating or sending each PDF manually.
Step 4: Use the Other Free Order Documents (optional)
Invoices are only one part of the free WowInvoice workflow.
The free edition also includes:
- Packing Slips for preparing and checking items before shipment.
- Delivery Notes for documenting the items included in a delivery.
- UBL Invoices when you need a machine-readable electronic invoice format.
Packing Slip and Delivery Note workflows can be automated, including their notification emails, and the free edition does not impose a document-generation cap.
If your store later needs Shipping Labels, Credit Notes, Picklists, customer VAT/Tax ID functionality, Bulk Export, additional templates, or more advanced document customization, those are areas where WowInvoice Pro expands the workflow.
Conclusion
You can build a practical WooCommerce invoicing workflow without paying for a premium plugin.
The right free solution depends on what happens after the invoice is created. Some stores only need a PDF attached to an order email.
Others need customer downloads, packing documents, delivery documents, electronic invoice formats, or broader fulfillment support.
WP Overnight, WebToffee, Challan, Flexible PDF Invoices, and WowInvoice each approach those requirements differently.
If you want to start with automated PDF invoices while also getting Packing Slips, Delivery Notes, UBL Invoices, customer access, and unlimited document generation in the free version, WowInvoice Free gives you a broader order-document workflow to start with before deciding whether you need its Pro features.

