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Replacement for Billings Pro for Mojave

mudflap

mudflap

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 24, 2007
558
1,024
Chicago
I've been using Billings Pro Server for ages, to keep track of my invoicing for my small art director/retouching business. Billings is switching to monthly subscription only, and the old self-serve option will not be supported under Mojave. I don't have enough clients to justify spending that kind of money.

Has anyone found an alternative to Billings Pro including time tracking, estimates, and invoicing? I'm test driving GrandTotals now but it is not as intuitive as Billings Pro. Time tacking with a third party app is a mess.

Thanks in advance,

Steve
 
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mudflap said:
I've been using Billings Pro Server for ages, to keep track of my invoicing for my small art director/retouching business. Billings is switching to monthly subscription only, and the old self-serve option will not be supported under Mojave. I don't have enough clients to justify spending that kind of money.

Has anyone found an alternative to Billings Pro including time tracking, estimates, and invoicing? I'm test driving GrandTotals now but it is not as intuitive as Billings Pro. Time tacking with a third party app is a mess.

Thanks in advance,

Steve
Click to expand...

What about investing in VMware and having a partition running an older version of Mac OS with this software? Or not upgrading and remain on this version of software?

I know it isn't ideal, and I am sure the is probably a solution out there, but this way you don't have to rush.
 
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I might have to do that. I am currently trying out Grand Totals, Totals, Office Time. None of them are as intuitive as Billings. :(
 
I'm on an ancient version of their standalone app (Billings 3.7.2). I'm hopeful that the app still works under Mojave, giving me time to find a replacement for it. I simply refuse to pay a subscription fee for an invoicing app that I use exactly 1 hour per month to send out invoices to my clients.
 
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I am totally with you. I guess I need to try Billigs under Mojave to se if it works.
 
I'm on a 10.14.1 beta. I just tried generating an invoice and got the error "Cannot Reach Server: You must be able to reach Billings Pro Server before you can send an invoice, estimate or statement. Please try again later." I'm on Billings Pro 1.7.8. I suppose I'll have to reach out to their support and see if that's an error on their end. Doesn't seem like that should be a High Sierra vs Mojave issue.

edit: I was able to add a new client and add time entries for that client. I only saw an error once I tried to generate an invoice.
 
ohshaughnessy said:
I'm on a 10.14.1 beta. I just tried generating an invoice and got the error "Cannot Reach Server: You must be able to reach Billings Pro Server before you can send an invoice, estimate or statement. Please try again later." I'm on Billings Pro 1.7.8. I suppose I'll have to reach out to their support and see if that's an error on their end. Doesn't seem like that should be a High Sierra vs Mojave issue.

edit: I was able to add a new client and add time entries for that client. I only saw an error once I tried to generate an invoice.
Click to expand...
We're talking about two different apps. Billings 3.7.2 is the (much) older version of Billings Pro 1.7.8. The biggest difference is that the old billings has no dependencies on internet access at all in order to do its job (for the most part). It's so old, in fact, that we were wondering if it would even run under Mojave. I'm able to create, print, send, edit invoices just fine.

Hopefully, the error you're experiencing is on their end and the problem goes away quickly for you.
 
Now Mojave is out for a while, did anyone already dare to upgrade and try to run Billings Pro Server?
 
Well I'm glad someone else is in this 'situation' too. I've been using a macOS VM for Billings Server for a few years anyway (because their setup process reliably failed on the same step every time I tried reinstalling after e.g. a clean OS install) so it's not so much a 'need this right now' problem. But they've said that future versions of Bills Pro (the client app) will not support the self-hosted server.

I did wonder for a while if Studiometry (http://www.oranged.net/studiometry/) might be a viable option. Maybe it works for some others here.

At this point, though, I'm actually just looking for a decent desktop app to handle the time-tracking part (i.e. the basically the timer menu bar part from Billings [Pro]), with either an auto-export or auto sync feature, and I'll build a web app/http api to handle the invoicing/clients/etc part. Effectively, the way Toggl works - mostly web based, but with native 'timer' client apps - but self-hosted.

Edit: I should add, I'm not against a full native Mac app client to do what the Billings Client / Server Admin apps do now - I'd prefer it. But my priorities are something easier/possible to host on a Linux server (I dont want to rent a Mac Mini in a colo just for invoices) and something open source (I don't want to repeat this dance in 2 years when the next company decides its not viable anymore).

The way I see it, if I can find/fork/build from scratch a working server-side component to do what I need, worst case scenario I just need to hire someone to build whatever native client apps are required for platforms X,Y,Z etc.
 
Last edited:
mudflap said:
I've been using Billings Pro Server for ages, to keep track of my invoicing for my small art director/retouching business. Billings is switching to monthly subscription only, and the old self-serve option will not be supported under Mojave. I don't have enough clients to justify spending that kind of money.

Has anyone found an alternative to Billings Pro including time tracking, estimates, and invoicing? I'm test driving GrandTotals now but it is not as intuitive as Billings Pro. Time tacking with a third party app is a mess.

Thanks in advance,

Steve
Click to expand...

While not a Mac App, I use Hours Tracker on my iPhone to track time by project and create invoices in Word. You can enter data either manually or use a built in timer, and export a csv via email to act as input to your program.

There are other such apps as well. For my case, I only have to track a few jobs at once so the effort to manualy do an invoice on a Word template is not that big a deal.
 
decafjava said:
Hmmm, 32-bit applications still run unver Mojave, you get a warning that future versions of MacOS will no longer run 32 bit apps and the developer needs to update their app etc. etc.
Click to expand...

You're right. I was confused. NEXT release won't run 32 bit. However, Market Circle says Billings Pro server is not compatible with Mojave. I think they're fibbing to get everyone to upgrade. Mine is working fine now. The only problem I've noticed is sometimes I get a popup asking me to sign in but it doesn't accept my password. But if I launch Server Admin and try again it works. Weird.
 
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Well for those still using Billings Pro, I'm sure you've seen what I have: a new update (1.7.14). No mention of Server compatibility in the release notes, but they did say it would drop support for Server at some point.

I've contacted MarketCircle to get clarification, and I'm still looking for a good alternative.
 
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I have a Mac Mini Server still running Sierra.
I was told by a support person that so long is I don't upgrade to Mojave, the self server of Billings Pro should still work with the clients as I upgrade.
However, I don't trust them.
I have at least six server licenses for my small business.
I have been using Billings Pro for over 10 years now.
I can't trust their server with my billings data so I need to find alternatives as well.
There is an open source billings program that I was considering trying but I am slow to move over.
[doublepost=1551323703][/doublepost]I have seen the client update version 1.7.14 dated February 26, 2019 but I am scared to try it out just yet.
I know of many bugs that I just don't bother reporting any more.
They eliminated much of the user feedback on their webpages I found useful.
Probably too many complaints.
 
I got a response from their support, and it confirms what I suspected.

Hi Stephen,

Thank you for contacting us.
BP 1.7.14 is not completely compatible with Self serve, I would suggest you to not upgrade :
https://www.marketcircle.com/help/article/billings-pro-compatibility-quick-guide/


Thanks,
Click to expand...

lie2me said:
There is an open source billings program that I was considering trying but I am slow to move over.
Click to expand...
Which one?

I'm definitely planning to use something OSS for my replacement, even if it means I have to fork & enhance/improve something, or build it from scratch myself.
 
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If anybody is looking for change, you might consider Wave. Cloud based, and basic account is free.

I use it for some basic invoice creation and billing, and have been happy with the limited free version. The email reminders and notifications are pretty great... I have barely scratched the surface, but it is feature rich with billing, reporting, getting paid on line, bank integration, etc.

Worth a look for basic billing, with lots of room to grow. Did I mention free?
 
I'm really, really late to the game with this thread; but if anyone is still using Billings Pro, and specifically the self-server option, I actually have the client running just fine al the way up to Monterey, and on an M1 MBA. The biggest issue is running the server itself - I'm using a macOS Sierra virtual machine to run it as it simply won't work on anything above that (I've been able to get it working on High Sierra, but it can be finicky).

The client itself took a fair amount of finagling to get working properly. The main application is version 1.7.18, but it's actually run the 1.7.14 version of the background sync framework. It also needs to be run under Rosetta on an M1 - as the 1.7.14 framework is Intel only.

Unfortunately, it only partially works on Ventura. You can basically do everything you need, but when you create an invoice, the invoice itself comes up blank. Even worse, this isn't an issue with my crazy setup, but an issue with Billings Pro itself as I ran the stock 1.7.18 and synced it with my cloud account (I have a free account - which is no longer offered), and even that wouldn't properly create invoices. Alas, when I contacted MarketCircle it seems that they're basically dropping support for Billings Pro, so I have no idea if this issue will get fixed.

In any case, if anyone is still using Billings Pro, and would like to get it up and running on Monterey, let me know and I can help.
 
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noraa said:
I'm really, really late to the game with this thread; but if anyone is still using Billings Pro, and specifically the self-server option, I actually have the client running just fine al the way up to Monterey, and on an M1 MBA. The biggest issue is running the server itself - I'm using a macOS Sierra virtual machine to run it as it simply won't work on anything above that (I've been able to get it working on High Sierra, but it can be finicky).
Click to expand...

Better late than never lol. Thanks for the offer, very kind of you. I've been paying monthly for Billings Pro ever since. All the other options I tried just weren't as good. But I've had it with Marketcircle. I've had to contact a few times because of bugs over the last year and they're still not fixed. You can't find Billings Pro anywhere on their website so I asked them about that and voiced concerned that they're canceling it, but they said they're just not selling it any more and they're focusing on Daylite.

Additionally, I've wanted to upgrade to Ventura since it's been stable for 6 weeks or so to use as a daily driver because of one reason; it appears to fix some external Thunderbolt drive/display issues that cause sleep and disconnection problems. The only reason why I can't do this is because Billing Pro doesn't work with Ventura. I offered to test for them for nothing in return and they gave me the usual "we don't support Ventura because it hasn't been released." But as devs they've had access to the beta since day one, so if they wanted to they could have an update ready to go the day Ventura is launched, but of course they won't. Billings Pro is an afterthought. I'm going look for other options again asap. I'll report back with anything remotely interesting.
 
mudflap said:
Better late than never lol. Thanks for the offer, very kind of you. I've been paying monthly for Billings Pro ever since. All the other options I tried just weren't as good. But I've had it with Marketcircle. I've had to contact a few times because of bugs over the last year and they're still not fixed. You can't find Billings Pro anywhere on their website so I asked them about that and voiced concerned that they're canceling it, but they said they're just not selling it any more and they're focusing on Daylite.

Additionally, I've wanted to upgrade to Ventura since it's been stable for 6 weeks or so to use as a daily driver because of one reason; it appears to fix some external Thunderbolt drive/display issues that cause sleep and disconnection problems. The only reason why I can't do this is because Billing Pro doesn't work with Ventura. I offered to test for them for nothing in return and they gave me the usual "we don't support Ventura because it hasn't been released." But as devs they've had access to the beta since day one, so if they wanted to they could have an update ready to go the day Ventura is launched, but of course they won't. Billings Pro is an afterthought. I'm going look for other options again asap. I'll report back with anything remotely interesting.
Click to expand...
You can actually find the downloads on their page (albeit it’s not at all obvious): https://www.marketcircle.com/downloads/

MarketCircle actually released a couple of updates just recently that appears to resolve the issues on Ventura (I say appears because I haven’t tested it too much on Ventura, but the little I have tested everything seems to be waiting).
 
I got tired of all the limitations and/or complexities of the available apps for the Mac and ended up finding Waveapps.

It's online only, but it's 100% free and quite feature-rich. I do all my invoicing and download the invoices as PDFs as a backup. You can do simple invoices, detailed reports, auto-email invoices and reminders, and accept credit-card payments (normal credit card fees apply). Because it's free, it's worth trying.
 
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