WordPress Developer Invoice Template
A WordPress developer invoice usually carries three kinds of charge that a general web invoice does not separate well. First, the build: a share of the fixed price for a theme, plugin or WooCommerce project, or the hours spent on it. Second, the care plan: a monthly fee for core, theme and plugin updates, backups and monitoring, with a set number of support hours and any overage. Third, other people's software and services: premium theme and plugin licences, which renew every year, and hosting or domains. Clients query the third group most, because they cannot tell whether a $99 plugin line is your fee or the vendor's price, or whose account the licence sits in. This template gives each group its own fields: the site and install covered, the milestone or billing period, plan hours included and used, and for every licence the product, tier, renewal period and whose account it is in. The download is an editable HTML invoice with invoice number, dates, a line-item table and totals. Fill it in your browser and print it or save it as PDF, or type or say what you did and InvoiceQuickly drafts an editable invoice for you to check before saving.
Preview this editable document
Download the HTML file to edit its fields, then print or save as PDF. Totals are entered manually.
What This Template Includes
- Site address (live and staging) covered by this invoice
- Build milestone or billing period, with contract reference
- Share of the fixed price this milestone releases, and amount invoiced to date
- Theme or plugin development: tasks, hours and rate
- Care plan: month covered, services included, support hours included and used
- Support or fixes beyond the care plan, with dates
- Premium theme or plugin licence: product, tier, renewal period, whose account
- Hosting or domain: provider, period, whose name, at cost or per agreement
- Migration or launch tasks and sign-off date
- Client purchase order number, if used
- Handover terms for admin access, licences and code
How to Create Your WordPress Developer Invoice
- 01
Describe your work
Type a plain English description of the services you provided, the client, and the amount.
- 02
AI generates your invoice
InvoiceQuickly's AI drafts the client, line items, dates, and totals for you to review before saving.
- 03
Review, download, and send
Check every detail, download the PDF, or use Pro to email the PDF directly to your client.
Recommended Payment Terms
Builds are usually billed in stages: a deposit before work starts (often 30 to 50%, as set in your contract), a payment when the client signs off staging, and the balance before or at launch. Care plans are billed monthly or yearly in advance, because the work (updates, backups, monitoring) happens throughout the period; hours beyond the plan are billed in arrears at the end of the month. Premium licence renewals and hosting are best billed before they renew, not after you have paid them, or kept in the client's name so the vendor charges the client directly. Net 14 suits most small-business clients; print the actual due date ('Due 16 November 2026') rather than only 'net 14'. If you will pause updates or remove a staging site when an invoice is unpaid, say so in the contract, not for the first time on an overdue invoice.
Need help writing payment terms? Read our guide to invoice payment terms for best practices and templates.
Tax Information
United States: whether WordPress work is taxable depends on the state and on what each line is. Washington is the clearest recent example: since 1 October 2025, custom website development services, defined by the Department of Revenue as the design, development and support of a website, including consulting and training, are retail sales subject to sales tax, while web hosting and domain registration are excluded. So a Washington developer may owe tax on the build and care-plan lines but not on a hosting line. Premium plugin licences are prewritten software, which many states tax differently from services; check your state revenue department before adding tax to a pass-through line. A business client that pays you $2,000 or more for services in 2026 generally reports it on Form 1099-NEC, so expect a request for Form W-9. InvoiceQuickly applies one tax percentage per invoice, so when lines are taxed differently, put the taxable and non-taxable charges on separate invoices. It copies saved tax IDs to new invoice PDFs. General information, not tax advice. Last reviewed: 28 October 2026.
Industry context (2026)
WordPress software is licensed under the GPLv2 or later, and WordPress.org states that it considers plugins and themes derivative works that inherit the GPL (WordPress.org, 'License'). The GNU GPL FAQ says the GPL allows anyone to sell copies of a program and that 'there is no limit on what price you can charge', which is why premium plugin and theme businesses usually sell access to updates and support rather than the code itself. Plugins listed in the WordPress.org directory must be GPL-compatible and may not lock features behind payment inside the plugin (Detailed Plugin Guidelines 1 and 5), so paid tiers are sold separately, often as yearly renewals that end up on client invoices. Maintenance has its own dates: WordPress.org recommends PHP 8.3 or greater and MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.11 or greater, and warns that older versions it still runs on have reached end of life, so PHP upgrades are a common billable care-plan task. On tax, Washington's Department of Revenue treats custom website development, including website support, as a retail sale from 1 October 2025 and excludes hosting and domain registration. Sources accessed 28 October 2026; general information, not legal or tax advice.
Worked example
Worked example (illustrative rates, not market data): a freelance WordPress developer is building a WooCommerce store for a bakery on a $6,000 fixed price (30% deposit, 40% at staging sign-off, 30% at launch) and also runs the bakery's existing brochure site on a $150-a-month care plan with 1 support hour included. The deposit invoice for $1,800.00 was paid in October. Invoice INV-0042 is dated 2 November 2026, net 14, due 16 November, and names both sites. Line 1: WooCommerce store, milestone 2 of 3, staging signed off 29 October, 40% of $6,000.00 = $2,400.00. Line 2: care plan, brochure site, November 2026 (core, theme and plugin updates, daily off-site backups, uptime monitoring, 1 support hour), 1 × $150.00. Line 3: October support beyond the plan: included 1.0 hour, used 2.5, overage 1.5 hours × $90.00 = $135.00. Line 4: premium forms plugin, single-site licence renewal 12 November 2026 to 11 November 2027, bought on the developer's account, at cost, 1 × $99.00. Line 5: managed hosting, November 2026, resold at the $30.00 a month agreed in the care-plan contract. Subtotal $2,814.00, tax 0%, total $2,814.00. Notes: 'Invoiced to date on the store: $4,200.00 of $6,000.00. Remaining: $1,800.00 at launch. The forms plugin licence moves to your account at handover.' Two decisions are visible in the numbers. The overage line shows its arithmetic, so the $135.00 is not a surprise. And the 0% tax was checked, not assumed: in Washington, lines 1 to 3 would be taxable website development and support while line 5 (hosting) would not, so a Washington developer would bill the hosting on a separate invoice.
Common mistakes to avoid
One 'WordPress services' line
Mixing the build, the care plan and a plugin renewal into one amount hides which part the client is paying for and makes a partial dispute hold up the whole invoice. Give each its own line.
Paying renewals before invoicing them
Premium licences and hosting renew on fixed dates. If you pay first and invoice later, you are lending the client money; bill before the renewal date or keep the account in the client's name.
Not saying whose account a licence is in
If the licence sits on your account and the client leaves, the site stops getting updates. Name the account on the invoice and agree what happens at handover.
Unlimited 'updates' in the care plan
A care plan that does not say what is excluded (major version upgrades, PHP upgrades, restores, new features) turns every request into free work. List included hours and bill overage.
Taxing hosting like development
Some states tax development and support but not hosting or domains. Check each line rather than applying one rate to everything, and split invoices when the rates differ.
Invoicing Tips
- 1Name the site on every invoice (example.com, plus the staging address for build invoices). Agencies and clients with several sites match payments by site, not by your invoice number.
- 2Write the care-plan hours as 'included 1.0, used 2.5, overage 1.5 × $90'. The client sees exactly why the month costs more than the plan price.
- 3For each premium plugin or theme, give the product, licence tier (single site, multi-site), renewal dates and whose account holds the licence. That line is what the client needs if they move to another developer.
- 4Prefer licences and hosting in the client's name, paid with their card. If you buy them on your own account, bill them before they renew, at cost or at the markup your contract states.
- 5Put PHP version upgrades, major WooCommerce updates and restores from backup on their own lines if your care plan excludes them. Clients often assume 'updates' covers everything.
- 6Keep numbering in one sequence across builds and care plans (INV-0041, INV-0042), and never reuse a number for a monthly plan invoice.
Related Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
What should a WordPress developer invoice include?
Your details and the client's, a unique invoice number, the invoice and due dates, the site it covers, then separate lines for build work (milestone share or hours), the care plan for the month with hours included and used, any overage, and third-party costs such as premium plugin licences and hosting with their renewal periods. Finish with the total and how to pay.
How do I invoice a WordPress maintenance or care plan?
Bill it as a fixed monthly or yearly fee in advance, with the period on the line ('Care plan, November 2026'). List what it covers, such as core, theme and plugin updates, backups and uptime checks, and the support hours included. Bill extra hours from the previous month on a separate line with dates and the rate.
Can I charge clients for GPL plugins and themes?
Yes. WordPress is licensed under the GPLv2 or later, and the GNU GPL FAQ says the GPL allows anyone to sell copies, at any price. What premium vendors usually sell with a licence key is access to updates and support, under their own terms. Check those terms before reusing one licence across client sites, and show the client which licence they are paying for.
Should premium plugin licences be in my name or the client's?
The client's name is usually cleaner: the vendor bills them directly, the licence stays with the site if they change developer, and nothing on your invoice is a resale. If you buy on your account for convenience, invoice it before renewal, at cost or at the markup in your contract, and agree in writing what happens to the licence at handover.
How do I bill a WordPress site migration?
As a fixed fee or hours, on its own line, with the source and destination host, the migration date and what was checked afterwards (links, forms, SSL, email delivery). Bill any new hosting separately, because hosting and development are often taxed differently and renew on their own schedule.
Do WordPress developers charge sales tax?
It depends on the state and the line. Washington, for example, has taxed custom website development, including website support, since 1 October 2025, but not hosting or domain registration. Other states treat services and prewritten software differently, so check your state revenue department.
Can I bill a WordPress care plan every month in InvoiceQuickly?
Yes, on Pro ($9 a month). A recurring schedule creates the care-plan invoice each period, as a draft for review or sent automatically. The recurring form takes one line with a saved tax rate; add overage hours or extra lines on the generated draft or a separate invoice. Free covers 5 invoices, 5 clients and 3 AI drafts in total, with PDF download.