PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce (the WP Overnight one) is the standard for a reason. It’s on a huge number of stores, the free version reliably generates invoices and packing slips, and the Professional edition goes deep: credit notes, proforma invoices and receipts, separate numbering per document type, bulk export by date or status, cloud storage, multilingual support, and, with the Premium Templates add-on, a lot of design flexibility. If your need is invoices done thoroughly, it’s genuinely excellent, and nothing here is out to knock it.
The distinction is scope. That plugin is a specialist: it does documents, brilliantly, and nothing else. Tracksies HQ approaches invoices from the other direction. Invoices and packing slips are one part of a whole order-operations layer, sitting alongside your priority rules, the customer’s history, and returns, all on-brand and sharing one dataset. So this isn’t quite like-for-like: one is the best-in-class document tool, the other folds documents into how you run the shop.
We make HQ, so we’re biased, and we’ll be plain about where the specialist is stronger. If you’re searching for a "PDF Invoices & Packing Slips alternative", the honest question is whether you want the deepest invoice tool, or invoices that are part of one on-brand operation. Here’s the fair version.
The Quick Version
What it is
- Tracksies HQ: A customer-intelligence and order-operations layer for WooCommerce. Branded invoices and packing slips are one part of it.
- PDF Invoices & Packing Slips: A specialist plugin dedicated to invoices, packing slips and related documents.
Brand fonts on your documents
- HQ: Yes, your own brand fonts, through the Brand Hub, so invoices match your identity.
- PDF Invoices & Packing Slips: Custom fonts aren’t a documented strength; the engine ships with a limited set and custom fonts are fiddly to add.
Invoice-design depth
- HQ: Solid, on-brand documents, but less template and layout flexibility than a dedicated tool.
- PDF Invoices & Packing Slips: Deep, especially with the Premium Templates add-on. This is where it shines.
Document types
- HQ: Invoices and packing slips.
- PDF Invoices & Packing Slips: Invoices, packing slips, plus credit notes, proforma invoices and receipts (Professional).
Beyond documents
- HQ: Priority rules, customer intelligence on every order, returns/RMA, all in one place.
- PDF Invoices & Packing Slips: Documents only, by design.
Pricing
- HQ: A$199 first year, then A$159.20 to renew. One licence, up to 5 sites.
- PDF Invoices & Packing Slips: Free core; Professional €69/year (1 site), €139 (3 sites), €279 (25 sites). (Premium Templates is a separate add-on.)
Best for
- HQ: Stores and agencies that want on-brand invoices as part of one operations layer.
- PDF Invoices & Packing Slips: Anyone who wants the deepest, most flexible invoicing, on its own.
Where PDF Invoices & Packing Slips Does Well
It’s the specialist, and it’s deep. Credit notes, proforma invoices, receipts, per-document numbering, custom titles and filenames, bulk export by date or status, cloud storage, multilingual. If invoicing is a serious part of your admin, it has the features.
Design flexibility with Premium Templates. The separate Premium Templates add-on gives real control over layout and design, more than HQ offers on the document side. If you want to fine-tune exactly how an invoice looks, it’s built for that.
A capable free version. The core plugin generates invoices and packing slips for free, attached to your order emails, which is why it’s on so many stores. A genuine, generous on-ramp.
Proven and popular. It’s one of the most widely used invoicing plugins for WooCommerce, with the reliability and documentation that comes from that scale.
Where the Approaches Differ
Invoices on their own vs invoices in the operation
The specialist plugin makes documents and hands them off. HQ makes the invoice a part of the same screen where you prioritise the order, see who the customer is, and handle the return if it comes back. The document isn’t a separate job bolted to your store; it’s one output of an operation that already knows the order and the customer. If invoicing is a standalone task for you, the specialist is the deeper tool. If you’d rather your documents came out of the same on-brand system that runs the rest of your fulfilment, that’s HQ.
Your brand fonts, on the page
This is the piece HQ genuinely does better. Through the Brand Hub, HQ puts your actual brand fonts on your invoices and packing slips, so the paperwork looks like the rest of your business. The specialist plugin’s engine ships with a limited set of fonts, and getting your own typography in is fiddly. For a store, and especially an agency, that cares about a consistent brand right down to the invoice, on-brand fonts out of the box is a real advantage.
Honest trade: design depth
We’ll say it plainly, because it’s true: on pure invoice design and document breadth, the specialist wins. More templates, more document types, more layout control with Premium Templates. HQ gives you clean, on-brand invoices as part of the operation, not the deepest invoice designer on the market. If invoice customisation is the thing you care most about, that matters.
One on-brand system across client stores
For an agency, HQ’s angle is consistency. One operations layer, one Brand Hub, invoices and packing slips that match each client’s identity, deployed across up to five sites on a single licence. Rather than wiring up and styling a document plugin per client, you run one on-brand operation. The specialist plugin is per-site and document-focused; HQ is the wider system.
When PDF Invoices & Packing Slips Is Your Answer
Invoicing depth is the thing you’re shopping for. With Premium Templates, the specialist gives you deeper layout and template control than HQ does. If you’re particular about how an invoice looks and you want to sweat the details, that’s the better tool and we’ll say so.
You need credit notes, proforma invoices or receipts. That’s the specialist’s territory. HQ focuses on invoices and packing slips.
You need to start at zero. The core PDF plugin is free and genuinely capable. HQ is a paid operations layer from day one.
Invoices are all you want. HQ joins documents to priority, customer context and returns, which is the point of it. If none of that is a problem you have, HQ is more than you need and the specialist is leaner and cheaper for the one job.
Who Should Choose What
PDF Invoices & Packing Slips is likely the better fit if you:
- Want the deepest, most flexible invoicing, with credit notes, proforma and receipts.
- Need fine control over invoice layout and templates.
- Want a capable free invoicing plugin and nothing more.
Tracksies HQ is likely the better fit if you:
- Want invoices and packing slips on your own brand fonts, out of the box.
- Want documents as part of one operations layer, with priority, customer context and returns.
- Are an agency wanting one on-brand system across several client stores.
- Care more about a consistent, joined-up operation than deep invoice customisation.
Switching or adding
These aren’t mutually exclusive. Plenty of stores run a dedicated invoice plugin and would keep it, and if invoicing depth is your priority, that’s a fine call. If what you actually want is on-brand invoices as part of how you run orders, HQ brings the documents into the operation and puts your fonts on them. Try HQ on a staging site (your licence covers up to five) and see whether the joined-up, on-brand version suits how you work.
Go Have a Look
The right choice comes down to whether invoicing is a standalone job or part of your operation.
Tracksies HQ — see it on the Have A Go demo, or read the details at tracksies.com and docs.tracksies.com. One licence, up to five sites, 14-day refund.
PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce — the specialist standard, deepest on invoice documents and design, with a capable free version.
We built HQ for stores and agencies that want their invoices to be part of one on-brand operation, right down to the fonts, rather than a separate document tool. If that’s you, we’d love you to try it. If you want the deepest invoicing on its own, the specialist is genuinely excellent. Your store, your call.
