Yes. LotsInvoice never holds or moves your money: clients pay you directly through your own payment options. Every invoice is checked as a draft before it goes, and once sent it is numbered and locked. Your records stay if you stop paying, and you can export everything at any time.
An invoice is your name on a request for money. Before you put that in a tool, you should know three things: where the money goes, whether the record can change behind your back, and whether you can leave with your data. Here is how LotsInvoice handles each one, for agencies, freelancers and small businesses. Everything below comes from our pricing page, the LotsInvoice section of the LotsTech privacy policy and terms, and the API docs, checked on 22 October 2026.
Your money never passes through LotsInvoice
LotsInvoice doesn't take payments, so there is no balance sitting with us and no payout to wait for. The terms say it plainly: LotsInvoice "does not process, hold or transfer money".
How your clients pay instead:
- Your own payment options on every invoice. A Stripe Payment Link, PayPal, Square, Venmo or Cash App link, bank transfer or ACH details, Zelle, a check address, or UPI with a QR code on INR invoices. They show on the invoice, in the email and in the client portal.
- The money goes straight to your account with your provider, under that provider's terms and fees. LotsInvoice adds no fee and takes no cut.
- You record the payment when it arrives. Nothing is marked paid automatically. If a client presses "I've sent payment" in the portal, you get a note; the invoice changes only when you record the payment. Reminders stop once it's paid.
The trade-off is honest: LotsInvoice can't charge a card inside the invoice or mark it paid on its own, the way tools with built-in payments can. What you get in return is that your money never depends on us. I walk through every option in how clients pay you with LotsInvoice.
Nothing goes out unchecked
Every invoice, estimate and credit note starts as a draft. You see a preview of the real PDF next to the form, with totals calculated on our side to the cent. The same numbers appear in the preview, the PDF and the reports.
A document goes to your client only when you send it, or when you mark it sent because you delivered it yourself. Sending needs a confirmed business email: replies come to your address, so we confirm it with a link before the first invoice goes out.
Sent invoices are locked, and every change leaves a trace
Once an invoice is sent it gets its number and is locked. You can't quietly edit a sent invoice, and neither can anyone on your team. Every way of changing a record keeps its history:
| What you need | What LotsInvoice does | What stays |
|---|---|---|
| Fix a mistake on a sent invoice | A revision: a new locked version with a reason | The same invoice number, and every earlier version |
| Cancel a sent invoice | Void it with a reason | The number stays used, so there are no gaps |
| Reduce or refund a paid invoice | A credit note against it | The original invoice, unchanged |
| Remove a payment recorded by mistake | The payment stops counting | It's kept for history |
| Throw away work in progress | Delete a draft | Only drafts that were never sent can be deleted |
Numbering only moves forward, so an invoice number can never be reused. The privacy policy describes it the same way: each sent document is kept as a frozen version with its PDF. That is what lets you show a client or an accountant exactly what was sent, and when.
Who can see and change your invoices
Each business has one owner. You invite a partner, a project manager or your bookkeeper as an editor (can create and change documents) or a viewer (can read). Team members are unlimited on every plan, and the owner role is never handed out by an invitation.
Some things stay with the owner only: inviting and removing people, exporting the business, archiving it and paying for it. Invitation links expire after 7 days and must be accepted while signed in with the invited email address. Sign-in uses your Lots account at auth.lotsinvoice.com.
The client portal shows each client only their own documents
Every client gets a private portal link to view and download their documents, see their balance and statement, accept estimates and find your payment options. The policy is clear about how it works:
- The link shows only that client's documents with your business.
- Anyone with the link can open it, so treat it like a private document link. If one is shared by mistake, revoke it: a new link replaces it and every earlier link stops working.
- Portal pages are not indexed by search engines.
Your clients don't need an account, and you can see when they open an invoice.
Where your data is kept and what we do with it
From the LotsInvoice section of the privacy policy:
- What's stored: your business details, your customers' details, and the invoices, estimates, credit notes, payments, templates and settings you create, plus a log of the emails sent for you and what clients do in the portal.
- Why: only to run the service: calculate, store, render, send and track your documents, send your reminders, show your reports, keep it secure and prevent abuse. "We do not sell this data or use it for advertising, and LotsInvoice runs no AI model that reads it."
- Who helps: Supabase stores the data, Cloudflare hosts the app and stores PDFs and images, and Resend delivers the emails. Your clients' email addresses and documents go to Resend only to deliver them.
- Your clients' data: you are the controller, and we process it on your behalf.
- Security: the LotsTech policy lists encryption of data in transit (TLS/SSL), encryption of sensitive data at rest (AES-256), secure authentication, access controls and monitoring.
If you stop paying, nothing is deleted
LotsInvoice is priced per business: Starter is $12 a month or $120 a year for one business, with everything inside it unlimited (see pricing). New accounts get 15,000 free credits, valid 90 days, no card.
If your plan or credits lapse, the business becomes read-only. Your sent documents, their PDFs and your clients' portal links keep working, and you can still read and export everything. Creating and sending new documents waits until the business is funded again. Archiving a business works the same way: billing for it stops, nothing is deleted and links you sent keep working. I explain the plans in LotsInvoice pricing explained.
Export everything, any time
In Settings, the owner can export the whole business as one JSON file: customers, items, documents, payments and settings, with download links for the PDF of every sent version (valid for 7 days). Reports export to CSV too: who owes what, revenue, tax collected and payments received, ready for your accountant.
There's no lock-in on the way in either. Import customers and items from a CSV, and set your next invoice number to carry on from the tool you used before.
Connecting an AI assistant, safely
You never need an AI assistant to use LotsInvoice; the dashboard does everything. If you want one, LotsInvoice works with the AI agent you already use, such as Claude or ChatGPT, through an MCP connection. Three things keep it safe:
- You sign in with OAuth. You connect with your Lots account; no API key is pasted into a chat.
- It asks before anything is sent. The assistant drafts the invoice, shows you the totals and asks before anything goes to a client. Everything it does appears in your dashboard.
- It has your permissions, nothing more. The terms say connected AI apps act with your permissions. A teammate who is a viewer can't send through their assistant either.
FAQ
Does LotsInvoice hold my money?
No. LotsInvoice never holds or moves money. Clients pay you directly through your own options, such as a Stripe Payment Link, PayPal, bank transfer, ACH or Zelle, and the money goes to your account with that provider. LotsInvoice adds no fee.
Can someone change an invoice after I send it?
Not quietly. A sent invoice is numbered and locked. Changes are made as a revision with a reason, which keeps the same number and every earlier version, or with a void or a credit note. Only drafts that were never sent can be deleted.
What happens to my invoices if I stop paying?
Nothing is deleted. The business becomes read-only: sent documents, their PDFs and client portal links keep working, and you can export everything. Creating and sending new documents needs a funded business again.
Can I export all my data?
Yes. The business owner can export everything as JSON, including customers, items, documents, payments and settings, with download links for every sent PDF, valid for 7 days. Reports such as revenue, tax collected and payments also export to CSV.
Who can see my client portal?
Each client's private link shows only their own documents with your business. Anyone with the link can open it, so if it is shared by mistake, make a new one: every earlier link stops working. Portal pages are not indexed by search engines.
Does LotsInvoice use my invoices to train AI?
No. The privacy policy says LotsInvoice data is used only to provide the service, is not sold or used for advertising, and that LotsInvoice runs no AI model that reads it.
Sources
Checked on 22 October 2026: LotsInvoice pricing, AI assistant setup, API docs, LotsTech privacy policy (section 15, LotsInvoice, and section 6, Data Storage and Security) and terms of service (section 17, LotsInvoice).