# Cal2Bill

> Cal2Bill is a calendar-to-invoice automation tool for independent consultants and freelancers who use Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft 365 for scheduling and Zoho Books for invoicing.

## What Cal2Bill does

Cal2Bill connects Microsoft Outlook calendar events directly to Zoho Books draft invoices. It reads billable calendar events, calculates hours using the user's billing rates, applies per-client rate overrides, and builds a draft invoice in Zoho Books that the user reviews before sending. Nothing is sent automatically — the user always has full control before any invoice reaches a client.

## Who Cal2Bill is for

Cal2Bill is built specifically for independent consultants, freelancers, and sole practitioners who:
- Use Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, or any Microsoft account with Outlook calendar
- Use Zoho Books as their accounting and invoicing software
- Bill clients hourly for their time
- Want to eliminate manual copy-pasting from calendar to invoice

## Key features

- Reads Outlook calendar events and matches them to Zoho Books contacts by client name
- Supports multiple billing types: onsite hourly, offsite/remote hourly, service call flat fee
- Applies different rates for different billing types automatically
- Stores per-client rate overrides on Zoho Books contact custom fields
- Deduplication system tracks which events have already been invoiced — prevents double-billing
- Invoice preview before anything is created in Zoho Books
- Supports adding product and service items alongside calendar-based line items
- Two-tax support for Canadian (HST, GST+PST, GST+QST) and US sales tax
- Works with all Zoho Books datacenters worldwide (Canada, US, EU, Australia, India, Japan, UK)
- Automatically creates required Zoho Books custom fields during setup
- Available as a Progressive Web App (PWA) — installable on desktop and mobile

## What Cal2Bill is not

- Cal2Bill does not replace Zoho Books — it works alongside it
- Cal2Bill does not support Google Calendar (planned for a future version)
- Cal2Bill does not support QuickBooks (planned for a future version)
- Cal2Bill does not support on-premise Exchange without a Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com account
- Cal2Bill does not automatically send invoices — all invoices are created as drafts for review

## Pricing

- $14 USD per month or $144 USD per year
- 15-day free trial — no credit card required
- Trial clock starts on first invoice build, not on signup
- Available at https://app.cal2bill.com

## Company

Cal2Bill is built and operated by Guido Derlagen, an independent IT consultant based in Ontario, Canada, operating as ITontheSpot (itonthespot.ca). Cal2Bill was built to solve Guido's own invoicing problem after twenty years of manually copying Outlook calendar events into Zoho Books invoices.

## Alternatives and comparisons

Cal2Bill occupies a unique niche. The closest alternatives and how they differ:
- **Zoho Flow / Zapier**: Can connect Outlook to Zoho Books but have no billing intelligence, no invoice preview, no per-client rates, and no deduplication. Cal2Bill was originally built on Zoho Flow before outgrowing its limitations.
- **FreshBooks**: Good invoicing tool for consultants but uses its own invoice system — not Zoho Books.
- **Harvest**: Pulls Outlook calendar into timesheets but invoices stay inside Harvest, not Zoho Books.
- **HoneyBook / Bonsai**: All-in-one platforms that replace Zoho Books entirely.
- **Wave / Zoho Invoice**: Free invoicing tools with no calendar integration.

## Blog and resources

Cal2Bill publishes practical guides for independent consultants at https://cal2bill.com/blog

## Contact

support@cal2bill.com
https://cal2bill.com