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An invoice is the document that says what a customer owes for a period: subscription charges, rated usage, credits applied, discounts, and tax. This page is the reference for the invoice lifecycle — the ten statuses an invoice can be in and how it moves between them — and for the organization-level settings that shape every invoice you issue. Read it when you need to interpret a status value, decide whether invoices should be approved before they go out, or set numbering, memo, and delivery defaults. For how invoices are created, see Recurring Invoices (from subscriptions) and One-Off Invoices (ad hoc). For delivery and payment collection, see Invoicing Customers. For where invoices sit in the wider object graph, see How Alguna Works.

Invoice statuses

The status field on an invoice takes one of these values. They are the same in the API, in webhooks, and in the dashboard.

Typical transitions

pending_approval exists because many finance teams want a human to sign off before an invoice reaches a customer. The approval is a dashboard action on the invoice; it is unrelated to the quote and subscription approval workflows.

Reading statuses from the API

GET /invoices filters on status (repeatable), customer_id, subscription_id, external_reference, and date ranges such as due_date_lte and paid_date_gte. See List invoices.
The invoice.issued and invoice.paid webhooks fire on the two transitions most integrations care about.

Organization settings

Invoicing defaults live in the dashboard under Settings → Invoices. They are organization-wide and are not exposed through the public API; per-subscription overrides for auto-issue, auto-pay, and payment terms are on the subscription’s billing object (see Recurring Invoices).
General Settings, Invoices tab: default issuer and approval method, invoice numbering and prefix, and default memo, payment terms and delivery preferences

Approving and sending invoices

  • Default invoice issuer: the system that issues invoices. Alguna issues and delivers them itself, or hands them to a connected invoicing integration — Stripe Invoicing, QuickBooks, or Xero. See the integrations marketplace.
  • Automatic approval: when on, an invoice moves from upcoming straight to scheduled when its period closes, and is issued on its issue date without review. Use this when usage is metered continuously and the numbers need no human check.
  • Manual approval: when off, closed-period invoices stop at pending_approval. Approve them from the invoice page with Approve Invoice, or in bulk from the invoices list. Use this when you upload usage by CSV or want a review step before anything reaches a customer.

Invoice numbering

  • Numbering method: one sequence for the whole organization (INV-0001, INV-0002, …) or a separate sequence per customer.
  • Custom prefix: the text before the number, for example INV.
The resulting number is the invoice’s external_reference in the API — the customer-facing reference.

Default options

  • Memo: the default text for the invoice memo. Supported variables:
    • {BillingPeriodStart} — first day of the billed period, e.g. August 1, 2026.
    • {BillingPeriodEnd} — last day of the billed period, e.g. August 31, 2026.
    • {BillingPeriod} — both ends in one variable, e.g. August 1, 2026 – August 31, 2026. A single-day period renders as that date.
    • {CustomerName} — the customer being billed. On a roll-up invoice this is the parent.
    • Any other text, including placeholders in other spellings such as {{billing_period}}, is printed exactly as written.
  • Payment terms: how long after the issue date payment is due. Values are on_issue, net_7, net_15, net_21, net_30, net_45, net_60, net_90, net_120, or indefinite (no due date, so the invoice never becomes overdue). The due date is computed when the invoice is issued.
  • Automatically release invoices to customers when using 3rd-party invoicing flows: when issuing through an external invoicing integration, send the invoice on without a second confirmation.
  • Send $0 invoices to customers: deliver invoices whose total is zero. Off by default.
Branding — logo, colours, footer — is set once under Branding and applied to every invoice PDF and email. Click Save to apply changes. Settings apply to invoices issued from that point on; already-issued invoices are never rewritten.

Next steps

Recurring Invoices

How subscriptions generate invoices and how to review them.

One-Off Invoices

Create and issue ad hoc invoices through the API.

Invoicing Customers

Delivery, AutoPay, payment methods, and the customer portal.

Collections

What happens when an invoice goes overdue.