Introducing Cakedesk: A Desktop Application to Manage your Freelance Clients, Invoices and Proposals

Shortly after landing my first client as a freelance developer and completing the project, my client was happy and it was time to send him an invoice.

I first thought I would just use an invoice template for macOS Pages or Microsoft Word but I realized that editing invoices this way would be pretty slow and I was missing some sort of database functionality to keep track of clients and invoices, what had been paid, etc.

Next I started looking at some dedicated software to do this, but all I found was either full-blown accounting software or SaaS applications where I had to pay a monthly bill and didn't own my data.

That's when I started working on my own system which has grown over the course of a year into a full desktop application for managing clients and writing invoices and proposals.

It's called Cakedesk and I'd like to share it with you today:

Cakedesk runs on macOS and Windows. It works offline (all data is stored on your machine) and will be available as a one-time purchase with free updates for a whole year (and it will keep working after that).

Core Features

Manage Clients

Cakedesk lets you see all your clients in one place. You can easily find all the invoices or proposals for a specific client or see which clients are bringing in the most revenue.

Create Invoices Fast

When creating invoices with Cakedesk, you simply select the client, add some line items, optionally add taxes and you're done. Cakedesk generates a beautiful PDF document that you can send to your client to get paid.

Create Proposals that Win Clients

Creating proposals for projects can be tricky and time-consuming. Cakedesk offers an easy and fast interface for outlining a project's scope and creating a breakdown of costs.

This generates a lot of trust with the client because they can see exactly how you arrive at your proposed price and it also allows you to show that you understand the project on an atomic level, which increases the client's confidence that you're the right person for the job!

Powerful Templating System Based on HTML & CSS

Cakedesk is all about being simple but powerful. That's why you can completely hack Cakedesk's invoice and proposal templates using HTML & CSS, giving you limitless control over how you represent yourself and your brand in your client-facing documents.

Sign Up for Early Access

I'm launching an early access version of Cakedesk now. Please head over to the website to sign up. Early access participants will be able to purchase Cakedesk at 50% off on launch day!

Sign up for Cakedesk Early Access!

What's Next

It's been a really interesting journey so far to create Cakedesk. Also unexpectedly challenging in some areas – from finding a name to creating a logo/icon.

I plan to write more about Cakedesk's development in this blog, so please subscribe to the RSS feed and follow me on Twitter for updates if you'd like to follow along! :)