Invoicing and quotes in GrandTotal and MacBusinessSuite compared

Invoicing and quotes, GrandTotal and MacBusinessSuite

Both apps write quotes, invoices, credit notes and recurring invoices on the Mac and archive what goes out as PDF/A. GrandTotal adds interactive online estimates, progress billing and card payments at a terminal. MacBusinessSuite adds order confirmations and delivery notes, turns accepted optional items straight into the invoice draft and writes every document in the customer's language.

Side by side

As of October 2026. GrandTotal from its vendor's official pages (see sources), MacBusinessSuite from its documentation. Not documented means the vendor's pages do not say, not that the feature is missing.
	MacBusinessSuite	GrandTotal
Quotes	Optional items, validity, follow-up date, accepted or declined with a note	Estimates with conditions; interactive estimates the customer opens in the browser
Invoices	Partial, final and correction invoices, cancellation credit notes	Invoices, credit notes, partial invoices, progress billing
Recurring invoices	Yes, with a monthly run	Recurring and permanent invoices (XL edition)
Other documents	Order confirmations and delivery notes with their own numbers	Additional documents with their own numbering
Final number and archive	Number on issuing, output frozen and archived as PDF/A	PDF/A generated on dispatch and stored unchangeable
Layout	Visual layout editor, templates, text blocks	Layout editor, templates, fonts and colors; existing PDF invoices can become layouts
Payment codes	EPC QR code, Swiss QR bill, BezahlCode, PayPal link	Swiss QR bill, SEPA QR code, VeriFactu QR code
Online payment	Not included	Stripe payments, card terminal through SumUp (XL edition)
Dunning	Dunning levels and reminder documents	Reminders and reminder levels; notifications for overdue invoices
Document language	15 languages, set per customer; catalog items with translations	Layouts in several languages with the recipient's number format

What GrandTotal offers here

Interactive estimates with optional items the customer switches on or off in the browser.
Progress billing that deducts the partial invoices already issued.
Stripe payments and card payments at a terminal in the XL edition.
Turning existing PDF invoices into layouts.

What MacBusinessSuite offers here

Optional items in a quote; only the items the customer chose become the invoice draft.
Order confirmations and delivery notes on the same document base as quotes and invoices.
The final number is assigned only when you issue the document; corrections run through a follow-up document.
Quotes, invoices and mails in the customer's language, one of 15.

Invoice list with drafts and partly paid invoices next to the editor of a credit note — Screenshots show the app with sample data in German.

Questions and answers

Can customers accept a quote online?

In GrandTotal, yes: interactive estimates open in the browser and can be accepted there. MacBusinessSuite has no online acceptance; you record the customer's decision in the app with a note.

Do both apps archive invoices as PDF/A?

Yes. GrandTotal creates a PDF/A when an invoice is dispatched. MacBusinessSuite writes PDF/A when a document is issued, PDF/A-3 for ZUGFeRD and Factur-X.