Order Printer Apps vs. Invoicing Apps: Which Is Right for Your Shopify Store?

For many Shopify merchants, an order printer app seems like the obvious choice. It's affordable, quick to set up, and generates documents that look like invoices. The problem is that looking like an invoice and being a legally valid one are two very different things.

In this article, we look at the key differences between order printer apps and dedicated invoicing apps while also showing how relying on the wrong tool can eventually get you into trouble with your local tax authority.

Common problems with order printer apps

Order printer apps are built for convenience, not compliance. As a result, they often introduce risks that merchants do not notice until an accountant or tax authority points them out.

Common issues include:

• Invoices changing after they have been issued
• Invoice numbers that are not sequential or gap-free
• Missing historical documents when orders are deleted or archived
• No support for electronic invoicing requirements

Each of these issues on its own can be problematic. Combined, they can seriously undermine the reliability of your accounting records.

Compliance vs. convenience: two different approaches

Both order printer and invoicing apps help Shopify merchants create invoices, but they are built around fundamentally different assumptions about what an invoice is.

Order printer apps treat invoices as a view of your live order data. This means that any change to an order—whether that’s a refund, a return, or an edit—automatically overwrites the original invoice.

The moment an order changes, so does the invoice. This goes against the law in every relevant jurisdiction.

Invoicing apps like Sufio treat invoices as standalone financial documents. Once issued, they are fixed. Changes to an order are handled by creating additional documents, not by overwriting the original invoice after it's been sent to the customer or your accountant.

This complies with the law in key markets like the EU and the UK, and it is the foundation that the four differences explained in the section below are built on.

Four key differences between order printers and invoicing apps

The sections below break down the four areas where these differences matter most.

1. Handling of changes to an order

Orders don’t always stay the same. Refunds, returns, and manual order edits are part of everyday ecommerce operations.

With order printer apps, any change to an order automatically regenerates the invoice to reflect the new state. When this happens, the original invoice is instantly overwritten, and the user is left with no record of what it showed.

Sufio handles order changes by creating additional documents.

The original invoice remains unchanged, while refunds, returns, or order edits are recorded through credit notes or additional invoices, creating a complete and verifiable record for both you and your customers.

2. Sequential numbering of invoices

Invoice numbering is another area where order printer apps often fall short.

Most order printer apps use Shopify order numbers as invoice numbers. This creates problems when invoices are not created in the same order as the orders themselves.

For example, some orders may be fulfilled immediately while others are fulfilled days later. Since invoices should be issued at the point of fulfillment, this means the resulting invoice numbers may be out of sequence.

Many tax authorities require invoice numbers to be sequential and to reflect the order in which invoices were created. Gaps or out-of-sequence numbering can raise red flags during audits.

Sufio allows invoices to use an independent numbering sequence. We recommend you number your invoices sequentially at the moment they are created, regardless of order numbers or fulfillment timing.

3. Long-term document retention

Accounting laws in many countries require businesses to keep invoices and credit notes for up to 10 years.

With order printer apps, documents exist only as long as the underlying order exists. If an order is deleted, archived, or the store is closed, those documents may be lost permanently.

Sufio stores secure copies of all issued documents for 10 years. Even if orders are removed from Shopify or the store is shut down, the invoices and credit notes remain available for accounting and legal purposes.

This distinction matters when responding to audits or historical data requests years after a transaction took place.

4. E‑invoicing support

In an increasing number of countries, issuing a PDF invoice is no longer sufficient.

Invoice data must be sent electronically to tax authorities and, in some cases, validated before being delivered to the customer.

Order printer apps do not support these workflows. They generate PDF documents but cannot produce invoices in standardized e‑invoicing formats or submit them to official e-invoicing networks.

Sufio supports country-specific e‑invoicing standards, including ZUGFeRD in Germany, Factur‑X in France, and Peppol in Belgium, and handles the electronic submission process where required. This allows merchants to meet legal obligations without adding external tools or manual steps.

Quick comparison

Conclusion

Order printer apps are the inexpensive option for generating basic documents in a Shopify store. They can work for simple use cases, but they are not designed to meet legal invoicing requirements.

The examples above show why these tools can afford to be so cheap. They rely on live order data, lack independent records, and do not account for how invoices are regulated in many countries.

Sufio takes a different approach. By treating invoices as standalone financial documents, it supports proper numbering, document integrity, long-term storage, and modern e-invoicing requirements.

If invoicing compliance matters to your business or will matter as you grow, using a dedicated invoicing app is not just a simple feature upgrade. It’s essential for meeting the legal requirements of selling online.