Purchase order generator

Free purchase order generator for materials, stock and subcontract work.

Tell a supplier exactly what you want, at what price, delivered where and by when, before anything moves. Pick your trade and the order starts with lines that already make sense for it: quantities, units, prices. Add your logo, your PO number, the delivery address and the terms, and the document builds itself as you type.

Print it, save it as a PDF, download it as an image, or paste it straight into an email to the supplier. Free, no signup, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

Free purchase order generator
Printable PO or PDF
Nothing leaves your browser

What are you ordering?sets the lines, units and terms

Something else

Changes the starting lines and units. Everything stays editable.

Stage of the order

Printed on the order as its status, so nobody acts on a draft by mistake.

Who is ordering

Your business

PO number

Sequential, with the year in it, so it sorts and never repeats.

Your address and contact

ADD
LOGO

Make it yours

A logo and one colour is all it takes for an order to look like it came from a business rather than a spreadsheet.

Order date

Required by

A real date, not a hopeful one. It is what the supplier plans around.

Job or cost code (optional)

Currency

Sets the symbol, the format and the tax wording.

Who you are ordering from

Supplier

Their contact (optional)

Supplier email

Supplier phone (optional)

Supplier address (optional)

Against their quote (optional)

Ties the order to the price they gave you.

Where it goesthe field that most often goes wrong

Deliver to

The site, not your office. A load sent to the wrong address is a day lost.

Site contact (optional)

Ship via

Delivery instructions (optional)

What you are ordering

Agreed discount

Comes off before tax, like it does on their invoice.

Sales tax

Delivery or freight charge

Payment terms

Terms and approvalan order nobody signed authorises nothing

Terms on the order

Four lines that save arguments are already in there. Edit freely.

Approved by

Their title (optional)

The order still prints a signature line for whoever approves it, and a second line for whoever signs the delivery in.

Northwind Builders

PURCHASE ORDER

PO NUMBER-

ORDER DATE-

REQUIRED BY-

Supplier-

Deliver to-

#	Description	Qty	Unit	Unit price	Amount

RECEIVED BY, AND DATE

What a purchase order is for

A purchase order is you telling a supplier, in writing and before anything moves, exactly what you want, at what price, delivered where and by when. When their invoice arrives weeks later, the PO is what you check it against.

Without one, the argument has no evidence in it. With one, the conversation is short: this is what was ordered, this is what was agreed, here is the number your invoice has to quote.

Six things make a purchase order do its job, and all six are on the document this page builds: your business, the supplier, a unique number, what is being ordered with quantities and units, where and when it goes, and who authorised it.

Every trade orders differently, so the lines start differently

An order for ready-mix concrete and an order for takeaway cups have nothing in common except the shape of the document. Pick your trade at the top of the builder and the lines, quantities and units start where that trade starts, then you edit from there.

Contractors and trades

Cubic yards, tons, lengths and day rates, and a delivery address that has to be the site rather than your office. The required-by date is what the supplier plans the truck around.

Electricians, plumbers, HVAC

Rolls, feet and each. Panels, heaters and fittings are ordered by part rather than by description, so the line has to be specific enough that the wrong thing cannot arrive.

Kitchens, shops and workshops

Cases, gallons, pounds and pallets. Stock ordering lives on unit prices, and a PO fixes the price at the moment of ordering rather than at the moment of invoicing.

Studios, clinics, offices, fleets

Subcontractors and suppliers invoice weeks later, often for a figure nobody remembers agreeing. A PO number they have to quote turns that into a two-second check.

The unit is not a detail

A quantity with no unit against it is an argument waiting to happen. Eight of aggregate is eight tons or eight bags depending on who reads it, and the difference turns up on a truck. Every line on this order carries its own unit, from each and hour through to cubic yards, pallets and lots, and the unit prints on the document beside the quantity.

It matters most where the same material is sold two ways. Mulch by the bag and mulch by the pallet are the same product at wildly different prices, and the only thing standing between those two outcomes is the word next to the number.

Purchase order, invoice, quote and work order

Purchase order: you asking a supplier to provide something, at an agreed price. You issue it.
Invoice: them asking you to pay for it. They issue it, and it should quote your PO number.
Quote: a price offered to your own customer before work starts. Write one here.
Work order: authorising work to be carried out, usually on a site, usually signed. Templates here.

The direction is what separates them. A purchase order goes out from you to a supplier; an invoice comes in from them. Confusing the two is how businesses end up paying for things nobody ordered.

The PO number, and why it matters more than it looks

A purchase order number is the thread that ties an order to a delivery to an invoice to a payment. Most invoices that sit unpaid for weeks are not disputed: they are missing a reference, so nobody can match them to anything and they wait.

Keep the format simple and sequential. PO-2026-0142 tells you the year and the order in one glance, and sorts correctly in every spreadsheet. Put it on the order, insist on it on the invoice, and quote it on the payment.

Draft, issued, approved

An order that is still being negotiated and an order that has been authorised are different documents, and treating them as the same one is how a supplier ends up delivering against a price nobody signed off. The stage is printed on the order itself.

Draft while the price is still moving. Nothing is committed, and the word on the page says so.
Issued once it goes to the supplier. This is the version their invoice has to match.
Approved once it is signed off internally. The approver's name is the authorisation, and an authorisation with nobody's name on it authorises nothing.

Sign it by drawing, typing or uploading a scan. Either way the order prints two lines: the person who approved the spend, and whoever signs the delivery in at the other end.

Terms worth putting on every order

Invoices must quote this PO number. The single most useful line on the document.
Deliveries outside the agreed dates may be refused. Protects a site that has no room to store an early delivery.
Substitutions require approval before dispatch. Stops a different grade of material arriving because the one you ordered was out of stock.
Prices are fixed as stated. Removes the gap between the price quoted and the price invoiced.

All four are already in the terms box, and payment terms sit alongside them as their own field, from due on receipt through to Net 60. Edit any of it: they are a starting point, not a contract you are stuck with.

Getting it to the supplier, and getting a PDF

Print or save PDF opens your own print dialogue, where the destination to choose is Save as PDF. The order is measured and scaled to a single sheet before the dialogue opens, so it does not split across two pages, and the page title is blanked for the duration so the browser does not print its own header across the top of your document.

Email supplier opens a message already addressed, with the PO number in the subject and the whole order in the body. Copy as text does the same thing for a system that wants pasting into. Copy order as image puts the finished document on your clipboard as a picture, which is what you want for a chat or a message thread. Everything is produced on your own device, and nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.

Purchase order questions

What is a purchase order?

A document you send a supplier that authorises them to provide goods or services at an agreed price, with a delivery address and a date. It is issued before the order happens, and the supplier's invoice should quote its number.

What is the difference between a purchase order and an invoice?

A purchase order goes out from you to a supplier and requests goods. An invoice comes in from the supplier and requests payment. The PO comes first and the invoice should reference it.

Is a purchase order a legally binding contract?

Once the supplier accepts it, a purchase order generally forms a binding agreement on the terms it states. That is precisely why the price, quantity, delivery date and terms belong on the document rather than in a phone call.

What should a purchase order include?

Your business and address, the supplier, a unique PO number, the order date, the required-by date, the delivery address, itemised lines with quantities, units and unit prices, the total, who approved it, and the terms the supplier is accepting.

How do I number purchase orders?

Sequentially, with the year in it: PO-2026-0001 upward. It sorts correctly in every spreadsheet, it tells you when the order was placed, and it never collides with last year's.

Why does the unit matter on a purchase order line?

Because a quantity without a unit is an argument waiting to happen. Eight of aggregate is eight tons or eight bags depending on who is reading it, and the difference arrives on a truck.

Do small businesses need purchase orders?

Any time you order materials or subcontract work, yes. The PO is what lets you check an invoice that arrives six weeks later against what was actually agreed, which is exactly when memory has stopped being reliable.

Can I send a purchase order by email?

Yes, and most are. Use Email supplier to open a message with the order already in it, or Copy as text to paste it. Keep the PO number in the subject line so their accounts team can file it against the invoice.

How do I save the purchase order as a PDF?

Press Print or save PDF and choose Save as PDF as the destination in your browser's print dialogue. The order is measured and scaled to one sheet first, so it does not split across two pages. Nothing is uploaded to produce it.

What happens if the supplier invoices a different amount?

Query it against the PO before paying. A price that moved between order and invoice is either a mistake or a change nobody agreed, and the purchase order is the evidence of what was agreed.

Can I put my own logo on the purchase order?

Yes. Add a logo and an accent colour in step two. The image is read straight into the page and never uploaded, and it prints and exports with the document.

Is this purchase order generator free?

Yes. No signup, no watermark, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

The order goes out, the invoice comes back

A purchase order is the only document that makes a supplier invoice checkable six weeks later. When the work it paid for is yours to bill, price it with the service price calculator, quote it with the quote generator, and raise the invoice from the same lines. If the order authorises work on a site rather than goods, the work order templates are the document you want instead.

Raise an invoice