Wave Accounting Review: Features, Pricing & More

While other software solutions have a premium plan that provides advanced features for growing businesses, Wave does not provide more advanced accounting plan options outside of its one free plan. One of Wave’s most popular invoicing features is the ability to create user-friendly customizable templates. Not only can you customize the invoices to fit your brand, but you can also set up recurring invoices and automate credit card payments for repeat customers.

If you’re a freelancer or other solo service provider, Wave is a better option. These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most. We encourage you to research and compare multiple accounting software products before choosing one. Can manage multiple businesses for free under one account; lacks project tracking tools, industry-specific reports and transaction tracking tags. Set up late payment reminders to automatically email your customers when payment is due (with Wave’s online payments feature or the Pro Plan). Set up recurring invoices and automatic credit card payments for your repeat customers and stop chasing payments.

For businesses that carry inventory, QuickBooks Online offers strong inventory tracking that alerts users when the inventory gets low. While Wave offers a basic inventory feature, it does not track stock within the software. That’s not the case with Wave—it provides one plan with an unlimited number of users, invoices, credit card connections and reports for free. While users never pay a monthly fee, they will have to pay a credit card processing fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction if they use Wave to process credit card payments. This fee can vary depending on the type of card the customer uses.

• While Wave is free to use, it doesn’t offer multiple plans to increase its functionality.
• Similar to other reputable cloud-based accounting software products, Wave encrypts the data you share with it and monitors its server facilities 24/7.
• When you reconcile your books, you’ll navigate to the “Reconciliation” tab within the Accounting menu.
• Sign up for Wave and send your first invoice right away—it only takes a few minutes!
• Manually creating invoices in Microsoft Word or Excel can be time-consuming and difficult to manage.
• The Wave app lets you easily generate and send invoices to your clients wherever and whenever you need to.

Why should I switch from my current accounting solution to Wave?

Plus, you can calculate sales tax automatically, customize payment terms and enjoy access to easy-to-understand cash flow insights. It also features a well-laid-out, clutter-free dashboard with individual tabs for sales, purchases, accounting, banking, payroll and reports. Wave Accounting’s Starter plan is free and its Pro plan, which includes more features, is $16 per month. Regardless of which you choose, you will have to pay processing fees to accept invoice payments online. Wave also offers paid products for payroll, coaching and mobile receipt scanning.

If you need to manually edit, add or remove any transactions, you can do so on the Reconciliation or Transactions pages. Next, you can add sales tax (if necessary), create customer profiles and customize your invoice templates. Allows an unlimited number of users in the Pro plan, but is not complex enough for businesses with more than a handful of employees; ideal for very small service-based businesses, freelancers or contractors. For micro businesses and self-employed entrepreneurs who just need the essentials, this free accounting software is a great option. Sign up for Wave and send your first invoice right away—it only takes a few minutes!

The Wave app lets you easily generate and send invoices to your clients wherever and whenever you need to. The rate that you charge for your freelancing services can vary, so it’s important to get a grasp of market trends before sending your clients an invoice or quoting a price. Freelance rates can differ depending on experience level and industry. For example, the rate a freelance web developer charges may be different than that of a freelance graphic designer, because each freelancer specializes in a different area. Yes, switching from other accounting apps or products to Wave is easy!

There’s no live support unless you pay for it so you’ll have to dig for the answers to your questions in the help center or cross your fingers that the automated chatbot will help you out. Any connections between you, your bank accounts, and Wave are protected by 256-bit SSL encryption. With everything in one place, there’s no need to waveapps endlessly research solutions or stare at spreadsheets until your eyes glaze over. Plus, our features are designed to work together, meaning less to worry about. Make bookkeeping and tax time easy with solutions that are affordable, small biz friendly, and—dare we say—fun to use. Support for non-paying users is limited to the chatbot and self-service Help Center.

Benefits of Wave Accounting

You can also manage late payments more efficiently through e-invoicing by setting up payment reminders to send to your customers before an invoice due date. Wave lets small business owners like you create beautiful invoices, accept online payments, and make accounting easy—all in one place. Wave lets small business owners like you create beautiful invoices, accept online payments,and make accounting easy—all in one place. You can enjoy features such as unlimited income and expenses tracking, digital receipt upload and transaction management and access its invoice mobile app at no cost. For example, QuickBooks Online doesn’t have a free plan, but offers four paid plans, each with additional features, making it a great choice for scalability.

Why should I use accounting software for my business?

• Learn more about how we rate small-business accounting software.
• This is particularly true if you don’t have much accounting experience and would like an easy-to-use, fully functional tool.
• We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives.
• QuickBooks Online’s detailed reporting and transaction tracking is ideal for growing businesses.
• Although Wave’s paid plan offers additional features, it’s still missing some more advanced capabilities, like built-in inventory tracking and audit trails, that growing businesses might need.
• Have an eye on the big picture so you can make better business decisions.

Explore more details on the competition in our full roundup of the best accounting software for small businesses. NerdWallet independently reviews accounting software products before determining our top picks. We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives. Information is gathered on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy. When you reconcile your books, you’ll navigate to the “Reconciliation” tab within the Accounting menu.

This method of accounting—known as double-entry accounting—ensures account balances are correct and minimizes errors. Visit your dashboard or use your invoicing or accounting features, and click the peach “Upgrade now” button. Learn more about changing subscription periods and plan types, and how to cancel your Pro subscription in our Help Centre.

Painless payroll

Once invoices have been sent, you can easily track the status of each invoice to see if they are viewed, unpaid or Overdue. All payment information automatically syncs with the free Wave Accounting software included in your service, making accounting easy. Whether you are struggling with sending out invoices on time, keeping track of payments or organizing tax information, Wave helps business owners get a handle on their accounting department at no monthly cost. While several accounting software services provide a free version of their software, the free version usually limits the number of users, number of invoices per month and integrations.

Bank data connections are read-only and use 256-bit encryption. Servers are housed under physical and electronic protection. Wave is PCI Level-1 certified for handling credit card and bank account information. We provide different levels of support, depending on the plan and/or the add-on features you choose. Like most types of software, the best invoicing software programs offer many levels of security. Yes, Wave’s accounting software automatically generates two entries for every financial transaction.

Limited customer service

If you have a question or issue, you can browse the help center or reach out to Mave, the automated chatbot. If you do want live support, you’ll need to invest in an Advisor or paid service. FreshBooks is an affordable option for freelancers and small service-based businesses that operate mostly on the go. Compared with free software like Wave, QuickBooks plans are expensive. The most basic plan, Simple Start, costs $35 per month, and the top-tier Advanced plan costs $235 per month, which is a sizable investment if you’re running a business on a tight budget.

Unlike other software, Wave is built for small business owners and solopreneurs at every stage—not accountants—so it’s easy for you to use. Look and feel polished, keep your books organized, and kick tax season’s butt, whether you’re a newbie or seasoned pro. Before you commit to accounting software, it’s in your best interest to shop around and compare all your options.