Wave Accounting Review 2024: Pricing, Features, Pros & Cons

This may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on the site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice, which are grounded in thousands of hours of research. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services. We provide different levels of support, depending on the plan and/or the add-on features you choose. Create beautiful invoices, accept online payments, and make accounting easy—all in one place. Wave offers a average inventory defined decent number of support resources to customers, but the response times can be slow. Furthermore, customers using the free Starter plan will have limited support options.

1. If your business needs these features or automations, check out these top Wave alternatives to fully explore your accounting software options.
2. If you do want live support, you’ll need to invest in an Advisor or paid service.
3. Since the paid version of the software allows for multiple users, it may also appeal to midsize and growing businesses where more than one person keeps an eye on company finances.
4. This means that if you have specific needs it’ll make more sense to fork out for paid alternatives, like Xero or QuickBooks.

The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation. The only downside is that there’s no back button, but navigating the software is still pretty simple. If you didn’t receive an email don’t forgot to check your spam folder, otherwise contact support. Automate the most tedious parts of bookkeeping what is a voided check: when and how to void a check and get more time for what you love. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made when it comes to making sure my accounting is on point.

There’s no project management and limited time tracking, which rules the software out for a lot of businesses. If your business needs these features or automations, check out these top Wave alternatives to fully explore your accounting software options. In the past, Wave generated revenue from its credit card processing, Wave Payroll, and bookkeeping services. While Wave’s free accounting software doesn’t limit you to a certain number of invoices, customers, or transactions, certain features and automations are now only available by subscribing to Wave Pro. While Wave is free to use, it doesn’t offer multiple plans to increase its functionality. It lacks some of the useful features you may find in other accounting software, such as project management, time tracking and inventory management.

How much does accounting software cost?

The most basic plan, Simple Start, costs $30 per month, and the top-tier Advanced plan costs $200 per month, which is a sizable investment if you’re running a business on a tight budget. After providing a few basic details about your business — name, type, currency you use, address — you’ll have instant access to your account. 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. We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence. Yes, switching from other accounting apps or products to Wave is easy! See our step-by-step guide on how to import bookkeeping data into Wave here.

Additionally, your cost may rise with add-ons like payroll, payment processing, or professional bookkeeping services. 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.

Organized and stress-free small business accounting

Unfortunately, this prevents Wave from scoring any higher in this category. You can effectively analyze the financial health of your business, find ways to generate more profit, and move forward with your business plan. With a rock bottom score (0/10) for advanced features, the software lacks a number of basic accountancy capabilities, including stock tracking, project accounting, or budget and forecasting. This means that if you have specific needs it’ll make more sense to fork out for paid alternatives, like Xero or QuickBooks.

Considering Wave is completely free, with no trials or hidden fees in sight, its value offering is extremely impressive. Although accounting and invoicing are separated into two different product sections on the Wave website (shown similarly below), they don’t require separate accounts. These solutions are integrated within your dashboard and you’ll access them both through your single Wave login.

Income and expense tracking

You can also schedule automatic payment deadline reminders for clients. Your customers can pay chapter 4.1 preparing a chart of accounts what they owe you directly from the invoice itself, and you can send invoices and accept payments on the go through Wave’s well-reviewed invoice app. It requires no contract, features no hidden fees, and businesses don’t even need to use a credit card to get started. NerdWallet’s accounting software ratings favor products that are easy to use, reasonably priced, have a robust feature set and can grow with your business. The best accounting software received top marks when evaluated across 10 categories and more than 30 subcategories.

Our tools work together, so you work less.

Accountancy software is a vital tool for a business’s financial well-being. We understand this well at Tech.co, and it’s why we make sure every recommendation is research-backed and quantifiable. Support for non-paying users is limited to the chatbot and self-service Help Center. Only integrates with in-house apps, like Wave Payments and Wave Payroll; does not integrate with card readers for in-person payments. Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate us when you take certain actions on our website or click to take an action on their website.

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. If you’re a small business owner in search of free, cloud-based accounting software, Wave Accounting is worth considering. This is particularly true if you don’t have much accounting experience and would like an easy-to-use, fully functional tool.