Wave lacks built-in inventory management, making it less suitable for businesses selling physical products. The free Starter plan requires manual transaction entry but still provides unlimited invoicing and accounting capabilities. If automatic bank imports save 2 hours monthly at $40/hour value, the Pro plan ($16/month) pays for itself in time savings alone.
Financial Reporting
Send invoices to clients, get paid, and manage your books, all in one convenient platform. You can grant access to a trusted individual—an accountant, bookkeeper, tax preparer, or business partner, for example—by inviting that person to be a collaborator. Yes, switching from other accounting apps or products to Wave is easy! Learn more about how Wave support works here.
Wave Accounting is a cloud-based financial management activity driver platform that has been serving small businesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs since 2010. Wave Accounting addresses these challenges through an integrated suite of financial tools designed specifically for businesses without dedicated accounting staff. Yes, Wave’s accounting software does automatic double-entry bookkeeping. Wave Accounting gives you free unlimited invoices, users, expense and income tracking, credit and bank account connections, and more. It’s a great pick for freelancers and entrepreneurs who want the most important bookkeeping features—invoicing, receipt-scanning, and expense and income tracking—at no cost. Most accounting software use the double-entry system, though FreshBooks’ cheapest plan is a notable exception.
Wave is truly simple money management solutions for small business owners like you! Wave has all the key features you need to keep your books accurate and run your business smoothly. Wave makes it easy to invite additional users to your account to help with your accounting. Our plans are built for small business owners at every stage! Then, whenever you’re ready, upgrade to the Pro Plan to unlock even more money management features. Sign up for the Starter Plan to take the bookkeeping and invoicing basics for a spin.
Wave Features
- Like Wave, QuickBooks Online is easy-to-use, cloud-based accounting software.
- The lack of these features brought our score in this category to 3 out of 5 stars.
- Connections require online banking credentials and work with checking accounts, savings accounts, and credit cards.
- Wave is designed specifically for small business owners to use, no matter what kind of bookkeeping background they come from.
Additionally, Wave Accounting offers seamless integration with popular payment processors, making it easy to accept online payments from your clients. With Wave Accounting, you can easily track your income and expenses, create professional invoices, and manage your cash flow. It has a clean and intuitive interface, making it simple to manage your financial records without any hassle. While they are listed as separate plans, you can access both with the same login, and they are integrated into the Wave dashboard. You can upload receipts directly into the system or connect your bank account for automatic transaction syncing.
Wave Accounting also uses double-entry accounting, which is much more accurate than basic single-entry accounting. For instance, its unlimited invoices are much more customizable (and, in our opinion, more professional-looking) than QuickBooks’ comparatively expensive invoices. That’s far from a bad thing—the straightforward single plan is one reason Wave works so well for freelancers and contractors. Of course, if you freelance, you don’t need to worry about running payroll either now or in the future.
Optional Add-Ons
FreshBooks is a user-friendly accounting software that caters primarily to self-employed professionals and small businesses. It offers a range of accounting features designed to simplify financial management tasks. Yes, if you use another accounting software or spreadsheet system, you can easily import your existing financial data into Wave Accounting. Wave Accounting is an excellent choice for small businesses that are on the lookout for user-friendly accounting software. Users can seamlessly sync their payroll data with their accounting records, simplifying overall financial management. Wave Accounting is a free cloud-based accounting software that helps small businesses manage their finances efficiently.
your small business.
“When I signed up with Wave it was a no brainer. It’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made when it comes to making sure my accounting is on point.” You don’t need to be an accountant to keep your books organized, accurate, and ready for tax time. Wave is PCI Level-1 certified for handling credit card and bank account information. Bank data connections are read-only and use 256-bit encryption. Wave’s smart dashboard organizes your income, expenses, payments, and invoices. When everything is neatly where it belongs, tax time is simple.
Wave’s limitations become apparent as businesses grow in complexity, but these constraints rarely present obstacles for the target audience of freelancers and micro-businesses. International businesses receive funds in local currency, which is automatically converted to account currency. Wave supports invoicing in 160+ currencies and accepts international credit card payments through its payment processing. Wave provides data export functionality for all transactions (CSV format), customer and vendor lists (CSV), financial reports (PDF or CSV), and invoice history (PDF archive). The process typically requires 2-4 hours for businesses with 1-2 years of history. Wave uses bank-level security, including 256-bit SSL encryption, automatic data backups, and secure data centers.
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Wave makes it easy to create and send invoices and estimates. The lack of these features brought our score in this category to what is lead time 3 out of 5 stars. Wave also has some of the most appealing invoices on the market.
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Wave Review (Formerly Wave Accounting)
For the most part, Wave receives high praise from its users. Overall, we rated Wave’s customer service a 4.3/5. An additional fee applies for filing your taxes through this integration, which includes an automatic import of Wave data into H&R Block. One of the most helpful features of Wave is its tax filing feature. The software does, however, offer 12 customizable reports. Unfortunately, Wave does not offer a project management feature.
It’s also worth considering alternative options if you need more comprehensive reporting or inventory management tools. You can create professional-looking invoices in minutes and easily track payments from your clients. One of the standout benefits of Wave Accounting is its robust invoicing capabilities. Its intuitive interface and user-friendly design make it easy to navigate, even for those who aren’t accounting experts. Consider factors such as pricing, ease of use, customer support, and integration options. It also integrates seamlessly with various business apps to streamline workflows.
Even simple problems—like not being able to delete or modify a payment date—have no resolution path because their support team simply doesn’t reply. There is literally no real support available. The WaveApps platform functions well in many ways, but I’m leaving a low rating due to the complete lack of customer support. Used to be really cutting edge and cool – now there is no support, Constant issues, and help articles that are so old that they are deprecated. Companies on Trustpilot aren’t allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews.
- Wave improved its software and has addressed many customer complaints in its latest redesign, including adding 1099 payroll support, duplicate transaction management, and cash-basis accounting.
- Second half of June payroll is shut down and I could not pay my employees.
- Users can set up multiple tax rates for different jurisdictions and apply them automatically to invoices.
- When you’re working for yourself, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars a month on fancy accounting software with every possible bell and whistle.
Wave offers unlimited users, allowing businesses to collaborate and communicate with their entire team easily. Wave offers a range of impressive features that make it a valuable tool for small businesses. While Wave does offer basic payroll functionality through its integrated service, Wave Payroll, it may not have all the advanced options that some businesses require.
With plans starting at $15 a month, FreshBooks is well-suited for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small-business owners alike. In other words, Wave has many of the invoicing perks you get with invoice-heavy software like FreshBooks, but at no cost. We’ve already hit on a few accounting features that set Wave apart, but there are a few more perks to cover. It’s a fine payroll product, both in terms of features and price, but it’s definitely not the best payroll bargain out there (that’d be Gusto, OnPay, or QuickBooks Payroll). Wave also lets you manage multiple businesses under the same Wave account. QuickBooks Online limits user numbers by plan (its cheapest plan, QuickBooks Simple Start, includes just three users).
It offers both cloud-based and desktop solutions to cater to different examples of itemized deductions user preferences. In addition, it provides self-serve customer support with a knowledge base and tutorials. While they don’t offer phone support, their team is responsive and ready to assist with any questions or concerns you may have. Yes, Wave provides customer support through email and their online help center. They use encryption technology to safeguard sensitive information and regularly back up your data to ensure its safety.
Wave Accounting software is cloud-based accounting software that enables you to run payroll, generate financial reports, and record expenses. Pro plan users connect banks through Plaid, which supports 10,000+ financial institutions, including major banks, credit unions, and credit card companies. The Pro plan adds automation features that save time for growing businesses while maintaining an affordable price point.
