About Wave Accounting
What is Wave Accounting?
Wave Accounting, part of Wave’s suite of financial products, is a web-based accounting platform designed to help small businesses manage income, expenses, payments, and invoices.
How do you use Wave Accounting?
Wave Accounting requires no downloads and is accessible from web-connected devices. Data can be imported from other apps, such as Quickbooks. From an online interface, users can access visual dashboards, reporting, invoicing tools, and more.
Who uses Wave Accounting?
Wave Accounting is used by small business owners, freelancers, accountants, bookkeepers, and tax preparers.
How much does Wave Accounting cost?
Wave Accounting is free. Upgraded plans with more features are available for other Wave products.
Does Wave Accounting have an app?
Yes, the Wave Invoicing app (for iOS and Android) provides on-the-go access to invoices.
Wave Accounting pricing
Wave Accounting has a free version and offers a free trial.
Alternatives to Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting Reviews
Feature rating
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Excellent for freelancers and small businesses
Extremely positive. In 3+ years I don't think I've had to contact support once, nor have I ever considered switching to other tools. It is one of the few software tools I use regularly where I am happy to open it, and I'm happy to give them their percentage.
As a freelancer, Wave has been indispensable to me. Always simple and smooth, and exceptional bang for the buck. Not only would I recommend Wave to freelancers and small businesses, I have recommended it. Numerous times.
Pros
Wave is ideal for freelancers. Set up is really simple and the interface is user-friendly. I have zero background in financial matters, and with Wave that's totally fine.
The price is also right. There's no subscription or hidden fees, they just take a perfectly reasonable percentage from invoice payments. I asked a financial advisor friend of mine before signing up, and she was pleasantly surprised by the low rates, and told me to go for it. I've been using Wave for over 3 years, and I have never once been hit with a fee outside of the basic rates.
Wave also provides a host of reporting and tracking tools in this basic account. They didn't influence my decision to sign up, but they've proven to be very useful.
And finally a small but really helpful feature, especially if you're a freelancer just starting out: immediate money transfers. Once someone pays your invoice, the money is in Wave, and takes 2-3 days to transfer. For 1% more payment, you can transfer money within minutes. For the cash-strapped freelancer, that can be mana from heaven.
Cons
There are no major cons that I can think of. One issue I have is mostly my fault: When I first started using Wave I didn't know what I was doing, and I ended up creating a whole bunch of client and work type records unnecessarily. It would be nice if there were some more in-your-face tutorials, maybe some hover tips for new users. But the messiness is mainly from me leaping in before looking.
Reasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
It was the cheapest option, and the most user-friendly looking. I have no background in finance and didn't want complex features built for accountants - Wave has those features, but only if you want them.- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Wave Accounting: Very user friendly accounting solution for the small businesses.
Pros
1) Easy to use
2) Free of cost for the accounting services
3) Highly recommended for the small business.
Cons
Not possible to download the bank/credit card transactions those are processed through bank.
- Industry: Information Technology & Services
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Great free accounting software for invoicing, quotes and overall management
Great for the purpose of invoicing but a bit sad to see some features go e.g. Stripe integration for UK market
Pros
Fantastic and easy to use for invoicing, with auto-send and remind feautures. Very professional and modern.
Cons
Lack of Stripe integration which was removed for UK and no payroll and receipts integration.
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Monthly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Indispensable Free Accounting Tool
I wasn't doing real bookkeeping until I found Wave. I like that it's affordable (so affordable it's free) and simple without looking dated or underdeveloped.
Pros
This is such a great free accounting and invoicing tool, especially for solo consultants or entrepreneurs. I don't want to spend $30 to $40 per month just on accounting apps, especially when Wave gets the job done for free!
Cons
I usually have to check the automated transaction imports. If I have to correct things or haven't done bookkeeping in a while, it can get a little confusing. Other than that, I don't have much to complain about.
Reasons for Choosing Wave Accounting
Briefly tried FreshBooks but didn't want to keep paying for it.Switched From
FreshBooksReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
Wave is free for my needs.- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Great Experience
Pros
I'm been really impressed with this software. It plays nice with my banks, it's easy to go through and reconcile. The reports are a helpful feature.
Cons
The receipt uploading app is too slow to be of any real use, IMO.
