Wave Accounting Review 2024: Features, Pricing & More Leave a comment

Boasting a perfect score of 10/10 for accounts receivable features and a custom bill-scanning app, our research shows that Wave’s toolkit isn’t too far behind the costly alternatives either. However, if you’re after advanced features, like budgeting, projection, and stock management, you’d be better off with FreshBooks or Xero, as these are not offered with Wave. Wave Accounting offers free software, meaning you won’t need to submit a credit card or payment information to use it.

Wave Customer Service

It can help you manage government contracting 101 your bookkeeping, accounting and invoicing processes through a few internal integrations. Wave Accounting is ideal for micro businesses with fewer than 10 employees, contractors, freelancers and other service-based businesses on a budget. The financial management software is user-friendly and equipped with all the basics, including income and expense tracking, invoicing and reporting. With Wave, you have access to expense tracking, bank reconciliation, and reporting to help you manage your finances. Wave also has some of the most appealing invoices on the market.

Time Tracking

1. To review Wave, we set up a free Wave Accounting account that we used to create invoices, record sample transactions and generate financial reports.
2. We provide different levels of support, depending on the plan and/or the add-on features you choose.
3. We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence.
4. However, there are tons of quality options out there, including Zoho Books and Sage, so take a look at our comparison table to discover which piece of accounting software will work best for you.
5. Have an eye on the big picture so you can make better business decisions.
6. On the other hand, QBO only supports up to 25 users on its most expensive plan.

Wave Payroll has two options ranging from $20 – $40/month + $6/employee or contractor. Tax service payroll is available in 14 states, while self-service payroll is available in the remaining 36 states. In contrast to Wave and its competitors, Xero includes inventory management with every plan, even its cheapest plan. Businesses that sell products can track them more easily — and for a much lower starting cost — with Xero than they can with QuickBooks, FreshBooks or Wave. Unlike other providers, Xero’s plans also come with customizable purchase order software.

No built-in third-party app integrations

This isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but it might require a bit more bookkeeping work. When you reconcile your books, you’ll navigate to the “Reconciliation” tab within the Accounting menu. If you need to manually edit, add or remove any transactions, you can do so on the Reconciliation or Transactions pages.

Xero’s starting price is half the price of QuickBooks, which makes Xero a more suitable Wave alternative for freelancers on a budget. Wave and Xero also have some crucial, unique features in common, such as unlimited users, unlimited bank connections and optional invoice-based payment acceptance. Higher-tier QuickBooks Online plans include bill tracking, project profitability data, inventory management, employee expense tracking and more. Most popular accounting tools have at least a handful of built-in app integrations that make connecting with third-party services as painless as possible. For instance, Xero and FreshBooks’ native Gusto integrations ensure the accounting and payroll software sync with each other problem-free. Most accounting software was designed with non-accountant business owners in mind, which means setup should be fairly straightforward.

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In contrast, FreshBooks’ cheapest plan starts at $19 and limits you to billing just five clients a month. Xero’s cheapest plan starts at $15 a month and limits you to sending just five invoices a month. Solid accounts receivable features make light work of tracking money owed. Wave understands this more than anyone, offering its users a broad range of accounts receivable can i give invoice without being self employed features, scoring a perfect 10/10 in the category. Before you commit to accounting software, it’s in your best interest to shop around and compare all your options.

Wave offers competitive accounting software, and is a great choice if you’re running a side hustle and can do without the bells and whistles that come with pricier options. In fact, with quality free packages available, businesses don’t need to spend a dime to get started with Wave — the best value accounting software we’ve reviewed. Wave Accounting can be a great option if you run a very small service-based business or don’t need more advanced features that alternatives might offer. For small businesses any larger than that, however, Wave is limited.

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. FreshBooks has an excellent mobile app that allows you snap photos of receipts, send invoices and track mileage. Can manage multiple businesses for free under one account; lacks project tracking tools, industry-specific reports and transaction tracking tags. There are several additional Wave products that you can purchase for your business.

Wave Accounting pros

Wave is designed specifically for a quick guide to understand invoice payment terms small business owners to use, no matter what kind of bookkeeping background they come from. The software supports multiple companies and offers personal accounting as well. 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.