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

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

In most cases, small businesses benefit greatly from accounting software — free or not. It can take manual bookkeeping tasks off your hands and simplify how you record transactions. Accounting software is also less susceptible to human error than spreadsheets. If there is a discrepancy, you can use audit trails to track down the source. Just know that some free accounting software, like Wave, does not have an audit trail feature. Free business software can be the right choice if it covers your financial, payroll, inventory, sales or other needs.

Since Wave only has one accounting plan, though, it’s not perfect for business owners who want to add accounting features as they grow. And its email-only customer support means users are largely on their own if they encounter an immediate problem. Strong invoicing feature competes with that of paid products; app lets users send invoices on the go; offers significantly fewer reports than competitors; no inventory tracking.

Furthermore, customers using the free Starter plan will have limited support options. The software setup wizard guides you through four easy setup steps to generate an uncluttered, straightforward dashboard. The interface ensures a low learning curve with friendly graphics, an in-app help center, live chat, user-first design and an accessible app. Wave doesn’t offer any native integrations with third-party apps, though users can rely on Zapier to create their own custom integrations. In fact, the only app Wave Accounting does sync with is Wave Payroll. With plans starting at $15 a month, FreshBooks is well-suited for freelancers, solopreneurs, and small-business owners alike.

Organized and stress-free small business accounting

Today’s leading accounting platforms offer standard security features, such as data encryption, secure credential tokenization and more. While human error will always play some role in security breaches, you can be confident in your accounting platform when it comes to keeping your information safe. You can invite your accountants, bookkeepers or other business partners to Wave via email and designate their user roles. They can receive “editor permissions” and access accounting and reports as well as purchases easily.

1. Wave Accounting’s Starter plan is free and its Pro plan, which includes more features, is $16 per month.
2. Its expense, income and cash-flow tracking features are perfectly suited to freelancers, solopreneurs and other self-employed individuals who want to keep their accounting software expenses low.
3. Wave doesn’t offer any native integrations with third-party apps, though users can rely on Zapier to create their own custom integrations.
4. Users can connect an unlimited number of bank accounts to Wave Accounting software, ensuring every transaction is accounted for and financial snapshots are up to date.
5. Free plan includes direct integration with Square and PayPal for payment processing.

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. Wave is cloud-based software that boasts a solid set of accounting features suitable for most small businesses. In our last review, we found these features especially appealing because they were all completely free with no artificial limits. FreshBooks came to life as an invoice- and billing-specific software program that expanded into a total accounting solution. Wave Accounting imposes fewer limits than most of its competitors on everything from users to vendors.

Manage yourmoney like a boss.

Any connections between you, your bank accounts, and Wave are protected by 256-bit SSL encryption. Transactions will appear in your bookkeeping automatically, and you’ll say goodbye to manual receipt entry. On the other hand, QBO only supports up to 25 users on its most expensive plan. Additionally, QuickBooks does not have a free plan like Wave, with prices starting at $35/month. An additional fee applies for filing your taxes through this expanded accounting equation principle explained integration, which includes an automatic import of Wave data into H&R Block.

Accounting made easy.

There’s also a mobile app that allows you to send invoices through iMessage or add widgets to your iPhone’s home screen so that you can easily access overdue invoices. Free accounting software helps small businesses keep track of where their money is coming from and going to without having to pay a subscription fee. Free options likely won’t check every box for you, but the best ones cover the basics by combining some key features, like double-entry accounting, invoicing and income and expense tracking. Wave has recently updated its pricing model to now include a paid plan. Now, many standard features (such as automatic importing of bank transactions) are only available if you purchase a monthly or annual plan.

Should your business use Wave Accounting?

In addition to the basic reports — like an income statement and balance sheet — you can generate reports on inventory, fixed assets, suppliers, customers and changes in equity. Other more advanced features include the ability to create separate tax codes for different line items in invoices, track inventory and assign production stages to items. Accounting software helps business owners understand how money flows in and out of their businesses. This can help you save time and make financial decisions quickly.