Clearbooks vs Wave Accounting

Likelihood to Recommend

Larger companies, multi-currency. Clearbooks is in a competitive environment with Xero, SageOne, FreeAgent, Intuit etc., etc.

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Peter Cowley

Various

NumerousInvestment Management, 51-200 employees

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Wave Accounting was used for a small practice without a lot of the accounting considerations a large company would have. For the price, you really can't beat what Wave offers out of the box. All of the basic tools for things like invoicing and expenses are all easy to use. End of year accounting is easy with exports of data.

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Verified User

C-Level Executive in Marketing

Marketing & Advertising Company, 1-10 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Accounts payable

Accounts receivable

Cash management

Bank reconciliation

Expense management

Fixed asset management

Time tracking

Multi-currency support

Multi-division support

Regulations compliance

Electronic tax filing

Self-service portal

Global Financial Support

Primary and Secondary Ledgers

Intercompany Accounting

Localizations

Journals and Reconciliations

Enterprise Accounting

Configurable Accounting

Centralized Rules Framework

Standardized Processes

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Pay calculation

Benefit plan administration

Direct deposit files

Salary revision and increment management

Reimbursement management

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

API for custom integration

Plug-ins

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Single sign-on capability

Role-based user permissions

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Dashboards

Standard reports

Custom reports

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Inventory tracking

Automatic reordering

Location management

Manufacturing module

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Pricing

Order entry

Credit card processing

Cost of goods sold

Order Orchestration

End-to-end order visibility

Order exception Resolution

Pros

SaaS, so accessible by anyone, anywhere in the world via a browser
Clear and straight forward navigation
Good choice of management reports

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Peter Cowley

Various

NumerousInvestment Management, 51-200 employees

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Reconciliation is very difficult with multiple Wave transactions that need to be deleted or merged before it can be matched to a bank transaction.
Payroll worked fine for us but took several days to get it set up. We have switched to another bookkeeping system and another payroll system. Canceling with Wave took several days and they charge $6 for something even though the month was paid for in advance.
Credit card processing is nice and worked fine for us.

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Harry Abell

Treasurer

Chamber of CoommerceComputer Networking, 1-10 employees

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Cons

Like any SaaS product, Clearbooks is continuously evolving and being improved
Some of the reports still need some work

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Peter Cowley

Various

NumerousInvestment Management, 51-200 employees

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I know that credit card processing is a way for Wave to make money, but I really wish they offered ACH payment on Invoices.
I do cash-based accounting, which means I have to make little journal entries at the start and end of each year to get my books to balance because Wave wants to do everything differently. This should just be a setting to flip, whether you want cash-based or accrual-based.
They use Yodlee for bank connection, which doesn't play nice with 2FA. Pretty much every time I log in I have to re-enter credentials, get a code sent to me, reauthenticate, and know that I'm going to have to do it again next week. Not really on Wave, but wish they could get it together nonetheless.

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J.P. VanderLinden

Owner

EmberTribeMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Wave Accounting 7.8

Based on 3 answers

Easy to use for clients with no accounting background and the price is right.

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Jeanne Harris

President

AST Business Solutions Inc.Accounting, 1-10 employees

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Usability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Wave Accounting 5.8

Based on 9 answers

I am a professional bookkeeper and I have no problems using Wave and all of it's features. I can see that certain individuals who have no accounting knowledge might struggle with a few different features and entries, but that is why Wave has an emphasis in connecting users to Wave Pro's who will walk them through things

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Melissa Whaley

Owner

Melissa Whaley Tax and BookkeepingAccounting, 1-10 employees

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Reliability and Availability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Wave Accounting 6.7

Based on 4 answers

WAVE is always available when we need it ! Peter

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Peter Cullen

Partner at Core Performance

CorelyticsAccounting, 1-10 employees

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Performance

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Wave Accounting 2.9

Based on 2 answers

Wave does tend to slow down when filtering your transactions screen especially by date. This is more of an issue when trying to trouble shoot certain transactions or clean-up a set of books.

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Melissa Whaley

Owner

Melissa Whaley Tax and BookkeepingAccounting, 1-10 employees

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Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Wave Accounting 6.2

Based on 7 answers

I've only had to reach out to support once and they were quick to respond and offered valuable insight to resolve my issue quickly. The team is knowledgeable and if the person you're dealing with doesn't have an answer for you, they get back to you quickly with an answer. It was clear that the support team is genuinely concerned about users making the most of the software.

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Verified User

C-Level Executive in Marketing

Marketing & Advertising Company, 1-10 employees

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Online Training

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Wave Accounting 4.7

Based on 3 answers

easy to use and east to train on ! Our WAVE clients enjoy the ease of use

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Peter Cullen

Partner at Core Performance

CorelyticsAccounting, 1-10 employees

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Alternatives Considered

Clearbooks was chosen 5 years ago as our accountant recommended it. There is an element of inertia in moving accounts packages.

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Peter Cowley

Various

NumerousInvestment Management, 51-200 employees

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Wave is FREE for most functions. Payment processing costs no matter where you go (as does payroll or taxes). Wave rises above tools like QuickBooks Online because they know that for our small firm, being nimble is the name of the game. We don't need exhaustive reporting and management like QB offers and we certainly don't want to pay for it

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Verified User

Consultant in Engineering

Mechanical or Industrial Engineering Company, 1-10 employees

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Scalability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Wave Accounting 3.0

Based on 2 answers

Once they out grow what is ability to move up to a more robust system?

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Penny Breslin

Account Manager

FileThis, Inc.Accounting, 1-10 employees

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Return on Investment

I am not sure that ROI is an appropriate measure for an accounts package. The cost is around £250/year, which is a tiny fraction of the cost of a bookkeeper/finance controller/finance director/CFO.

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Peter Cowley

Various

NumerousInvestment Management, 51-200 employees

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Wave has been ROI positive for our company. With not having to pay for the service we can use our money for growing our business.
The fees on credit card transactions for invoices are reasonable especially as we don't pay a monthly subscription.
The invoicing feature has made our lives easier for us and our customers. The invoicing piece and AR tracking has been ROI positive as well.

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Lukas Sundahl, MBA

Co-Founder

Solutions Through Innovative Technologies, Inc. (dba STI Technologies, Inc.)Performing Arts, 1-10 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting

Clearbooks

Wave Accounting