Expensify vs. Wave Accounting

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Expensify
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Expensify automates the entire spend management process. Scan receipts, track mileage, submit and approve expenses, manage corporate cards, reimburse employees, pay bills, send invoices, and book travel. Built for individuals and companies of all sizes, anywhere in the world.
$5
per month per user
Wave Accounting
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
Wave Accounting is a free, cloud-based accounting platform exclusively for small businesses. It supports double-entry bookkeeping and permits unlimited user access, invoicing, and expense management. Wave Accounting integrates with Wave's invoicing, receipt scanning, payment processing and payroll apps.
$16
per month
Pricing
ExpensifyWave Accounting
Editions & Modules
Collect
$5
per month per user
Control
$9
per month per user
Starter
$0
Pro
$16
per month
Pro - billed annually
$170
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
ExpensifyWave Accounting
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
ExpensifyWave Accounting
Considered Both Products
Expensify
Chose Expensify
Expensify and Concur are similar products, but we ultimately went with Expensify because of its more robust sync options (e.g., syncs to more systems easily) and was more cost-effective for the number of users we have set up (between 50-100). I haven't used Concur to any great …
Wave Accounting

No answer on this topic

Features
ExpensifyWave Accounting
Expense Management
Comparison of Expense Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
9.7
150 Ratings
16% above category average
Wave Accounting
-
Ratings
Employee Expense Reporting9.8149 Ratings00 Ratings
Corporate Card Reconciliation9.563 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Management
Comparison of Payment Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
9.3
137 Ratings
15% above category average
Wave Accounting
-
Ratings
Customizable Approval Policies9.295 Ratings00 Ratings
Financial Document Management9.2100 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Status Tracking9.7111 Ratings00 Ratings
Payment Audit Trail9.889 Ratings00 Ratings
Duplicate Bill Detection8.9112 Ratings00 Ratings
Advanced OCR8.992 Ratings00 Ratings
Electronic Funds Transfer9.577 Ratings00 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
6.2
24 Ratings
20% below category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings7.123 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings7.54 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings1.220 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings7.712 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings7.48 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
8.5
13 Ratings
11% above category average
API for custom integration00 Ratings9.99 Ratings
Plug-ins00 Ratings7.011 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
6.5
45 Ratings
23% below category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings6.532 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings6.536 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
8.5
73 Ratings
9% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings8.371 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings9.270 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings7.937 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
7.3
76 Ratings
4% below category average
Accounts payable00 Ratings8.859 Ratings
Accounts receivable00 Ratings8.870 Ratings
Cash management00 Ratings9.462 Ratings
Bank reconciliation00 Ratings8.565 Ratings
Expense management00 Ratings9.064 Ratings
Time tracking00 Ratings9.811 Ratings
Fixed asset management00 Ratings9.812 Ratings
Multi-currency support00 Ratings10.019 Ratings
Multi-division support00 Ratings7.19 Ratings
Regulations compliance00 Ratings5.016 Ratings
Electronic tax filing00 Ratings5.914 Ratings
Self-service portal00 Ratings8.040 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings4.05 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings5.23 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings8.530 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings4.07 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings5.017 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings1.03 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings7.019 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
8.1
11 Ratings
10% above category average
Inventory tracking00 Ratings5.68 Ratings
Automatic reordering00 Ratings9.95 Ratings
Location management00 Ratings8.12 Ratings
Manufacturing module00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
Expensify
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
7.6
53 Ratings
2% above category average
Pricing00 Ratings9.926 Ratings
Order entry00 Ratings10.018 Ratings
Credit card processing00 Ratings2.345 Ratings
Cost of goods sold00 Ratings10.034 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings5.85 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings8.24 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Best Alternatives
ExpensifyWave Accounting
Small Businesses
Dext
Dext
Score 9.7 out of 10
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
Score 6.7 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Precoro
Precoro
Score 9.4 out of 10
Zoho Books
Zoho Books
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Emburse Chrome River
Emburse Chrome River
Score 7.7 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management
Score 7.6 out of 10
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User Ratings
ExpensifyWave Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
9.6
(239 ratings)
8.2
(82 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(14 ratings)
7.8
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.6
(140 ratings)
9.2
(17 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
6.7
(4 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
2.9
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(45 ratings)
2.1
(12 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
4.7
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.5
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
3.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
ExpensifyWave Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
Expensify
I think it's really good for small businesses. At least in the way we use it. It's very good for keeping an eye on employee spending in nearly real time. I'm not sure how it works for larger companies when there is a larger number of people to keep track of.
Read full review
Wave
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.
Read full review
Pros
Expensify
  • Easy to access online portal whether using a mobile device or desktop app
  • Receipts can be uploaded in a breeze and automatically categorized
  • Expense Reports are submitted monthly on autopilot
  • Expenses for gas is calculated on the app by entering the starting/ending destinations.
Read full review
Wave
  • 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.
Read full review
Cons
Expensify
  • I wish that I could sync accounts on the back end kind of like with banking software, so that Expensify would automatically port over receipts for recurring expenses as soon as they're available
  • It would be nice to one-click submit an expense all the way through instead of having to attach it to a report
  • Wackier profile icons? :) Not a big deal. This software is pretty much amazing as it is now, and typically the urge to update and modify very good software leads to poor outcomes!
Read full review
Wave
  • 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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Likelihood to Renew
Expensify
We like using the tool and we receive positive feedback from employees and management who use the tool. It saves time and helps us concentrate on the value adding activities so we are very likely to keep using Expensify in the future
Read full review
Wave
Easy to use for clients with no accounting background and the price is right.
Read full review
Usability
Expensify
My rating of 8 out of 10 for Expensify's overall usability reflects its strong performance in empowering individual users and streamlining core expense processes, while acknowledging that there are specific areas, particularly on the administrative or enterprise side, where the user experience could be further refined. Exceptional End-User Experience (for basic tasks).Automation & Time-Saving Features.Clear Workflow for Approvers. Why it's not a perfect 10 (areas for improvement that dock points): Limited corporate bank to choose from, limited multi-currency to pay to ( for instance, as a foreign corporatio,n i cannot pay with my US account to Israeli employees, or pay to our UK employees)
Read full review
Wave
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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Reliability and Availability
Expensify
No answers on this topic
Wave
WAVE is always available when we need it ! Peter
Read full review
Performance
Expensify
No answers on this topic
Wave
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.
Read full review
Support Rating
Expensify
Our rep has been amazing. He has built custom reports for us that have been very time consuming and difficult. Our reps are also currently looking into new submission solutions for us that we are excited about. They came up with this and recommended it on their own without me complaining about an issue. They are about our success and are very excited about the product they offer.
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Wave
I never had to call Wave Support as we barely experienced any support-related problems on our side. However, I do know a few people that complained about Wave support. It would be nice as well, though if they could have more in your face tutorials for new users or how-to videos should we struggle to do something
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Online Training
Expensify
No answers on this topic
Wave
easy to use and east to train on ! Our WAVE clients enjoy the ease of use
Read full review
Implementation Rating
Expensify
The implementation process went rather smoothly, linking it to the bank and cards was handled easily. without too many unnecessary steps. Getting the accounts setup did take some time, but that would be true with any organization. All in all things went smoothly and I was very pleased with the setup and implementation process
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Expensify
It is definitely 10 times better than using an Excel spreadsheet. We are talking a digitized with AI type capabilities to do the work for you. It’s honestly a lifesaver. This beats manual calculations and data entry any day. Scanning 100 receipts and saving them to pdf files not only takes space on your storage but it is an extra unnecessary step
Read full review
Wave
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
Read full review
Scalability
Expensify
No answers on this topic
Wave
Once they out grow what is ability to move up to a more robust system?
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Return on Investment
Expensify
  • We went from paying credit card fees with no approval process to a no fees and complex approval processes.
  • I personally save time in not having to develop a spend report I just have my admin assistent fill in the details of the auto generated report and it is done. Went from an hour long process to 5- 10 minutes max to prepare a high quality audit ready report.
Read full review
Wave
  • 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.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Expensify Screenshots

Screenshot of the dashboard used to manage expenses, book travel, reimburse employees, and create expense reports.Screenshot of corporate cards. The Expensify Card offers cash back on every US purchase.