FreeAgent vs. Wave Accounting

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
FreeAgent
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
FreeAgent is an cloud-based accounting system designed for small businesses and freelancers. FreeAgent supports many core accounting features and bank reconciliation, payroll, tax management, project level accounting, and multiple currency support. It is mobile-accessible, and integrates with many apps.N/A
Wave Accounting
Score 6.0 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.N/A
Pricing
FreeAgentWave Accounting
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
FreeAgentWave Accounting
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
FreeAgentWave Accounting
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
FreeAgentWave Accounting
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.6
13 Ratings
14% above category average
Wave Accounting
6.2
24 Ratings
19% below category average
Pay calculation8.012 Ratings7.123 Ratings
Benefit plan administration8.56 Ratings7.54 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.92 Ratings1.220 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management8.86 Ratings7.712 Ratings
Reimbursement management8.78 Ratings7.48 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
5.5
11 Ratings
25% below category average
Wave Accounting
8.5
13 Ratings
19% above category average
API for custom integration4.59 Ratings9.99 Ratings
Plug-ins6.410 Ratings7.011 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.5
14 Ratings
8% above category average
Wave Accounting
9.5
43 Ratings
19% above category average
Single sign-on capability9.013 Ratings9.730 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.013 Ratings9.334 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
7.8
20 Ratings
3% above category average
Wave Accounting
8.2
70 Ratings
8% above category average
Dashboards10.018 Ratings9.368 Ratings
Standard reports9.018 Ratings9.467 Ratings
Custom reports4.410 Ratings5.734 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
9.3
22 Ratings
23% above category average
Wave Accounting
6.8
73 Ratings
9% below category average
Accounts payable10.017 Ratings9.356 Ratings
Accounts receivable10.019 Ratings9.567 Ratings
Cash management10.017 Ratings9.359 Ratings
Bank reconciliation10.018 Ratings9.563 Ratings
Expense management10.021 Ratings9.561 Ratings
Time tracking10.016 Ratings9.411 Ratings
Fixed asset management8.611 Ratings9.412 Ratings
Multi-currency support9.17 Ratings10.019 Ratings
Multi-division support9.05 Ratings7.19 Ratings
Regulations compliance8.78 Ratings6.815 Ratings
Electronic tax filing9.018 Ratings5.914 Ratings
Self-service portal9.011 Ratings1.739 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations8.01 Ratings6.228 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings7.04 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings4.05 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings5.23 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings4.07 Ratings
Configurable Accounting00 Ratings5.516 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings1.03 Ratings
Standardized Processes00 Ratings4.317 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
7.4
4 Ratings
5% above category average
Wave Accounting
8.1
11 Ratings
14% above category average
Inventory tracking7.72 Ratings5.68 Ratings
Automatic reordering8.21 Ratings9.95 Ratings
Location management4.51 Ratings8.12 Ratings
Manufacturing module9.11 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
FreeAgent
8.1
13 Ratings
9% above category average
Wave Accounting
7.6
52 Ratings
2% above category average
Pricing8.19 Ratings9.926 Ratings
Order entry6.82 Ratings10.018 Ratings
Credit card processing8.25 Ratings2.345 Ratings
Cost of goods sold9.13 Ratings10.033 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings5.85 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings8.24 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Best Alternatives
FreeAgentWave Accounting
Small Businesses
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 8.2 out of 10
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP
Score 8.2 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
FreeAgentWave Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(22 ratings)
3.6
(79 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
7.8
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(4 ratings)
6.2
(15 ratings)
Availability
8.9
(5 ratings)
6.7
(4 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(1 ratings)
2.9
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
2.5
(12 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
4.7
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.2
(1 ratings)
3.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
FreeAgentWave Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
FreeAgent
FreeAgent is really suited to the financial management of a small business. Especially an owner managed business as it provides all the tools to keep on top of finances. It can reduce the need for a bookkeeper as it is easy to add expenses and reconcile them with the linked bank accounts. The integrated payroll would also reduce the need for third-party management of such processes. Would still recommend the use of an accountant to advise on more complex financial requirements.
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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.
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Pros
FreeAgent
  • Accounting! As you'd expect. Makes it much simpler andmore cost effective. In-coming and out-goings are recorded and assigned to projects and accounts. My accountant can access my books and reconcile so much more easily than trawling through spreadsheets.
  • Time billing - time spent on projects/client work is recorded and is ready to be invoiced as required. Saves so much time and prevents inaccuracies.
  • Invoicing - again, it should do this well and it does. Non payment reminders are automatic and clients have no excuses for not knowing the status of their account.
  • Account dashboard - gives me an instant overview of the health of the business (am I on track to meet my yearly targets) and my accounts.
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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.
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Cons
FreeAgent
  • Reporting on financials, time tracking and project status is a little poor. It's adequate for what what we need, but would be great to see more advanced features.
  • API is quite closed so cannot integrate with our other project management tools.
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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
FreeAgent
No answers on this topic
Wave
Easy to use for clients with no accounting background and the price is right.
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Usability
FreeAgent
I spent nearly two decades in IT and am happy to say that FreeAgent's user interface is one of the best interfaces I have ever used.
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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
FreeAgent
Based in a cloud and never had any issues with down time. I can access from any device
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Wave
WAVE is always available when we need it ! Peter
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Performance
FreeAgent
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.
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Support Rating
FreeAgent
No answers on this topic
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
FreeAgent
No answers on this topic
Wave
easy to use and east to train on ! Our WAVE clients enjoy the ease of use
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Alternatives Considered
FreeAgent
I used Fresh Books for about three years prior to switching to FreeAgent. It was the accounting functionality that made the difference - in the past two years I've not regretted the switch. Fresh Books is good, but its the UK accounting features that make FreeAgent indispensable to my business.
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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
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Scalability
FreeAgent
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
FreeAgent
  • Professional and uniform offering providing great confident customer service. My clients love it, whether they use it a little or a lot. It's a great piece of software - while sophisticated, it's straightforward to use.
  • Time saving and efficient use of my team's time. Being able to easily share and compare work / tasks.
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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.
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