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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Payroll by Wave

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AWave Accounting headquartered in Toronto now offers Payroll by Wave, a payroll app for small businesses.N/A

    QuickBooks Desktop Pro

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/AQuickbooks Desktop Pro is accounting software from Intuit, Inc. It includes core accounting features, plus analytics and exportable reports. It is offered in on-premise and SaaS forms.N/A
    Pricing
    Payroll by WaveQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Payroll by WaveQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    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
    Payroll by WaveQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Considered Both Products
    Wave
    No answer on this topic
    Intuit
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    5 Answers
    88%
    Would buy again
    29 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    5 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    28 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    5 Answers
    97%
    Happy with the feature set
    32 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    20 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    96%
    Implementation went as expected
    25 Answers
    Features
    Payroll by WaveQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Payroll Management
    Comparison of Payroll Management features of Payroll by Wave and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Payroll by Wave
    9.4
    5 Ratings
    13% above category average
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    6.6
    69 Ratings
    14% below category average
    Pay calculation10.05 Ratings6.364 Ratings
    Support for external payroll vendors9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.03 Ratings00 Ratings
    Benefit plan administration9.01 Ratings6.338 Ratings
    Direct deposit files9.05 Ratings6.656 Ratings
    Salary revision and increment management9.55 Ratings6.352 Ratings
    Reimbursement management10.02 Ratings7.754 Ratings
    Customization
    Comparison of Customization features of Payroll by Wave and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Payroll by Wave
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    5.7
    43 Ratings
    28% below category average
    API for custom integration00 Ratings6.535 Ratings
    Plug-ins00 Ratings5.039 Ratings
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Payroll by Wave and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Payroll by Wave
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    8.5
    101 Ratings
    4% above category average
    Single sign-on capability00 Ratings8.482 Ratings
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.695 Ratings
    Reporting & Analytics
    Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Payroll by Wave and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Payroll by Wave
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    8.5
    117 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Dashboards00 Ratings8.4100 Ratings
    Standard reports00 Ratings8.9117 Ratings
    Custom reports00 Ratings8.1114 Ratings
    General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
    Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Payroll by Wave and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Payroll by Wave
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    7.5
    124 Ratings
    2% below category average
    Accounts payable00 Ratings9.3119 Ratings
    Accounts receivable00 Ratings9.2121 Ratings
    Cash management00 Ratings9.2107 Ratings
    Bank reconciliation00 Ratings9.7119 Ratings
    Expense management00 Ratings9.4108 Ratings
    Time tracking00 Ratings7.451 Ratings
    Fixed asset management00 Ratings5.669 Ratings
    Multi-currency support00 Ratings6.931 Ratings
    Multi-division support00 Ratings8.958 Ratings
    Regulations compliance00 Ratings8.342 Ratings
    Electronic tax filing00 Ratings8.355 Ratings
    Self-service portal00 Ratings5.941 Ratings
    Global Financial Support00 Ratings4.217 Ratings
    Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings7.240 Ratings
    Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings7.943 Ratings
    Localizations00 Ratings4.219 Ratings
    Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings8.876 Ratings
    Enterprise Accounting00 Ratings6.838 Ratings
    Configurable Accounting00 Ratings7.647 Ratings
    Centralized Rules Framework00 Ratings5.427 Ratings
    Standardized Processes00 Ratings8.555 Ratings
    Inventory Management
    Comparison of Inventory Management features of Payroll by Wave and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Payroll by Wave
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    5.8
    59 Ratings
    23% below category average
    Inventory tracking00 Ratings6.056 Ratings
    Automatic reordering00 Ratings6.035 Ratings
    Location management00 Ratings6.032 Ratings
    Manufacturing module00 Ratings5.218 Ratings
    Order Management
    Comparison of Order Management features of Payroll by Wave and QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Feature
    Payroll by Wave
    -
    Ratings
    QuickBooks Desktop Pro
    6.8
    77 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Pricing00 Ratings7.555 Ratings
    Order entry00 Ratings8.555 Ratings
    Credit card processing00 Ratings7.251 Ratings
    Cost of goods sold00 Ratings8.063 Ratings
    Order Orchestration00 Ratings5.220 Ratings
    End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings6.023 Ratings
    Order exception Resolution00 Ratings5.218 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Payroll by WaveQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Small Businesses
    Patriot Payroll
    Score8.6 out of 10
    QuickBooks Self-Employed (discontinued)
    Score4.2 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    APS
    Score5.7 out of 10
    MYOB
    Score8.3 out of 10
    Enterprises
    ADP Streamline Payroll
    Score6.1 out of 10
    Microsoft Dynamics GP
    Score5.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Payroll by WaveQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    8.5
    (135 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    9.1
    (42 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.9
    (2 ratings)
    1.2
    (29 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (6 ratings)
    CPA Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (22 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Payroll by WaveQuickBooks Desktop Pro
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Wave
    Great for small business payroll needs. Reports and taxes are taken care of, everything is automated and once you're set up it's literally just a matter of minutes to run payroll each time. You also get email reminders which is helpful. There are premium features available for companies with larger/more robust needs, and I would definitely recommend looking into this software if you are searching for a user friendly payroll solution
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Intuit
    For a small business, QuickBooks Desktop Pro is great! For a larger, more complex business, another system may be more beneficial. We actually run multiple businesses on QuickBooks Desktop Pro, but all are very small. The help feature is sometimes so beneficial, and sometimes it seems like you just can't get the right answer and need to find a workaround - but this is usually for more complex issues.
    Read full review
    Pros
    Wave
    • An intuitive, clear UI helps you know where everything is, what options are at your disposal. Calendars and timelines show that Wave really thought out how to provide you with useful tool.
    • Pay day can be automated and straightforward.
    • Wave onboarding provides guidance at what information to input next until you are all set up.
    Incentivized
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    Intuit
    • It is easy to manage and adjust inventory on hand.
    • It is easy to make reports and customize them to your needs.
    • We also use it to pay our employees directly.
    • It is easy to make year-to-year comparisons to see where we can make improvements and the current financial situation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Wave
    • Implement an employee time clock option through a separate link which automatically applies to the weekly time sheets.
    • Option to further customize payroll statements
    • Add a per employee payroll dashboard with the option to review rolling, quarterly, and weekly snapshot. Info to include gross pay, employer paid tax, employee paid tax, etc...
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Intuit
    • QuickBooks Desktop Pro has been around for a few years and after an update[,] they force you to look at the changes/updates before you can use [them] after updating.
    • QuickBooks Desktop Pro does not have 2FA.
    • QuickBooks Desktop Pro should offer a way to store backups to a personal cloud without having to map a local network drive.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Wave
    No answers on this topic
    Intuit
    I'd love to keep using it, and do intend to - though we've not been pleased with price increases over the past several years. In fact, we used to subscribe to the payroll service, but QuickBooks priced themselves out of reach for us, so we discontinued that. Currently, pricing would be the primary reason for NOT renewing, if we didn't.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Wave
    Very simple & straightforward system to learn and when time is always of the essence the efficiency is much appreciated
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Intuit
    The set up was quite easy. I took some online training causes, and figured our the rest pretty quickly. The only issue I had during the implementation process was it was very hard to change some of the GL Account name to reflect the needs of a non-profit organization, such as Net Assets. At the end I had to scratch what I did, and used the existing formats that the third-party bookkeeping firm shared. Everything else is simple and easy to manage and implement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Wave
    No answers on this topic
    Intuit
    I haven't experienced a time when QuickBooks Pro was unavailable when I needed it in the entire 20 years of using the software
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Wave
    Quick response times, personalized service. They offer in-depth videos and guides for helping to get set up. Any time I have a question about taxes or reporting, they answer quickly and give comprehensive answers. Members of the team with whom I've interacted have been courteous, friendly, and helpful. Overall, great support.
    Incentivized
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    Intuit
    They are awful. Intuit doesn't spend real money on support. They appear to have typically said, first-level script readers who are sending messages to the senior people for anything even a little bit difficult. Many of them don't speak particularly good English. Considering that they recently doubled (or, if you are paying annually, tripled) their pricing, and touted as one of the benefits that it includes [..] support, it's a real ripoff. However, we have to use the product because it is ubiquitous. I look forward to the day a competitor comes up with something good enough, which has excellent support, that matches all the features QuickBooks Desktop Pro currently has [...] or at least gives us a way to have all the functionality we currently have without excessive sacrifice [...] so that we can switch. I was very satisfied with QuickBooks for many years. This latest [rise] in price, and their sheer gall at touting the benefit of the 100 to 200% increase as being [the] inclusion of support, is what turned me so far against them.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Wave
    No answers on this topic
    Intuit
    Best thing I ever did was to attend a two day training seminar on QuickBooks, I learned an immense amount in a short time with hands on training by experts. I strongly recommend such training for anyone using any part of the software. It will pay for itself in the first month.
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Wave
    No answers on this topic
    Intuit
    We implemented the software ourselves. The training we received on the software was done by taking a community course teaching us how to use QuickBooks. It allowed me to get started with some basics of how to use the program and have not needed much assistance since completing the course work.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Wave
    First is the cost. Since QuickBooks removed the inhouse solution and moved everything to the cloud, the cost for a small business is prohibited. Wave is reasonable in cost. Support for QB isn't great they are always trying to upsell and commit. Wave support in comparison is 100% better, and most of the answers are in their manual
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Intuit
    We tried switching from QuickBooks Desktop Pro to QuickBooks Online, but there were a lot of issues and bugs so we ultimately decided to stay with Desktop Pro. Unfortunately, we are losing a lot of Online Banking capabilities on 5/31 as we have an older version of QB, but we plan to stick with Desktop Pro. In terms of invoicing, SaaSOptics beats QuickBooks in almost all aspects as it's all automated and takes seconds to create and send invoices. However, SaaSOptics is not really a full ERP program so it wouldn't serve us as a main bookkeeping software like QB.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Wave
    • Peace of mind that all the payroll tax-related stuff is taken care of accurately and on time.
    • Easy to use interface saves time and helps ensure I am paid on time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Intuit
    • Training time is low compared to other accounting packages
    • It was difficult to adapt to DCAA requirements, [which] required [the] hiring of [a] special consultant for that
    • QuickBooks Desktop Pro is a standard for small companies and makes it easy to hire bookkeepers
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots