Payroll by Wave vs. Wave Accounting

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Payroll by Wave
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Wave Accounting headquartered in Toronto now offers Payroll by Wave, a payroll app for small businesses.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
Payroll by WaveWave Accounting
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Payroll by WaveWave 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
Payroll by WaveWave Accounting
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Payroll by WaveWave Accounting
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Payroll by Wave
9.4
3 Ratings
15% above category average
Wave Accounting
6.2
24 Ratings
19% below category average
Pay calculation10.03 Ratings7.123 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment9.02 Ratings00 Ratings
Benefit plan administration9.01 Ratings7.54 Ratings
Direct deposit files10.03 Ratings1.220 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management9.03 Ratings7.712 Ratings
Reimbursement management10.01 Ratings7.48 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
Payroll by Wave
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
8.5
13 Ratings
19% 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
Payroll by Wave
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
9.5
43 Ratings
19% above category average
Single sign-on capability00 Ratings9.730 Ratings
Role-based user permissions00 Ratings9.334 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Payroll by Wave
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
8.2
70 Ratings
8% above category average
Dashboards00 Ratings9.368 Ratings
Standard reports00 Ratings9.467 Ratings
Custom reports00 Ratings5.734 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
Payroll by Wave
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
6.8
73 Ratings
9% below category average
Accounts payable00 Ratings9.356 Ratings
Accounts receivable00 Ratings9.567 Ratings
Cash management00 Ratings9.359 Ratings
Bank reconciliation00 Ratings9.563 Ratings
Expense management00 Ratings9.561 Ratings
Time tracking00 Ratings9.411 Ratings
Fixed asset management00 Ratings9.412 Ratings
Multi-currency support00 Ratings10.019 Ratings
Multi-division support00 Ratings7.19 Ratings
Regulations compliance00 Ratings6.815 Ratings
Electronic tax filing00 Ratings5.914 Ratings
Self-service portal00 Ratings1.739 Ratings
Global Financial Support00 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers00 Ratings7.04 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting00 Ratings4.05 Ratings
Localizations00 Ratings5.23 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations00 Ratings6.228 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
Payroll by Wave
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
8.1
11 Ratings
14% 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
Payroll by Wave
-
Ratings
Wave Accounting
7.6
52 Ratings
2% above category average
Pricing00 Ratings9.926 Ratings
Order entry00 Ratings10.018 Ratings
Credit card processing00 Ratings2.345 Ratings
Cost of goods sold00 Ratings10.033 Ratings
Order Orchestration00 Ratings5.85 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility00 Ratings8.24 Ratings
Order exception Resolution00 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Payroll by WaveWave Accounting
Small Businesses
Patriot Software
Patriot Software
Score 9.0 out of 10
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank)
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Paypro Workforce Management
Paypro Workforce Management
Score 9.5 out of 10
Accounting Seed
Accounting Seed
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Infor Human Resources
Infor Human Resources
Score 7.3 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
Payroll by WaveWave Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(4 ratings)
3.6
(79 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
7.8
(3 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
6.2
(15 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
6.7
(4 ratings)
Performance
-
(0 ratings)
2.9
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(2 ratings)
2.5
(12 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
4.7
(3 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
3.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Payroll by WaveWave Accounting
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
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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
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.
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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
Wave
  • Additional filings such as WorkSafe, etc.
  • More flexibility when it comes to paying a director.
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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
Wave
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
Wave
No answers on this topic
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
Wave
No answers on this topic
Wave
WAVE is always available when we need it ! Peter
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Performance
Wave
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
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.
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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
Wave
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
Wave
We moved away from Wave as most of our contractors are time-based, and Wave flat out refuses to provide time tracking features. We tried integrations, but the pricing/complexity goes up and reliability goes down when integrating systems which were not intended to communicate. We since moved to Avaza and sacrificed Payroll for more robust time tracking, project management, and a very open feature development process
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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
Wave
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
Wave
  • Ensuring that I am compliant with my payroll obligations.
  • Less time spent on managing employee payroll.
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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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