QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise vs. Wave Accounting

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise is a widely-used accounting package designed for small to mid-sized businesses. It is the top of the QuickBooks line. Pricing starts at $3,000 for five users, and goes up depending on the number of additional users. They also offer an Advanced Inventory module for $999 / year.
$1,261
per year
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
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseWave Accounting
Editions & Modules
Gold
1,261
per year
Platinum
1,522
per year
Gold with Remote Access
1,785.60
per year
Platinum with Remote Access
2,083.20
per year
Diamond
3,060.34
per year
Diamond with Remote Access
3,600.36
per year
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseWave Accounting
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseWave Accounting
Considered Both Products
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Wave Accounting
Chose Wave Accounting
Wave's price point was in line with what my company needed to manage basic accounting (payable and receivable accounts). It made it easy for me to issue monthly invoices to clients and track when invoices were paid. The software makes these tasks easy to manage and inputting …
Chose Wave Accounting
Circling back to the "free" thing again. For a small business, I am getting for free what QuickBooks Online charges no less than $40/month. Moving away from "free," these other solutions I listed above do more, and these would be the right solutions for the right needs. All of …
Chose Wave Accounting
Unfortunately we did not do our due diligence before selecting Wave. We came across them through our payroll provider (ADP) and assumed that it was good since we have had a great experience with ADP. In the future I would strongly recommend others to not just read online …
Chose Wave Accounting
Day and night. I found QuickBooks Legacy for Enterprise clunky and outdated and the user experiences are without compare.
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseWave Accounting
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.0
108 Ratings
7% above category average
Wave Accounting
6.2
24 Ratings
19% below category average
Pay calculation8.7104 Ratings7.123 Ratings
Benefit plan administration7.861 Ratings7.54 Ratings
Direct deposit files8.090 Ratings1.220 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management7.882 Ratings7.712 Ratings
Reimbursement management7.583 Ratings7.48 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
7.4
73 Ratings
5% above category average
Wave Accounting
8.5
13 Ratings
19% above category average
API for custom integration7.856 Ratings9.99 Ratings
Plug-ins7.168 Ratings7.011 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.2
155 Ratings
4% above category average
Wave Accounting
9.5
43 Ratings
19% above category average
Single sign-on capability8.3117 Ratings9.730 Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.2153 Ratings9.334 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.3
172 Ratings
9% above category average
Wave Accounting
8.2
70 Ratings
8% above category average
Dashboards8.3147 Ratings9.368 Ratings
Standard reports8.5170 Ratings9.467 Ratings
Custom reports8.1165 Ratings5.734 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.0
176 Ratings
8% above category average
Wave Accounting
6.8
73 Ratings
9% below category average
Accounts payable8.8169 Ratings9.356 Ratings
Accounts receivable8.9168 Ratings9.567 Ratings
Cash management8.4154 Ratings9.359 Ratings
Bank reconciliation8.9167 Ratings9.563 Ratings
Expense management8.3154 Ratings9.561 Ratings
Time tracking6.577 Ratings9.411 Ratings
Fixed asset management8.0114 Ratings9.412 Ratings
Multi-currency support7.757 Ratings10.019 Ratings
Multi-division support7.992 Ratings7.19 Ratings
Regulations compliance8.064 Ratings6.815 Ratings
Electronic tax filing8.086 Ratings5.914 Ratings
Self-service portal6.566 Ratings1.739 Ratings
Global Financial Support6.332 Ratings9.02 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers8.060 Ratings7.04 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting8.074 Ratings4.05 Ratings
Localizations8.045 Ratings5.23 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations8.9125 Ratings6.228 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting8.485 Ratings4.07 Ratings
Configurable Accounting8.282 Ratings5.516 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework8.049 Ratings1.03 Ratings
Standardized Processes8.693 Ratings4.317 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
7.6
104 Ratings
8% above category average
Wave Accounting
8.1
11 Ratings
14% above category average
Inventory tracking8.1100 Ratings5.68 Ratings
Automatic reordering7.353 Ratings9.95 Ratings
Location management8.266 Ratings8.12 Ratings
Manufacturing module6.850 Ratings9.01 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
8.3
128 Ratings
11% above category average
Wave Accounting
7.6
52 Ratings
2% above category average
Pricing8.595 Ratings9.926 Ratings
Order entry8.6101 Ratings10.018 Ratings
Credit card processing7.689 Ratings2.345 Ratings
Cost of goods sold8.2113 Ratings10.033 Ratings
Order Orchestration8.255 Ratings5.85 Ratings
End-to-end order visibility8.352 Ratings8.24 Ratings
Order exception Resolution8.639 Ratings7.02 Ratings
Best Alternatives
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseWave 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
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseWave Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(187 ratings)
3.6
(79 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.8
(17 ratings)
7.8
(3 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(11 ratings)
6.2
(15 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(4 ratings)
6.7
(4 ratings)
Performance
10.0
(3 ratings)
2.9
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
6.0
(5 ratings)
2.5
(12 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
9.1
(3 ratings)
4.7
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(8 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
10.0
(3 ratings)
3.0
(2 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
10.0
(3 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseWave Accounting
Likelihood to Recommend
Intuit
When I first started using QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise for my non-profit 7 years ago, there were some struggles, but updates they have made to the product have been great and improved a lot of the functions that were a struggle. It is super helpful for handling specific non-profit needs where the normal QuickBooks, while great, is set up for for-profit businesses. The ability to enter donations and allocate them by classes that I set up is an invaluable tool.
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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
Intuit
  • Detailed organization of financial information
  • Several security measures and double check systems to ensure incorrect entries aren't made. This prevents accidental errors and protects the company from fraud.
  • Ease of overall use
  • Reporting can be as detailed or as general as you prefer. Each report allows you to look at the overall picture or access specific details of each aspect of the company financials.
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
Intuit
  • The software becomes "cranky" more often than I would like. A quick data scan on the server usually helps, but if I am out the staff get pretty stressed.
  • Record Retention is not working with QuickBooks. Should there be legal action requesting records for 20 years ago the records will be there - not advisable.
  • Upgrades are quite time consuming as I have to "touch" every computer using the software.
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
Intuit
We've been using QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions from when the business started, 11 years ago. I don't see us changing programs any time soon as it is working pretty well for us now. It would be extremely time consuming to start from scratch with a new accounting or inventory management program.
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Wave
Easy to use for clients with no accounting background and the price is right.
Read full review
Usability
Intuit
I like the QuickBooks Enterprise edition so much I moved my company to it this year. I like the overall functionality of the program and I am very familiar with the user interface which makes my job easier. One of the things I dislike about the online version it is not modeled after the desktop edition and I have a hard time getting around in the program.
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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
Intuit
They have always been available to meet our needs when we need it. We have had zero complaints with getting the assistance we need.
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Wave
WAVE is always available when we need it ! Peter
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Performance
Intuit
QB is a good and reliable system. We probably should have explore the other modules rather that jump in to the conclusion that we needed a new ERP.
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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
Intuit
Very rare do I call the Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions support staff and I get a customer service associate quickly. On average, my wait time is near an hour, and at times even longer. After spending the first three minutes discussing my problem, they then begin to poke and prod around, sometimes the questions continue. But 80% of the time, the problem is over their head and they have to escalate the issue. The only problem is this escalation arrives usually after spending forty-five minutes poking and proding around but learning nothing. In short, my experience is rarely all that well, let alone great
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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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In-Person Training
Intuit
It is a very easy system to learn, so with the help it was even easier. QB is a good solid system, but it lacks some of the complexity other systems have. with QB you need to get additional modules to get the same functionality that other systems offer standard
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Online Training
Intuit
easy to learn system, specially with some kind of support. Just like with any other system, things get lot easier if you have guidance to lead you in your search for answers. having said that, QB is very easy to use and very easy to teach. you wont spend much time memorizing where to click.
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Wave
easy to use and east to train on ! Our WAVE clients enjoy the ease of use
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Implementation Rating
Intuit
If you're loading QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions onto a computer that you're going to directly log into, you should be able to do it yourself. If you are going to connect to a server through a network or remote connection, you should probably have a professional IT person set it up for you.
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Wave
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Intuit
We have selected this product as it is affordoable in terms of pricing and features too. Our clients is geeting lots of benefits by using this product. By using QuickBooks desktop client also manage the information realted to financials and also get the clear picture for the future by using the accounting information from this product.
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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
Read full review
Scalability
Intuit
It has worked for our small company in every way. We have very little issues with the software and when we have had problems, Intuit has stepped up and resolved in promptly.
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Wave
Once they out grow what is ability to move up to a more robust system?
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Return on Investment
Intuit
  • Good value for the price. The initial setup was quick and easy.
  • When properly set up and processes are followed it's decent at managing inventory which is something we had problems with. Have to have a dedicated employee to builds.
  • Rolling up costs in multi-level BOM's is a project each time we have to review costs, it's very time consuming to manually update all assemblies.
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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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