Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Wave Accounting

Wave Accounting

Overview

What is Wave Accounting?

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.

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Wave Accounting is a reliable tool for staying up to date with accounting tasks such as creating invoices, tracking payments, and managing …
Continue reading

Disappointed in Wave Accounting

1 out of 10
January 19, 2024
I am an artist and the only user. In trying to reconcile sales tax in wave to what I report to the state by quarter using the P&L, all …
Continue reading

Good Accounting Software for SME's

9 out of 10
January 13, 2022
We use Wave Accounting for all the financial data of the organization (SME.) The payroll, however, was outsourced. The product addresses a …
Continue reading

Wave Accounting Review

1 out of 10
August 17, 2021
Went from Rave to RIOT over payout holdups. [It seems like] they've delayed my money countless times. They suspend payment, asking for …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 44 features
  • Bank reconciliation (63)
    9.5
    95%
  • Accounts receivable (67)
    9.5
    95%
  • Standard reports (67)
    9.4
    94%
  • Dashboards (68)
    9.3
    93%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing
N/A
Unavailable

What is Wave Accounting?

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…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

24 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

What is Xero?

Xero is an online accounting software product for small businesses and personal finance. Its features beyond general ledger and double-bookkeeping include quotable invoicing, bank reconciliation, purchase order and expense management, and tax management. Third party apps can extend its features…

What is QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online is a SaaS version of the QuickBooks product. It contains all of the features found in the local version. Higher-priced plans include greater automation, payment management, inventory and time tracking, and analytics features.

Return to navigation

Product Demos

How To Use Wave Accounting App | Get a hold of your Money! | Ibukun Awosika

YouTube

Wave Accounting Demo

YouTube
Return to navigation

Features

Payroll Management

Provides for pay calculation and benefit plan administration, in addition to managing direct deposit, salary revisions and payroll tracking.

6.2
Avg 7.5

Customization

This addresses a company’s ability to configure the software to fit its specific use case and workflow.

8.5
Avg 7.0

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

9.4
Avg 7.9

Reporting & Analytics

Users can report on and analyze usage, performance, ROI, and/or other metrics of success.

8.1
Avg 7.6

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting

Financial management solution, including capabilities for general ledger and configurable accounting

6.8
Avg 7.4

Inventory Management

The ability to track and manage the flow of goods or materials into and out of an inventory.

8.1
Avg 7.0

Order Management

The ability to process orders, and track them from quote to cash.

7.6
Avg 7.4
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Wave Accounting?

Wave Accounting is a fast growing, free, cloud-based accounting platform exclusively for small businesses (less than 9 employees) offered by Wave in Toronto. It supports double-entry bookkeeping and permits unlimited user access to always-available records and reports, as well as unlimited invoicing and expense management. Wave integrates with expense tracking software Shoeboxed. The software is mobile-accessible.

Wave Accounting integrates with Wave's invoicing, receipt scanning, payment processing and payroll apps, into one relatively comprehensive package. However, the automated payments and payroll functionality must be purchased; the payments addition bills per transaction, and the payroll feature bills by number of employees over a flat rate. To support the free platform, Wave integrates advertisements from business partners. Thus these are a necessary facet of the service.

Wave Accounting Competitors

Wave Accounting Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

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.

QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks, and Xero are common alternatives for Wave Accounting.

Reviewers rate Multi-currency support and Order entry and Cost of goods sold highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Wave Accounting are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(172)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Wave Accounting is a reliable tool for staying up to date with accounting tasks such as creating invoices, tracking payments, and managing financial obligations. Users appreciate how Wave Accounting simplifies these processes, eliminating the need for manual tracking. The software offers an intuitive interface and essential accounting features that make it a popular choice for small businesses. It has been commended for its ability to quickly generate professional estimates and invoices, as well as provide performance insights through flow graphs and profit and loss graphs. Although some users have experienced drawbacks such as limited customer support and lengthy credit card acceptance processes, overall, Wave Accounting has been highly recommended by users who find it valuable for organizing their businesses. It is particularly useful for tracking inventory purchases, sales, expenses, managing independent contractor businesses, and is considered an affordable and powerful solution by accounting professionals in service-based industries.

Comprehensive and Versatile Software: Users have found Wave Accounting to be a comprehensive and versatile solution for bookkeeping and budgeting. It has been praised for its ability to effortlessly track and categorize financial transactions, streamline invoice creation without redundant data entry, as well as generate various financial reports.

Cloud-based Accessibility: The cloud-based nature of Wave Accounting is highly appreciated by users, providing them with easy accessibility from any computer while eliminating concerns about computer glitches or server problems. This feature has been mentioned by numerous reviewers.

Powerful Invoicing Feature: Users have lauded the invoicing feature in Wave Accounting for its power and user-friendliness. They can easily create and send invoices, keep track of due dates, and mark off paid invoices. The software also provides automatic invoice numbering, facilitating quick reference to different invoices.

Horrible Reconciliation Process: Users have expressed frustration with the reconciliation process in Wave, describing it as horrible. They find it difficult to match transactions and suggest a simpler method for reconciliation.

Lack of Customer Support Options: Many users complain about the lack of customer support options in Wave. They mention the absence of phone or chat lines and express frustration with the frequent response to read documentation. Users desire more personalized assistance and quicker ways to resolve their issues.

Limited Reporting Features: Users feel that the reporting features in Wave could be more robust and flexible. They report issues with exporting general ledger items and mention the need for improvements in sorting options for reports. Some users desire preset date options for reports and request further development of this aspect in Wave.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 79)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I am an artist and the only user. In trying to reconcile sales tax in wave to what I report to the state by quarter using the P&L, all income by customers and the account balances for the same time period (accrual) show different totals. I am at a loss how they can produce different numbers from what should be the same data. I am finding them unusable.
  • Site is nicely done
  • It's easy to read
  • In my experience, by quarter reports do not show the same totals
  • They closed the community support page
  • In my opinion, chat bot is useless for anything that isn't simple
  • Reporting on sales tax, I need to print 3 different reports to get the info I need
I would not recommend for anyone who needs to track sales tax, total and taxable sales.
Marc Fogel | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Wave seems to be down more than it is up. The last few weeks it has been under repair very often making it very hard to do business. I like to use their software for invoicing but I can't get into doing my work. It is strange for a large company like this to be unavailable to its clients.
  • Easy to work
  • Used to be available
  • Familiar
  • MAINTENANCE
  • Reliability
  • Poor Customer Service
I have been trying to create invoices for two days. It seems strange that they cannot fix the problem. The yellow system is down again.
Allen Eshmoili | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use it for personal and business account. My bookkeeper has access and will update my accounts and generate financial statements and use it to communicate with my accountant at year end. Its nice that it imports all my financial statements from my banks allows me to categorize transactions and view my transactions and a recolcile my books as well. its easy enolugh for me to use as well and I have no finance background. The reports are helpful from P&L and balance sheets and more.
  • Reconcile
  • Categorize
  • Reporting
  • Access to submit question
  • customer service
I use it on a monthly basis to reconcile my books, see where my money is being spent, look at my profitability and cashflow as well. The reports make this easy to do and categorizing multiple transactions are easy as well. I cant think of many cases where you would not want to use WAVE accounting software
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
As a somewhat accounting-illiterate owner of a small business, Wave has been easier to use than Quickbooks. It's made my finances accessible and easy to understand. Also the invoices that go out, along with the automatic reminders, look very professional. Best of all for a micro-business like mine, it's free!
The very consequential difficulty has come in finding bookkeepers or accountants who will use Wave. This has frankly led me to hire a sub-par bookkeeper who did such a poor job that someone else had to straighten things out. This is because all the talented bookkeepers wouldn't touch Wave. They complain that it's not properly set up for what they normally do, and that they have to transfer all the numbers from Wave to Quickbooks, anyway, which isn't worth their time.
  • Invoices with automatic reminders
  • If you're willing to manually issue payroll, it's by far the cheapest payroll service
  • Transactions easily categorized
  • Bookkeepers won't use it, making it only useful for small business owners who do their own books
  • Customer service is pleasant, but limited (understandable since it's a free service)
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Wave Accounting for all the financial data of the organization (SME.) The payroll, however, was outsourced. The product addresses a training problem within the organization as it is easy to use, and minimal training is required. We have a platform where we can invoice, bill, track all our expenses and manage our finances with the reports produced by the system. It is very user-friendly.
  • Invoicing
  • Billing
  • Generate reports
  • Recurring invoice numbers not consecutive
  • Payment speed needs to be faster when making payments
  • Updates completely changing formats of certain functions
Wave Accounting has a very good invoicing function, easy to use, and [is] customized specifically for small businesses. The payment processing function is also very user-friendly. There could be minor improvements to the invoice numbering as they are not always in order, it is not a big deal, but it would really be nice if the invoice number could be specific to each set of clients.
Tony Rayl | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Accounting
  • Lure people in
  • Lie
  • Misrepresent the product
  • company needs to be shut down!
It's a scam to take peoples money! It looks pretty on the outside however they at the click of a button wipe you out. This is based on my personal experience and that of the numerous complaints online to the BBB and others!
August 17, 2021

Wave Accounting Review

Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Went from Rave to RIOT over payout holdups. [It seems like] they've delayed my money countless times. They suspend payment, asking for "client contracts" to prove my [business] [is legitimate] after paying me for months! I have legal [business] docs, but they said [I needed to show] "client contracts, Social Media, or Website to review". I was OFFENDED [and refused to give] a client contract! And WHY NOT [ask for] THAT UPFRONT? Their "support" [is only] Mon-Fri 8-5! I buckled and applied for Wave Debit & instant payouts. Last [month] [my account] said "instant payout $500". Hadn't had one since before the suspend. Clicked to "instant payout" and [I felt like a] fool! Suspended, AGAIN! Waited for Monday to chat support and was told "new" debit card is why. [I think they are the] same two cards on account, [which they] paid [previously]. Then [support] emails others to "release" the suspension. Waited ALL DAY with no reply, I got worried they were closing, checked account [and] it was released. Currently [I've been] told to wait 7 business days (MAX time) on ACH client paid 7/27. They ALWAYS pay [out on] days estimated, [and it] was never more than five [days] before. I [am upset that] I didn't [change vendors] after the first problem.
  • Site Layout is nice
  • No charge to add a logo to your invoice
  • Support hours and efficacy.
  • Communication of timelines & support issues
  • Tell me my money was released after suspending my account
  • Don't tell me "You got paid" when my client pays an invoice. Say "Wave has your money," because [of the time it takes] to release a payer's finalized transaction. {I feel that] either don't want to, or you can't. And it's not the bank's fault or timelines.
  • Tell me "You got paid" when [I did not receive my money for] 15 days after "You got paid" by my client!
Well suited for the free reporting BUT Invoice somewhere else. Less appropriate for INVOICING. [I feel] that they suspend [the] account often and for reasons that aren't relevant. [It seem like] you have [to employ] someone else to take the time to sort it out on a monthly basis because you're not giving them advertised services or canceling advertised services.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Wave Accounting was very useful for managing all of the accounting for my marketing consulting practice. I was able to issue invoices, track expenses, and manage basic bookkeeping easily. The user interface was easy and intuitive and made the tedious task of accounting easier for someone who's not an accountant.
  • Sending Invoices
  • Expense Tracking
  • Invoice Tracking
  • Managing Accounts
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.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Wave Accounting for our everyday accounting system. We use it for invoicing, expenses, and payments.
  • Invoicing
  • Expenses
  • Reporting
  • No areas that I currently see
I always recommend Wave Accounting to my business contacts. It is great (and free) for the modules we use.
Rachelle Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I have used Wave for eight years, and discovered it soon after starting my business. I am the owner, and use it weekly for my company. It helps with my accounting needs. I am a solopreneur, and it helps that it is so easy to navigate and use. There have been periodic product enhancement updates along the way, which have made my experience even better.
  • Wave is very easy to use. I had not used cloud-based accounting software before using it, and mastered it with ease.
  • Because it is cloud-based, I like being able to access is anywhere from any computer. When traveling, I still have interrupted access to it. I always know what is going on with the financials of my business.
  • I like the fact that it can be integrated with other software and tools to make the accounting process easier.
  • Wave Accounting has grown and evolved with me and my business.
  • I have not been able to schedule recurring bills. I have had to log in and enter each bill monthly, as well as a payment date. It would be nice to schedule my bills to recur for the entire year.
Wave is a good choice for entrepreneurs, who are just starting or even established. It affords me the same benefits as QuickBooks or Quicken. It is easy to navigate and enables you to get a handle on your finances early on in the process.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It is being used for my business to handle my accounting needs: invoicing, payments, bills.
  • Easy to use
  • Free version
  • Customer service, bot chat only or email
  • Changed/cancelled payment services without warning
I would not recommend Wave based on how they treated me and my business. Yes, I’m a small business so I was attracted to their free service, which was great for me, but... I was not able to connect my bank and most importantly they cancelled my ability to receive payments with giving me warning. They just sent me an email saying that they determined that there was risk and turned it off. So, payments that I just received was refunded. I had to inform my clients that they needed to pay me again! What risks are there? I was receiving payments via credit card, they were taking their cut? I only had a handful of transactions?
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Used by a small chamber of commerce to handle credit card payments, payroll, and bookkeeping. Has a nice appearance but when we try to reconcile with our bank statement it gets bad. Usually, there are three Wave transactions for every bank transaction. Sometimes there are duplicates. I read their documentation, watched many videos, and sent emails. The answer was the same: either delete or merge transactions. I didn't know which to delete or which to merge. I finally paid $199 for an advisor to show me what to do. I had an associate at the Zoom meeting. The advisor talked way too fast, and after asking several times to slow down, he did not. He then started to say delete that or merge those two. I didn't understand why, and after over 30 minutes, he seemed perplexed by what he was seeing. I asked my associate if she was getting anything out of this and, like me, it was a "No." I asked to stop the session and then asked for a refund. They refused.
  • 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.
  • Reconciliation is horrible. A user does not need to see multiple Wave transactions. I should see one Wave and one Bank transaction and if I think they are the same check a box and be done with it.
  • No phone number to call and no chat line so all help is via email. Frequently the Wave person says to read the documentation and provides a link. I already did that and need help, not a mechanical response. On occasion, I did get a helpful and specific response but that was rare.
  • Would like to have the ability to see each payroll by person pay stub and not just a summary by quarter.
Spent almost 100 hours trying to get Waveapp to provide accurate reports. I am a graduated MBA (many decades ago) and watched videos and read literature with no success in finding the root cause of the issues we experienced. Finally paid $199 for their advisor. A little past halfway through their 60-minute Zoom meeting, I stopped it. The advisor didn't know why we had the issues we had and said delete that and merge this, etc. Apparently, you need to understand how their software works in the background and spend many hours trying to reconcile your bank statements. Switched to another product and imported my bank statements. Within 30 minutes the reconciliation was complete.
Magdalene van der Walt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As an accounting firm, we co-use the program with our smaller clients. We are invited to use the system on their side, and then managing their financial records, and accounting transactions remotely. For our clients, it addresses the problem of cost-efficiency for our smaller clients as it has a free version. For us, it allows us to work remotely without having to visit our clients at their office. This is important as we are a virtual accounting firm, meaning we do not have a physical office address, but rather work from our own individual homes from our PC's. Many site visits would increase costs for our clients, many of whom are small clients, and need their costs kept as low as possible for cash flow reasons.
  • Bank upload and reconciliations (new feature).
  • Reports are good for a free system.
  • Good customer and supplier reconciliation features for a free system.
  • I find the system to be quite sluggish at times, compared to other systems that we use.
  • They are adding new features to the system, but it is still very behind other comparative systems.
  • The payroll function is only currently available to USA and Canada.
It is well suited if you are a micro-business that is not registered for sales tax, and does employ staff. If you do not reside in the USA and Canada, you will not be able to use the payroll function which forces you to have to use another program that won't intergrate with the system. It is also limited with its functions. If you are looking to save costs however, and are looking to track your monthly profit and loss, compare it to other periods, and are a freelancer, it is highly recommended if you do not reside in the USA/Canada due to the payroll issue. You will find it has everything that you need for your basic bookkeeping tasks.
Rachel Zeldin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are a technology startup and began using Wave in 2015 for bookkeeping, an "upgrade" from our Excel bookkeeping efforts.

We were looking for something simple, that easily connected to our external bank and credit card accounts, in the cloud, and low-cost.

As the company evolved, we began using it for some invoicing and for payroll. We stopped using it for Invoicing, and recently stopped using it for Payroll.
  • Cloud-based
  • Connects to external accounts for transaction import
  • Customer Service
  • Software Upgrades that negatively affect bookkeeping past and present
MAYBE, if you are looking for a free and very simple transaction-management system you could consider this. But for us, it's been nothing but an accounting/bookkeeping/payroll nightmare over the past 2 years.

Wave erratically makes software updates, rolls them out without consent, and when your books or payroll are negatively impacted by their changes, they don't do anything to fix it. There is no real-time support via chat or phone, so the back and forth via email takes an impossible amount of time and is highly ineffective.

One example of this is there Payroll service. I enrolled in this paid program after reading about all its great features for tax collection and remittance on federal and state levels. Months later, after adding an employee in another state, I learned through my own investigating that they only withhold the taxes for the employee in that state, but they don't remit them to the state despite saying loud and clear in the User Interface that "everything is all taken care of." Only after digging through support articles and contacting their email support was I able to confirm that they only remit taxes in certain states. That was not clear and never indicated when I onboard the employee in a non-supported state. As a result, I still needed to sign up for 3 separate employer accounts in that state just to remit the taxes on a monthly and quarterly basis. And because we were then 4 months overdue in remitting the withholding, we owed penalties that Wave refused to cover.

Had I known that this would have caused so many problems and rework, I would have gladly paid $30/mo for a more stable accounting and payroll software with actual customer support.
Vin Campbell | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am personally using Wave Accounting (free version) as the primary accounting app to run the backend of my business. I use the program to create, send, and track invoices to my clients, and I use the link to my bank account to track my expenses, profit and loss, sales tax, and general income vs. expenditures. Having a piece of software this comprehensive that is completely free is a pure lifesaver. I am on a generally tight budget, so this feature solves a huge problem for me and my company!
  • Providing a comprehensive piece of accounting software for free
  • Invoicing + receiving payments--super easy and intuitive on both fronts
  • Bank account linking: They are working diligently to correct this, but it broke when they updated their system. Probably could have tested more banks prior to rolling out the upgrade
  • If you don't fully track and reconcile your books, you'll see carry over numbers--needs a better way to handle this.
First, I have already recommended Wave Accounting to everyone that has ever asked me about accounting software. This software is perfectly suited to small businesses with small operating budgets. Entrepreneurs can rejoice for sure--free is unheard of and I can't stress enough that this solution is 100% free! Now, they make money when the need arises for a small business to hire an accountant. That's their level-up plan that generates revenue. For me, I've yet to need this service, but if/when I do, I'll certainly use Wave first!
JaCoby Marston, CPA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The cool thing about Wave Accounting is that there is no cost to use their accounting software. Wave Accounting is very similar to QuickBooks Online without the monthly cost. Wave Accounting is an online accounting software that is pretty easy to use. If you have a basic accounting understanding then it should be no problem for you to set up your company and start using this software to manage your business finances. You can link all of your bank accounts to this including credit cards so that it will import all of your transactions and all you have to do is assign the transactions to the correct account. This accounting software is great because it is completely online which means that you can access it anywhere you have a laptop and the internet.
  • Very affordable.
  • Easy to use!
  • Connection issues with bank accounts and credit card accounts
  • Learning curve to understanding the accounting software is large.
If cost is a major factor in selecting accounting software, then I recommend that you go with Wave Accounting because it is very affordable. However, because it is very affordable you do sacrifice some of the tools that other online accounting softwares offer like improved bank account connections and user-friendliness. Wave Accounting is a great accounting software to start using because it is very affordable and a basic accounting software. Another cool thing about Wave Accounting is that it is completely online which means that you can access it anywhere you have internet and that your data is saved in the cloud. No more worrying about your computer crashing and losing all of your accounting data.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I utilize it to do the bookkeeping for one small non-profit client, as well as oversee roughly 10 other clients that use it for their own bookkeeping. I like that it is free for small non-profits and startups and that it is generally easier to use than QuickBooks, but works the same way by pulling in bank account transactions and producing financial reports.
  • Affordable accounting software.
  • Not too overwhelming.
  • Their reports have gotten a lot better, but are still not able to do month to month comparisons.
  • It does not handle inventory well at all.
For now, I am still pretty pleased with what it offers considering that it is free! I still recommend it to very small organizations starting out as at least something to take a look at, because they won't be out any money if they decide it's not for them. QuickBooks, of course, dominates the market, but I quite frankly hate QuickBooks and feel that it is expensive and difficult for small businesses and non-profits to use well.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It delightfully solves my accounting problems and meets my accounting needs for free. Wave Accounting is an excellent software that is smooth and easy to use. No Excel sheets for me!
  • Easy to record income and expenses.
  • Easy to search for a particular entry when I need it.
  • Nothing to improve on, to be honest. It's excellent free accounting software.
Wave is suitable for all sorts of accounting needs, especially for solopreneurs or small companies. The needs of much larger companies (>500 employees) might be beyond its scope though.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Wave Accounting is used by the Bookkeeping and Accounting Department. It's a free tool that helps with invoicing, bookkeeping, financial projections, and accountancy reports. It's online so allows our remote team to access the information and update as needed. It also has a payment processor that we don't use at the moment.
  • Reports: many options, easy to create, access and share.
  • Invoicing: professional looking invoices.
  • The feature to capture receipts is very easy to use.
  • To improve bank connections to banks outside of USA and Canada
  • Wave have recently added account reconciliation which was an issue.
For any small non-profit, small business or solo entrepreneurs, Wave has to be one of the best tools on the marketplace and it's free. Wave has gone through many changes over the years and it keeps on improving. Wave is probably less appropriate for a large company that works in several/many countries and works with local banks etc.
Ashley Mumm | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a one-woman consultation, I use Wave to manage my quotes as I bid projects. I use it as my main CRM as well to organize and keep track of current and potential clients. When bids turn into accepted projects, I convert them to invoices and track payments there as well. I've connected my bank accounts and have used the card terminal before as well. I like the mobile app function to monitor and track outstanding invoices.
  • Bid to invoice conversion is great.
  • Client information is easily added to documents.
  • Financial reports are in-depth enough.
  • Some design aspects could be improved upon in their document creation.
  • Some aspects of the interface are hard to use, and are not as intuitive as they should be.
For most small businesses that need something to use that is free and mobile-friendly, I would recommend Wave. It's been a great tool for me as a small outfit. I used it for my small construction company as well, though I found I was using it more for my marketing clients who were more mobile-friendly than the construction clients generally. For larger firms, a more CPA friendly tool may be better, though some tax preparers may know about Wave now.
Andrea Mitchell, MSW, APSW | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I own a small business and Wave is used for all of our accounting and expense tracking. It is linked to my checking account and I like that all of my expenses are already listed and I just need to go in every once in a while and categorize them. I used to do everything myself but as we have grown I now have our Office Manager do some of the categorizing and it is super simple for her to learn and do.
  • Links to bank account
  • Allows me to create new categories while other apps do not
  • It is completely free to use
  • I'm not a big fan of the invoice feature and don't use it
  • I haven't figured out a good way to get a full report of expenses at the end of the year for my tax accountant without having to make some tweaks.
  • The predictive categorization is most often incorrect.
It is really great for a small business with only minimal transactions to have to categorize. It is also perfect for someone who has zero accounting knowledge.
I'm not entirely sure who it would not work well with because I really don't know much about other businesses or accounting.
Jared Hammond | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Wave Accounting helps me keep track of my invoices and process payments from my customers. I don't have a large amount of time to spend, and Wave makes it very easy for me to do this. My customers can keep track of the invoices and easily pay online. It just works.
  • Accept payments online.
  • Easy invoice creation.
  • Overall accounting.
  • More integration options.
  • More options in mobile app.
I use Wave Accounting for my audio engineering and videography business. I have recommended this product to all of my colleagues, and they enjoy using it as well. It makes it easy to keep track of, send, and process payment for invoices.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Wave Accounting is being used as a way to organize all purchases and money coming in and to quickly look at reports if need be. It's also a nifty tool to create quick invoices that are nice looking, functional, and time-saving, being that I don't have to send automatic follow-ups.
  • Invoices
  • Reports
  • UI/UX
  • For people who aren't experienced with accounting, it can be a little confusing. I wish the help were a little more extensive.
I don't think that Wave Accounting would be the best solution if you're an enterprise-level company, but if you're a tiny business or a solopreneur, then Wave Accounting would be a great fit. Also, unless you use their added services, there won't be any other costs passed on to you.
Patrick Contreras | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using Wave Accounting to provide us with all of our accounting needs except the accounts payables throughout our entire company. We provide invoices and estimates through Wave Accounting. We also accept credit card payments through Wave Accounting. Our payroll and tax liabilities for sales tax and payroll are all managed on Wave Accounting.
  • Invoicing - The invoicing feature of Wave Accounting is pretty solid. We are able to enter our services and items that are available for our customers at the correct price point. We add the services or the items to the invoice and add the quantity ordered or used. Invoices can be sent electronically through Wave Accounting and once the customer receives the invoice, it can be paid using the links provided.
  • Recurring invoices - This is a nice feature in Wave Accounting. With recurring invoices, you can enter invoices that will be sent to clients on a regular basis. Either monthly, quarterly or yearly, the invoice will be sent to the customer. Customers can then pay online with a credit card and also permit you to automatically pay the invoice upon submission.
  • Payroll - This feature will allow you to run payroll on your schedule and Wave Accounting will determine your liabilities and submit all paperwork to the proper government agencies. Wave will also schedule and notify you when payments will be made to those government agencies.
  • Invoicing - Unfortunately, once an invoice is paid, you can still go back and correct that invoice or revise that invoice. Once the invoice is paid, it should be locked so that it can not be revised.
  • Bills - The bills part of Wave Accounting needs quite a bit of work. I would like to see the bill section be brought up to the level that the invoicing section is at. It would be nice to enter a bill and notify me when the bill is due. Or just some way of keeping track of bills that come into the business.
  • Reports - I would like to see some improvements in the reporting areas. I think it does a good job with reports but business owners always like to see reports with more detail. I know I would like to run a report automatically every month of my accounts receivables and payables.
I think it is very well suited for small businesses that are service-related. Entrepreneurs would also find it well suited for their needs until the business gets going. Design agencies and marketing consultants are a good fit for Wave Accounting. Small construction companies would also be able to benefit from Wave Accounting. I don't see large corporations being a good fit for Wave Accounting.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Wave Accounting is a simple invoicing solution for a one-person freelancing business. It has all the features I need and has some extra things like payroll, etc. in case I grow to need them. It's very easy to create a new invoice as well as duplicate an existing one and make changes to it. You can email it straight to your client or you can get a share link to embed in your own email.
  • Easy to use/simple user-friendly interface.
  • Multiple options to send invoices as well as set-up automatic reminders.
  • Can create products so that creating new invoices is a breeze.
  • One thing I'd like Wave to implement is for me to be able to pass along credit card fees to the customer. There are instances where I give people options if they'd like to pay by check or card and if paying by card, I have to manually add a "processing fee" to my invoice if I want the credit card fees to be passed along. I want this process to be automatic. It would be great if I could turn it on and off each invoice as needed.
If you are a freelancer and need something quick and simple to send invoices, this is for you. Bigger organizations will likely need a more complex solution. For me, it works well because it sends automatic reminders to clients that don't check their email all the time and also I have multiple ways of sending them the invoice.
Return to navigation