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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.

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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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)
    9.6
    96%
  • Accounts receivable (67)
    9.6
    96%
  • Standard reports (67)
    9.5
    95%
  • Dashboards (68)
    9.4
    94%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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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

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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.

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Product Demos

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

YouTube

Wave Accounting Demo

YouTube
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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 7.1

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.

9.5
Avg 8.0

Reporting & Analytics

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

8.2
Avg 7.6

General Ledger and Configurable Accounting

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

6.9
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
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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).
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Comparisons

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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 45)
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Megan Ronecker | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Wave Accounting for all of my bookkeeping/accounting needs. I have all of my money accounts linked to it so that I don't have to keep track of my purchases and sales, it all automatically goes into my bookkeeping accounts. Then, at the end of each month, I categorize them and verify each income/expense. With the click of a button, I can see my revenue, expenses, and profit for the month! This also makes it super easy when tax time comes! I can just print a copy of my income report for the year and hand it over to the accountant who does my taxes. It couldn't be easier!
  • Bookkeeping
  • Invoicing
  • Keeps income/expenses organized for tax time
  • Quick at-a-glance stats for monthly budget/spending/revenue
  • It does not integrate with my small credit union so I rarely use that account to purchase things because I have to remember to manually log it.
  • Invoice line items must be something that is reoccurring or you have to create new "products" for each new project/service. I wish I could just add whatever I wanted to the item field on an invoice instead of having to choose from or create a new product
  • It always logs transferring money out of my PayPal balance as an expense when I'm really just transferring it to my bank account. Easy fix, but always a bit annoying to wonder where that much money went (only to realize it just went to my bank account).
I think Wave is so well suited for sole proprietors like myself or other solo entrepreneurs who need to keep their income and expenses organized, but need a simple and easy program to do it. They don't need a bulky and expensive program like Quickbooks, just something to keep all money related details together. This free program helps me with invoicing, tax time, and monthly money reports—basically everything I need for my small business to keep track of ingoing and outgoing money!
Tiffany Rachann | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use wave for its essential accounting functions such as invoicing, payment receipts, and to track business-related purchases and expenses using the account connection feature. It's relatively easy to use and can copy and duplicate invoices, send reminders and gauge how often invoices are paid or not. It's primarily used by myself though I sometimes have my assistant send a simple invoice.
  • Allows the user to set up customer profiles and manage the intricacies of account payable tracking.
  • Allows the user to connect the app to a bank account thereby identifying purchases and business-related expenses. Awesome for tax time!
  • Allows the user to create vendor profiles and manage payroll accordingly.
  • Connecting the app to a bank that isn't listed in their database isn't seamless.
  • Sending multiple invoices to one client that needs to use different payment methods raises a red flag.
  • Receipts can't be exported as PDF's and must be sent from the email that was used during sign-up (can't be altered).
Overall, Wave is a good stand-alone option for a small business with a few employees and/or vendors. It's easy to set-up, navigate and trigger for reoccurring situations. The platform utilizes Stripe for payment processing so the standard fees apply (which if one takes payments upwards of $5,000 can be pricey) and the funds are deposited in a few days with ETA notifications on both the dashboard and via email.
Marc Garcia | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are using it as company-wide after QuickBooks upped their pricing. We started with Wave Accounting 3 years ago but transitioned to QuickBooks for a period of time. Then, as I mentioned, once QuickBooks upped pricing we decided to move back to Wave. Upon returning, we were pleasantly surprised by the updates made in the time we were away, recurring invoicing being one of them. The look and feel of it changed, and it looked much better than before.
  • Accounting is #1 of what they do. It does appear they want to compete and take market share from QuickBooks.
  • Simple invoicing and estimations.
  • Automatic follow up on invoices is great.
  • Support. They have no phone support. All of it is done via chat and you tend to get canned answers.
  • ACH Processing Time. 7+ business days to process an ACH is not very manageable for a business. As a former banker, they say the problem is with your bank or the client's bank - however, that's not true. They have the money from an ACH within 1 business day.
Wave Accounting is best for companies not looking to do ACH transactions. The credit card payments come in much quicker, as do lower ACH transactions that they "lightspeed" qualify (their term). Credit card payments online are in 2 business days.
Wave Accounting is less appropriate if you want to speak with someone about an issue. Chat is good but very impersonal and sometimes condescending.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Wave as our primary system to track expenses, invoices, and payments. We also used Wave to process credit card payments. We use Wave Accounting software company-wide. At first, it appeared to be great way to track invoices and easily receive payments via credit card. The website itself has some nice features.
  • Logging invoices and payments as it is relatively easy and fast.
  • Integration with our payroll system (ADP)
  • Customer service needs a lot of improvement! It is extremely difficult to contact support as they do not provide a dedicated customer service line and it takes a long time to get a response via email.
  • Credit card payments have been extremely problematic and are often held up for an unreasonable amount of time (several days and longer).
  • Complete lack of communication if an issue arises and lack of support getting any kind of resolution.
  • No longer linking with our account and no notification when it occurred.
Wave is fine if you only use it for accounting but I would urge others not to use Wave for credit card processing. Apparently our account was either not set up correctly and we received no notification, or the link to our bank account to deposit credit card payments was broken, again with no notification. When trying to resolve the issue we received little help from customer support. In fact their reaction was to no lover service our account for credit card transactions. When asked why, we were given reasons that were untrue and when confronted with evidence contradicting their claims Wave would provide another reason. We have since moved on to another credit card transaction provider and have not had any problems.
David Schwartz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Wave Accounting in mainly the IT department to track invoices and receive payments from clients for work completed and reoccurring sales. Wave makes it very easy to create an invoice template, add customers, create line items, and send invoices! The option to also allow credit card payments on the invoice through Wave is a nice feature and saves us time from having to contact the customer and take card information over the phone and the transaction fee they charge isn't bad at all considering other applications out there.
  • They make sending invoices pretty simple and you can choose from sending either from Wave or you can add an email account and it will allow you to send from the Wave account but using your own account to avoid confusion from your clients.
  • Being able to store products, line items, and various services so you can quickly create more invoices later is a great feature! It'll save the price or hourly rate for the next time you need to use it
  • Reoccurring invoices are one of my favorite features, it makes it simple to send invoices to customer who have a monthly fee you need to charge. Wave will send it automatically and there's no extra work for you to do to ensure your customer is up to date on current charges.
  • Taking payments - I would like to see them integrate with CashApp or Venmo since many of my clients like to pay via mobile apps like those and then I have to manually record the payment in Wave
  • I would also like to see a feature that allows you to download a PDF version of an invoice in their mobile app. Other than that the mobile app is great!
If you do freelance work then it's perfect! I love having Wave for side business we perform at work and it makes it so easy to set up a freelance operation with professional invoicing. When a customer, or perspective customer, receives one of Waves invoices it definitely helps to make you look more professional and gives your customer confidence that you aren't just the average Joe that's going to take their money.
J.P. VanderLinden | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a small business owner (founder, principal and independent contractor) with clients across the country, I quickly discovered that I needed a solution to manage my invoicing, cash flow and expenses for the business. Spreadsheets are fine, but I needed something professional but lightweight. I tried a few other solutions, but once I found Wave I was hooked. I've been using it for years, it's my go-to solution, and they keep adding features that make it better. I use it for estimates, invoicing, and bookkeeping.
  • Invoices are so easy to execute. Whether they are one-off or recurring, fixed or variable, single item or multiple line entries, they come out looking professional, polished and they get sent without any fuss. Put your client's info on them, add your logo, describe the services, add notes, set due dates, etc. all without cracking an abacus.
  • It's a little thing but I love how the estimates feature integrates with Invoices. You start by making an estimate for a client, with a defined expiry date. Once they accept, you can convert that estimate immediately into an Invoice and set it up to send.
  • Built-in payment processing is great. I don't have to worry about Paypal or Stripe or anything, Wave just handles my client's credit cards so I don't have to do a thing. They even have recurring billing for my retainer clients!
  • 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.
Wave is free to use, and they have some premium features you can pay for. For someone just starting out as a small business, freelancer or independent contractor, this is a Godsend. You can look professional, have something easy to manage, and yet also have excellent records come the end of the year. You won't spend a bunch of time having to learn the program, it's very intuitive and you get a host of great features that will make getting paid easy.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Wave Accounting is used as the central accounting package for the business. All income and expenses are synchronized from various bank and card accounts. Both one-off and recurring invoices are issued through Wave. Payments via credit card or back transfers are accepted through Wave. Cash low is monitored on the dashboard. Year-end reports are used for income tax calculation.
  • The dashboard provides instant views of month-by month income & expenses for the past 12-24 months, a breakdown of current year expense by category, and net income for the past year and year-to-date.
  • Invoicing has easy templated set up has lots of per invoice options such as single/recurring payment options, due dates.
  • Year end reports are easy to generate in either pdf or csv format.
  • My biggest request is that they add a way to link invoice payments with the bank deposits . When a payment is made through Wave, they show the income and it is marked with the invoice number, but when they transfer the money into the bank, the credit is not tied to the invoice(s). You have to figure out by hand and delete the transaction from the bank to prevent getting double credit on it
  • It would be good to have a field for CC email on each customer. Currently you have to add any CC when sending.
  • On the Transactions view, a few more search options would be helpful.
I have recommended it to many small businesses because first off, it works. Setup and daily use it is easy. There is no cost outside of any payment transaction processing fees. You can probably find lower fees, but they are not out of line with other services.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Wave as our primary accounting solution for the entire company. We're small, but Wave has great features we're using across both backend financial management and front-end sales (quoting and invoicing). The ability to process payments has been a great tool for us as well and the auto-reminder feature on outstanding invoices saves a ton of time so I don't have to manually beat the bushes.
  • Quoting and Invoicing - This feature is huge to be able to manage customers and automate the process of sending invoices as well as reminding outstanding balance holders about their obligations.
  • Payment Processing - Once you get the invoicing down, the ability to process credit card and ACH payments in a single package is great. The fees are competitive and the turn-around time to money in the bank is quick.
  • Bank Integrations - I mean, this ought to be a standard thing these days, but Wave makes it super simple. There is no need to use esoteric APIs or ugly interfaces - everything is in the same Wave wrapper and the functionality is truly seamless.
  • The mobile experience leaves a lot to be desired. While I can use the receipt app to capture expenses, we live in a mobile digital world where I need to be able to create quotes and invoices on the spot and not back at my desk.
  • There are a few accounting and account related tools that could use some sharpening. For example, there isn't a good way to merge transactions - so when I snap a picture of a receipt and add it there is trouble reconciling against the bank. This shows up as two discrete transactions that cannot be merged - so one has to be manually deleted. It kind of defeats the purpose of scanning the receipts in entirely.
  • We've struggled with integrating debt accounts. For example, a shareholder may pay for something to get us by one day - how to we capture that as a debt owed? There isn't a way. The "shareholder debt" account doesn't talk to the rest of the system.
Wave is great at small business accounting where fairly simple quotes and invoices can be set up and payments can be received online or as mailed checks. Other or more complicated situations are not well suited to the platform. Any business that takes in Bitcoin or other alternative currencies will struggle to link the account types together.
Lukas Sundahl, MBA | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Wave for our whole organization. We run various reports from within Wave to track and monitor performance for the firm. With Wave we can easily generate a professional sales invoice for our small company. The reports from the software give us a way to quickly analyze trends both short term and long term.
  • The ease of use with Wave makes it a great tool. Someone without much accounting experience can jump in and use the software.
  • The reports features in Wave make looking at financial statements a breeze. In addition you can quickly drill down into expense categories to see all transactions of a certain type.
  • It is very easy to generate a sales invoice and see the average period for our company to get paid.
  • I love the Wave Invoice app where we can track invoices on the go and verify payment history.
  • One area of improvement for Wave would be combining the various mobile applications into one app.
  • Another room for improvement would be on the dashboard level. It would be great if they could use more bar graphs and get away from pie charts for things like expenses.
  • Some of the other areas from improvement have been addressed by recent updates so I am excited to see what else Wave brings out.
Wave is well suited for small businesses looking to have an accounting service that won't hinder profitability. Wave is a great service for a small business owner just starting out and is flexible enough to meet demands of larger businesses. Wave even offers a paid payroll service if needed for any business owner. The ease of use with Wave makes it perfect for non-accountants, and for accountants they have tools available that they are used to seeing with other accounting software.
Matthew Gehrman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We utilize Wave across the company to manage expenses, invoicing, credit card processing, and 1099 employee payroll tracking. Having one application to handle all these transaction makes the accounting side of the business far less of a headache and with the recent updates it's even easier to navigate.
  • Crisp, clean invoices, and I particularly like the ability to customize the invoice to fit our needs.
  • Custom reporting tools so we can slice & dice our data as needed.
  • Overall interface is incredibly easy to navigate through and you don't have to be a professional accountant or book keeper to make sense of everything.
  • Offering a recurring payment option, credit card processing, and ACH payment options with customer online payment options as well has made our life much easier with the repeat accounts we manage.
  • Adding customers profiles is simple and can be done right in the new invoice tool
  • Setting up vendors is quick and easy to associate to various payable/receivable accounts is simple.
  • Not too much to complain about with Wave although I do wish they kept an audit trail of all invoice reminders sent, changes in the invoice, and have the ability to pull reports with this data. This functionality would be great to review clients as a whole to determine profitability and time spent with these clients.
  • 9% processing fees for all cards which is a bit higher than some of the competitors like Blue Pay. The pro to this though is there's no monthly commitment or monthly service fees.
Wave is an excellent option for small start-up businesses since it's a free application, comparable to others like Xero & Quikbooks, and integrates with most major banks. Where I would see considering to move platforms is when you have more than 10 employees and multiple accounts to balance which at that point may be a good time to consult a book keeper and consider switching software if needed. Side note Wave offers a list of local bookkeeping professionals that work with Wave software in your area so you wouldn't have to change systems.
July 05, 2018

Review: Wave

Chris Hecox | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Wave is responsible for handling my company's bookkeeping, tracking estimates and invoices, and budgeting. Wave handles essentially everything related to finances for my business.
  • Wave can create invoices, send invoices to clients, and notify me once an invoice has been received. It also tracks when invoices are due and allows me to check paid invoices off my list. It's extremely helpful when my previous methods of tracking invoices was updating an excel sheet. A simple feature included with invoicing is the software keeping track of what number invoice I'm currently on, so it's quick to reference different invoices.
  • Bookkeeping with Wave is fairly intuitive. You can connect any of your desired bank accounts to Wave and import your list of transactions. Wave keeps a database of clients, and though it means creating entries for each client (specifically recurring ones) you can tag clients onto income in the bank account. You can also create specific line items for budgets and tag transactions under whatever budget item you wish. There are many ways to use bookkeeping and budgeting with Wave and I've been very pleased to keep everything categorized under one software rather than using multiple applications.
  • Other features I've not used extensively yet that Wave includes are: estimates, cash flow reports, payroll, tax charts, etc. I'll be using estimates and reporting later this year, but I'm still impressed with how much versatility the software allows for.
  • The only disappointment I've had with using Wave so far is how delayed transactions can be with the bank connection. This is likely because of how slow the turnaround can be for check deposits and other transactions to register in the bank (24 hours or more) but it means I need to reference my bank account's website instead of Wave if I have checks arriving on payroll day.
Wave seems like an excellent choice for managing bookkeeping and invoices for a small business like my own. I imagine as a business outgrows Wave, you will need to hire a bookkeeper and other financial planners anyway. For me, this would be quite a ways down the road, but for basic tasks, Wave has sped up my financial workflow significantly. I'm so impressed by what Wave accomplishes. It's everything I need in a financial software. Very impressed.
February 09, 2018

Worth the price!

Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[We're] Using for all accounting functions of a small startup (2 employees). [Also] Using it to track sales and expenses and for tax purposes at the end of the year.
  • Estimates (quotes) and converting them to sales.
  • Offering multiple ways of accepting payment.
  • Dashboard gives up-to-date information.
  • Has no ability to generate a purchase order.
  • Connecting to your bank may not work. My bank has a separate log in for business customers vs. regular customers but the hand-shake to the bank is aimed at the regular customer login.
Geri Lynn Peak | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Wave in my firm (Two Gems Consulting Services) to manage cash-based accounting and track invoices and payments to vendors for projects that amount to around $200K annually and also as the volunteer head of BYI High School for our 4 years of operation and still manage our funds there while the school is on hiatus. Neither concern has departments. Recently, an organization I serve as a board member for took up using Wave and I was glad to see it.
  • The invoicing is easily personalized and works well with both online delivery and with downloaded .pdf files for those who prefer to have direct invoicing from our firm.
  • The billing system makes it easy to track payments to contractors by project, however, it would be great to have a full 1099 solution. The payroll system worked well for us for several years, however, there were some bumps and learning curves. I am not using it at this time.
  • We have a few clients who use the direct payment options and while that costs us a few percentage points (and on the size of our contracts it seems to be a hefty slice), it's still worth it for the piece of mind to get the funds in rapidly. The rates are fairly competitive compared to what we usually.
  • It's useful to be able to assign access to team members or collaborators.
  • Transaction coding could be smoother and offer better search options.
  • Flagging payments before transactions have been uploaded means you have to delete the old notice in order to connect the transaction to an invoice and the billing (expenses) system is always a few steps behind invoices (sales)
  • 1099 tracking and submission would be much appreciated!
With the new features I've noted, I can't think of limitations for the software. It used to be much more small business (sales of services or goods) oriented and didn't fit our work at the school. now it does much more and I don't think it is as limited anymore.
Torrey Holman | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As an online freelancer, I need to be able to bill clients from all over the world. Wave allows me to create my own customized invoice for that, and break down the billing for each individual task. I recently held double positions within a company and I was able to bill for each department on one invoice. It allows me to create, edit, approve, and send invoices, even to send reminders to pay. Once paid I can then record the payment and send a receipt to the client for their records. This is very important as a freelancer because not everyone pays on the same schedule and keeping track of payments could be a hassle otherwise.
  • Separates tasks by name for billing
  • Reminders of invoices coming due and notices of any overdue
  • Calculates payment amount due depending on the information you previously set up
  • Saves time
  • Makes freelancing financials painless
  • I've not run into anything as of yet I'd like to see improved or added
Well suited for those with just one, or several clients, pay rates, tasks or projects. The software is perfect for those who work for themselves and I can't think of any situation that it would not be suitable for. Freelancers in particular though would be able to put Wave to the best use.
Al Wynant | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Wave is an easy to use platform. We use it mainly for invoicing and tracking accounts payable throughout the company. When we started we looked for a system that was easy to implement, didn't require tons of training and looked/acted the part, which it does. We continue to use the platform on a daily basis. It has done a great job in adding more services.
  • Invoicing is easy.
  • Easy customization of the platform.
  • Ability to track your customer's behaviors.
  • At times the platform is slow loading upon login.
  • Wishing the login button was more prominent over the "sign up" button. I often click on the sign up button to log in.
  • We originally added our cc processor to invoicing and have changed provider but have not been able to update the information and have therefore not used the feature.
Since the software is free to use, easy to start with and fairly customizable, it makes great sense for small businesses, start-ups and other organizations that do not have a large budget for accounting software, or capacity for training. Wave is so easy to start with, and the fact that it is free to use, makes it ideal for those scenarios.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Accounting by Wave is used across the organization for invoicing and accounting.
  • Credit Card Acceptance, an excellent feature that makes payment convenient for clients. It's also a very quick set up.
  • Estimate to Invoice Lifecycle: Incredibly useful and time-saving to convert quotes instantly.
  • Usability: Very intuitive and a lovely dashboard for financial overviews.
  • Invoice templates can be customised and look instantly impressive. Very easy to edit, filter, arrange and most importantly, they're easy to process from the client's point of view.
  • Great customer support. The first day I had an IT issue, they solved it straight away.
  • Invoices look great on desktop and device formats.
  • Upload your receipts direct to Wave, even if it's not a unique feature, I love that Wave includes it.
  • My accountant is happy to use the data from it.
  • Seriously everything, every tiny, well thought out feature that I've discovered so far.
  • None found, not yet. It's brilliant.
I'm in awe of this software. I'm a small start up and I've gone through at least 10 or 12 other platforms with a Goldilocks effect of 'This layout is too unimpressive' or 'This makes payment too laborious for clients'...until Wave. It's just right.
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