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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)
    9.5
    95%
  • Accounts receivable (67)
    9.5
    95%
  • Standard reports (67)
    9.4
    94%
  • Dashboards (68)
    9.3
    93%

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 7.0

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.

9.5
Avg 7.9

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

6.8
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
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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 79)
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Allen Eshmoili | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
August 17, 2021

Wave Accounting Review

Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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 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.
Rachelle Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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