Wave review

Wave combines bookkeeping, invoicing, payments, and payroll tools for small businesses. Its accounting features track income and expenses, help manage cash flow, and provide financial reports. You can create invoices and estimates, collect deposits, and scan and store receipts. Wave also offers a mobile app, online payment options, payroll, and paid help with bookkeeping, accounting, or payroll through Wave Advisors.

The Starter plan costs $0 per month and includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records, plus mobile invoicing. Pro costs $19 monthly or $190 yearly, which works out to $15.83 per month. It adds automated bank imports, transaction categorization, digital receipt capture, and late-payment reminders, according to the pricing page. Payroll and some bookkeeping services are paid add-ons, so the free plan is a starting point, not necessarily the full cost of running Wave.

Wave puts everyday small-business finance tasks in one product: bookkeeping, invoices and estimates, payments, and payroll. That can be simpler than assembling separate tools if your needs are basic. Starter is genuinely listed at $0 per month, with unlimited estimates, invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records. It also includes mobile invoicing, so you can start without paying for Pro.

Pro’s case is less about a longer feature list than reducing manual work. The pricing page lists automatic bank transaction imports, automatic merging and categorization, unlimited digital receipt capture, and automated late-payment reminders. It costs $19 monthly or $190 yearly. Wave also lists payments by card, bank payment, and Apple Pay among its options, while Wave Advisors offers bookkeeping, accounting, and payroll support for businesses that want help with the work.

For a small business that wants a single place to handle records and billing, the free entry tier and upgrade path are straightforward. You can add only the paid services you need, but should price those separately before switching.

The $0 plan does not mean every useful feature is free. Digital receipts cost $11 monthly or $96 yearly on Starter; the pricing page lists them at $8 monthly or $72 yearly with Pro. Payroll starts at $25 per month with Starter or $40 with Pro. A bookkeeper starts at $199 per month with Starter or $149 with Pro. Those add-ons can make a low-cost setup considerably more expensive.

Payments also carry transaction fees. Starter card payments are listed at 2.9% plus $0.60, and Amex at 3.4% plus $0.60. Pro card payments are listed at 2.9% plus $0 for the first 10 transactions each month; the published pricing details do not state the fee after that. Wave Advisors is listed at $172/month and $134/month†, but its billing terms are not stated.

There is also a switching risk to check: one Reddit thread says Wave removed bank-synced transactions for legacy accounts despite previously advertising the service as free. That is a user report, not a statement about every account, but it is worth confirming what happens to your existing bank connection before moving records.

Starter costs $0 and includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, with online payments available for an extra fee. Pro is $19 monthly or $190 yearly, equivalent to $15.83 per month. That is the jump from free to paid automation: Pro adds bank transaction imports and categorization, receipt capture and late-payment reminders. Its 2.9% + $0 card rate applies to the first 10 transactions per month; the published pricing does not state the rate after that.

Watch the add-ons. Digital receipts cost $11/month or $96/year on Starter, and $8/month or $72/year on Pro. Payroll starts at $25/month with Starter or $40/month with Pro; bookkeeping starts at $199/month or $149/month, respectively. Wave Advisors is listed at $172/month or $134/month†, but its billing terms are not stated. Card processing fees also apply: Starter lists 2.9% + $0.60, or 3.4% + $0.60 for Amex. Check the full costs before treating Wave as a predictable all-in option.

The published material does not specify Wave’s import or export formats, whether historical transactions and invoices transfer, or whether bank connections carry over. Confirm those details before moving your books in either direction; do not assume a clean migration based on the feature list alone. The stated warning for prospective users is legacy bank sync: Wave may not suit businesses that depend on it.

Wave’s free Starter plan can make it a lower-cost starting point, but paid automation, payroll, receipts and bookkeeping support can change the total. Before switching, check whether you can export the records you need and whether the paid features you rely on are included in your target plan. Wave Advisors includes a dedicated bookkeeper and monthly financial statements, while the published plan details say mobile receipts are not included.

No Reddit posts or comments were included in the published material, so we can’t responsibly attribute reasons for leaving Wave to Reddit users. Treat migration and export support as questions to verify with Wave before you commit.