Wavevs
Bonsai
Bonsai: All-in-one business management for freelancers and agencies
Wave
Financial software for small businesses
As of 30 August 2026, Wave is free to use. Wave is a comprehensive financial software solution designed specifically for small businesses. Softwr lists it under Professional Services. Wave is made by Wave Financial Inc, launched in 2010, available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What Wave does
Wave is a comprehensive financial software solution designed specifically for small businesses. It offers free accounting software with integrated payments, payroll, and advisory services to help entrepreneurs manage their finances effectively.
What people use it for
- Invoicing and bookkeeping for very small businesses and freelancers
- Accepting card payments against issued invoices
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Wave.
- Automatic bank transaction import and receipt scanning require the Pro plan at $19 a month
- The free plan pays a $0.60 per transaction fee on card payments on top of 2.9%, which Pro waives only for the first 10 transactions a month
- Beyond 10 transactions a month the Pro plan pays the same per transaction fee as the free one
- Amex is charged at 3.4% rather than 2.9% on both plans
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of Wave
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- WavevsFreelancer.com
Freelancer.com: Find the best freelancers for any job online
- WavevsGuru
Guru: Find freelancers, find a job
- WavevsHiveage
Hiveage: Simple, all-in-one invoicing and billing software
Pricing
What Wave costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Accounting
Free
- Unlimited invoicing
- Expense tracking
- Financial reports
- Receipt scanning
- Bank connections
Payments
On request
- 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction
- Credit card processing
- Bank payments (1%)
- Recurring billing
Payroll
$35 /mo
- $35/month base + $6/employee
- Tax calculations
- Direct deposit
- Tax filing (select states)
Capabilities
Features
Double-entry accounting
Invoicing
Expense tracking
Financial reporting
Bank reconciliation
Receipt scanning
Multi-currency
Sales tax tracking
PayPal
Integration with PayPal
Stripe
Integration with Stripe
Etsy
Integration with Etsy
Shoeboxed
Integration with Shoeboxed
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Can I try Wave before committing to a paid plan?
Sign up for the Starter Plan to take the bookkeeping and invoicing basics for a spin. Then, whenever you're ready, upgrade to the Pro Plan to unlock even more money management features.
SourceWhat happens if I want to cancel my subscription?
Yes, you can unsubscribe at any time. The cancellation of your subscription will take effect at the end of the billing period in which you cancel.
SourceCan I upgrade or downgrade my plan easily?
To upgrade to the Pro Plan, sign into Wave. Visit your dashboard or use your invoicing or accounting features, and click the 'Upgrade now' button.
SourceBehind it
Who makes Wave
- Company
- Wave Financial Inc
- Based in
- Toronto, Canada
Keep looking
Where to go from Wave
- Wave alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Wave pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Wave badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Professional Services softwareThe full category
- Best Professional Services softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Professional Services software for
Compare Wave with
- Hiveage
- Bonsai
- Freelancer.com
- Guru
- Plutio
- FreshBooks
- Harvest
- Teamwork
- Accelo
- Certinia PSA
- Function Point
- Netsuite OpenAir
- PracticePanther
- Productive
- Kantata
- Plutio
- Function Point
- Netsuite OpenAir
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From $500/mo13 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Wave, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Wave
Wave alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Wave pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Wave
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Wave badge
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