Wave is an accounting software designed for small business owners, offering tools such as invoicing, expense tracking, and payroll management. It best serves freelancers, solopreneurs, and small businesses needing straightforward financial management without complex processes.
Wave addresses common pain points experienced by small business teams, including invoice management, expense tracking, business bank reconciliations, and payroll services. In this article, I'll review Wave's attributes, pros and cons, use cases, and pricing to help you decide whether it aligns with your accounting needs.
Wave Evaluation Summary
- From $19/month
- Free plan available
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Wave Overview
I believe Wave is a strong, cost-effective accounting software option, especially for small businesses or freelancers. Its free features, including invoicing and expense tracking, provide substantial value without a steep learning curve. However, the customer support could be more robust, as it's mainly email-based. Compared to competitors such as FreshBooks, QuickBooks, Xero, and Zoho Books, Wave excels in affordability and ease of use, but it may lack advanced capabilities like inventory management, which could be a drawback for more complex businesses. Wave is worth considering if you're service-oriented and want to reduce small-business accounting costs.
pros
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You can use built-in templates to quickly send invoices that are clean and professional.
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You can link your business bank accounts and credit cards to organize transactions.
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You can stay on top of cash flow with simple reports.
cons
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Minimal help is available when something goes wrong, and the support team's responses may be slow.
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You’ll encounter limits if you need advanced reporting or want more control over your books.
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You can’t manage inventory or complex workflows, so it’s not great for growing businesses.
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How We Test & Score Tools
We’ve spent years building, refining, and improving our software testing and scoring system. The rubric is designed to capture the nuances of software selection and what makes a tool effective, focusing on critical aspects of the decision-making process.
Below, you can see exactly how our testing and scoring works across seven criteria. It allows us to provide an unbiased evaluation of the software based on core functionality, standout features, ease of use, onboarding, customer support, integrations, customer reviews, and value for money.
Core Functionality (25% of final scoring)
The starting point of our evaluation is always the core functionality of the tool. Does it have the basic features and functions that a user would expect to see? Are any of those core features locked to higher-tiered pricing plans? At its core, we expect a tool to stand up against the baseline capabilities of its competitors.
Standout Features (25% of final scoring)
Next, we evaluate uncommon standout features that go above and beyond the core functionality typically found in tools of its kind. A high score reflects specialized or unique features that make the product faster, more efficient, or offer additional value to the user.
We also evaluate how easy it is to integrate with other tools typically found in the tech stack to expand the functionality and utility of the software. Tools offering plentiful native integrations, 3rd party connections, and API access to build custom integrations score best.
Ease of Use (10% of final scoring)
We consider how quick and easy it is to execute the tasks defined in the core functionality using the tool. High scoring software is well designed, intuitive to use, offers mobile apps, provides templates, and makes relatively complex tasks seem simple.
Onboarding (10% of final scoring)
We know how important rapid team adoption is for a new platform, so we evaluate how easy it is to learn and use a tool with minimal training. We evaluate how quickly a team member can get set up and start using the tool with no experience. High scoring solutions indicate little or no support is required.
Customer Support (10% of final scoring)
We review how quick and easy it is to get unstuck and find help by phone, live chat, or knowledge base. Tools and companies that provide real-time support score best, while chatbots score worst.
Customer Reviews (10% of final scoring)
Beyond our own testing and evaluation, we consider the net promoter score from current and past customers. We review their likelihood, given the option, to choose the tool again for the core functionality. A high scoring software reflects a high net promoter score from current or past customers.
Value for Money (10% of final scoring)
Lastly, in consideration of all the other criteria, we review the average price of entry level plans against the core features and consider the value of the other evaluation criteria. Software that delivers more, for less, will score higher.
Core Features
Invoicing: You can quickly create and send invoices and easily monitor when clients view and pay them. You can also add your logo, taxes, and due dates, eliminating the need to recreate the same invoice repeatedly.
Expense Tracking: You can automatically import transactions from your business bank account, categorizing expenses as you go, which simplifies tax submissions.
Receipt Capture: You can take a photo of a receipt and attach it to the right transaction for clean records, which prevents loss of paper documents.
Basic Accounting Reports: You can run simple profit and loss, sales tax, and cash flow reports to monitor your business's status.
Payroll Management: You can pay employees and contractors and keep pay runs organized in one place. This helps you track deductions and pay history without messy spreadsheets.
Transaction Categorization: You can categorize income and expenses to keep your records neat and consistent. This speeds up your monthly closing process since you don’t have to re-check every line item.
Ease of Use
Wave makes accounting accessible with its intuitive interface and straightforward navigation. You can easily manage tasks such as invoicing and expense tracking without prior accounting knowledge. The simple setup and clean design minimize the learning curve. Compared to other options, Wave stands out for its free access to basic attributes, making it particularly appealing for small businesses or freelancers who need essential functionality on a budget.
Integrations
Wave integrates with various platforms, including Square, PayPal, Etsy, Shoeboxed, Zapier, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Slack, Mailchimp, and Shopify.
It also provides an API for custom integrations and connects with third-party tools such as Zapier.
Wave Specs
- 2-Factor Authentication
- Accounts Payable
- Accounts Receivable
- API
- Balance Sheet
- Billing/Invoicing
- BitCoin
- Budgeting
- Calendar Management
- Contact Management
- CRM Integration
- Customer Management
- Dashboard
- Data Export
- Data Import
- Data Visualization
- Expense Tracking
- External Integrations
- Forecasting
- General Account Ledger
- Inventory Tracking
- Multi-Currency
- Multi-User
- Notifications
- P&L
- PayPal
- Payroll
- SAP Integration
- Stripe
- Supplier Management
- Tax Management
