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Wave Accounting Review 2025: Pros, Cons, Features

Until then, the software is still a good solution for small business owners looking for simple, easy-to-use accounting software that won’t break the bank. Wave’s free pricing structure gives the software its appeal, but users that have larger businesses and require more advanced accounting features may find QBO or Xero to be the better fit. This free, easy-to-use accounting software is great for small businesses, especially for eCommerce, but lacks in project management, budgeting, and inventory tracking. Wave lets small business owners like you create beautiful invoices, accept online payments, and make accounting easy—all in one place.

QuickBooks

With Wave, you have access to expense tracking, bank reconciliation, and reporting to help you manage your finances. When it comes to integrations, Wave is pretty limited, although it does support a much-needed Zapier integration, which connects Wave with 1,000+ add-ons. The only downside is that there’s no back button, but navigating the software is still pretty simple. Wave has partnered with H&R Block to offer tax services. This service is included at no charge on Pro accounts.

Over 350,000 small businessestrust Wave to easily button-uptheir books

Like Wave, QuickBooks Online is easy-to-use, cloud-based accounting software. Check out our comparisons among these top three accounting software options to find the right fit for your business. Fortunately, the Help how to figure out how much to sell for based on profit margin Center provides plenty of guides and information to help with most issues, and the software is intuitive enough that this support option will be sufficient for most users.

  • The lack of these features brought our score in this category to 3 out of 5 stars.
  • Click here to exchange your fare products.
  • Wave’s customer support resources and new Wave Advisor services make it easy for people with limited accounting experience to learn the software.
  • Wave is a top pick for the accounting and information technology industries, and it’s one of the lower-priced options for its capabilities.

App support

As of January 15, 2022, RIPTA no longer accepts paper fare products for payment. When did RIPTA stop accepting paper fare products for payment? Can I still buy paper fare products? What should I do with my unused paper fare products? The Wave mobile app lets you quickly buy bus fares on your phone.

The software supports multiple companies and offers personal accounting as well. Xero also doesn’t support multiple businesses, so pricing can add up quickly for some users. With limitations on Xero’s lowest-tier plans, users will have to upgrade to a more expensive option to take advantage of everything the software has to offer. Xero has more advanced features, hundreds of integrations, and also supports unlimited cash receipt templates users.

Best POS Systems For Small Business

Visit your dashboard or use your invoicing or accounting features, and click the “Upgrade now” button. Our plans are built for small business owners at common size balance sheet every stage! Wave’s tools are web-based, so you just need an Internet connection and browser—no installation is necessary for our online software! In eight years, we haven’t had a single unpaid invoice, thanks to how easy it is to create, send, and follow up.

While the free plan still exists, a paid plan is now available. Wave has recently updated its pricing model to now include a paid plan. In our last review, we found these features especially appealing because they were all completely free with no artificial limits. Xero is responsive and intuitive, with core accounting features in billing, invoicing, purchasing, and expense tracking.

User Reviews

We recommend Xero for its user-friendly interface, affordability, and unlimited users per subscription. You can also get it as a mobile app to take pictures of receipts and upload them, send reminders for invoices you have out. If you need a payment processor or you need a software that will handle all of your financials, I recommend this one. I use it for quotes and invoices and receipts and accounting, the end of year reports for my taxes. The business (WAVE’s client) cannot pursue the chargeback as the WAVE Merchant Processing’s bank was the one that is the bank on record where the original payment was sent.

Zoho Books is an accounting software that is a popular alternative to QuickBooks, offering easy-to-use features. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your business and provide us with a little more information about yourself in order to get approved to accept online payments. Overall, we rate Wave 3.9/5 and recommend it for business owners looking for a cheap — or in most cases, free — accounting software option. There’s no project management and limited time tracking, which rules the software out for a lot of businesses. QuickBooks Online also has hundreds of integrations, connecting your accounting solution with other small business software and apps.

Should you need to upgrade to a more advanced solution, Wave makes it easy to migrate your data into another system. Overall, Wave is a smart, inexpensive choice for new companies that plan to stay relatively small. Wave is a top pick for the accounting and information technology industries, and it’s one of the lower-priced options for its capabilities.

Wave Customer Service

Wave’s dashboard organizes your info to show how your business is performing. Want to look more polished, save more time, and conquer cash flow? Just starting your business or looking for the basics? Learn how to cancel your subscription in our Help Center. The cancellation of your subscription will take effect at the end of the billing period in which you cancel. Learn more about how Wave support works here.

How to file taxes as a sole proprietor (in the US)

  • FreshBooks is an accounting software that allows you to invoice clients, track expenses, and accept payments.
  • We recommend Wave for small businesses, freelancers, and startups with less than ten employees.
  • Wave also has some of the most appealing invoices on the market.
  • Any connections between you, your bank accounts, and Wave are protected by 256-bit SSL encryption.

For the most part, Wave receives high praise from its users. Overall, we rated Wave’s customer service a 4.3/5. An additional fee applies for filing your taxes through this integration, which includes an automatic import of Wave data into H&R Block.

Spend more time onwhat you love

However, the free plan still offers unlimited invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records, making it a solid option for those with basic accounting needs. We don’t like that Wave provides online support but no phone number. As of January 15, 2022, RIPTA no longer accepts paper fare products on board fixed-route service. As part of our transition to Wave, RIPTA has discontinued the sales of paper fare products online and onboard. Approval to use online payments is subject to eligibility criteria, including identity verification and credit review. If you’re looking for an on-the-go solution, you can install our mobile app to help you manage invoices and payments.

Though it offers accounting functionality at no cost, Wave isn’t for businesses requiring budgeting, time tracking, job management, and more industry-specific features. We provide different levels of support, depending on the plan and/or the add-on features you choose. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. You should double-check with the service provider/financial institution directly as well as obtain independent financial advice prior to making any financial commitments or business decisions.

Wave also has some of the most appealing invoices on the market. This option is great for business owners who are new to accounting or want to outsource bookkeeping and/or tax filing. Finally, if you need extra help with your bookkeeping, accounting, or taxes, Wave Advisors is a service you can add to your account. This is a pay-per-use service with credit card processing rates ranging from 2.9% – 3.4% + $0.00 – $0.60 per transaction and ACH rates set at 1% per transaction.

Get a card

The Wave smart card is a permanent, rechargeable card used to pay your bus fare that you can easily manage online. You now pay your bus fare using either a Wave smart card OR the Wave mobile app. I can send out both from the app—extremely easy to use.”