Wave is a freemium accounting tool designed for freelancers and small businesses. With features like invoicing, accounting reports, payroll, and bookkeeping services, Wave is a great option for service-oriented businesses with standard accounting needs. Accounting reports, invoicing, and business bank accounts are offered for free. Services such as payroll and bookkeeping must be purchased. With a streamlined dashboard, easy-to-navigate interface, and additional features like payroll and tax filing, Wave is a great choice for any small business with standard accounting needs.
Wave Review Summary
Wave was founded in 2009 by James Lochery and Kirk Simpson. Originally offering only accounting software, the company has introduced Wave Payroll, Wave Payments, Wave Invoicing, and Wave Advisors over the past 10 years. After being acquired by H&R Block in 2019, Wave launched Wave Money, a full-service business bank account. Wave currently serves more than 4 million customers from 400,000 small businesses.
There’s no denying that Wave is one of the most popular accounting software tools on the market, and that’s large because of its low cost and great user interface. The core software tools—accounting, invoicing, and business bank account—are completely free, while other tools such as payment processing, payroll, and services come at a monthly fee. We’ll break these costs down later.
The users we interviewed were very happy with the tool given its low cost and ease of use. Cole Torres, the owner of Local Eye Media, notes that Wave is particularly beneficial for companies that provide services rather than products.
During our testing, we found Wave to be extremely easy to use, albeit less advanced, than tools like QuickBooks and Zoho Books. We also noted that the application offers many step-by-step self-help options within the dashboard, which should help those who are new to accounting software tools.
We highly recommend Wave to all small businesses. This software will help you perform basic accounting and bookkeeping tasks for free, while paid products and services are flexible and allow you to choose what you want to pay for. If you need a tool that’s more advanced, or if you have customers and suppliers in many different countries, we recommend choosing QuickBooks Online or Zoho Books, which are less user-friendly but Offer more functionality.
Set Up Accounting
WaveApps makes it easy and secure to connect bank accounts or PayPal accounts to the service for real-time accounting information. View transactions, pay vendors or receive payments from clients.
Create an Invoice
The app allows users to accept credit cards as well as physical payments.
Credit card processing is one-way WaveApps makes money. Signing up to receive payments by credit card is free, but the app charges 30 cents per incoming payment plus an additional 2.9%. The same fees that PayPal and Stripe charge for incoming payments.
WaveApps also generates revenue through sidebar product ads and paid customer support. It is completely web-based software so you can log in from any device connected to the internet.
If you travel or are out of the office often, this accounting tool is for you! Log in from any internet-ready device.
Payroll
Have employees? No problem! Payroll is easy with WaveApps:
Review and approve payroll with a few clicks.
No fines, payroll accuracy guaranteed.
Free direct deposit
Automated accounting
This feature starts at $19 per month.
Overall, the app is great to use. It has a simple WordPress-style dashboard on the left side of the screen. The dashboard has large, easy-to-click buttons that are easy (and not frustrating) to use with any type of device.
The dashboard allows the user to easily:
View and print all transactions.
Print and view all receipts
View and print all bills.
View, analyze, and print all reports, including balance sheets, income statements, and sales tax reports.
Upload images of paper invoices to seamlessly integrate into Wave’s accounting tools
Easily add or remove employees from the payroll.
Access a network of local WavePro accountants who can help organize and optimize the books, offer tax assistance, as well as customize WaveApp for a tailored experience.
In addition to this great platform, WaveApp offers live support with a direct line to headquarters (no robots!) and live online chat support. They are working hard to give customers access to “strength in numbers” business savings deals such as tax services and other necessities.
Overall, WaveApps offers a streamlined approach to managing small business finances. The free version is robust, and the service also offers accounting management for your personal finances and bank accounts. Wave is one of the best alternatives to QuickBooks.
Another great alternative to QuickBooks and WaveApps is Bonsai: an all-in-one business management and finance suite for freelancers and small businesses. Among other features, they include accounting, invoicing, and tax features that seamlessly allow users to fully automate their workflow.
Searching in Google is very easy today. Just type in Accountant and your area. If you are near Coventry, google “accountants Coventry” and you will find companies that can help you.
Wave Pricing & Cost
Wave offers its accounting software, invoicing features, and business bank account for free. Other features and services, such as payroll and bookkeeping services, come at prices ranging from $20 per month to $1500 per year, which are broken down in the table below.
