Wave Payroll has two options ranging from $20 – $40/month + $6/employee or contractor. Tax service payroll is available in 14 states, while self-service payroll is available in the remaining 36 states. NerdWallet independently reviews accounting software products before determining our top picks. We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives. Information is gathered on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy.

Invoice, scan receipts & more

Wave’s software is simpler—designed for easy use for freelancers and small businesses—while QuickBooks’ platform is designed to cover complex business needs and grow as your business grows. If you’re a freelancer or other solo service provider, Wave is a better option. Before you commit to accounting software, it’s in your best interest to shop around and compare all your options. Unlike QuickBooks and FreshBooks, Wave Accounting is completely free to use.

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Wave’s smart dashboard organizes your income, expenses, payments, and invoices. Transactions will appear in your bookkeeping automatically, and you’ll say goodbye to manual receipt entry. With the Pro Plan, automatically import, merge, and categorize your bank transactions.

Accounting softwarethat works as hard as you do

1. Wave offers accrual-basis accounting only, not cash-basis accounting.
2. We’ve already hit on a few accounting features that set Wave apart, but there are a few more perks to cover.
3. You can upgrade to Pro and add features as you need them, like bank account connections and real-time transaction updates, and you can easily make changes as your requirements change.

Not being able to see or input the expenses unless I pay for the quick receipt plan in app is kind of a bummer. I’m glad the option is still available online and the system works great and the amount of different charts available is super helpful. These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most. We encourage you to research and compare multiple accounting software products before choosing one. Since you’re self-employed you don’t have the resources of a large company to make sure you’re paid properly and your books are balanced. Wave accounting software is the solution you need to take charge of your business and keep your hard-earned money safe.

It’s always available, and it’s backed up for extra peace of mind. Powerful, easy-to-use accounting software that has everything you need to confidently run your business. You work hard to make your business a success—that’s why Wave uses both physical and digital protection to keep your money safe. Wave is also PCI Level-1 certified, which is often necessary with third-party merchant service providers. Create graphs, charts, merchant account fees and payment gateway pricing and dashboards to see at a glance where your income is coming from and which expenses are cutting into your bottom line. You can then dig down as deep as you like with expense tracking and customized reports to manage your revenue, categorize expenses, and find cost-cutting opportunities.

Limited customer service

In the past, Wave generated revenue from its credit card processing, Wave Payroll, and bookkeeping services. While Wave’s free accounting software doesn’t limit you how to find your employer identification number to a certain number of invoices, customers, or transactions, certain features and automations are now only available by subscribing to Wave Pro. While Wave is free to use, it doesn’t offer multiple plans to increase its functionality. It lacks some of the useful features you may find in other accounting software, such as project management, time tracking and inventory management.

Similar to other reputable cloud-based accounting software products, Wave encrypts the data you share with it and monitors its server facilities 24/7. While Wave has a lot to offer when it comes to invoicing, know that it’s still slightly less automated than some competitors. This isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker, but it might require a bit more bookkeeping work. With a Pro Plan subscription, you can connect your bank zoho books: review of accounting software account with Wave and automatically import your transactions. Bank data connections are read-only and use 256-bit encryption.