Wave is a free accounting software for small businesses that want to handle invoicing, accounting, and receipt scanning. But if you want to add the ability to accept payments with your invoices, you’ll need to pay a processing fee. Once you’ve started populating Wave with your company’s data, for example, the app’s dashboard is quite useful.

To get started, you will need to create a free account with Wave. You can do so with your existing Google or Yahoo! account or your email address. The setup process is fundamental, but here it is essential to select a business type that is the best fit. This will minimize your work in the future when you want to customize everything for your specific business. Wave accounting software can be used on any device, anywhere, and at any time as long as you have an internet connection, browser, and your Wave accounting login information.

It is most suitable for service-based, simple/no inventory companies with a low growth plan for the next 3 to 5 years. If you’re looking to gain a firmer grasp of your business’s finances, Zoho Books offers excellent budget management features for as low as $15 per month. However, its budget management tools are reserved for its pricier tiers, making it less appropriate for budget-conscious businesses. It requires no contract, features no hidden fees, and businesses don’t even need to use a credit card to get started. Boasting a perfect score of 10/10 for accounts receivable features and a custom bill-scanning app, our research shows that Wave’s toolkit isn’t too far behind the costly alternatives either.

It helps automate account reconciliation, which helps you match your transactions in Wave to your bank and credit card statements, looking for duplicate, incorrect, and missing transactions. Xero, for example, identifies matching transactions for you and supports other automated processes. It’s free except for the fees that come along with the payment processing.

1. Wave is easy to navigate with its clean and straightforward dashboard, which neatly displays all of its functions.
2. PCMag is obsessed with culture and tech, offering smart, spirited coverage of the products and innovations that shape our connected lives and the digital trends that keep us talking.
3. Also, if you need to print dozens of checks, you’ll prefer QuickBooks Online, as Wave users have to write checks by hand.
4. Sending and storing receipts are made simple with Wave’s scanner, with the receipts stored in a user’s Wave account.
5. You can also improve your business’ rate of collections by leveraging instant payment notifications and automatic email reminders.
6. If you don’t live in those states, Wave can still help by crunching the numbers to give you the correct tax information and money owed.

Wave integrates with Google Sheets, so you can easily migrate your existing financials to the software. You can also improve your business’ rate of collections by leveraging instant payment notifications and automatic email reminders. However, Wave might not be the best choice for businesses that are looking to grow big, as there are no advanced plans available. In addition, Wave doesn’t have any dedicated time-tracking features, which can be an issue for some businesses. So yes, it’s excellent accounting software for small businesses, freelancers, contractors, and sole proprietorships. Last but not least, Wave integrates with popular accounting software.

Organized and stress-free small business accounting

For companies that prefer to pay by check, they can link Wave a bank account in which the transactions will be labeled as payroll liabilities. Meanwhile, businesses that don’t like the idea of linking their bank accounts can manually record payroll transactions using Wave Payroll. Wave enters the picture by providing an accounting software that streamlines the tedious manual process. At the same time, it also simplifies the generation and management of invoices and receipts. The software’s interface is simple and straightforward, thus, reducing the likelihood of errors.

Wave’s payroll service’s functionality is defined by whether you live in a state that allows a third-party service to file for you, or if you need to do it yourself. We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. PCMag is obsessed with culture and tech, offering smart, spirited coverage of the products and innovations that shape our connected lives and the digital trends that keep us talking.

Wave accounting features list

Wave Accounting is free, but you will have to pay processing fees if you choose to accept invoice payments online. Wave also offers paid products for payroll, coaching https://business-accounting.net/ and mobile receipt scanning. Once logged in, your main dashboard will show your cash flow, profit and loss, invoices, bills and other financial insights.

Wave Accounting Review: App Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons

However, if you add any paid service to your account you can chat or email with a live person. You might find the estimate feature helpful, but we recommend you check out our list of the best contractor accounting software for more comprehensive project accounting features. We’ve developed an internal case study to evaluate accounting software across 13 different categories based on a common set of facts and functions. The graph below shows how Wave scores across each category compared with two of its competitors, Zoho Books and QuickBooks Online Plus.

The break down of the transaction costs and what features you’ll get can be a bit complicated, so read on for a full summary, as well as the pricing behind Wave’s Payroll add-on. That said, QuickBooks Online and FreshBooks are our Editors’ Choice winners. They’re more expensive, of course, though they both have entry-level versions that may be affordable for microbusinesses and freelancers. And the more advanced how much does wave accounting cost versions we reviewed are well-suited to larger small businesses thanks to their intuitive operations, smart feature sets, and flexibility. The market is stacked with competitive accounting software options though, so check out our comparison page to see how the best of the best compare side by side. We provide different levels of support, depending on the plan and/or the add-on features you choose.

Importing Transactions From Your Financial Accounts in Wave

Wave simplifies cash flow monitoring by assigning specific sections and tables for a company’s different types of transactions. These include sales, purchases, salaries, and bank transactions. The online accounting software has a built-in tax calculator so users can always record deductibles accurately. Wave payment processing feature allows users to accept credit card and ACH payments. Wave users can accept all types of payments including via bank deposit, credit card, and Apple Pay.

Wave Accounting

With more than 1,800 solutions scrutinized in the last 5 years spent on our team he always prioritized offering readers an unbiased perspective on modern financial technologies. While using Excel or Google Sheets is convenient, it poses a number of pain points. For companies with some knowledge of automation, they are to likely migrate their financials over to the electronic spreadsheets readily provided by their desktops or Google.