Wave Accounting Reviews

Excellent for freelancers and small businesses

Comments: Extremely positive. In 3+ years I don't think I've had to contact support once, nor have I ever considered switching to other tools. It is one of the few software tools I use regularly where I am happy to open it, and I'm happy to give them their percentage. As a freelancer, Wave has been indispensable to me. Always simple and smooth, and exceptional bang for the buck. Not only would I recommend Wave to freelancers and small businesses, I have recommended it. Numerous times.

Pros:

Wave is ideal for freelancers. Set up is really simple and the interface is user-friendly. I have zero background in financial matters, and with Wave that's totally fine. The price is also right. There's no subscription or hidden fees, they just take a perfectly reasonable percentage from invoice payments. I asked a financial advisor friend of mine before signing up, and she was pleasantly surprised by the low rates, and told me to go for it. I've been using Wave for over 3 years, and I have never once been hit with a fee outside of the basic rates. Wave also provides a host of reporting and tracking tools in this basic account. They didn't influence my decision to sign up, but they've proven to be very useful. And finally a small but really helpful feature, especially if you're a freelancer just starting out: immediate money transfers. Once someone pays your invoice, the money is in Wave, and takes 2-3 days to transfer. For 1% more payment, you can transfer money within minutes. For the cash-strapped freelancer, that can be mana from heaven.

Cons:

There are no major cons that I can think of. One issue I have is mostly my fault: When I first started using Wave I didn't know what I was doing, and I ended up creating a whole bunch of client and work type records unnecessarily. It would be nice if there were some more in-your-face tutorials, maybe some hover tips for new users. But the messiness is mainly from me leaping in before looking.

My Journey with Wave Accounting

Comments: Upon signing up for Wave Accounting, I was immediately impressed by the intuitive onboarding process. The platform guided me through setting up my business profile, connecting my bank accounts, and customizing my invoice templates. This seamless experience allowed me to dive right into managing my finances. Wave Accounting's payroll features have made it easy to manage payments and tax deductions for my team. The platform also integrates with popular tax software, simplifying the process of filing taxes.

Pros:

Wave Accounting offers a robust payments system that supports credit card and bank payments. The platform also provides customizable invoice templates, making it easy to create professional-looking invoices. Wave Accounting's accounting features are comprehensive and easy to use. The platform automatically categorizes transactions, making it simple to track income and expenses. These reports have been invaluable in helping me understand my business's financial health and make informed decisions.

Cons:

During my time using Wave Accounting, I encountered a few minor issues. For example, I noticed occasional delays in syncing transactions from my bank account. However, the platform's customer support team was responsive and helpful in resolving these issues.

WAVE --> Google is a joke. It doesn't work, don't waste your time

Pros:

When it was available to all countries it was much better, but with the current restrictions it is awful.

Cons:

It's a piece of garbage. You can't even upload customers from Google Sheets to Wave. 1000 customers? It'll upload 200, stall out, and then duplicate your customers endlessly with no way to delete.

Great for US and Canada Market

Comments: They were grateful what I needed at the time which was a small sole trader, freelancer business. Since then it has grown a bit more and I needed a bit more integration with other applications. When they were available to the New Zealand market it was my go to accounting software I would recommend to all of my clients.

Pros:

When I originally got this product it was free and you could use it in New Zealand. However they removed the international client base for new signups and focused more on the US and Canada market. But since I got an early I was able to use it for many years in my freelance career.The expense tracking was really good and it really saved me having to hire an accountant as it did most of the work for me.

Cons:

This isn't really a con for wave accounting but more of a observation. I did have to learn a bit about Accounting in order to make sure that I was fulfilling my tax obligations.I was looking for more third-party integrations that I wasn't able to get with Wave.

Solid option for small businesses

Comments: Wave Accounting was a simple, powerful step up from using Google Docs to create invoices and manually tracking which ones were paid. I don't have to worry about keeping all my payments straight throughout the month; Wave does it all for me.

Pros:

Getting set up is a breeze, the invoicing features are super strong, and Wave is a powerful platform for small businesses. If you're still using Google Docs to create your invoices, do yourself a favour and sign up for wave.I could easily teach anyone to use this platform, meaning that familiarizing new hires with my invoicing app of choice would be super easy.

Cons:

I think the onboarding from my most-used feature (invoicing) to other features isn't as strong, but this is a very minor con.

Easy to use

Comments: Love that there are features that we haven't used yet that we can still implement to get more value out if it, like payroll.

Pros:

I love how easy it is to hook up to my accounts.

Cons:

The fetch new data and verifying my accounts each time is a little annoying, but it still worth it.

Problem Solved!

Pros:

Wave Accounting has a slick interface and is super easy to navigate when managing the accounts, invoice distribution and income.

Cons:

We found Wave doesn't have all of the functionality we need for our business.

A good start for small businesses to easily manage their billing and invoicing

Comments: It made my startup process easy and saved my business a lot of expenses. I also learnt a lot as a novice with basic financial knowledge.

Pros:

First of all, it is completely FREE part from other optional extra services that have recently been added at a cost. Very easy-to-use in creating invoices and billing customers. I was able to integrate with my startup business processes and it improved our professionalism. I loved the app because I could easily manage my business finances from my mobile phone, follow up on due payments, track payments, monitor cashflow, and also customize all correspondence with my brand colors and logo.

Cons:

I was sad when most features were limited to US residents and I also couldn't access the mobile app in the app store for my region. Users outside the USA might have some limitations especially with connecting banks or credit cards and no access to the mobile app

The best in cloud-based accounting software.

Comments: Overall, Wave Accounting is a popular choice for small businesses and freelancers looking for a free, user-friendly accounting solution with essential features for financial management.Wave Accounting offers a comprehensive set of features, ease of use, and affordability, making it a preferred choice for small businesses and freelancers seeking a reliable accounting solution.

Pros:

Cost-effective: Wave Accounting is free to use for its core features, making it a cost-effective solution for businesses with limited budgets. It eliminates the need for expensive accounting software or hiring professional accountants.User-friendly: Wave Accounting has an intuitive interface that is easy to navigate, even for users with limited accounting knowledge. It simplifies the bookkeeping process and allows users to manage their finances effectively without requiring extensive training.

Cons:

Limited scalability: Wave Accounting is primarily designed for small businesses and freelancers. As your business grows and becomes more complex, you may find that Wave lacks the advanced features and customization options needed to accommodate your expanding accounting needs.Limited customer support: While Wave provides customer support, free account users may experience limited access to support options. Paid support plans are available, but they come at an additional cost. If you rely heavily on customer support, especially for complex accounting issues, you may find the support options provided by Wave insufficient.

Wave Accounting is perfect for small businesses!

Comments: I look forward to growing my business to the point that I am excited to bump up to the paid versions. It is an easy entry point for entrepreneurs to track income and expense that doesn't involve spreadsheets!

Pros:

I especially like the ease of use and flexibility even in the free version. Outstanding option even for me as I transition from working as an accountant for 30 years to launching my own business.

Cons:

I have a client who likes to be invoiced and pay through PayPal. I have not figured out how to integrate that in Wave, so I create a version in both platforms as a work around.

It’s free, but better than any paid accounting software.

Comments: We’ve been using wave since beta. We tried Quickbooks and a few other accounting platforms after a consultant suggested we review other platforms. Ultimately, we never left wave and will not in the foreseeable future.

Pros:

Wave is free, but it’s powerful. Wave is suitable for any small to medium business. Wave handles all our accounting needs.

Cons:

Wave has two major areas of improvement. 1. Their customer service is difficult, especially if you have an urgent matter. Their chargeback dispute process is not easy and confusing. Again, customer support regarding chargebacks is difficult considering you have a few days to submit a dispute package.

I LOVE Wave!

Comments: Overall, I highly recommend Wave if you are running a business and want low costs and an easy way to manage your finances. My business is simple and Wave makes it so much easier for me to stay on top of things and know where I need to focus my energy.

Pros:

I have been using Wave since around 2015 and my books were a mess when I first began because I was doing them (not my strength) and once I heard about Wave's bookkeeping services, I couldn't believe how affordable they were. It's super easy to set up and use, run reports and know about your financials. I tried switching to QB for about 1 month and hated it, so I switched back. Lesson learned and I'm sticking around!

Cons:

One thing I had to get used to was because I had my bank account connected and until the month is reconciled, when a invoice is paid I mark it paid and then the 'payment' comes in again from banking. It was easy to catch and now my Wave bookkeeper keeps all that reconciled. Thank you!

Best accounting software to grow as a small business

Comments: The overall experience with Wave has been very good. With some hiccups on the roadmap, Wave has evolved by leaps and bounds from a pretty basic software to quite a powerhouse, even for the free version. If my business grows and I will feel the need to add more features such as payroll and tax advisor use, I will still remain a Wave believer!

Pros:

I've used Wave since 2009!!! I feel like my company grew with it. It's helped me understand all I was doing right (and wrong!) financially in my business. It helps tremendously when filing monthly sales taxes. I keep a habit of staying organized, verifying all transactions and reconciling with my bank accounts. All of this, plus categorizing everything the right way makes tax time an absolute breeze - my taxes are done in two days and I don't need to freak out about it because everything is organized ahead of time and all I do is input expenses and sales.

Cons:

What I least like about Wave is that a few years ago they stopped support for free accounts. Absolutely no human support whatsoever. Disagree with that big time!!! Sometimes also a bank connection will be interrupted and you cannot reconnect for many many months and since there is no support, you are left without any help. I am a small business of one person and I do not need any of the paid features that Wave offers so I could be upgraded to paid support, so I am always stuck in no human support land. It doesn't feel good, especially to someone who has used this software for as long as I have.

Wonderful accounting software for starting and growing a service business

Comments: I haven't gone through a tax season with my business yet, but I have been an independent consultant and I anticipate having everything tracked in Wave is going to help me out a lot come April. It's so easy to use and I can focus on my core business rather than spending a lot of time on admin.

Pros:

Wave helps me do so much. I can issue invoices, track them (I.e. I can see when a client has viewed it!), and allow clients to make payments directly through the invoice. I can also customize my invoice, which is great. I could do all of this from day 1. I'm a solopreneur and launched my business this summer. I was able to issue professional invoices from day 1 and track my expenses using their receipts app. The other thing I love about Wave is that they are very interested in feedback from their customers. I've had a few interactions with them and it's always been really pleasant. It's also free which helps me out a lot. I do use the credit card payments, which has a fee like any other service would.

Cons:

Their mobile app could use some work, and I've given them this feedback. The receipts app is great to take pictures really quickly, but I generally have to use the browser to do anything else.

A User-Friendly Accounting Software: Wave Accounting

Comments: Overall, I'm very satisfied with the Wave Accounting software. It's comprehensive yet easy to use, and the mobile app makes it easy to stay on top of my business. The only downside is that some features are lacking compared to competitors, and the customer service could be improved.

Pros:

I've been using Wave Accounting for my small business for a few years now, and I'm really impressed by its user-friendly interface and the comprehensive set of features it offers. It's great for tracking expenses, managing invoices, and reconciling bank accounts. The mobile app is also very handy, making it easy to stay on top of my business even when I'm away from my computer.

Cons:

While Wave Accounting is a great accounting software, it is missing some features that competitors offer. For instance, it doesn't have budgeting or forecasting capabilities, and the reporting options are quite limited. Additionally, the customer service could be improved, as it can be difficult to get help when you need it.

Exactly what I want in a small business accounting software

Comments: Very stress free. For a free app, you expect the quality to not be as high, but overall Wave has been very reliable. I didn't really want to pay $30+ a mo for Quickbooks when all I need is for my transactions to be categorized. Wave does this well, so glad it is free. I did use the chat once and had very good experience, although I think I saw they were disabling chat except for people that have paid for support or something, so that's a bummer. But I understand, they have to get paid somehow so I'm not complaining.

Pros:

I love the simplicity. We are just a small business, so the primary purpose of using this app is to categorize all my expenses, so once tax time rolls around, I just have to send the tax lady a breakdown of my income and expenses. Once a week or so, I'll log in to check all the transactions it imported from my bank account. It auto categorizes most of them which is awesome, I just have to click the check mark button to verify it was categorized correctly. Then once tax season rolls around, I just run the income statement report and send it to the tax office. I even have created a review account for the tax lady to be able to log in and see my business finances. We are just a simple business so we probably don't use some of the more advanced features, but it does what I want and best of all, it's F-R-E-E. I do also like the payroll and invoicing options if we need that in the future, although that is unlikely for our business.

Cons:

For some reason, they disabled the ability for deposits to be auto categorized. This is my most common type of bank transactions, since all credit card payments are deposited into my account a few days after they process, so I have tons of transactions I have to go manually mark as the 'Sales' category. I did talk to customer support over chat about this though, and the lady agreed this would be extremely useful so they are looking into this.

Great Software. Super Affordable.

Pros:

For a small business, or probably even a larger one, it's a really great software with all of the accounting and billing basics needed, and it's basically free. The online payment system works really well for getting payments from clients. They can either pay with a credit card or ACH, which is great. You can turn off credit card payments too if you don't want to have a fee taken from your payments, which I also find as a nice feature. The invoices look very professional, can be white-labeled, so it just has your branded information on it. The invoices are also really easy to make. We had been trying to use Excel as an accounting system when we first started our small business, and found Wave soon after. It was a huge upgrade, and not very expensive. The reports are great, and it's easy to track expenses and monies brought in. It solved all of our accounting needs as a small website building business.

Cons:

The one thing we really think can be improved are the recurring invoices. It doesn't make the invoice numbers in order based on that client's invoices, so they're oddly out of order. It's not a huge deal, but would be much better if it kept the invoice numbers specific to each set of clients.

Best FREE Accounting and Invoicing App for Small businesses/Freelancers

Comments: WAVE is the best inexpensive mobile and cloud accounting software out there. I doubt if there is any accounting and invoicing software that can provide all of WAVE's features for free!

Pros:

I use Wave Mobile App for my business' finance, for managing my income and expenses. I use wave for billing and creating invoices for my clients. After using Wave for over 2 years now, I can say it works quite well. It allows me to create client contacts, which the app automatically uses to create client record books. The interface is simple and easy to get along with. The fingerprint unlock integration is one of my best features because I am able to sign in to the app without trying hard to remember passwords or pins. Above all, I think the best thing about Wave is, you get most of the relevant features needed for FREE!

Cons:

There are few hitches I encounter using wave. I am not able to write off a partly paid bill as bad debt if all attempts to reclaim the payment from my clients fail. Sometimes, people pay about 70% and fail to pay for the rest. In order to close the invoice, I will have to mark it as completely paid and doing that can overstate or affect my financial records and reports within Wave.

My go-to invoicing and accounting tool for my small business!

Comments: Nothing but amazing! I'm so glad I switched from Square for my invoice and payment processing.

Pros:

It is so easy to use, and customized specifically for small business owners. I absolutely LOVE the invoice feature - it's the primary feature that I use - and it just works so well. My completed payments rate is 100% and I believe is at least in part due to how easy the process is to view/pay invoices.

Cons:

Sometimes I wish the payment speed was faster after a client makes a payment, but then they introduced instant deposits and I'm happy to pay the small fee to get my money faster!

Wave Accounting Review

Comments: An overall exceptional experience using Wave for my accounting needs. The only drawback is the automated banking transaction allocation as well as payroll management are not available in my country.

Pros:

The basic version of the software is free and includes many features not found in paid versions. You don't need to purchase expensive add-ons to make it work for accounting, bookkeeping, or invoicing. Wave offers additional services that will help you improve your skills within the program. Wave automatically syncs your accounting and invoicing, making it a great choice for small businesses that want to consolidate and automate their bookkeeping and billing. Wave's invoicing capabilities are unlimited and completely free. Wave's invoicing features are also customizable and easy to use. Wave allows you to create customer profiles and send follow-up emails. You can also receive reminders and receipts for payment. Wave also offers a mobile app that lets you track and send invoices. Wave accounting has an intuitive interface that is simple to use. Wave accounting is different from other accounting software. Wave accounting is easy to use and requires no prior knowledge. It is easy to use, and you can learn quickly as you go.

Cons:

Wave's accounting software can be used for free. It's a great choice if you have a small business or don't need more advanced features. Wave's functionality is limited for businesses looking to grow. Wave does not provide multiple plans to increase its functionality, which limits its scalability. It offers limited customer service. Wave Accounting offers only self-service customer support. Wave Accounting offers only one-on-one support to Accounting customers through Wave's paid Accounting Coach option.

A data-import nightmare - Stay away unless you love lost transactions

Comments: Support has been poor quality. As a paying customer of both their payroll service (which is solid) and their accounting coaching, I'm tremendously disappointed with the platform.

Pros:

The software at it's core is very easy to use. The reliability is however a complete failure.

Cons:

Throughout the past 3 years, Wave has been a game of 'make sure my bank works.' First, I closed incompatible credit card accounts in order to open accounts that were listed as compatible. A year later, Wave lost the connection with all of capital one due to an issue with switching data providers (from Plaid). Next, Chase bank cards also disappeared. When finally reconnecting, weeks worth of transactions were intermittently missing. For a software company who's core goal is to reduce manual data entry, this platform is a nightmare. Stay away.

Great Free Accounting Tool

Comments: We use it for multiple businesses and a non-profit as we are a small cluster of social enterprises that work hand in hand with each other. We are really enjoying working with this software and it has helped us tremedously, all while not costing us a penny!

Pros:

On the positive side, this software's functionality is almost up to par with other options that cost a lot of money. Wave is free and for that price what they offer is unbeatable. It is a fully featured accouting software, as it is a web app, it means multiple people can use it simultaniously and it also works great for a virtual team. I like that it is made with non-accountants in mind. For example, when entering transactions there are "Accounts" - but these are only Accounts as a nun-accountant will understand: Cash, Bank, Owners Investment etc. - everything else is called "Categories". This makes it easier for someone not too versed in finances to understand - but behind the scenes Categories are Accounts, just like they always were (e.g. Office Supply Expense Account) - small and simple changes like this make it very easy to use even for a financial analphabet. Two mobile apps compliment the accounting software, one for writing invoices on the go, the other for scanning and (auto)recording expense receipts.

Cons:

On the downside, and this can be a big one, you are not able to properly close a period. This means anyone with permission to enter transactions can go and change entries from last year, or add some. This can make things really messy and I hope they add a function where an administrator can close a period such as a month, so that no more changes can be made. Further, you can add other users, but the type of users are quite limited. I wish this could be controlled on a more granular level, e.g. there is the option to add a 'viewer' who cannot edit anything. The next level is somoene who can enter all types of transactions (you can turn of access to bank entries and writing invoices) but it would be nice if there was one where I can let someone add receipts with the mobile app but not do anything else.

Be aware!

Comments: Be aware! Let’s get straight to it. No polishing, no lies. Wave’s actual system is pretty good. If it “actually” worked…
One sad truth about this company that you’ll notice right away is that their servers or hosting is worse than blogs were in 1980. It is slow, freezes and crashes all the time. Way too annoying to work with on a daily basis for a professional company. Bottom line: the system is unreliable. Moving along to the stuff that matters even more… Customer service, honesty and professionalism. Uum, try again. You will not find any of that in this company. They clearly have no clue what it means to run a professional service. Last week I processed two transactions. Both of them were more than 2 grand.
Keep in mind that i’m a new startup that needs my money right away, or at least when promised. 2 days go by and no money. Okay…. here we go again. I email Wave asking what’s the deal with the money.
I say “again” because I had the same thing with my first few small transactions. But then I thought it was only because I was a new customer so they had to confirm some details. (by details I mean force me to show them communications between me and my clients). That same day I get an email from the department that deals with the money saying in fancy words that they are withholding my money for security reasons until they can confirm some details. Again they ask for communications and authorizations. (who do they think they are?) I respond within 2 minutes with snapshots of communications and conversations straight from my client explaining who he is and that he authorized the payment. a day or two goes by and nothing. You can imagine how angry I feel about now. Projects are on hold, business stops, Wave is running me into the ground…. Of course there is no one to talk to until you sign up for the live chat at ($9 a month). So I sign up, because I cannot wait. Open a chat, explain to the woman really respectfully what is going on, she looks it up for 10 minutes and responds by saying that she sees my ticket (email) and that she will escalate it to the top… blah blah blah. So there I learn that live chat is basically if you have a question regarding the functions of the site, but it is basically useless regarding the things that really matter. MY MONEY!
In short, you CANNOT contact anyone about it, you can only email. But emails, despite their promises may take 3 days get answered. So I send another email asking what’s going on and get a response that since I submitted 2 emails my ticket was moved back down to the bottom. (That wad their way of apologizing or exusing themselves). In that same email they don’t tell me that my snapshot isn’t sufficient or anything like that (even though it worked for the first 3 transactions), they tell me that they need to speak to my clients to confirm payments…. Really? …. wow, okay I respond within 2 minutes with two phone numbers. (this is Friday after 5pm) One of my clients get’s a phone call, confirms payment and they tell him that the money will be released “right away”. The second client get’s a phone call, but misses it. (He is still waiting for another phone call). And of course you cannot call them back, because they use fake phone numbers using local area codes. Well, guess what? The money from the first client that got the phone call from them was not released… and it’s Tuesday already. (almost a week from when I processed the transaction). Never heard anything back from them in past 3 days!! Conclusion: (aside from me being so frustrated, hardly able to contain myself) Well, firstly I would like to say that I switched to Quickbooks online right away. They are a professional company with lower rates and faster deposit times (ONE DAY!). And you can call them! The only reason I chose Wave over Square is because they had a good invoicing system. But i’ve used Square before and never had issues like this. What I mean is this: Why make an issue when there is none????
Wave makes security issues when there is none.
I’m a legal, professional company in the United States. Why in the world would you pretend like there are security issues with my transactions if no one ever disputed or complained? There is no answer. Because if there was a valid answer, Square and Quickbooks would be the same concerned.
Stop making issues where there are none. I would advise anyone reading this to go with Square or Quickbooks. You will end up being much happier. Unless you can afford these criminals withholding your money for as long as they like. So again: system: too slow, crashes and freezes. OH, and annoying advertisements.
Support: only for functionality questions.
Service: absolutely horrible and un professional. You choose. Thanks!

Great alternative to Quickbooks for small biz users

Comments: I have two small e-commerce business, and needed a way to track my inventory purchases, sales, shipping expenses, etc. I also had two independent contractor businesses, needing to track expenses such as mileage, supplies, etc. With Wave, I have each venture as a separate company, I can customize the chart of accounts for each one, create invoices for my independent contractor gigs, track invoice status so I don't overlook if something doesn't get paid on time, and review my income and expenses each month. I sometimes do consignment sales for clients in my e-commerce business, and Wave helps me keep track of those sales and settle up with clients each month. Truly a lot of great features offered, and I don't even use all of them (like Banking & Payroll). So glad I found Wave, and I have recommended it to many others.

Pros:

Wave offers a lot of the basic accounting functions needed for small business users, and the best part is that it's FREE TO USE! Woo hoo! I used QuickBooks in my previous career, and liked the detail it provided, but once I started my own small e-commerce business, I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on software, or get locked into a recurring monthly subscription. I was thrilled to find Wave and amazed that it was FREE!

Cons:

I wish there was a keyword search function in the Transactions section. Sometimes I need to look for a specific transaction but don't remember the exact date it occurred, so have to scroll through several pages to find what I'm seeking. A workaround is to export an Income Statement, then search or sort in Excel, but obviously that takes several extra steps and time. But since it's not costing me anything, this is a minor inconvenience.

Small business accounting, invoicing, credit card processing for minimal cost

Pros:

As many other reviews have stated, there is no subscription cost for Wave, which is great. There have been a number of features added to Wave since I started to use it, such as recurring invoicing/credit card processing and direct bank payments. Wave's support is helpful, money is transferred quickly, and my invoices look great. I am providing a more detailed review than I did the first time, but I have "sung the praises" of Wave a few times. (Including on Twitter, and they promptly thanked me for it - they listen, which is great). Wave is Canadian, and they are based in Toronto, but that is only one reason I chose to work with their service. I have a couple of complaints about their service, but nothing serious enough which would cause me to switch services. The flexibility of PDF/web-based invoices is great, retains client details, and it just gets the job done for me as a freelancer.

Cons:

On a few occasions, my invoices got picked up by my clients' spam filters, so I tend to use the PDF invoice option. Not a big issue, I've followed up on it. Also if I take payment through PayPal, I can get paid in US funds, but I have to invoice in Canadian funds only through Wave because my bank is in Canada (even if I have a US funds account). Oh well, again, no big deal. Apparently, there is auto-reconcile of transactions through AI functionality in Wave's future, which will address another pet peeve I have, but again no big deal.