Wave Accounting

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.