Wave vs Quickbooks 2023 Comparison

Compared with free software like Wave, QuickBooks plans are expensive. The most basic plan, Simple Start, costs $30 per month, and the top-tier Advanced plan costs $200 per month, which is a sizable investment if you’re running a business on a tight budget. The scoring formulas take into account multiple data points for each financial product and service. When you reconcile your books, you’ll navigate to the “Reconciliation” tab within the Accounting menu. If you need to manually edit, add or remove any transactions, you can do so on the Reconciliation or Transactions pages. Next, you can add sales tax , create customer profiles and customize your invoice templates.

• Their payroll service for companies in the US and Canada includes a $20-35/month base fee, plus $6 per active employee and independent contractor paid.
• Both Wave and QuickBooks Online have all of the features you’d expect from accounting software, including invoicing, expense tracking, reports, and tax support.
• You’ll only have to enter the information absolutely necessary in order to get started, and you can add the rest when the time comes.
• Can support larger small businesses with dozens of employees; highest-tier plan includes 25 users.
• Online services vary by participating financial institutions or other parties and may be subject to application approval, additional terms, conditions, and fees.

Surprisingly, the invoicing feature is very well-developed, particularly for software that doesn’t have a monthly fee. There are only three invoice templates, but each is well-designed and modern. You can also customize the templates to your liking to better fit with your brand.

Other notable invoicing features include recurring invoices, reminders, and receipts. If there is any downside to Wave’s invoicing feature, it’s that sales tax and discounts have to be added manually. QuickBooks Online boasts a robust feature set, strong accounting, attractive invoices, and hundreds of integrations. Wave is cloud-based software that comes with no monthly fee and no limitations on features like expense tracking, invoicing, and contact management. QuickBooks Online offers four different plans to choose from and is well-known for its robust reporting, record-keeping and project tracking features.

Project Management

While human error will always play some role in security breaches, you can be confident in your accounting platform when it comes to keeping your information safe. Both Wave and QuickBooks have an option to add payroll capabilities to your account for an additional fee. QuickBooks Online’s customer support is more reachable, and they can provide answers to your questions quickly. The availability of live chat and phone support is crucial if you encounter issues that need immediate assistance. Fit Small Business content and reviews are editorially independent. QuickBooks API is also available for app developers to build integrations between their systems and connect customer data with REST-based API.

Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs. Zoho Books, which has a free plan plus paid plans starting at $20 per month. Let us know how well the content on this page solved your problem today. All feedback, positive or negative, helps us to improve the way we help small businesses. The downside, though, is that this software only allows you to run reports as cash-basis or accrual.

Is Wave accounting software good for startup companies?

If you use Wave’s payment processing, payroll, or bookkeeping, you will incur fees. Wave Payments does not require a subscription, only charging per transaction. Payroll starts at $20/month + $6/month per employee or contractor. Tax services, accounting and payroll coaching, and bookkeeping support are also available for an additional cost. What Wave stands out for most is that it is forever free without the limitations you’ll find with other programs that claim to be free. This cloud-based software offers a number of features, many of which you’d find with paid accounting software.

However, while Wave is built for businesses with up to nine employees, QuickBooks has no upper limit and tends to thrive as you scale and need more advanced features. While QuickBooks has price plans ranging from $25 to $150/month, Wave accounting software is free. Their payroll service for companies in the US and Canada includes a $20-35/month base fee, plus $6 per active employee and independent contractor paid.

It budgeting reports an unlimited number of users and has a simple layout that some business owners might find less overwhelming than QuickBooks Online. If you’re unsure which is a better fit, it could be worth taking a test drive of QuickBooks Online and starting a free trial of Xero to see which user interface is preferable. QuickBooks Online has a time tracking feature provided that you are an Essentials, Plus, or Advanced customer. This feature allows you to create single-time activities or timesheets, and tracked time can be attached to projects.

Both Wave and QuickBooks offer solid invoicing features and capabilities for small businesses. QuickBooks offers excellent reporting capability, enabling you to get a high-level view of your data with just a few clicks. You can import your data from Wave and use QuickBooks reporting tools to get a clear picture of the business. Integrates with more than 100 third-party apps; limited choices for direct payroll and point-of-sale integrations.

Why QuickBooks Online wins

The mobile app lets you take photos of receipts and it’ll automatically match it up with existing transactions. This takes a lot of the hassle out of one of the most frustrating parts of bookkeeping. Wave offers more apps for potential integration, but app integration in QuickBooks Online requires one less step than app integration using Wave.

Erica’s insights into personal and business finance have been cited in numerous publications, including MSN, Real Simple, and Reader’s Digest. After providing a few basic details about your business — name, type, currency you use, address — you’ll have instant access to your free account. Only integrates with in-house apps, like Wave Payments and Wave Payroll; does not integrate with card readers for in-person payments. Today’s leading accounting platforms offer standard security features like data encryption, secure credential tokenization and more.

It has extensive reporting functions, multi-user plans and an intuitive interface. QuickBooks Online integrates with more than 750 third-party apps, and has multiple direct integrations with point-of-sale systems and payroll software. Can support larger small businesses with dozens of employees; highest-tier plan includes 25 users. Ideal for very small service-based businesses, freelancers or contractors; allows an unlimited number of users. Wave is a great accounting software choice for startup companies.

It’s currently in limited release and only available to US-based, single-owner businesses. Has robust reporting tools and report customization options, invoicing for an unlimited amount of clients, inventory tracking in higher tier plans, plus a capable mobile app. QuickBooks Online also has a pretty good reputation among its users, scoring solid marks across sites, such as G2Crowd and GetApp. Users like its strong mobile apps, ease of use, and numerous integrations. However, common complaints about QuickBooks Online include plan pricing, customer service issues, and a lack of features when compared to QuickBooks Desktop.

When you send an invoice, clients have the option to pay with the click of a button by entering their credit card or bank account information or connecting to Apple Pay. Both Wave and QuickBooks include a section for tracking business expenses, which you can connect to your bank account and credit cards to automatically import transaction details. Unlike FreshBooks and QuickBooks, Xero allows unlimited users in even its lowest-priced plans. It offers an accountant certification program and connects with more than 1,000 small-business apps, including PayPal and Gusto.

If you’re a small business owner offering an in-person service or working with a bookkeeper or accountant, QuickBooks is a standard choice and may be worth the subscription fee. It meets a more diverse set of business needs, and has become standard among accountants, so your team won’t have a learning curve getting started. If you’re a freelancer or other solo service provider, Wave is a better option. It’s free to use, and the clear user interface makes it easy for anyone to adopt and navigate, so you can spend more time offering your services and less on managing your business. Wave and QuickBooks both offer standard features and capabilities for invoicing for small businesses.

Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Learn more about the best payroll software for small businesses. QuickBooks offers a robust set of tools that far outweigh Wave’s capabilities—but that could be a drawback for small, simple businesses. The platform offers enough features and add-ons to grow with your business, but it may be more complex than you need if you’re a one-person shop. Our ratings take into account a product’s cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes.

More than 4 million businesses already manage their finances with Wave. There are some aspects that QuickBooks covers that Wave does not. These include time tracking, mileage and inventory management. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication.

Upon activation of the QuickBooks Online Payroll service, your first monthly charge of QuickBooks Online with Payroll will be a prorated charge based on activation date. If you add or remove services, your service fees will be adjusted accordingly. Additional fee of $2.00/month for each employee you pay using QuickBooks Online Payroll will be waived until October 31, 2016.

Only ideal for very small service-based businesses, freelancers or contractors; allows an unlimited number of users. QuickBooks, on the other hand, offers QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping. Users will work with a QuickBooks-certified bookkeeper to help them with duties, such as reconciling bank accounts, generating reports, and preparing for tax filing.

It offers free accounting, unlimited invoicing, and receipt capture presented on a user-friendly dashboard. There’s also an Apps category on the navigation bar that lets you immediately connect QuickBooks Online to any available apps. Wave’s accounting features are completely free, but if you want to use Wave Payments to get paid online, you’ll have to pay 2.9% plus $0.30 for each transaction. Accounting software products meant for distinct types of businesses.