All-in-one accounting, invoicing, payroll, payments & receipt management
4.26/5 (186 reviews)
Having used quickbooks previously I thought this was a great way to save some money on a new business adventure. I quickly learned that this is not a place where you want to skimp out on features, and ended up paying more in my time. If you you have more time on your hands and you can put in the time then this software will probably work well for you. If you have multiple businesses and another job, forget it, it isn't worth the hassle.
Pros
Full Disclosure - Used this software 2 years ago. Free and allowed us to sync with our bank accounts. Payroll wasn't included but was a cheap additional ($5/month?)
Cons
Payroll had severe limitations in NYS, Additionally after I moved away from the software I forgot to grab our payroll reports. It cost me $15 to retrieve them.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 6-12 months
Frequency of use: Daily
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
It is very easy to navigate, it is free, invoicing is great and it also features a multicurrency. Nice dashboard! You don't need to be a rocket scientist to use Wave.
Cons
Slow servers and downtimes have been experienced, lack of integration with third party apps is also a major let down.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 6-12 months
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
Easy and provides alot of functions. Invoices, billing and taxes all in one place. Its has a great feature where you can have more than one profile which is great.
Cons
I cant think of anything I dont like about this program. If anything may be enable to search invoices a little easier.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 2+ years
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
I like that it is fairly easy to use. I enjoy having all my business finances in one place. It's great for small business owners!
Cons
There could be some more functions. This is the only big negative, other than that I have no complaints.
Rating breakdown
Time used: Less than 6 months
Frequency of use: Daily
Pros
As a freelancer who does big and tiny jobs, it's easy to lose track of my invoice activity who I've invoiced for what, who has paid, etc. With Wave, I've got customized invoice templates that are easy to fill out with saved client information, etc. I know who I've billed, how long ago, and how long it took to get paid. Recently, I began using the credit card feature. The fee is the same as PayPal, but it's integrated more smoothly with my electronic invoice.
Cons
Quibble: I'd like to have one more column for a date range of the service I've provided. (I sometimes use the "Items" column to include the date range, but I'd prefer the item be the name of a task and the dates to have their own column.)
Rating breakdown
Time used: 6-12 months
Frequency of use: Weekly
Pros
I love that they are completely free for all that you get. I love being able to keep track of my receipts and not keep them. It is great for writing customer invoices.
Cons
They need to develop a system so if you have your bank account connecting and using the app to take pics of receipts to only show the transaction that you posted through the app so you don't have duplicate items. Need more features on the app. Have to enter in item description every time. I want the system to remember a transaction like a check so that I don't have to write in the description every time what that check was for.
Rating breakdown
Time used: Less than 6 months
Frequency of use: Daily
Likelihood to recommend
I was able to get my new business up and running in less than a day. I was able to set up accounts and start invoicing for services right away. Being able to run and save reports helps me with filing taxes.
Pros
Wave was easy to set up and to use, it even has option to accept credit card payments. It has easy to use templates and customizations so I was able to get up and running in less than a day. I am able to send invoices and set auto reminders to be sent to customers when payment is due.
Cons
So far I have not run into any issues. Adding more template options and customization options would always be a good thing.
Rating breakdown
Time used: Less than 6 months
Frequency of use: Daily
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
Free Has app Support is available by chat or email Videos are available with lessons They have a community that you can ask questions
Cons
No register- checkbook register would be a plus Reports are not editable The ability to do a yearly budget would be a big plus.
Rating breakdown
Time used: Less than 6 months
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
We've been using Wave for two years now. Wave is easy to use and flexible. It has a lot of features for a free accounting program! I love the recurring invoices and the fact that my bank account is connected so I don,t have to enter al transactions manually.
Cons
Since Wave is not as strict as other program, it is easy to erase by accident something that will change your accounting and you might have some problem with your balance at the end. It is difficult to have customer service for the free option.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 1-2 years
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
Where do I begin? Finding Wave was like finding a treasure chest. This program has helped me to keep track of my income, receipts, invoices etc. It's easy to use, easy to integrate and an overall fantastic program. I recommend it to everyone I meet. You can download the app right to your phone for receipts and take photos of them to upload right into your Wave, a huge time saver!
Cons
I have yet to run into anything that's caused me an issue. Sometimes it can't sync with your bank account but it often works itself out.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 1-2 years
Frequency of use: Monthly
I don't need to bother about mu financial accounting anymore.
Pros
I love the fact that this product is absolutely plug and play. If you are starting up and you need a financial management software - THIS IS IT! You can even link your bank accounts and details flow in automatically.
Cons
I would have liked a few more templates that I could have used to create invoices
Rating breakdown
Time used: 6-12 months
Frequency of use: Monthly
Likelihood to recommend
I only needed a simple system for firing off invoices on the fly, and for tracking outstanding invoices. That's exactly what I got.
Pros
Extremely simple interface. Fast/Responsive. Superb deal for single user. Decent customization options.
Cons
As with any web-based software, its availability can be affected by problems with your own internet connection, as well as larger infrastructure issues. During recent DNS attacks, and when Amazon's server products were down, I was unable to access Wave. This is not the fault of the developers, but is an inherent risk with web-based software.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 6-12 months
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
Wave is free, and the basic accounting features work. The bank transaction feature is very nice, if it works for you.
Cons
Bank transaction import did not work for me. Transactions took over two weeks to post to my account. When I contacted customer support about this, I got a generic response and then nothing for a week. Even for free, that kind of non-responsiveness is troubling for a service I'm trusting with my information. Mobile app is useless if you use your google account to sign in to the web app.
Rating breakdown
Time used: Less than 6 months
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Easily track invoices and manage customers.
Pros
Just starting out? Want to make sure your books are in order without having to worry about when you get paid? You need to try Wave. This tool is incredibly simple but effective. As an early user, I was skeptical about trying them out but after sending out my first invoice, I haven't looked back. It's just so easy to use.
Cons
My biggest gripe about the platform is that the user interface needs more work. There have been few updates since launch but the fact that they've managed to keep me on despite having a less than stellar UI should speak volumes.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 2+ years
Frequency of use: Daily
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
Its a great app, especially considering its free. almost a must have for starting up businesses. Great interface too
Cons
documentation isn't great. I've spent a while finding something, that is simple, and after reaching out to customer service they provide a quick answer to an easily documented problem.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 2+ years
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
They're working hard on updates and new features. Very clean UI. Email invoicing is great. Staff have been generally supportive.
Cons
Some hiccups with things such as receipts -- if you return an item there's no real way to mark that return in the receipts section where the original purchase was marked. Multiple email addresses not supported in all places. Payroll doesn't do anything but the actual calculations -- doesn't actually file any paperwork or even fill it out for you to send in which would be nice.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 6-12 months
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
I don't use many of the most robust and comprehensive features (employee expenses, payroll management) but this would be something incredibly attractive to me if my business ever evolved to require these features. I really appreciate the thoughtful product design and "made in Canada" solution.
Cons
This comment is specific to Wave Receipts, a mobile app under the Wave Apps family. My experience with receipt tracking, the primary function for which I use this software, is that it is extremely temperamental and inconsistent. I love the idea of it, and the product features (labels, categories, data smoothing, etc.) but I found that more of the time than not many of my receipts were never actually scanned properly or took so long to upload that I thought I was going to break the account. This seems to have sorted itself out as of late but it was a very inconvenient glitch -- especially when I only noticed after that I had already thrown out those receipts.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 6-12 months
Frequency of use: Monthly
We collect money much faster and the automated reminders are a gem.
Pros
What is not to like is probably the better question which I see coming up! The most highly rated part of Wave for me is the ability to set up and manage recurring billing. Clients like the ease of use and no more arguing over whether a client received an invoice or not as I can see when they view invoices online. Easy to receipt, no cost and free.
Cons
Waiting for the connection to my bank is probably the most frustrating.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 1-2 years
Frequency of use: Daily
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
The fact that it's free is a starter. It has quite a bit of functionality. It's a clean layout and easy to access. I absolutely love how easy it is to generate a new invoice, it stores all the previous customers information in the system. You get to choose different invoice layouts. Automatic payment reminders to customers.
Cons
It could use some extra reporting features (example: cash flow). Doesn't have "e-transfer" as a payment method. It disconnects from my bank account randomly. They switched payment providers a few times, causing extra time for me to fill in my bank account information. There should be an option to pay to remove company logo from emailed invoices.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 2+ years
Frequency of use: Weekly
Pros
I really like the cloud-based software, and the fact that you can link multiple accounts to the same login.
Cons
I could use some more "how to" options when I'm stuck on a process. Adding in some features for learning more complex accounting would be helpful, or if they already exist, make it more obvious.
Rating breakdown
Time used: 6-12 months
Frequency of use: Weekly
Likelihood to recommend
Pros
Easy of use, for a small online business owner the apps can be easy to use. Aside for its FREE. It can be added features especially for the product
Cons
As an ebay / online reseller. The apps should be made easy to recognise product. Since my product is not the same, I end up with thousand of product (I sell 30-50 different product a month). Its much easier if I can see which product still available and which is not active. And I should see which product I still have (price, quantity) and hide which is already sold
Rating breakdown
Time used: Less than 6 months
Frequency of use: Monthly
Likelihood to recommend
Not impressed with their mobile platform. They have an app for easily adding receipts, but anything else you have to go to their website to do. I'm using chrome on android and it does not appear they have put in any time to making it mobile friendly. I cannot do hardly anything from my phone because menus jump all over the place. I do like they are free, but not sure yet how they make their money so I'm hesitant waiting for the catch.
Wave Accounting is great option for businesses looking to save money on accounting software. It allows you to sync up with your banking establishments and do things like payroll and bank reconciliations as well as basic reporting. Wave is fairly user friendly and it's features work for many basic small businesses. Some of my objective feedback on this software would be that it takes a long time to load transactions when you switch from page to page and that it's options to add more complicated payroll additions are limited. I think some improvements can be made on the way the bank reconciliation feature works as well but overall it is great value for the money (or lack thereof).
I've been using Accounting By Wave for a few years now and have found it to cover all of my accounting software needs fairly well. For a free suite of accounting tools, it's a great package. I do hope they improve automatic transaction categorization and add the ability to import invoice line items. Those two improvements would make it near perfect for my needs.
Pros
It's a great suite of tools and the automated transaction logging is a great feature. Payments by Wave has been an excellent service as well, it's nice to have an option for my clients who want to pay by credit card and the transfer time to my bank account is usually very fast. The Wave team has been doing a good job making improvements and standing behind the products and services they offer.
Cons
Automatic categorization of transactions could really use some improvements. I have several regular transactions that are oddly categorized when it seems they could be "memorized" by the system more accurately. Hopefully that improvement is in the works.
Rating breakdown
Likelihood to recommend
