User Reviews Overview
About Wave Accounting
Online accounting software that provides features including invoicing, billing, payment tracking, payroll management, finance management, credit card processing, and receipt scanning. Wave Accounting is designed to help businesses...
Learn moreAll Wave Accounting Reviews Apply filters
Browse Wave Accounting Reviews
All Wave Accounting Reviews Apply filters
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Excellent for freelancers and small businesses
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.
Reasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
It was the cheapest option, and the most user-friendly looking. I have no background in finance and didn't want complex features built for accountants - Wave has those features, but only if you want them.- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Wave Accounting: Very user friendly accounting solution for the small businesses.
Pros
1) Easy to use
2) Free of cost for the accounting services
3) Highly recommended for the small business.
Cons
Not possible to download the bank/credit card transactions those are processed through bank.
- Industry: Information Technology & Services
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Great free accounting software for invoicing, quotes and overall management
Great for the purpose of invoicing but a bit sad to see some features go e.g. Stripe integration for UK market
Pros
Fantastic and easy to use for invoicing, with auto-send and remind feautures. Very professional and modern.
Cons
Lack of Stripe integration which was removed for UK and no payroll and receipts integration.
Top Wave Accounting Alternatives
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Monthly for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Indispensable Free Accounting Tool
I wasn't doing real bookkeeping until I found Wave. I like that it's affordable (so affordable it's free) and simple without looking dated or underdeveloped.
Pros
This is such a great free accounting and invoicing tool, especially for solo consultants or entrepreneurs. I don't want to spend $30 to $40 per month just on accounting apps, especially when Wave gets the job done for free!
Cons
I usually have to check the automated transaction imports. If I have to correct things or haven't done bookkeeping in a while, it can get a little confusing. Other than that, I don't have much to complain about.
Reasons for Choosing Wave Accounting
Briefly tried FreshBooks but didn't want to keep paying for it.Switched From
FreshBooksReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
Wave is free for my needs.- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
-
Review Source
Great Experience
Pros
I'm been really impressed with this software. It plays nice with my banks, it's easy to go through and reconcile. The reports are a helpful feature.
Cons
The receipt uploading app is too slow to be of any real use, IMO.
Alternatives Considered
Quickbooks OnlineReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
Price- Industry: Package/Freight Delivery
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
-
Review Source
The BEST accounting Application
Pros
Wave accounting has the best user interface, it's very user friendly and all tasks are simply a click away. the dashboard provides all the information needed
Cons
Integrations with third party applications are sometimes complicated to setup
- Industry: Retail
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Wave for Small Business
Perfect service, we started with Wave 2015 we have never looked back to other services like Quickbooks
Pros
Services available on Mobile & Web. Easy to generate Customer Invoice, quick send to their emails, or pdf. You can never go wrong with the Wave when it comes to wave invoicing
Cons
99% uptime. We have experienced a few cases of downtime on the wave services.
- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
- Used Weekly for 6-12 months
-
Review Source
Multifunctional software
Overall it can be said that Wave Accounting is one of the good software that can be tried.
Pros
Wave Accounting offers a wide range of opportunities. It has intuitive interface. It provides many features for example, i can create various reports, control incomes and so on.
Cons
Sometimes software freezes and need to restart.
- Industry: Building Materials
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
-
Review Source
Cheap
Pros
Support team is so fast and system is safe for withdraw transaction
Cons
Some countries are not supported and different currenices
- Industry: Financial Services
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1-5 months
-
Review Source
A good service, however must nod be considered for a payroll and complicated accounting
Pros
As per my own experience, used this program for invoicing my consultant services to third parties. Overall, I can say it is good for keeping up your small business records, however I would not recommend it for any complex accounting operations
Cons
The platform itself works good, but limited tasks as mentioned before makes it only good for invoicing
- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
-
Review Source
A Solid Free Small Business Accounting Software
It’s been a solid piece of cloud accounting software, albeit limited. It’s hard to beat the price of it, and I have yet to find a similar but more fully featured one at the price of FREE!
Pros
I use Wave to keep track of my personal finances, from income to spending. In that lens, Wave performs quite well, allowing you to tag transactions that are automatically imported from your bank. It also lets you generate some simple reports such as your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow. The interface is simple to use and understand, and I was able to pick it up (coming from an accounting background) in under a few minutes, without having gone through a walkthrough. The included ability to reconcile statements is also quite handy and allows me to verify that all transactions are posted appropriately. The inclusion of receipt tracking and tagging is also quite handy!
The best part about Wave is the price! If you don’t need features such as invoicing and payroll (some SMB’s may find these handy. From a personal perspective, I did not), the accounting software is completely free.
Cons
Wave still appears to be in its infancy, although the product has been there for a while. The user interface will frequently be updated (the reconciliation flow changed 3 times since I signed up about 6 months ago), and new features will constantly be added without any notification, often shifting often things around from where you expect them to be.
The reports from Wave are also very limited, so don’t expect any customizable reports as of 08/2019. You get about 12 reports total, some or all of which may not be very relevant to you, depending on your end goal. These reports are completely canned, system generated, and you do not have the ability to create new reports. This may change in the future, but as it stands, this is the current state of affairs.
The receipt tracking feature is definitely handy to have. While Wave will OCR your receipts and tag them to a category, it will actually post an entire transaction to the ledger when you save it down. For those of us with a bank account and credit card linked to auto import transactions, you’ll get a duplicate: one from the CC, and one from the receipt. It would be nice if Wave included some intelligence to automatically match the receipt and transaction together, but for now, you need to manually merge each.
Finally, as a small point, Wave does not obtain any service assurance through SOC1 or SOC2 reports, an issue that most people wouldn’t ever care about.
Alternatives Considered
XeroReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
I mostly chose Wave over Xero for the price. As I’m using this for personal finance tracking, and not a small business, I didn’t want to have to pay Xero’s rather pricy monthly subscription.- Industry: Leisure, Travel & Tourism
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Excellent for the start-up to small company!
So far it has been a good experience overall. I haven’t had any issues. I haven’t had very much interaction with customer service other than the initial consultation Coach and the vetting process situation.
Pros
Love this product because of the cost! Free! So many great tools that it offers to include invoicing. You can create all of your own products and services and include your terms & Conditions. Clients can pay directly from the invoice. You can get paid the same day if you attach your business card to your account. It has a payroll feature as well for an additional charge. I love the fact that the reporting is so simple and easy to read. I would highly recommend purchasing this set up package. It comes with consultations and assistance to work through all the process of setting up your account and different categories specific to your business. It was definitely worth the extra money spent. I also like the fact that there are apps available to send invoices if you are away from the office. Also, you can upload receipts directly from wherever you are by simply taking a picture and categorizing it on the spot. No more having to deal with Receipts in the shoebox LOL.
Cons
On the Invoicing I wish there was an option to add tipping. Our clients like to add a tips for our service and while Square offers this feature, Wave does not. There was a weird vetting process that nobody told me about and at first I thought it was a scam and I didn’t reply. But then I confirmed with the consultant I had been working with and they verified that this was in fact something that I had to go through. It seemed kind of sketchy at first, but it had validity with regards to the financial process.
- Industry: Venture Capital & Private Equity
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
-
Review Source
Not made for Today's business market
Recommended by out bank, we tried them out. Big mistake. There is no telephone support, only chat support, which stops working about 30 minutes before closing time (they say they work 9-5 EST). Their process for us to start accepting credit cards took 3 months. Everytime we get paid online, funds get withheld until you provide supporting documentation which takes weeks to process and multiple, escalating questions. Overall, a waste of time with a system that was supposed to take the hassle out of online invoicing.
Pros
The app allows you to be able to keep track of your expenses on the go
Cons
Billing and payments: every time you get paid with their credit card system, they withhold payments until you provide supporting documentation and their back and forths take forever. You can also not connect other systems like PayPal or Stripe. So you are stuck with their merchant processing if you want to accept payments on the go.
Reasons for Choosing Wave Accounting
My bank, through WaveApp, claimed this app was easier and more streamlined.Switched From
QuickBooks Desktop ProReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
Recommended by our Bank- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Wave Accounting
My overall experience with Wave was excellent and I had no issues with this software. If it was not for a change in business practice, I would still be using Wave now.
Pros
The best thing about this software is that it is free and offer just as much if not more features than some of its paid competitors. You can also access it online from any PC.
Cons
They don't have a robust support line but considering you are not paying for the software, you can't blame them. Plus there really isn't any reason for you to need support as everything is user-friendly and there is adequate help features in the software.
Alternatives Considered
QuickBooks Desktop ProReasons for Choosing Wave Accounting
Wave was free and offer the same functions and services.Switched From
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
Price- Industry: Design
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
LOVE LOVE LOVE
Wave no longer integrates with CapitalOne Spark Business Checking & Savings. CapitalOne is going through some changes so I don't blame Wave too much but manually uploading bank statements every month is a hassle. Though I love Spark, I'm hopefully that Wave's banking that is coming soon will be a good future solution. I love Wave for everything else. It's the most rounded and affordable solution for my small business finances.
Pros
It's everything I need in one place. As a small business, Wave is the best solution for me. I can invoice my clients for free, and easily keep my finances up-to-date making tax season worry free.
Cons
Wave no longer integrates with CapitalOne Spark Business accounts, so I have to manually upload two bank statements every month into Wave; One for my checking and one for my savings account, both of which are Spark.
Reasons for Choosing Wave Accounting
Quickbooks is too expensive and more difficult to use. Wave is a miracle.Switched From
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
-
Review Source
Wave Shows Me the Money!
Before I used Wave, I was behind every month on my invoicing. I hated sending invoices, and I really, REALLY hated being the Collections person, asking my clients to pay their bills. Then I found Wave, and my whole life changed. I was able to get set up super quickly, connect to my bank, add my clients' contact information, and set up the template for my invoices. Now, I have "Monthly Invoicing" on my calendar, and it takes me about 15 minutes to handle the task (instead of 2 hours). My favorite emails are, "Congrats! You Got Paid!" from Wave. I feel fantastic!
Pros
Wave has absolutely changed my business for the better. It used to take me about 2 hours a month to do my invoicing, which I hated doing, and so I avoided it. Now, I handle monthly invoicing in about 15 minutes. Plus, as new clients come in or one-off projects are completed, I can send the invoices quickly—like 5 minutes. So ease of use is absolutely the first thing I love about Wave.
Second, as a small business owner, I am in charge of acquiring new clients, executing the work, invoicing for the work, and then acting as collections when clients are late in paying. With Wave, I check a simple box that sends reminders to the client when things are past due. What a relief! It's coming from "my accounting department" rather than me. Hallelujah!
Third, the payment process is so easy for my clients! They can pay any way they want—check, credit card, bank, whatever. It's so easy for them, and I have had zero complaints.
It's also fantastic to know when clients have (or haven't) viewed the invoice. And getting the emails from Wave announcing that I've been paid are the best emails of the day.
The fact that all of this amazingness is free? That's just the icing on the cake. Thank you, Wave!
Cons
My only issue with Wave is probably a rare use-case. I manage invoicing for a client of mine. (Side note: Wave made it SO EASY for me to be an admin of her account but not the manager, and I can log into my account to access hers. It is AWESOME!) She sells programs, and her clients generally pay in one invoice. Occasionally, her clients need to pay in installments. It was not easy to set up a recurring invoice for only three months to send to the client, especially without a credit card on file. I had to create three different invoices, and label them as Installment #1, #2, etc. However, I recognize that this is probably a one-off user scenario that not many people would need. And I can't complain when the tool is free, and I found a workaround.
Alternatives Considered
InvoicelyReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
Honestly, it seemed ridiculous to pay a monthly fee and such high service charges with ProCharge. I'm not big enough nor do I send enough invoices to justify the cost. For Invoicely, the free plan accepts PayPal payments only, so this would be difficult for many of my clients that are businesses and don't use a PayPal account. And there's no branding available. Wave just offers a perfect solution for small businesses that's free while still being robust. I love it!- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Everything a small business needs for invoicing
I love Wave. I switched from Freshbooks years ago and it was such a good move. Wave is so easy to use which means you save time and money.
Pros
Wave is super simple to use. It's well laid out, intuitive and easy to use. I've been using Wave for years after switching from Freshbooks.
Cons
Occasionally, Wave has issues sending invoices to Gmail addresses. This is very surprising given how prevalent Gmail is and I would hope they'd sort this out.
Reasons for Choosing Wave Accounting
One of my customers turned me onto Wave. I wasn't necessarily looking to switch, but after checking them out it was an easy decision to make.Switched From
FreshBooks- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 6-12 months
-
Review Source
Wave Accounting for SME in Fiji
Wave Accounting is very cost efficient & cost effective for small businesses here in Fiji. The overall experience has been a pleasant one and I would recommend it to small business owners only.
Pros
Right off the bat, perhaps the biggest pro of Wave Accounting is the fact that it is 100% free. A simple plug & play app that allows users the ability to have an accounting software to keep their books in order. Also, like QuickBooks, the feature that allows users to attach source documents with the transactions is a huge plus. It is very useful in Fiji because our Tax Authority conducts random audits & failure to produce source documents results in huge fines and penalties. The home look as soon as you login is very useful too. It shows the expenses breakdown over a certain period along with other charts like your Profit & Loss as well as your cash flows. Wave Accounting is really good for small & medium business owners who have limited accounting knowledge. The software does the work for them and it is very straightforward.
Cons
Perhaps the biggest drawback for me is the difficulty in producing specific reports. I tried to produce an Accounts Payable report to see the Tax Input the business had for the 1st Quarter of 2020. However, the options provided was limited and therefore key fields were left out of selection. Although you could import data from Wave Accounting to Excel, it is very limited. Also, being in Fiji, I noticed that features like Payroll & Banking options are not available here. This was a drawback especially because Bank Reconciliation had to be manually done on an external app or software.
Alternatives Considered
QuickBooks Desktop EnterpriseReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
I chose Wave Accounting because it was free.- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
A simplified accounting management experience with Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting is popular online accounting software designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs. It offers a range of features, such as bank account management, invoicing, and accounting, to help businesses track their money and keep track of their finances in one place. It is often praised for its intuitive user interface and free features, which makes it accessible to businesses on a budget. However, some people may find certain features to be limited or lacking compared to other more advanced accounting software.
Pros
Wave Accounting is a great online accounting platform for small businesses. It's easy to use and offers a variety of features to help you manage your finances efficiently.One of the best things about Wave is that it's free. This means that small businesses can access a professional accounting solution without having to spend a lot of money. Additionally, Wave is accessible online, which means you can access it from anywhere, anytime, which is very convenient for small businesses who want to manage their finances on the go.Wave also offers great integration with other tools like PayPal and Stripe, making it easy to manage payments and financial transactions. Additionally, Wave offers a variety of financial reports to help you understand the financial health of your business and make informed decisions.In conclusion, Wave Accounting is a great option for small businesses looking for a reliable and affordable online accounting solution. It offers a variety of features to help you effectively manage your finances and make informed business management decisions.
Cons
Wave Accounting is popular online accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. It offers a range of features, including invoicing, accounting, expense management, and payment management, all designed to help users manage their finances efficiently.However, there are a few points that can be considered disadvantages for some users:Limited Features: Although Wave Accounting offers a number of useful features for small businesses and freelancers, it may lack some advanced features that are often required by larger businesses.Confusing UI: Some users may find the UI a bit confusing at first, as it may take some getting used to.Limited support: Wave Accounting does not offer phone support, which may be a drawback for some users who prefer to speak to a live representative.In general, Wave Accounting can be a good option for small businesses and freelancers looking for affordable and easy-to-use accounting software. However, it is important to consider these potential drawbacks when deciding whether Wave Accounting is right for your specific needs.
-
Review Source
Be aware!
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!
- Industry: Transportation/Trucking/Railroad
- Company size: 51–200 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Wave Accounting Review
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.
- Industry: Marketing & Advertising
- Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
-
Review Source
I want to like Wave, and have been trying for years
..., but I need them to help me figure it out. I have a full-time salaried job as a copywriter and a few self-employment careers, like freelance writing, voice acting. I've always found doing my taxes to be a nightmare. I'd spend months stressing about it and trying to calculate income and expenses. Originally, I was adding up all my expenses with a calculator. When I discovered I could put things into Excel, it got a bit easier add numbers. And then about 4 or 5 years ago, I started using a new accountant, and he suggested Wave to me. I was excited to hear that it would important my bank and credit card statements, and that I could then quickly and easily categorize everything. I was sure this would save me so much time and stress. But I found Wave very hard to use. I wasn't sure how to create my own categories. I could never tell if my statements had been uploaded completely, and I would often wind up with duplicate transactions. And I still can't find a way to view the categories after I've allocated transactions to them. I tweeted to Wave a lot, and they were nice enough to send one their IT guys to sit with me in a coffee shop for a few hours. He watched as I tried to do things and he gave me help. He said this was useful to him, to see what people might be having trouble with. And, I figured I would then be ok. But I'm still having a lot of trouble. I'm not asking a lot. All I want to be able to do is import my bank statements and credit card statements, and categorize all the transactions. And being able to invoice people would be nice too. And it seems that his app has those features. But I still find it very complicated. I don't understand the categories. I can't find where the totals are. And lately, my mbna Mastercard has been saying it can't link to Wave. So tonight, I went in and started deleting all the transactions from 2014, hoping that I could start fresh and be sure that everything was imported correctly. But now I see that mbna won't give me the data files for before August (that's an mbna problem, not Wave) and I can't undelete what I deleted. And there's no way to get support without paying for it. But I don't want to pay until I'm confident the site can do the simple things I need it to do. Anyway, I'd love to support a local Toronto company. And I appreciate that someone from the company sat with me in person. And I see people reviewing positively, saying it makes a freelancers life easy. Someone even tweeted today that Wave makes doing accounting fun. But I just don't understand how people are able to use this site. If someone from the company, or one of the satisfied customers, could explain to me how to use this site properly, I'd love to be converted. But at this point, I fear I need to cut my loses and simplify my life by paying for some other software. I just want to be able to file my taxes and concentrate on my creative projects.
Pros
It seems like it offers the ability to import credit card and bank statements, categorize expenses, and invoice people. Those are the features I want. But...
Cons
...I haven't been able to figure out how to smoothly and accurately use the features I want. This app is making my life harder than it was when I just manually typed in all my expenses into a Microsoft Word and added them up with a calculator.
Response from Wave Apps
Thanks for sharing with us your experience. Firstly, thanks for being such a valuable customer over the years. We especially appreciate your patience trying to make WaveApps work for your financials.
We have available Premium Support for customers who are getting started with Wave. We suggest those looking to best learn work arounds, and setting up proper customizations subscribe to our chat and phone support (unlimited - 9am-5pm EDT M-F) - $49 for three months. You can place a call and speak to one of our product specialists to help you work through your challenge.
If you could reach out to me [email protected]. We'll try to match you with a member of our team to help troubleshoot since you have invested your valuable time into Wave to manage your business financials.
Jennifer from Wave
- Industry: Consumer Goods
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Great alternative to Quickbooks for small biz users
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.
- Industry: Information Technology & Services
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Wave Accounting: The Optimal and Should be First Choice for Small Business Owners
I have been using Wave for a long time now. For more than 4 years and I have nothing bad to say about Wave Accounting it is absolutely amazing, and is way better than quickbooks in my opinion.
Pros
Wave's ability to automatically categorize and track receipts. Another feature I must mention is the invoicing capabilities. These features are more than essential to the small business owner and are easy to generate on the go quickly with the mobile application.
Cons
One aspect of Wave that could be improved is the mobile applications' ability to manage payout accounts. Also, the receipts feature remaining free would be a huge value add for logistics company owners.
Alternatives Considered
Quickbooks OnlineReasons for Choosing Wave Accounting
Cost, UI/UX, FeaturesSwitched From
Quickbooks OnlineReasons for Switching to Wave Accounting
Cost, UI/UX, Features, Receipt Tracking- Industry: Accounting
- Company size: Self Employed
- Used Daily for 2+ years
-
Review Source
Wave is a Great Accounting Suite - and it's FREE!
Pros
Wave is a great piece of accounting software that rivals Quickbooks and Xero. The biggest winner, which it obvious to anyone who has researched Wave as an accounting platform for their small business: it’s FREE! Both Quickbooks and Xero have fairly low-cost pricing models for small businesses that range all the way to fairly high-cost for larger businesses. Wave, on the other hand, is specifically tailored to the small business, and offers only features popular with those businesses. But, because of this, their base accounting software is completely free. Their only products you would be billed for would be payroll or credit card processing, both of which are priced competitively to Quickbooks/Intuit’s and Xero’s offerings as well.
Wave also offers a lot of the same features, including automatic bank and credit card feeds, customized charts of accounts, multiple businesses on one account, smart expense categorization (software learns over time), and more.
Cons
Wave does have its limitations and is more basic than Quickbooks or Xero, especially to us accountants who can see the glaring differences. However, even as an accountant and bookkeeper, I recommend Wave to a lot of my smaller clients whose biggest consideration is cost, simply because you can’t beat free. Plus, a lot of the additional features that offerings like Quickbooks or Xero feature, smaller businesses will not always utilize anyway, so Wave fits them perfectly. All-in-all, there are no large drawbacks.
