Wave

Wave is accounting and invoicing software for very small businesses, freelancers and side hustles in the United States and Canada. Its headline feature is price: the Starter plan is free and includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, which makes it one of the very few genuinely free double-entry accounting tools.

Wave makes its money from optional paid services — online payment processing, payroll, bookkeeping help — and from its Pro plan, which adds the automation most growing businesses eventually want: automatic bank imports, receipt scanning, auto-categorisation and late-payment reminders.

The most important thing to know before signing up is where Wave works. Since November 2020, Wave has focused exclusively on the US and Canada, and product and customer support for users elsewhere was discontinued. Wave's own help centre says users outside the US and Canada can no longer send invoices or reminders through Wave, bank connections only work for US and Canadian businesses, and it points other users to its partner, Zoho Books. Wave is not HMRC-recognised for Making Tax Digital, so it is not a suitable choice for UK businesses.

How Wave works

A typical workflow for a US or Canadian business is:

1. Sign up free on the web or mobile app and set up your business profile.
2. Create estimates and invoices; turn on online payments so customers can pay by card or bank transfer from the invoice.
3. Record bills and expenses — manually on Starter, or automatically via bank import and receipt scanning on Pro.
4. Review and categorise transactions; Pro merges and categorises imported transactions automatically.
5. Run reports such as profit and loss, and see cash flow and customers on the dashboard.
6. Add payroll if you have employees or contractors, and invite your accountant on Pro.

Key capabilities

Free invoicing and estimates — Unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records on the free Starter plan, plus mobile invoicing.

Double-entry accounting — Proper books with a chart of accounts and reports, not just an invoice generator.

Online payments — Customers pay by card or bank transfer (ACH) through the invoice, with funds transferred to your bank automatically.

Automatic bank imports (Pro) — Unlimited bank and credit card connections through Plaid, with transactions imported, merged and categorised automatically.

Receipt scanning (Pro) — Photograph receipts or bulk-upload up to 10 at a time, and Wave fills in the details with OCR.

Late-payment reminders (Pro) — Automated reminders for overdue invoices.

Multiple users (Pro) — Add users to your account, such as a business partner or accountant.

Payroll — Pay employees and contractors with automatic tax payments, direct deposits and an employee portal; available in the US and in Canada outside Quebec.

Wave Advisors — Optional paid bookkeeping and coaching help from Wave's team.

Wave plans explained

Starter — free. Unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, mobile invoicing, a cash flow and customer dashboard, and the option to accept online payments. Bank transactions are added manually or by uploading statements. On Starter, sending invoices through Wave by email is tied to the online payments feature; you can always share invoices as a PDF or link.

Pro — $19 a month, or $190 a year (about $15.83 a month); $250 CAD a year in Canada. Everything in Starter, plus automatic bank imports and categorisation, unlimited receipt capture, automated late-payment reminders, extra users and discounted card fees on your first 10 transactions each month.

Online payment fees: on Starter, 2.9% + $0.60 per Visa, Mastercard or Discover payment and 3.4% + $0.60 per American Express payment. On Pro, the $0.60 fixed fee is waived on the first 10 card transactions each month, then the standard rate applies. Bank (ACH) payments cost 1% with a $1 minimum on both plans. Card payouts arrive in about 2 business days in the US and 1 business day in Canada.

Payroll: in the US, $40 a month plus $6 per active employee and $6 per contractor paid; in Canada, $25 CAD a month plus $6 per employee and contractor (not available in Quebec). New payroll users can try it for up to 30 days after their first payroll run. Wave Advisors bookkeeping starts from about $149 a month.

You can switch plans, cancel or reactivate a subscription at any time.

Who Wave is for

US and Canadian freelancers and sole proprietors — free invoicing and bookkeeping to get started.

Side hustles and very small businesses — proper books for $0, upgrading only when you need automation.

Service businesses that invoice clients — online payments straight from the invoice.

Small teams in the US and Canada — affordable payroll as an add-on.

Who should look elsewhere

UK businesses — Wave isn't HMRC-recognised for Making Tax Digital and no longer supports invoicing outside the US and Canada. Look at Xero, QuickBooks or FreshBooks instead.

Businesses with inventory, projects or complex reporting — Wave is deliberately simple.

Getting the most out of Wave

Start on Starter, and upgrade to Pro once manual bank entry becomes the bottleneck.

Pay yearly if you stay on Pro — $190 a year is $38 less than paying monthly.

Watch card fees: on Pro only the first 10 card payments a month skip the $0.60 fixed fee.

Check Plaid supports your bank before relying on automatic imports.