Wave vs QuickBooks: Accounting Software Comparison 2024

Though Wave has few reports, we believe they are enough for microbusinesses or occasional sellers. So, if you want the free Starter tier, you’ll have to send invoices to customers manually by sending a PDF invoice copy via email. But if you only need to send a few invoices, such as fewer than five per month, manual sending would not be that big of a deal. TechnologyAdvice is able to offer our services for free because some vendors may pay us for web traffic or other sales opportunities. Our mission is to help technology buyers make better purchasing decisions, so we provide you with information for all vendors — even those that don’t pay us. At Business.org, our research is meant to offer general product and service recommendations.

Features

You can also use our comparison guide to see how the providers fare against their competition, or check out our table below. However, if you’re just after a simple bookkeeping tool to manage your finances, Wave will do more than meet your needs. This makes Wave an ideal tool for managing the finances of small businesses and side hustles. Wave’s bank reconciliation only works if both Wave and the bank statement have the same recorded entries. This feature is useful for payments and purchases using debit or credit cards.

It supports 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. If you’re a freelancer or other solo service provider, Wave is a better option.

Best Invoicing Software for Freelancers in November 2024

Other features you may want to consider include whether the software has a mobile app, how good its customer service is and how well it does with accounts receivable (A/R) and financial reporting. Wave is free software that offers essential accounting features, such as invoice creation, bank reconciliations, and chart of accounts. It also offers a paid plan that adds premium features like unlimited users, automatic bank imports, and a discounted fee for the first 10 online payments from customers each month. Yes, Wave’s accounting, invoice, and receipt-scanning features are completely free. You do have to pay a credit card processing fee for online payments you accept with Payments by Wave, but that’s a standard requirement for all online payments. Wave’s 1% fee for ACH payments and 2.9% + $0.30 fee for credit card charges meets the industry standard.

But if you’re a medium to large business or even a small business that’s growing quickly, QuickBooks will have the features you need to scale. Yeah, you’ll pay quite a bit more, but it’ll likely be worth it to help you scale efficiently. So, while Quickbooks Online doesn’t have too many AI features as I write this, it looks like advanced capabilities are on the horizon. Mileage tracking is another feature built into QuickBooks that Wave doesn’t have, unless you use a creative workaround. With this QuickBooks feature, your employees can enter their trip information. Trips then go into a bucket for your review, where you can confirm each trip as Business or Personal.

NerdWallet’s accounting software ratings favor products that are easy to use, reasonably priced, have a robust feature set and can grow with your business. The best accounting software received top marks when evaluated across 10 categories and more than 30 subcategories. Wave is a well-rated payroll solution that offers a self-serve employee portal, time tracking and payroll processing for both employees and contractors. However, it doesn’t automate payroll or offer a mailing service for paychecks.

Best freelance features: Wave Accounting

1. And just like QuickBooks, payroll insights are only available with a paid add-on.
2. 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.
3. QuickBooks includes an option to add on accounting, which adds bill management, inventory and job costing capabilities in addition to expense tracking.
4. QuickBooks may be occasionally confusing, but it does have a live chat support feature to help you out of a pickle.
5. Even when comparing Wave vs. QuickBooks, or any QuickBooks alternative for that matter, there’s no doubt that QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting software solutions for a reason.

Larger businesses, however, might prefer QuickBooks Online for its transaction tracking tags for more in-depth reporting, custom bank rules for easier reconciling and inventory management. The best accounting software programs all provide similar features, so when considering which one is best for your business, you need to consider which features are the most important to your situation. This will help you decide which accounting software meets your needs best.

Live chat support

We don’t guarantee that our suggestions will work best for each individual or business, so consider your unique needs when choosing products and services. In contrast, QuickBooks Online has four plans to choose from—plus some versatile options for freelancers and desktop users. Can support larger small businesses with dozens of employees; highest-tier plan includes 25 users.

The system can datacloud international handle timing differences and account for bank service charges and interests automatically. While Wave may not be as powerful as QuickBooks, it offers decent bill tracking and A/P tracking. You have complete oversight of unpaid bills and, if you have the Pro plan, then you can attach captured receipts to bill entries. So, if you have vendors that bill regularly, you may want to consider if not having a recurring bills feature is a worthy compromise for affordable pricing. Xero is the most similar to QuickBooks Online in terms of scalability and feature set.

By kibriDagan in Bookkeeping on 25.08.2023