Quickbooks vs Wave: Which Software is Best for You?

You’ll pay a 2.9% plus $0.25 per transaction fee for invoiced credit card payments; and 1% (up to $10) for ACH payments. Wave and QuickBooks are two popular platforms for invoicing and accounting for small businesses. In this review of Wave vs. QuickBooks, we’ll look at how the services stack up, including their features, pros and cons, and which kinds of businesses can benefit from each.

It also has plans to roll out Intuit Assist—an AI-powered accounting assistant that can highlight important trends in your data and complete tasks automatically. The assistant will be able to automatically draft and send overdue invoices, automate expense records, and complete basic administrative work without human intervention. While both Wave and QuickBooks are apt at providing accounting features, each has its own strengths that make it better for certain businesses than others. When you get paid through a Wave invoice, your bookkeeping records are automatically updated, saving you time and helping you prep for tax season. Whether you use Wave or QuickBooks, ensure that your freelance accounting software is working for you and ultimately forwarding your business goals. Tracking expenses is especially important to freelancers, because when taxes roll around, many expenses can be deducted, saving hundreds – or even thousands – of dollars.

While simpler, Wave is more user-friendly

Only integrates with in-house apps, like Wave Payments and Wave Payroll; does not integrate with card readers for in-person payments. Includes audit trails and easy accountant access; has millions of users so your accountant will likely be familiar with it. Includes tools that help automate the reconciliation process, along with a global search function and customizable dashboard; however, there is a learning curve. Many, or all, of the products featured on this page are from our advertising partners who compensate us when you take certain actions on our website or click to take an action on their website. So if you’re a loyal TurboTax user, it might be worth it to go with QuickBooks just for an easier go at it when tax season rolls around. On the flip side, Wave connects to H&R Block, so the same logic applies if you already use H&R Block.

However, it won’t work if you record payments when issued and deposits when checks are received. For instance, you can only edit invoice templates and send invoices via email with Pro. Since QuickBooks Online is so popular, it syncs with just about every major payroll provider—including Gusto, one of our favorite payroll systems. If you’re trying to decide between QuickBooks’ native payroll solution and a highly rated third-party option like Gusto, check out our in-depth Gusto vs. QuickBooks Payroll comparison.

Accounting

The app scores 4.7 out of 5 from 126.9K iOS users and 4.0 out of 5 from over 41K Android users.1,2 Users tend to particularly note the app’s incredible ease of use and fully featured functionality. Wave and QuickBooks Online are the two pricing extremes of self-service accounting software. Can manage multiple businesses for free under one account; lacks project tracking tools, industry-specific reports and transaction tracking tags. Wave offers its own trade and nontrade receivables current or non current set of report templates, but the list isn’t nearly as extensive. You can still track financial statements, taxes, payroll, customers, and vendors, but the amount of report templates is much more limited.

Compare Wave and QuickBooks’ top features

However, it has a better feature set with basic inventory management, project tracking, a mobile app that lets you snap pictures of receipts and dozens of third-party integrations. While it doesn’t quite compete with QuickBooks Online’s feature set, it has strong invoicing capabilities and is less expensive. For very small businesses that rely mostly on invoicing, QuickBooks Online’s additional features might be overkill.

1. If you manage a hospitality business, we could recommend using Xero because of its handy budget creator tool and slick POS integrations.
2. Wave offers you core bookkeeping and accounting functionalities, as well as provides you the ability to customize your platform with free and paid add-ons to expand your capabilities.
3. 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.
4. With this QuickBooks feature, your employees can enter their trip information.
5. It’s hard to say which one is better—but we can help you decide which one is better for you.
6. Since Wave offers only one plan, it’s not as scalable for growing businesses.

Wave plans

If you have a microbusiness that needs to track income and expenses to compute income, Wave is optimal. Moreover, occasional sellers can stay with Wave’s free plan to save on monthly subscriptions. If some vendors prefer check payments, QuickBooks Online has a check printing feature. Moreover, subscribing to QuickBooks Bill Pay makes bill payments easier because it enables you to pay vendors within QuickBooks. Therefore, there’s no need to transfer to your online banking app to wire payments.