Wave vs QuickBooks Online: Comparing Cost and Features

It meets a more diverse set of business needs, and has become standard among accountants, so your team won’t have a learning curve getting started. With net debt in accounting QuickBooks Checking, you can get integrated bookkeeping plus instant deposit of your payments, plus 1% APY interest on your balance (as of July 6, 2022). Both Wave and QuickBooks offer solid invoicing features and capabilities for small businesses. Multiview Financials’ ERP provides a single point of truth within your organization, enabling visibility across divisional, regional, or product line silos.

Get more information about how it stacks up with our Wave Payroll review. QuickBooks includes an option to add on accounting, which adds bill management, inventory and job costing capabilities in addition to expense tracking. The platform also includes receipt capture and mileage tracking, so you can automatically gather all the information you need to claim expenses for tax purposes in one place. QuickBooks Online and Wave Accounting share the same basic bookkeeping features.

In full-service states, payroll in Wave costs $35 plus $6 per employee or contractor per month. In self-serve states, the cost is $20 plus $6 per employee or contractor per month. However, if you plan on growing your business exponentially year over year, QuickBooks Online is a far better choice than Wave. Its reporting features, integrations, user-friendly apps and multi-plan scalability will help you plan professional corporations offer tax breaks for growth and expand far into the future. NerdWallet independently reviews accounting software products before determining our top picks. We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives.

QuickBooks Online vs. Wave Accounting: Comparison table

Whenever you record a sale, QuickBooks will compute COGS automatically and deduct the inventory sale from the inventory account and stocks. For instance, you can only edit invoice templates and send invoices via email with Pro. Like Wave, if you accept online payments with QuickBooks Online, you’ll incur a transaction fee of 2.9%, plus $0.25 per transaction. A 1% transaction fee is charged for ACH transfers, although QuickBooks Online caps its fee at $10.

Wave and QuickBooks Online alternatives

1. Like Wave, QuickBooks Online allows you to enter the bare minimum during the setup process and add the rest as you go.
2. QuickBooks will send invoices to the email address of the recipient, requiring fewer steps for your bookkeeper.
3. Reports can play a big role in the management of your business, and Wave and QuickBooks Online both offer reporting options, though those options vary widely between the two applications.
4. When it comes to QuickBooks vs. Wave in terms of pricing, Wave takes the lead because it has a free plan and an affordable paid tier.
5. 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.

With the recent addition of Wave Pro to Wave’s accounting lineup, Wave is slightly more scalable — but again, it has two plans to QuickBooks’ four. If you’re focused on growth, QuickBooks might still make more sense for you law firm bookkeeping 101 than Wave. Integrates with more than 750 apps and offers live, in-house bookkeeping add-on.

There’s also a convenient Round Trip toggle, so you don’t have to manually enter two separate trips. Once you have it set just the way you like it, you can see what your email will look like when you send your invoice to customers. When I was 10 years old, I had a small business that involved going door to door with an empty ice cream pail and a can-do attitude to sell my dog doo-doo disposal services. The trouble was that after too many IOUs and conveniently “lost” checkbooks, my business was looking more like a charity. If you manage a hospitality business, we could recommend using Xero because of its handy budget creator tool and slick POS integrations.

Account Information

It is also the best value rating we’ve handed out across the accountancy software category. However, if you’re after zero-frills accountancy software that can help you handle the basics, Wave will be more than enough. While it lacks the bells and whistles offered by QuickBooks, its feature set is nothing to be snubbed at, and the tool is completely free to use, making it perfect for users who are looking to keep costs low. Both QuickBooks and Wave excel in different areas, so scroll down to find out how the two solutions compare when it comes to accountancy features, advanced capabilities, affordability, and support.

Is accounting software secure?

If you’re on a tight budget, it’s a pretty easy choice between the two platforms, as you can use Wave for free. Meanwhile, Wave’s Pro plan includes additional features that help businesses keep track of bank transactions, receipts, and payment reminders. Wave’s feature set is limited to bank reconciliation tools, income and expense tracking, invoicing, basic reporting, and a mobile app for sending invoices on the go. This might be more than enough for freelancers and very small service-based businesses.