--- title: Wave Reviews meta_title: 'Wave Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 324 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Wave works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.3 review_count: 324 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-04' parent_category: name: Accounting & Finance url: https://www.g2.com/categories/accounting-finance --- # Wave Reviews **Vendor:** Wave **Category:** [Accounting Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/accounting) **Average Rating:** 4.3/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 324 ## About Wave Wave is a comprehensive, cloud-based accounting software tailored for small businesses, freelancers, and entrepreneurs. It offers a suite of financial tools designed to simplify bookkeeping, invoicing, and payroll processes, enabling users to manage their finances efficiently without the need for extensive accounting knowledge. Key Features and Functionality: - Accounting: Track income and expenses, manage cash flow, and access detailed financial reports such as profit and loss statements and balance sheets. - Invoicing: Create and send professional, customizable invoices with ease. - Payments: Accept online payments through credit cards and bank transfers, facilitating faster transactions. - Payroll: Run payroll for employees and contractors, with automatic tax calculations and filings in supported regions. - Receipts: Scan and store receipts to track and organize expenses efficiently. - Mobile App: Manage invoices, expenses, and receipts on-the-go, ensuring financial oversight anytime, anywhere. Primary Value and Solutions Provided: Wave addresses the common challenges faced by small business owners in managing their finances by offering an integrated platform that combines accounting, invoicing, and payroll functionalities. Its user-friendly interface and automation features reduce the time and effort required for financial management, allowing users to focus more on growing their businesses. Additionally, Wave's commitment to security ensures that sensitive financial data is protected, providing peace of mind to its users. ## Wave Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users enjoy the **ease of use** of Wave, finding it simple and accessible for non-finance professionals. (10 reviews) - Users value the **efficient invoice management** in Wave, facilitating easy invoicing and payment processing. (6 reviews) - Users find the **easy setup** of Wave invaluable for quickly establishing connections and managing client interactions. (3 reviews) - Users value the **numerous and easy integration features** of Wave, enhancing their overall experience and efficiency. (3 reviews) - Users appreciate the **invoicing ease** of Wave, finding it quick and efficient for professional invoice management. (3 reviews) - Automation Efficiency (2 reviews) - Users find Wave's **billing management** incredibly easy, facilitating client invoicing, payments, and reporting effortlessly. (2 reviews) - Users value the **cloud-based access** of Wave, enhancing convenience and reliability for managing their business information. (2 reviews) - Easy Access (2 reviews) - Users find Wave to be **intuitive and user-friendly** , making it easy for non-finance individuals to navigate. (2 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **missing features** of Wave inconvenient, as it lacks currency support and automated sharing options. (5 reviews) - Users experience **poor customer support** from Wave, facing unresponsive teams and limited assistance for critical issues. (4 reviews) - Users feel the product is **expensive** due to required subscriptions and high addon pricing, impacting overall value. (2 reviews) - Users are frustrated by the **limited integration options** in Wave, impacting their workflow and efficiency. (2 reviews) - Users face significant **approval process issues** , struggling to set up banking accounts and receiving poor support from the team. (1 reviews) - Users note the **business size limitations** of Wave, finding it unsuitable for larger companies' needs. (1 reviews) - Difficult Customization (1 reviews) - Email Issues (1 reviews) - Insufficient Information (1 reviews) - Integration Difficulties (1 reviews) ## Wave Reviews ### 1. Nice UI and templates with solid but basic functionality **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Leila B. | Team Growth Strategist & Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 19, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** Wave is visually appealing, intuitive, and just works. Coming from heavier, more traditional platforms, I appreciate that it handles the background accounting seamlessly without forcing me to wade through rigid manual setups. The expense tracking, automated invoicing, and clean interface make day-to-day financial management straightforward and fairly efficient. **What do you dislike about Wave?** While it’s a solid platform overall, there is definitely room for improvement. The reporting features feel a bit basic, and the approval workflows could be streamlined. Additionally, the dashboard lacks deep customization, and the AI-powered features—specifically smart transaction categorization—aren't as sharp as they should be and require too much manual correction. Lastly, payment processing payout times can occasionally feel a bit slow compared to newer fintech alternatives. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** Wave solves the problem of administrative bloat by keeping invoicing and expense tracking under one roof without the complexity of traditional bookkeeping software. It gives me a clear, clean look at my business finances without eating up my time. ### 2. Great for Basic Bookkeeping, Lacks German Compliance **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Eriko B. | Senior Compliance Accountant, Accounting, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 03, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** The full core accounting toolset comes entirely free with no mandatory paid tiers or hidden transaction charges, which keeps our overhead low when handling tiny, low-revenue client jobs. Automated bank feeds pull daily bank activity automatically, so our junior accountants skip hours of manual ledger typing every week. The mobile receipt scanner lets our team snap expense paperwork on-site and upload records instantly. I also value the branded invoice creator to send standardized client bills in minutes, plus straightforward P&L snapshots that let me spot cash flow shortages long before month-end closing begins. Initial setup was surprisingly straightforward too; connecting bank accounts and customizing invoice templates took under an hour with zero complicated technical configuration. **What do you dislike about Wave?** Wave’s biggest downside is its total disregard for German fiscal regulations, which makes it unusable as our official bookkeeping system. All financial data resides on non-EU servers, triggering constant Schrems II GDPR data transfer risks we have to document separately for compliance. Transaction logs can be edited or deleted with no locked, tamper-proof audit trails—Finanzamt auditors will outright reject these records during Betriebsprüfung. It has no native DATEV export functions or GDPdU file formats required for digital tax submissions. There are no pre-built templates for German monthly VAT advance filings (USt-Voranmeldung), and cross-border EU multi-currency bookings produce messy VAT breakdowns that need full manual recalculation. The platform cannot auto-lock records for the mandatory 10-year GoBD retention period, so our team manually backs up every transaction offline to avoid heavy regulatory fines. There is also no German-speaking support team available to resolve audit-related issues quickly. My key improvement requests: EU-exclusive data hosting, native two-way DATEV integration, unalterable permanent audit trails, pre-built German VAT reporting modules, and local German technical support for compliance troubleshooting. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** Before implementing Wave, our junior staff logged every bank transfer and expense line manually inside disjointed Excel spreadsheets, a slow process prone to typos and missing entries. Wave’s automated sync and mobile receipt uploads drastically cut repetitive manual data input. Fast profit and cash flow summaries also remove the need to build custom calculation sheets just to get a quick overview of small client project performance. Since there is no subscription cost, we avoid extra software expenses when servicing micro-client accounts with minimal transaction volume. ### 3. Robust Free Plan, Limited for Complex Needs **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Salina T. | Founder, Consulting, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 17, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** I like that Wave offers a free plan that is robust enough for people to try out. It also offers payroll functionality and bookkeeping services, which are pretty useful. The setup is very simple, with a well-thought-out tutorial that guides you through the process and includes lots of troubleshooting options. I appreciate having a lower cost or no-cost option for small businesses, which makes it a good alternative for those starting out. The free plan is developed yet streamlined, and the paid add-ons are good compared to competitors like QuickBooks. **What do you dislike about Wave?** I wanted to suggest Wave to some of my clients but since Wave does not allow health care related businesses to access their products, I believe due to HIPAA regulations. So, I was unable to setup or migrate some of my clients with Wave. I understand and respect this, but I'm not sure if there are restrictions for other industries as well. Also, while the setup is very simple, I think if you have more complex systems, there aren't as many YouTube tutorials or help guides available for troubleshooting unique problems. Plus, there are fewer third-party integrations than some of the competitors. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Wave for accounting and enjoy its paid plan with payroll and bookkeeping. It's cost-effective for small businesses and easy to set up, which makes it a comparable choice to pricier options like QuickBooks. ### 4. Wave: Ideal for Accounting Experts, But Invoicing Needs Improvement **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Barb B. | President, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 05, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** I use Wave as my accounting/bookkeeping program. As a nonprofit, I was excited to learn that Wave can be used for free for basic accounting. Its interface is easy to understand from an actual accounting perspective. As someone with a background in accounting, I don't have to guess what the program is doing when I input information. I can create transactions and journal entries where I control which codes are used. We operate on a cash basis, so I can use their transactions register and journal entry register to input 90% of what I need to record from my checking accounts. I also wasn't sure how it would handle year-end, but it understands that after the end of my year to close the books and start a new P&L. Some people might not like the fact that you can still edit the prior year after the fact, but since I'm the accountant, I'm not concerned with that. I'd say it would be an 8 or 9 if they have some accounting background. It's exactly what I needed. **What do you dislike about Wave?** Creating an invoice when you're not selling a product can be a bit confusing. I've had to create invoices for grants which I've had trouble coding to the right place. I usually end up having to make a journal entry correction. It's been a while since I've had to do it, but unless you create a new item for each grant, it automatically codes it to the same account used before and you don't realize it, but it doesn't show you that it's doing that until after you've completed the invoice and then I couldn't find a way to edit the coding after the fact. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Wave for accounting as it's free for basic features, making it ideal for my nonprofit. The interface is clear from an accounting perspective, allowing me to easily record transactions and journal entries. It handles cash basis records efficiently. ### 5. Simple Interface, Perfect for Small Business Invoicing **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rashida D. | Executive Administrative Assistant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 08, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** I really like that Wave's user interface is simple and easy to use, making it straightforward to find things. The customer service has been easy to use and they are easy to get a hold of. I found the features to be purposeful, useful, and offering a wide variety. Setting it up was also really easy, especially if you have your business and bank information ready. It was important for me as a small business owner to avoid combing through a poorly designed interface, and Wave helps me get things done quickly and accurately. **What do you dislike about Wave?** The invoicing was a little wonky the last time I used it. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** Wave is a great inexpensive way to handle accounting, inventory, and invoicing for my small business. Its simple, easy-to-use interface and purposeful features save me time and help me manage tasks quickly and accurately. ### 6. Wave: Powerfully Simplifies Small Business Accounting **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** ARPIT M. | Vice President, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 29, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** I really appreciate Wave's 'Forever Free' philosophy where the core accounting and invoicing features are genuinely free, removing the stress of a growing monthly subscription bill for a small business. The interface is non-accountant friendly, unlike heavier software, allowing me to get the job done quickly without needing to learn complex processes. The dashboard provides a clear 'birds-eye view' of cash flow and the setup is super easy—getting the first invoice sent or a bank account connected can be done in under five minutes. Wave offers smart automation with features like automatic reminders for late clients and duplicate detection in bank syncing, which helps keep the books clean without much effort. The 'forward to receipts' email feature saves a lot of manual work by automatically scanning details and adding them to expenses. I love the professional aesthetic of Wave, where even though it's free, the invoices look high-end and can be customized with my logo and brand colors, giving my small business a polished appearance. **What do you dislike about Wave?** Lack of Inventory Management: Wave is mainly for service-based businesses. If you sell physical products, you can't track inventory within Wave. You need a separate spreadsheet or app, doubling the work. Limited 'Pro' Reporting & Customization: The basic reports work for tax time but feel too rigid. You can't customize or drill down reports like you can with advanced software. You might struggle to get detailed profitability by project or location. Customer Support Accessibility: The free plan's support is limited to self-help guides or a chatbot. To talk to a human, you need to pay for add-on services like Payroll or Payments. Mobile App 'Feature Gap': While Wave's mobile app is handy for sending invoices or snapping receipts, it lacks deeper accounting tasks. You need a desktop for serious work like bank reconciliation or complex reports. Multi-Currency & International Scaling: While Wave handles multiple currencies, it can be tricky for international users. Some tax requirements aren't supported smoothly, and currency conversion fees can be a bit high. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** Wave automates bookkeeping, organizing transactions, and ensures tax readiness. Its free core features and user-friendly interface simplify finance management without extra costs. Smart automation reduces errors, and professional invoices boost client trust. ### 7. Great Fit for Small Business Accounting Needs **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stacey B. | Digital Media Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 18, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** It's easy to use, and I love that it has had a free tier for as long as it has, when many competitors are overcharging crazy monthly subscription fees. What you get for features within the app, compared to its competitors, is awesome. It has all the needs for a small business. **What do you dislike about Wave?** I am based in Canada, and have a lot of US-based clients. The inability to collect online credit card payments from US clients is a big deal breaker. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** Wave handles all the end to end invoicing, billing, expense, reconciliation and tax needs for small business. The fact that it can handle all of these things for free, and do them well is rare in this industry. I've never had any issues with the app either, literally none. Everything just works. ### 8. Simplifies Bookkeeping for Small Businesses **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brittany C. | CEO and Founder, Non-Profit Organization Management, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 02, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** Wave makes bookkeeping and accounting easy for me as a business owner. It also allows me to include payment links in traditional PDF invoices, which makes it extra easy for clients in smaller businesses or nonprofits to pay me on time without having to initiate their own ACH transfer or write a check. **What do you dislike about Wave?** There was one feature I wanted to use in Wave that I know I could do in Xero, but I couldn't figure it out in Wave. Wave is good for general, standard functions. For more complicated processes or procedures, you might need a more advanced product. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** Wave simplifies my accounting and bookkeeping, letting me handle it myself without outsourcing. I love sending PDF invoices with payment links. It's easy to use for solo practitioners, though advanced features might require more powerful tools. ### 9. Perfect for Small Business Accounting **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Connie S. | Owner/Operator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 24, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** I appreciate Wave for its ease of use and that it's not complicated, which makes it perfect for small businesses. I love that I can connect multiple accounts, and the account is inexpensive. I find uploading receipts easy as I can just forward emails to a dedicated email linked to my account. It helps me see my cash flow and makes report preparation easy. I like that it can identify duplicate transactions and has a merge option, so I can easily reconcile. The initial setup was super easy, taking less than 5 minutes to connect all my bank accounts. **What do you dislike about Wave?** I would love to see a paystubs report for business owners so I can usually show income. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** Wave helps me easily upload receipts by forwarding emails, tracks cash flow, and simplifies report preparation. It's straightforward and perfect for small businesses, plus connecting multiple accounts and reconciling transactions is easy. ### 10. Disappointed with Changes and Poor Support **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Justin V. | Principal, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 31, 2026 **What do you like best about Wave?** I appreciate the free plan from Wave, which I've been using since I started with them almost ten years ago. I like the recurring invoicing feature and the automatic reminders for invoices, which takes a little off my mind knowing that's all being done for me. The platform's ability to handle multiple types of credit cards and ACH transactions is also something I like. **What do you dislike about Wave?** I don't like that they removed the feature to file 1099s for a small fee. Now, you have to subscribe to their payroll service for the whole year, which I don't need. This feels like a money-grabbing move, and it's a huge negative for me. Their customer service hours are also very limited compared to before, and communication about changes was poor. You can't reach a human easily, which is frustrating. **What problems is Wave solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Wave for bookkeeping for my small business. I like the recurring invoicing and automatic reminders, which take a little off my mind. It supports multiple credit cards and ACH transactions too. ## Wave Discussions - [How does Wave Software make money?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-does-wave-software-make-money) - 1 comment - [Is Wave Accounting really free?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-wave-accounting-really-free) - 2 comments - [Is wave a good accounting software?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-wave-a-good-accounting-software) - 2 comments - [What is Wave Software?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-wave-software) - 2 comments - [View Wave pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/wave/reviews/wave-review-3228395?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-04+01%3A58%3A19+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=e9625237-f588-4abe-a45a-bbfaaa14dbd1&secure%5Btoken%5D=01800103c6dcd0f280020b1a2cdf90a01827e48dbf4e52b8ad39c57fb72490e5&format=llm_user) ## Wave Integrations - [Chase Payment Solutions](https://www.g2.com/products/chase-payment-solutions/reviews) - [Microsoft Excel](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-excel/reviews) - [WPS Spreadsheets](https://www.g2.com/products/wps-spreadsheets/reviews) - [Zapier](https://www.g2.com/products/zapier/reviews) ## Wave Features **General Ledger** - Journal Entries - Tags / Dimensions - Audit Trail **Bill Generation** - Templates - Digital Billing - Recurring Billing **Agentic AI - Accounting & Finance** - Autonomous Task Execution **Accounts Receivable** - Invoice Customization - AR Automation - Collections Automation **Bill Processing** - Consolidation - Batch Invoicing - Management **Accounts Payable** - AP Automation - Payment Processing - Purchase Orders **Integration** - Accounting - Payments - ERP **Agentic AI - Billing** - Autonomous Task Execution **Other Functionality** - Inventory Tracking / Ordering - Inventory Pricing and Costing - Inventory Reporting - Multi-Entity / Consolidation - Recognition Rules - Reconciliations - Payroll - Time and Expense **Reporting & Analytics** - Financial Statements - Custom Reporting - Budgeting / Forecasting - Dashboards **Platform** - Customization - Workflow Capability - User, Role, and Access Management - Internationalization - Performance and Reliability - Output Document Generation **Integration** - Data Import and Export Tools - Integration APIs - Breadth of Partner Applications **Cash Flow** - Track Cash Flow - Income and Expenses - File Exports **Budgeting & Forecasting** - Budgeting / Forecasting - Data Import - Versioning - Historical Data **Revenue** - Revenue Types - Revenue Allocation - Scheduling **Payroll** - Direct Deposit - Check/W-2 Printing - Tax Calculation - Reporting and Dashboards **AI** - Data Extraction - Invoice Processing - Expense Management - Fraud Detection - Tax Compliance - Support Chatbots - Bank Reconciliations - Report Generation - Customizable Alerts - Predictive Analytics **Mobile Applications - Accounting** - Cloud Integration - Notifications - UI - Offline - Expense Tracking - Invoice Management **Agentic AI - Accounting** - Autonomous Task Execution ## Top Wave Alternatives - [Xero](https://www.g2.com/products/xero/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (1,632 reviews) - [FreshBooks](https://www.g2.com/products/freshbooks/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (957 reviews) - [Zoho Books](https://www.g2.com/products/zoho-books/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (320 reviews)