That said, if you sign up during a sale, you can get a good deal for a few months. Wave, on the other hand, receives zero marks for advanced features as it lacks a number of fairly basic capabilities, including project accounting and cash flow projection. For businesses with complex needs, this will likely be a dealbreaker. However, if you’re just managing a budding business or something on the side, Wave’s minimal feature set won’t set you back too much. Free accountancy tools like Wave can provide a lifeline to smaller businesses looking to keep overheads as low as possible.
Best Accounting and Bookkeeping Apps for Small Businesses
QuickBooks Desktop costs an up-front yearly charge, which can range anywhere from $349/99 to $1,340. Or, if you don’t need as many features as QuickBooks Online provides, there’s QuickBooks Self-Employed. Its simple $15-a-month plan lets you send simple invoices, track mileage, and get quarterly tax estimates to make end-of-year tax payments easier. Wave’s free plan charges a 2.9% + $0.60 fee for credit card transactions, while the Pro plan waives that $0.60 fee for the first 10 transactions per month. In both plans, there’s a 3.4% + $0.60 fee for AMEX transactions, 1% for each bank transaction, and a $1 minimum fee for every invoice payment it processes.
You’re All Set
Intuit also has a freelance plan called QuickBooks Self-Employed, which helps freelancers track expenses and taxes but does little else. QuickBooks Self-Employed starts at $15 a month, but Wave Accounting has more features at a better price. We believe everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence. Wave used to offer a receipt-scanning app for iOS users—but that offering recently vanished. Now, you’ll use your phone to photograph physical receipts, then upload them to your Wave account.
- Business owners — including and especially freelancers — will likely find that Wave Accounting’s comprehensive tools meet their financial management needs just as well as QuickBooks.
- 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.
- 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.
Meanwhile, in most states, Wave Payroll offers only a self-service plan. With this simplified software, Wave calculates payroll amounts and deposits employee paychecks, but you pay and file taxes yourself. In a handful of states, you can choose Wave’s full-service plan for fully automated federal, state, and accounting cycle definition local tax remittance. Since Wave offers only one plan, it’s not as scalable for growing businesses. There aren’t heftier plans or upgrade options that could accommodate larger companies.
Should your organization use QuickBooks Online or Wave Accounting?
There are also fields for billable hours to add specific customers and services. Our research finds that QuickBooks is a accrued expenses stronger accounting tool than Wave, offering the best set of features we’ve reviewed, including standout budgeting and inventory management functions. 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. However, if you have deposits in transit or outstanding checks, Wave won’t recognize those items because it doesn’t deal with timing differences. While Wave may not be as powerful as QuickBooks, it offers decent bill tracking and A/P tracking.
And like Wave, QuickBooks Online uses a vertical menu bar to the left of the screen that offers access to all system functions. Fortunately, both Wave and QuickBooks Online offer easy setup and system navigation, and both offer a mobile app for iOS and Android smartphones. Today’s leading accounting platforms offer standard security features like data encryption, secure credential tokenization and more. 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. Using billing software helps to eliminate some or all potential human errors by automating several processes that are normally done manually.
Why QuickBooks Online wins
When you create your first invoice in Wave, you’re guided to create a template first. The platform has a few template options to choose from, and even has the option to add branding like your logo and an accent color, which I thought was a nice touch. However, it’s important to note that lots of QuickBooks’ enhanced tools, teaching ratios and unit rates in math like stock handling and project profitability, are reserved for its pricier tiers. Meanwhile, Wave remains a good pick if you don’t need all of QuickBooks’ features.
We’re firm believers in the Golden Rule, which is why editorial opinions are ours alone and have not been previously reviewed, approved, or endorsed by included advertisers. The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, does not cover all offers on the market. Wave offers integration with PayPal, Etsy, Stripe, and Shopify, along with numerous CRM and email marketing apps. There are also more than 1,000 apps you can integrate with Wave through Zapier, which works to connect web apps automatically. Like Wave, QuickBooks Online also lets you enter all transactions manually, a nice option for those who don’t want to connect their banking institutions to the software. The Sales feature in QuickBooks Online also offers some nice functions, including solid customer management capability and good invoice creation and management capability.
For one thing, QuickBooks Payroll has (you guessed it) more features. Automatic payroll runs mean you don’t have to worry about missing a payroll tax deadline or distributing paychecks late. And all of QuickBooks Payroll plans are full-service, meaning QuickBooks itself calculates and files payroll taxes on your behalf, including end-of-year tax paperwork.