Wave vs QuickBooks (2025): Free vs Paid Accounting Software for Small Businesses

Wave covers the fundamentals well. You get double-entry accounting, invoicing with customizable templates, expense tracking with receipt scanning via the mobile app, and basic financial reports — profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow statement. For a freelancer or very small service business, that is most of what you need on a daily basis.

The payroll add-on runs $20/month plus $6 per active employee in the US (self-service states) or $35/month plus $6 per employee in tax service states where Wave handles tax filings on your behalf. If you have two or three employees, Wave Payroll is substantially cheaper than QuickBooks Payroll. The trade-off is that Wave Payroll is not as full-featured, and Wave's overall accounting depth is lower, so payroll data sitting in a thinner accounting system creates limitations as your business grows.

Wave also offers Wave Advisors — a paid service connecting you with Wave-trained bookkeeping and accounting professionals. Rates vary, but this exists as a solution for Wave users who want human accounting support without leaving the platform.

Where Wave wins:

• The price is unbeatable for solo operators and freelancers. $0/month for real accounting software is a meaningful advantage over $35 to $99/month.
• Invoicing is clean and straightforward. Sending a professional invoice, setting up payment links, and enabling automatic payment reminders all work without much setup.
• Receipt scanning works well for expense capture. The mobile app reads receipts and creates expense records, which handles the basic bookkeeping most freelancers need.
• Double-entry accounting is baked in, so your books are done correctly even if you never took an accounting class.
• No artificial client caps or feature gates on the free tier. The core product is fully available without paying.

Where Wave has real limitations:

• No inventory tracking. If you sell physical products, Wave cannot help you track stock levels, cost of goods sold, or manage purchase orders.
• No job costing or class tracking. Businesses that need to track profitability by project, location, or department hit a wall quickly.
• Integration options are thin compared to QuickBooks. The third-party app ecosystem is much smaller, which creates friction if you are running other tools and want your data to flow between them.
• Reporting is basic. You get the standard financial statements, but the customization and depth that growing businesses need just is not there.
• Most accountants and bookkeepers do not work in Wave regularly. At tax time or when you hire a bookkeeper, there is a real chance they will ask you to move to QuickBooks — which means migrating your data and starting over.
• Customer support is limited. The free tier does not include live support, and getting help when something goes wrong takes longer than it would with QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Online is the dominant small business accounting platform in the United States. Intuit reports approximately 7 million businesses using QuickBooks globally. The feature depth is substantially greater than Wave at every level — the question is whether your business actually needs that depth.

Simple Start at $35/month covers income and expense tracking, invoicing, and basic reporting for one user. Essentials at $65/month adds bill management, time tracking, and three users. Plus at $99/month is where the platform starts earning its cost for businesses with real complexity: inventory tracking, project profitability, class and location tracking, and up to five users. Advanced at $235/month adds custom reporting, dedicated customer success support, and up to 25 users.

Where QuickBooks wins:

• Inventory tracking is built in at the Plus tier. For product-based businesses, this is a non-negotiable feature that Wave simply does not offer.
• Job costing lets you track profitability by project — what you spent versus what you billed, per job. Contractors, construction businesses, and agencies that run multiple simultaneous projects need this.
• Class and location tracking lets you break down your finances by department, product line, or physical location. A business with two service areas or multiple revenue streams finally gets financial clarity.
• The accountant ecosystem is the strongest practical advantage QuickBooks has over every competitor. The vast majority of US bookkeepers and CPAs are trained on QuickBooks Online. Hiring an accountant, getting a business loan, or selling the business is smoother when your books are in QBO.
• Payroll integration keeps everything in one system. QuickBooks Payroll connects wages, taxes, and deductions directly to your chart of accounts without manual reconciliation.
• Reporting is considerably deeper. Hundreds of built-in reports, accountant-ready financials, and custom report builders on the Advanced plan.
• The integration marketplace is extensive — hundreds of third-party apps connect to QuickBooks, including CRMs, e-commerce platforms, project management tools, and industry-specific software.

Where QuickBooks has limitations:

• The monthly cost is real. Paying $420 to $1,188 per year for accounting software is a legitimate line item for a small business, and Wave being free makes the comparison awkward.
• The interface is more complex than Wave. More features means more screens, more settings, and a steeper learning curve for business owners who are not accountants.
• Pricing can creep upward. Adding payroll, moving to a higher tier for more users, or needing Advanced features can push annual costs considerably past the base subscription price.
• Intuit's customer support has a mixed reputation. Phone wait times and inconsistent support quality are a recurring complaint among QuickBooks users.