Accounting Software for Small Businesses
Quickly create and send unlimited invoices, look like a pro with customizable templates, and get paid fast with online payments. If Wave isn’t a good fit for you, read through our article on the year’s best free accounting software. The article kicks off with Wave, but it includes reviews for nine other free bookkeeping programs that you might prefer. However, some features are noticeably missing, such as project management and budgeting, that are found with competing software options such as QuickBooks Online.
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We deliver timely updates, interesting insights, and exclusive promos to your inbox. In evaluating pricing, we considered the billing cycle (monthly or annual) and number of users. If having a good mobile app is important to you, I highly recommend Zoho Books—which aced our mobile app category. QuickBooks Online’s detailed reporting and transaction tracking is ideal for growing businesses. Support for non-paying users is limited to the chatbot and self-service Help Center. Only integrates with in-house apps, like Wave Payments and Wave Payroll; does not integrate with card readers for in-person payments.
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This means that Wave can’t calculate your COGS, which is important if you deal with inventory. Once an invoice is created, you can email it directly to your customer in the paid version. The free plan doesn’t let you do that, but it provides you with a link to your invoice so short-term investments financial accounting that you can include it in your own email. Another benefit of the paid Pro tier is that you can attach documents to your customer’s invoice. With a subscription to Wave Payments, you can include a payment link in your customer’s invoice. These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most.
- QuickBooks Online’s detailed reporting and transaction tracking is ideal for growing businesses.
- The lack of these features brought our score in this category to 3 out of 5 stars.
- We’ve already hit on a few accounting features that set Wave apart, but there are a few more perks to cover.
- Some features are also only available on the paid Wave Pro plan.
- Transactions will appear in your bookkeeping automatically, and you’ll say goodbye to manual receipt entry.
How Does Wave Compare To Other Accounting Software?
Learn more about how we rate small-business accounting software. 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. Information is gathered on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy. Enable invoice payments through credit card, bank and Apple Pay. Pay per use so you’re only charged when technology clients use this feature.
Unfortunately, Wave does not offer a project management feature. While the free plan still exists, a paid plan is now available. Businesses with inventory items should choose accounting software that can track inventory costs, manage cost of goods sold (COGS), and monitor inventory units.
This section focuses more on first-time setup and software settings. Even after initial setup, the software must also let users modify information like company name, address, entity type, fiscal year-end, and other company information. Your only support is through an automated chatbot or self-help resources.
I did find a few bright spots in setting up my company, though. It also has a new company wizard to walk you through the setup process and that prompts you for the basic information needed. Unfortunately, you can’t create a recurring transaction directly from the bill, which is something you can do in other software like QuickBooks. You also can’t create recurring expenses and create and send purchase orders.