FreshBooks vs Wave: Which Software Is Best for You in 2021

FreshBooks and Wave are two popular cloud-based small business accounting solutions. FreshBooks and Wave have many of the same features, such as the ability to send unlimited invoices and track unpaid bills, but FreshBooks has the edge in terms of its dedicated client portal, ability to track time, and ability to track project profitability.

While Freshbooks charges a low monthly fee that starts at $15, Wave’s bookkeeping software is completely free, which includes invoicing, bill tracking, and receipt scanning. Wave is a great choice for businesses on a budget with basic needs while FreshBooks is ideal for service businesses with a need to assign time and expenses to customers.

When To Use FreshBooks

FreshBooks excels with its time management and invoicing tools, which is why we selected it as one of our best small business accounting software. Because of its inability to track inventory, it is suited better for freelancers and service-based businesses that are looking for an affordable plan. It is also a great choice for self-employed consultants seeking robust time tracking features such as the ability to track billable hours and bill clients using the invoice creator.

FreshBooks’ user interface is aesthetically pleasing, intuitive, and easy-to-use, which makes it ideal for novice users or those who are new to accounting. For more information about its features, check out our FreshBooks review.

Visit FreshBooks

When To Use Wave

Wave is free accounting software that offers many key features, including invoicing and receipt scanning. Its intuitive user interface makes it a breeze to access reports such as your balance sheet or profit and loss (P&L) statement. Also, because Wave lets you set up multiple companies, you don’t have to create separate accounts for each of them. While FreshBooks charges for additional users, Wave has no limitations on transactions or users.

Wave’s ability to create recurring invoices is another feature that will appeal to businesses that send out large quantities of invoices. It also has a user-friendly interface and the ability to send unlimited invoices and auto-reminders. For more information about its features, check out our Wave review.

Visit Wave

When to Use an Alternative Accounting Software

Neither Wave nor FreshBooks offers detailed inventory accounting, so they can’t calculate the cost of your inventory sold or the cost of your inventory on-hand at the end of the year. Retailers and other businesses that deal heavily in inventory shouldn’t use Wave or FreshBooks. QuickBooks Online and Xero are both cloud-based accounting software with good inventory features.

Compare FreshBooks and Wave at a Glance

FreshBooks vs Wave: Pricing

Although Wave’s basic accounting functions are offered free of charge, FreshBooks pricing is also competitive. FreshBooks offers four different plans to choose from, and although they are priced for only one user, you have the option to add users for an additional $10 per user, per month. Neither company includes credit card processing and bank payments in their price, but these additional fees are competitive.

FreshBooks Pricing

FreshBooks has four subscription plans to choose from, and each has specific inclusions with the option to purchase add-ons, such as more team members, for an additional monthly fee. Here are the costs for each plan:

• Lite: $15 per month with five billable clients
• Plus: $25 per month with 50 billable clients
• Premium: $50 per month with unlimited billable clients
• Select: Custom pricing option with unlimited billable clients and specialized features

There are additional fees incurred for credit card processing, which is 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for most cards and 3.5% plus 30 cents per transaction for American Express.

All plans include one user with the option to add additional users for $10 per month. If you would like to check out the program first, FreshBooks currently offers a free 30-day trial with no credit card required.

Wave Pricing

There is no charge to use Wave’s bookkeeping software with unlimited users. There are additional fees for credit card and payroll processing, which is typical of any bookkeeping program. The fees you may encounter with Wave include:

• Bookkeeping software: Free
• Credit card processing: 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction for most cards, 3.4% plus 30 cents per transaction for American Express
• Bank payments: $1 per transaction

Takeaway: If you’re looking purely at the price and don’t have sophisticated bookkeeping needs, Wave is the more affordable option.

FreshBooks vs Wave: Features

FreshBooks vs Wave: Ease of Use

Both FreshBooks and Wave have easy-to-use, aesthetically pleasing user interfaces that are ideal for someone with little or no accounting experience. Because their dashboards are uncluttered, users won’t be bogged down with an excess of information and can access information easier.

FreshBooks Ease of Use

FreshBooks is simple to set up and intuitive to use. It requires little previous bookkeeping experience, so it is an ideal choice for novice users. The features cover all of the basics and there are many built-in automations, such as converting an estimate to an invoice, to help save time. Its attractive dashboard lets you quickly view important information about your business.

The dashboard is organized by graphs for Outstanding Revenue, Total Profit, Revenue Streams, Spending, and Unbilled Time.

1. Left menu bar: To view these reports, click on Dashboard at the top of the page. You can also use this menu bar to navigate to other sections, including Clients, Invoices, Payments, Expenses, Estimates, Time Tracking, Project, and My Team.
2. Outstanding Revenue: Invoices that are past due are displayed here, and you can also view how many days they are past due.
3. Total Profit: The total year-to-date profit is shown here in graph format.
4. Revenue Streams: Your total income earned, broken down by customer, is displayed in this section.
5. Spending: This report summarizes your business expenses, which are broken down by category so that you can see exactly where you are spending your money.
6. Unbilled Time: Time that has not yet been billed can be viewed here.

Wave Ease of Use

We ranked Wave as the best free accounting software, which is partly due to its user interface that is well-organized and easy to use. Navigation is also fairly simple. Like FreshBooks, Wave is set up to be accessible for those with little or no accounting knowledge. The dashboard is uncluttered and allows you to keep tabs on different aspects of your business, such as accounts receivable (A/R) and accounts payable (A/P).

The dashboard is organized by reports that show cash flow, P&L, payable and owing, net income, and expense breakdown.

1. Left navigation bar: Use the navigation bar to access different sections of the software, such as Sales, Purchases, Accounting, Banking, Payroll, Reports, Wave Advisors, and Tax Filing.
2. Accept payments: If you’re interested in accepting credit card payments, click on this feature and it will walk you through the Payments by Wave signup process.
3. Cash flow: View the cash going in and out of your business here.
4. Profit and Loss: This report displays income and expenses only, which includes unpaid invoices and bills.
5. Payable and Owing: Unpaid bills and invoices payable to you are shown here, which are broken down by aging periods.
6. Net Income: A two-year comparison of income, expense, and net income figures.
7. Expense breakdown: View your expenses by category in this section, which breaks down the percentage for each.

Takeaway: While FreshBooks and Wave both have excellent user interfaces, Wave’s features can be accessed more easily from the dashboard. There are also links to sign up for Payments by Wave and a Things You Can Do section that allows you to initiate activities such as customizing invoices or inviting a guest collaborator.

FreshBooks vs Wave: Assisted Bookkeeping

If you’re a novice user or need someone to assist with ongoing bookkeeping services, Wave Advisors are virtual bookkeepers that can assist Wave users. They offer services such as bookkeeping and payroll support, payroll coaching, and taxes. FreshBooks works with Bench, a third-party virtual bookkeeping service.

FreshBooks Assisted Bookkeeping

FreshBooks partners with Bench, a virtual bookkeeping service, to provide bookkeeping, tax prep, and advisory services. Here’s a breakdown of Bench’s pricing:

• Core: $299 per month, includes a business bank account with integrated bookkeeping
• Flex: $399 per month, includes monthly bookkeeping, annual financial statements, and tax preparation and filing
• Pro: $599 per month, includes the same features in Flex plus the ability to link your bank accounts and debit cards and specialized accounting

Wave Assisted Bookkeeping

If you’d like assistance with your bookkeeping, accounting, or taxes, you have the option of hiring a Wave Advisor. Here’s an overview of the costs associated with each of these services:

• Bookkeeping and payroll support: $79 per month, includes 30 minutes of live coaching per month and 30 days of email support
• Accounting and payroll coaching: $229 per month, includes one hour of live coaching per month and 30 days of email support
• Tax service: $1,500 per year, includes filing federal and state tax returns, quarterly reviews, and planning

Takeaway: For simple businesses that want to hand over the management of their books to a virtual bookkeeping firm, Wave is the lower-cost option with its certified Wave Advisors. However, FreshBooks also has a virtual bookkeeping option provided by its partnership with Bench that can cover many complex accounting scenarios such as loan and lease liabilities, factoring, consignment tracking, client and employee reimbursement tracking, and in-kind revenue and expense tracking.

FreshBooks vs Wave: Integrations

With its Zapier integration, Wave can connect to more than 1,000 apps. FreshBooks has a Zapier integration as well and also connects directly with more than 70 apps that you can use to manage your business.

FreshBooks Integrations

FreshBooks has more than 70 apps and integrations to streamline your business processes. A sample of these integrations is below:

• CRM: HubSpot and Capsule
• Appointment scheduling: Acuity and Calendly
• Payments and ecommerce: Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, and WooCommerce
• Email marketing: OneLocal and Signpost
• Business management and automation: G Suite, Trello, and Callexa

Wave Integrations

Wave has a limited number of direct integrations available, including Etsy, PayPal, and Shoeboxed. It does have a Zapier integration, which connects it with more than 1,000 add-ons. Here’s a sample of these add-ons:

• CRM: HubSpot, Harvest, and Pipedrive
• Appointment scheduling: Calendly and Acuity Scheduling
• Payments and ecommerce: PayPal, Etsy, Shopify, Square, and Stripe
• Email marketing: Mailchimp, SendPulse, and Automational
• Business management and automation: Slack, Google Sheets, and Approval Donkey

Takeaway: Between the two, FreshBooks excels with its 70 direct integrations and the fact that it integrates with Zapier. If integrations are important to you, it is best to seek out which apps are most necessary for your business.

FreshBooks vs Wave: Mobile App

Both FreshBooks and Wave have mobile apps, but while FreshBooks provides one app that can be used for most accounting functions, Wave relies on two apps that are limited to only creating invoices and processing credit card payments.

FreshBooks Mobile App

FreshBooks has a mobile app that is available for both iOS and Android users, and one of its most valuable features is the ability to invoice while you’re on the road. You can also document your receipts by uploading them to the app. There is a time tracker available as well as a mileage tracker via GPS, which you can use to track your automobile expenses.

Wave Mobile App

Wave has two mobile apps that are available for Android and iOS: Wave Invoicing and Wave Money. Just like its name suggests, Wave Invoicing allows you to create and send invoices to customers and also access their records. Wave Money allows you to accept all major credit cards and automated clearing house (ACH) transactions.

Takeaway: If you are seeking a comprehensive mobile accounting app, FreshBooks is the clear winner. The app is especially useful for its GPS mileage tracker and receipt scanner.

FreshBooks vs Wave: Customer Support

FreshBooks offers free phone support during regular business hours, and an online help center can assist with questions as well. Although Wave’s customers aren’t able to access live phone or chat support, they have a variety of other resources, such as a help center and support form, at their fingertips.

FreshBooks Customer Support

FreshBooks encourages phone calls as the first point of contact, and the customer hotlines are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time. For international users, there are toll-free numbers available in France, Australia, North America, United Kingdom, and Ireland. It also has an online help center, with a frequently asked questions (FAQs) section and articles. You can also sign up for a FreshBooks webinar free of charge, which will help you master the FreshBooks fundamentals.

Wave Customer Support

Wave customers do not have access to live support via phone or chat for the bookkeeping software. However, the following resources are available:

• Support form: Contact the customer support team by completing this in-software support form
• Help center: Access how-to articles and guides in this section
• Community: Reach out to other Wave users who may be able to assist with troubleshooting based on their own experience
• YouTube: Wave has its own YouTube channel that has more than 25 videos, many of which demonstrate different features of the software
• Wave Advisors: If you’re in need of support, this virtual bookkeeping service is available for an additional fee

Phone and chat services are available for payroll, credit card processing, and lending inquiries.

Takeaway: If being able to pick up a phone and ask your question is important to you, then FreshBooks is the clear winner. The inability to contact Wave directly can create issues for those who need answers right away.

Bottom Line

Wave and FreshBooks are both excellent choices for managing your invoicing and accounting in one place. FreshBooks includes unlimited invoicing, estimates, and expenses with all plans as well as a client self-service portal and unlimited time tracking. It has an affordable monthly fee that only covers one user—at an additional $10 per user, businesses with multiple users need to take this into account.

While Wave excels with its free bookkeeping software, there are a few areas where it could improve. There’s no project management feature, time tracking, or inventory features. Also, unlike FreshBooks, it doesn’t have a mobile app with full accounting features but rather two separate apps that handle payments and invoicing. However, Wave is a great option for small business owners looking for free accounting software.