You’ve outgrown a free plan when what it’s missing costs you time every month, when one of its caps stops you, or when a second person needs a login it doesn’t allow. On Wave’s Starter plan, the answer is usually Wave Pro, at $19 a month: same account, nothing to move, and it adds the bank import and the users that Starter lacks. You’ve outgrown Wave itself only when you need something it doesn’t sell at any price, such as inventory, project costing, purchase orders, or the app in Spanish. Then move to a tool that has it, with your records exported first and, where it’s practical, at the start of a quarter.
What are the signs you’ve outgrown a free plan?
Check these against the last three months.
- The bank side takes more than an evening a month. You’re typing in transactions a paid plan would import.
- A cap stopped you. An invoice you couldn’t send, a client you couldn’t add, or revenue past a plan’s limit.
- Someone else needs to work in the books. A partner, an assistant, or a bookkeeper who isn’t covered by a free accountant seat.
- You need a feature the free plan doesn’t have at all. Inventory, projects, purchase orders, multiple currencies, or the app in another language.
The first three usually mean the same tool’s paid plan. The fourth may mean a different tool.
Wave Starter: upgrade to Pro, or leave Wave?
Upgrade if what you’re missing is on Pro. Pro imports and sorts your bank transactions, adds users as admin, editor, or viewer, includes receipt capture, and removes Wave’s branding from your invoices. Receipt capture alone doesn’t need Pro: Starter sells it as a paid add-on, so if that’s the only thing you’re missing, compare the add-on with Pro before you upgrade. It’s $19 a month, or $15.83 a month billed yearly, per business, and it’s the same account, so your history, customers, and invoice numbers stay put.
Leave if what you’re missing isn’t on Wave at any price. Wave has one paid plan, and its plan comparison lists no inventory, project costing, or purchase orders. It’s also only available in English. If any of those is the reason, Pro won’t fix it.
Say you make handmade soap and sell it online, on your own. Wave’s Starter plan has done the job for two years, but you’ve started selling wholesale to shops, and you need to know what stock you have and what each batch costs.
Wave Pro won’t help: the problem is inventory, and Wave doesn’t track it. The step is a tool that does. On Zoho Books, inventory starts on Professional, at $50 a month; on QuickBooks, on Plus, at $140 a month. Both are a real step up from Wave, so plan the move for the start of a quarter if you can, and ask your accountant whether to bring opening balances or the last two years of transactions.
Where the other free plans lead
- QuickBooks Free: outgrown at 2 invoices a month, unless you qualify for and turn on QuickBooks Payments. The step is Simple Start, at $38 a month.
- Zoho Books’ free plan: outgrown the financial year your revenue passes its cap, or when you want bank feeds. The step is Standard, at $20 a month.
- Zoho Invoice: outgrown at its yearly invoice limit, or when you want books. More invoices means Zoho Billing; books means Zoho Books. Both are separate products, so either is a move, not an upgrade.
- Square Free: states no invoice cap, but it doesn’t keep books. When you want them, keep Square for payments and add accounting software beside it.
Here is the first year on the paid step from each free plan, for one person:
| Tool | Plan | Basis | First 12 months | Required one-time fees | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wave | Pro | 12 months at the list price | $228 | None listed | October 15, 2026 |
| QuickBooks Online | Simple Start | 12 months at the list price | $456 | None listed | October 15, 2026 |
| Zoho Books | Zoho Books Standard | 12 months at the list price | $240 | None listed | October 15, 2026 |
| Xero | Early | 12 months at the list price | $324 | None listed | October 15, 2026 |
QuickBooks Online Simple Start: new customers choose a discount worth $57 or the free trial worth $38; the discount is for new customers. The 12-month figure is the regular price.
Xero Early: new customers choose a discount worth $64.80 or the free trial worth $27; the discount is for new customers, for a limited time. The 12-month figure is the regular price.
Xero has no free plan; its Early plan is in the table as the entry point for someone leaving a free tool, with monthly limits on invoices and bills.
How to move without losing your records
- Download everything before you cancel. On Wave, the data export gives you your accounting data, customers, and vendors as spreadsheet files, plus your receipts. Export an Account Transactions report for the year so far, too.
- Pick a clean start where you can. The first day of a quarter or your financial year is easiest, because each period sits in one system; if you can’t wait, agree a cut-off date with your accountant.
- Decide what to bring with your accountant. Some moves start the new tool from opening balances and keep the old exports as the record of what came before; others import transaction history so reports run across both periods. Which is right depends on your records, what the new tool can import, and what your accountant needs.
- Run one month in both. Reconcile the first month in the new tool before you stop using the old one.
On Wave, cancelling Pro takes effect at the end of the billing period, so time the cancellation for after your first month-end in the new tool.
Our view
Stay on a free plan for as long as it keeps your books accurate without eating your evenings. When it stops, move up inside the same tool first, because it’s the cheapest move there is. Change tools only for a feature your tool doesn’t sell. What this gives up is the chance to pick a “forever” tool at the start; what it saves is the cost and risk of switching before you have to.
Your next step
Write down the one thing your free plan made hard last month. If it’s on Wave Pro, upgrade this week and import your bank. If it’s not on Wave at all, price the plan that has it on Zoho Books or QuickBooks, download your Wave data, and plan the move for the next quarter start. See Wave Pro.