Wave pricing and plan limits

Wave has a free plan that lasts and one paid plan. Starter costs nothing and keeps unlimited invoices, estimates, bills, and bookkeeping records, but you type in your own bank transactions. Pro, at $19 a month or $15.83 a month billed yearly, brings your bank transactions in and sorts them, adds users, and includes receipt capture. Pro is per business, there’s no trial of it, and its lower card rate never covers its price on its own: pay for Pro when typing in your bank lines costs you more than an evening a month.

Starter or Pro: which one do you need?

Start on Starter; it’s also the only way to try Wave, since there’s no Pro trial. If you’re weighing it against QuickBooks’ free plan, Wave or QuickBooks for a very small business: cost and limits compared sets the two side by side. Move to Pro for one of four reasons, and only when the reason costs you time every month.

• You’re tired of typing in bank transactions. Pro imports them from your bank and sorts them into categories. On Starter, Wave lists bank connections as not included (manual entry).
• Someone else needs to work in the books. Starter lets you give a payroll manager or a tax pro access free; a partner or a bookkeeper who edits needs Pro.
• You want live help. Chat and email support come with Pro, or on Starter with any paid add-on.
• You want your invoices to look like yours alone. Removing Wave’s branding from invoice footers, attachments, and saved message templates are Pro features.

Not on that list: automatic payment reminders, which work on Starter once you take online payments through Wave, and receipt capture, which you can buy on its own as an add-on.

Say you’re a solo podcast editor. You send fifteen invoices a month to shows and agencies, about $300 each, and most clients pay by card online. Your business account sees about forty transactions a month.

On Starter, card fees come to $139.50 a month; on Pro, $133.50 a month. The difference is small next to Pro’s $19 a month, so fees aren’t the reason to upgrade. The forty bank lines are: if typing and checking them takes you an evening a month, Pro buys that evening back. If it takes twenty minutes, stay on Starter.

What moves you to Pro?

Time, not volume. Starter has no invoice or record cap, so a busy month never forces an upgrade. What changes is how long the bank side takes: once you’re typing in more than an evening’s worth of transactions a month, or a second person needs to work in the books, Pro is worth its price.

Pro is priced per business. If you run two businesses from one Wave account and want Pro on both, you pay for it twice.

Skip Wave if

• You or your staff need the app in Spanish. Wave is only available in English, though you can type Spanish into your invoices. FreshBooks and Zoho Books can be switched to Spanish; see FreshBooks pricing and Zoho Books and Zoho Invoice pricing.
• You’ll need more than invoices and books. Wave has one paid plan and nothing above it, so inventory, project costing, or purchase orders mean another tool; which tool fits a 1 to 5 person business compares the options.
• You want help on the free plan. Starter has no live support unless you buy an add-on.
• You want to try Pro before paying. There’s no trial of it; Starter is the trial.

Plans and prices

Pro is one price per business, monthly or yearly. Billed yearly it comes to $15.83 a month, which is worth it once you’re sure you’ll keep it.

Costs that are easy to miss

• Online payments need approval. On either plan, taking card and bank payments through Wave depends on identity verification and a credit review.
• Card fees on Starter carry a fixed amount on every payment. On a small invoice that adds up: on a $50 invoice, a card payment costs $2.05 on Starter. A bank transfer costs $1 on the same invoice. What invoicing costs once customers pay by card works it out at your volume.
• Extras on Starter are paid add-ons. Receipt capture, payroll, and Wave’s bookkeeping service are priced separately.
• Pro is per business. Each business on your account pays for its own Pro.

Does Wave work in Spanish?

No for the app, partly for what your customers see. Wave is only available in English, but you can type your own Spanish into invoices.

Our view

Wave’s Starter plan is a free plan a one-person business can keep its books on long-term, if you don’t mind entering your own transactions, because nothing on it is capped. Our position: start on Starter, take online payments if your customers want them (that also turns on automatic reminders), and pay for Pro the month the bank side takes more than an evening. What you give up is help and polish on the free plan: no live support, Wave’s branding on your invoices, and English only. For a team, a Spanish-speaking office, or a business that needs more than invoices and books, look further.

Your next step

Open Starter this week and send your next invoice from it. Time the first month-end: if entering and checking the month’s bank transactions takes an evening or less, stay on Starter; if it takes longer, move to Pro, billed monthly until you’re sure. Open Wave’s Starter plan (the link lands on Wave’s plans page; choose Starter).