Wave Reviews

It was free to use the accounting services
I was able to invoice customers using Stripe as a Payment Gateway which was great value
The Design and User Interface is very professional compared to others that I have seen
The Payment Gateway was also very professional when sent to customers, it added to the credibility of the business

My particular Bank would not allow me to sync my account with Wave, but that was a local issue not a general issue.
I was very very happy with the invoicing. but I always felt that the ledger views were not as robust.

I like how easy it was to set-up--that process was straightforward and the interface initially was easy to understand. Unfortunately as we needed to do more after adding a full-time employee, it proved impossible to work with or use.

For payroll you have no options, and even when they recognize this, they don't provide a solution. A good example--we had an employee who had maxed out her vacation hours, but we agreed to let her take a few unpaid vacation days. There was no way for us to do this within Wave (you get paid vacation time or nothing). I chatted and even emailed with various representatives--all of which were super unhelpful, and we ended up wasting a lot of time before just being told this isn't an option. That's another huge con--there is virtually no support. The chat bot is not only unhelpful, but real agents are usually unavailable or there's a 20+ minute wait. The system is also not improving like I'd expect. I was notified today that my card declined for some reason so I followed the instructions that Wave emailed me to try to fix it, and it's like someone wrote them without looking at Wave's website because none of the instructions match. Not only is there not a change payment button but there's a Q/A at the end of the page where a user specifically asked this question, and there's no answer! I kick myself for picking this software, and we're in the process of moving to Gusto right now.

Wave is so user friendly, it's made all my bookkeeping seamless.

If I had to choose it would be simpler invoicing/receipt creation.

Wave is a simply to use accounting program that allows us to create invoice, receive payemnts, view and print reports and keep up with money that is owed to us. We are able to use this program for all of our accounting and bookkeeping needs. It is so easy to use and the product support is superior to other accounting programs.

There is nothing not to like about this program

I like how simple it was to get started, both in terms of the set-up procedure and the user interface. Unfortunately, when our workload increased as a result of hiring a full-time employee, we were unable to use it.

For payroll, there are no choices, and even if they realize this, there is no remedy. As an illustration, we let one of our employees who had used up all of her paid vacation time to take a few unpaid days off.

I love the simplicity. We are just a small business, so the primary purpose of using this app is to categorize all my expenses, so once tax time rolls around, I just have to send the tax lady a breakdown of my income and expenses. Once a week or so, I'll log in to check all the transactions it imported from my bank account. It auto categorizes most of them which is awesome, I just have to click the check mark button to verify it was categorized correctly. Then once tax season rolls around, I just run the income statement report and send it to the tax office. I even have created a review account for the tax lady to be able to log in and see my business finances. We are just a simple business so we probably don't use some of the more advanced features, but it does what I want and best of all, it's F-R-E-E. I do also like the payroll and invoicing options if we need that in the future, although that is unlikely for our business.

For some reason, they disabled the ability for deposits to be auto categorized. This is my most common type of bank transactions, since all credit card payments are deposited into my account a few days after they process, so I have tons of transactions I have to go manually mark as the 'Sales' category. I did talk to customer support over chat about this though, and the lady agreed this would be extremely useful so they are looking into this.

This is a very complete software that allows you to build quotes and convert them into invoices in a fraction of a second without much effort.

Wave is excellent especially when it comes to credit card processing which is done automatically with a very low 1% fee.

It is very easy to set up and use and the cost is low or even free. Personally, I recommend buying this package because it comes with support: from setting up your account to the specific categories for your company .

The other advantage of Wave is the presence of a number of applications to send invoices when you are away from your workplace.

So even when you're away from home you can download them. In this case, all you have to do is take the photo on the spot.

The problem on the Wave software is not so numerous, but we notice that it is impossible to close a period correctly.

All members who are able to make transactions have the possibility to change or add entries from the previous year.

For me an administrator must have the ability to close a period so that no changes are made. User growth is also very limited.

The lack of audit trails for transaction entries is also a case of imperfection at Wave . Admittedly, it is possible to generate transactions, then generate reports, then cancel the transactions, etc.

But there is no proof that these changes are made yes or no, because the software is unable to remember its categorizations.

The keyword search function is absent from Wave in the transactions section and sometimes it makes us lose a lot of time.

Wave is free, but it’s powerful. Wave is suitable for any small to medium business. Wave handles all our accounting needs.

Wave has two major areas of improvement. 1. Their customer service is difficult, especially if you have an urgent matter. Their chargeback dispute process is not easy and confusing. Again, customer support regarding chargebacks is difficult considering you have a few days to submit a dispute package.

The best thing about this software is that it is free and offer just as much if not more features than some of its paid competitors. You can also access it online from any PC.

They don't have a robust support line but considering you are not paying for the software, you can't blame them. Plus there really isn't any reason for you to need support as everything is user-friendly and there is adequate help features in the software.

Setting reminders to be sent to clients for payment is the most important feature from wave in my opinion. Also being able to create recurring invoices you you don't have to do the same thing every week or every month. My other favorite is customer statements. Pulling out customer statements and sending to your clients gives you points in terms of professionalism. I also appreciate that when Wave stopped operating in South Africa they recommended Zoho and gave us a year of free use of Zoho. Even though I did not like changing, this was a very thoughtful move by wave.

For some reason wave starting giving limited access to its South African customers and partnered with Zoho for customers to migrate. Even though the apps are similar, they're not the same and it took a little bit of time to now learn Zoho a new app.

It is FREE in the cloud, works on ALL platforms Windows 7,10, Android, iphones. Accepts all credit cards including Amex for 2.9% I am saving $420+ yearly by not having QB, I don't have to print invoices. Since WAVE is in the cloud I email my invoices and receipts.

I wish it had more storage of customer service that has been performed in the past but I suspect that would require some expense. It only had 3 invoice templates and there wasn't much customization on those. You can't compound taxes on your invoices, let me rephrase, you can compound 1 tax but no more. Since my only taxes are State and County I found it best to compound none for fear of forgetting which one I had compounded

Easy to use if it works but it does not work most of the time.

1) Customer service - lowest level we have ever experienced. The careless approach, lethargic service, bank connection issues and processing delays are beyond imagination in this digital age.
2) They have many exciting features at a lucrative price but the company is in a mess and nothing works.
3) No guarantee on Payroll deposit to your employee account and we have experienced that employees are not getting paid as promised. Yes - Correct. It is that bad.
4) Bank connection issues about 95% time with most of the bank.

At our CPA firm, we were recommending this software to clients. Not anymore. Stay away from this product.

The cost is compelling -- free! -- but beyond that I find the software is advanced enough to do what I need without being utterly overwhelming like other options. I'm not accountant and there's only so much geeking out I want to do. I can send invoices, get paid, track all my expenses and payments, handle business AND personal finances from the same account, and it all works really well with my bank and integrates decently with Stripe via Zapier.

I'd love Wave Payments to allow for payments in more than one currency. I can invoice in USD and CAD (my main), but I can only accept online payments via Wave in CAD. No biggie.

On the positive side, this software's functionality is almost up to par with other options that cost a lot of money. Wave is free and for that price what they offer is unbeatable. It is a fully featured accouting software, as it is a web app, it means multiple people can use it simultaniously and it also works great for a virtual team. I like that it is made with non-accountants in mind. For example, when entering transactions there are "Accounts" - but these are only Accounts as a nun-accountant will understand: Cash, Bank, Owners Investment etc. - everything else is called "Categories". This makes it easier for someone not too versed in finances to understand - but behind the scenes Categories are Accounts, just like they always were (e.g. Office Supply Expense Account) - small and simple changes like this make it very easy to use even for a financial analphabet. Two mobile apps compliment the accounting software, one for writing invoices on the go, the other for scanning and (auto)recording expense receipts.

On the downside, and this can be a big one, you are not able to properly close a period. This means anyone with permission to enter transactions can go and change entries from last year, or add some. This can make things really messy and I hope they add a function where an administrator can close a period such as a month, so that no more changes can be made. Further, you can add other users, but the type of users are quite limited. I wish this could be controlled on a more granular level, e.g. there is the option to add a 'viewer' who cannot edit anything. The next level is somoene who can enter all types of transactions (you can turn of access to bank entries and writing invoices) but it would be nice if there was one where I can let someone add receipts with the mobile app but not do anything else.

Wave Apps software features not only very beautiful interfaces for their products' dashboard, but the platform is at once very feature-heavy and thoughtfully well designed. The aesthetically-pleasing graphics for content such as cash flow, profit and loss, and expense breakdowns on the primary dashboard are sharp and clean in addition to being so helpfully data-driven, and all that is just on the landing page. As you navigate through categories of sales, purchases, accounting, banking, you experience how well-constructions the pages are for options within each section including sales, purchases, accounting, etc. I love just how many of the feature-heavy options are completely *FREE.* Wave Apps offers select premium services, such as Wave Advisors and bookkeeping, even business insurance with "NEXT," while offering things such as accounting, invoicing , etc. free of charge. It's an excellent product for anyone looking for a beautiful interface, but also wanting lots of features without needing to immediately spend money for quality products.

So many elements within Wave are intuitively navigable and to use with simple data entry. One area that was a little more challenging for me to set up with the chart of accounts section in the accounting area of the interface. It's so nice that it's deeply customizable, but the challenge was that it took me a little extra time to understand and knowledgeably input the data of my assets, liabilities/credits, income, expenses, equity. This is something that would be challenging for anyone not familiar with basic accounting on any software, so I probably would've benefitted from a few "help" pop-ups/set-up assistance here than perhaps some other areas. Where my limitations with setup start is however where Wave's premium products with bookkeeping and accounting are so valuable to the user. There are many great pop-up notices throughout the platform that inform you about new features of ways to most effectively use Wave Apps features, which is great, and of course, they're complete with beautiful graphics.

The only positive thing that I can say about them, is that after THREE years and having to lose the company that my cousins and I started together, we did finally get our money, or rather most of it.

I will just tell you our story with it. My 2 cousins and I decided to go into business together before COVID happened. We all have degrees in different categories and wanted to join forces. One had a degree in computer engineering, one in graphic design, and I had a business degree although at the time I had a huge following on social media and was working as an influencer. We wanted to help small businesses get their names out, and started a business advertising for them. I used my presence on social media to advertise by word of mouth, while my cousins would design web sites, and create custom logos and business cards for our clients. We began with just friends to test, so we didn't have a set price for anyone. It was also a side gig so we let people set their prices. Thankfully wave was not the only company that we used. I will describe our experience in the next question.

Wave Accounting is a really great idea. Simple bookeeping for people that don't have "accountant-minds." It gets into a space where programs like Xero and Zoho Books are a little too complicated for non-accountants and creators.

It's got a fantastic UI.

Easy to use.

Fairly easy to setup.

Way more intuitive than competitors like Zoho Books and Xero Accounting.

Support is really slow. I get that it's a free service, and therefore you have paid support working for free customers. But support takes days to get back to you. So once you're setup, it's fine. But if you have a question or two doing setup, like I did, it takes an extraordinarily long time.

Granted, most people using this might not have to deal with multi-currency and Paypal in particular, but it's something to keep in mind.

Also, the bank connections sometimes fail. Although this is a problem with all of these services who use Plaid to get bank data.