Wave Accounting Software Review

A Brief Overview of Accounting Software Services

What can business accounting software do for your company? For starters, it helps you with expense tracking and tax season preparation. In addition, accounting software can assist you in setting reasonable expectations for the growth of your business. It can also provide custom reports that identify which parts of your business provide the best return on investment.

Last, but far from least, using accounting software can help you prepare reports for investors. When you have clear and concise financial data at your fingertips, it’s easy for potential investors to get a snapshot of your business activities and decide if they want to invest in your business or not.

Wave can tackle all of these tasks and more, but is it the best accounting software service for you?

Wave Accounting Software Review

Wave is an outstanding option for any small business owner or self-employed individual with limited accounting needs. Let’s quickly run down some of its pros and cons before we take a deeper dive.

Pros

• Free accounting platform
• Unlimited users
• Sales tax tracking

Cons

• No live customer support
• No upgrade options
• Limited reporting capabilities

The Details of Wave Accounting Software

Wave presents a fascinating offer for accounting software. Wave’s accounting platform is truly 100% free! We searched high and low looking for hidden fees but, as it turns out, you really can use it without spending a dime.

In essence, Wave’s accounting software is merely a gateway to getting you to pay for its other business management software tools, specifically its Wave Payments and Wave Payroll apps. That said, there is no obligation, and you can use Wave’s accounting platform for free without buying other Wave software products.

Overall Pricing and Value:

It’s free — of course, it’s a perfect score! The fact that you can do your accounting on a free platform is incredible, to be quite honest. However, we will warn that Wave’s accounting software is definitely a no-frills platform.

While Wave does allow for unlimited users and offers sales tax tracking, that’s about it as far as features go. If you need more than this, you should use a paid platform.

Track Record:

Wave Accounting was formed in 2010 with a team of just eight employees. By 2011, it had 100,000+ customers. By 2012, that number had exceeded 500,000. Wave continued to grow and add employees and customers until it was acquired by H&R Block in 2019.

Wave has an excellent reputation for customer satisfaction as well, with more than 1,000 customer reviews available online and strong average rating scores. Overall, it’s hard to complain much about Wave’s track record in any way.

Customer Support:

The glaring weakness of Wave Accounting is the fact that it does not provide any access to live customer support. While Wave does have a “self-serve” help center and an AI chatbot, those are your only options for support. You will not be able to talk to a real person if you have any questions or concerns.

Ease of Use:

There wouldn’t be much point in using an accounting software service if it didn’t make the process of tracking your company’s finances significantly simpler. Thankfully, Wave does just that, with an easy-to-use interface and intuitive features.

One of the advantages of using an accounting software tool as basic as Wave is the fact that it’s far easier to use than some more in-depth options.

What Are Customers Saying About Wave Accounting Software?

We found around 1,100 unique customer reviews of Wave Accounting online, and Wave maintains a 4.4 average score out of 5. Obviously, the vast majority of these reviews are positive in nature.

Most of Wave Accounting’s positive customer reviews reference the amazing free pricing model, and many also discuss how simple and intuitive the platform is. The few negative reviews we found tended to revolve around limited integrations and options, which is understandable for a free platform.

Our Final Thoughts

Wave is an excellent option for any small business owner looking for a free accounting tool to fulfill their limited accounting needs. We’re super-impressed by its ease of use, as well as its positive customer feedback.

We’re big fans of what Wave has to offer for accounting software services, and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this company to our families and friends. That said, we understand that this might not be the right company for everyone.

If you’d like to take a look at your other options for accounting software services, take a look at our guide to the best companies in the industry.