Wave Accounting Platform

“great until it quietly paywalled my own transaction data”

Pros

As a solo-owner LLC, I am finding this software very easy to use and the free tier gives me the best features. Also I get excellent value that helped me handle transaction-based bookkeeping.

Cons

However I ran into a major issue when it quietly removed the ability to export detailed transaction data from free accounts without telling anyone. Also the interface still looks like you can download full transaction info but that feature is now behind a paywall with no warning. This broke a key part of my bookkeeping as I need to give my CPA detailed expense info for taxes. Now the only export option is a basic summary that does not work in many cases. It feels like a shady way to push users into paying, just to get their own data back. Because of that, I cannot honestly recommend it unless you are okay with paying for access to your own information.

“good for getting started”

Pros

When I first launched my business, this tool was great as it was pretty easy to set up and made billing simple to handle.

Cons

Well it was not enough for my needs because it had fewer features than QuickBooks. I also found it unmanageable and slow to search for specific invoices.

“Great automatic reporting for $19”

Pros

With Wave, my bank and card accounts are linked automatically so transactions are imported without any manual work which makes creating financial reports much easier. I also really like being able to see income, expenses and net profit for any time period and compare them to past months. My monthly fee is $19 and I think that's great value.

Cons

I tried to set up invoicing and payment collection through it. I was approved at first but later they took away my access because they classified my business as a travel agency. Now I have to find another tool to send invoices and accept payments which is inconvenient and disrupts my workflow.