Wave Accounting Platform Reviews

“Great free option for sb

Pros

For my small business back then, the price was great as it's free if you forgo bank feeds. I am also a fan of how easy and user friendly it is to navigate.

Cons

What bothered me was that free users don't get a bank-feed feature and the program felt less feature-rich and powerful compared to several other accounting systems I have tried.

“Good value for the price

Pros

I am really blown away by the bang for your buck here as this product packs capabilities I normally expect only from far pricier services so the overall value feels outstanding.

Cons

The interface can be a bit complex at times and somewhat tricky to navigate. Like you really have to know where items flow so you can find what you need.

“Payroll service was a disaster

Pros

The clean user interface and the dashboard layout is something I really like. Plus they show when an invoice has been viewed but sadly the negative side of things is absolutely terrible.

Cons

What started as a promising service quickly became a complete nightmare. The one I will be dealing with for months. They messed up my June 1 to 15 payroll by not sending direct deposits to my employees, even though they took out the taxes. For over a week, I had no idea what was happening. My support tickets were closed with no explanation and no one replied. I could not even choose the right payroll dates for nearly a week. When the system finally started working again, they had already billed me for July and said I could not cancel because the charge had gone through even though there'd been no support at all the week before. I was also told that if I wanted my tax reports filed, I'd have to keep paying through July. They also said if any taxes were collected that were not due until after July 31, I'd have to stay another month to avoid incomplete filings. To make things worse, you cannot switch to a new payroll provider until they formally release your business from their system so you are basically trapped. Don't expect clean exports either. Their reports are nearly useless and do not work well with other payroll systems. Overall it was a total disaster. So I'd strongly advise staying away.

“Support is no where to be found

Pros

I used to be completely in love with Wave but eventually I felt I had to walk away. At the beginning it told me exactly what I needed to hear and did everything right. Now the real issues have come out as it's just another piece of software that had a good run and then messed things up. We were extremely loyal and appreciated the invoicing, simplicity and low costs but it's reached a point that's unsustainable for us.

Cons

After a software integration upgrade, we couldn't run payroll and there was absolutely no support available when we needed help. So we were left without assistance during a critical payroll run.

“Great for invoice tracking

Pros

Using this app for sending invoices to my customers as it makes billing simple. It also shows me when a customer has opened an invoice and I get a notification the moment the invoice is paid.

Cons

For my small business the transaction fees still feel excessive and I often find that accepting customer payments by credit card ends up costing us more than I'd like.

“A frustrating payroll disaster

Pros

We have been with this company for many years and it has really served us well over that time. The main early perk was that the platform was free initially like there was not a monthly subscription, only a per-employee payroll charge.

Cons

I started noticing they began charging a monthly subscription and lately the platform has become painfully slow and it's caused us real stress. More importantly, they pushed a system update that turned into an absolute disaster. Everything drags and pages take forever to load. When I signed in to run payroll, the system forced me to update tax details for every employee. After making all the requested updates, we still cannot process payroll or run payments. I cannot even view the payroll summary to know how much we owe so I could hand-write checks. There's no way to reach customer support and we're now frantically hunting for a different payroll provider to resolve this. You can find many Reddit threads from other users experiencing the exact same problem.

“Major problems since 2025

Pros

Before 2025, using Wave was really easy for me as it handled everything I required and offered all the features I needed to manage my small business without any fuss.

Cons

Up until 2025 I never ran into problems with it but starting in 2025 things went downhill. Such as the ability to download report PDFs was removed, employees pay was reduced mysteriously without explanation and tax liabilities failed to be paid.

“Easy to use and full-featured

Pros

Wave is incredibly simple to use, packed with useful features and based on what I need it's either free or very affordably priced.

Cons

The only small thing I'd change is how descriptions work when I add line items to an invoice but it's a minor issue overall.

“Great for daily use

Pros

Using it is not a problem as it's simple to operate and excellent for creating invoices and keeping tabs on expenses, with a clean, generally user friendly interface.

Cons

I feel it lacks the features needed for growing businesses and it misses some advanced reporting capabilities like time tracking and project-level accounting.

“Super helpful for small business

Pros

It incredibly useful for invoicing and staying on top of the small business details. And because I don't have an accounting background, it makes everything seem simple and manageable.

Cons

At first some features were a bit hidden and not easy to find but once I got used to them, things have been smooth. I also really appreciate that the service is free which helps a lot.

“Great for invoice tracking

Pros

Using this app for sending invoices to my customers as it makes billing simple. It also shows me when a customer has opened an invoice and I get a notification the moment the invoice is paid.

Cons

For my small business the transaction fees still feel excessive and I often find that accepting customer payments by credit card ends up costing us more than I'd like.

“A frustrating payroll disaster

Pros

We have been with this company for many years and it has really served us well over that time. The main early perk was that the platform was free initially like there was not a monthly subscription, only a per-employee payroll charge.

Cons

I started noticing they began charging a monthly subscription and lately the platform has become painfully slow and it's caused us real stress. More importantly, they pushed a system update that turned into an absolute disaster. Everything drags and pages take forever to load. When I signed in to run payroll, the system forced me to update tax details for every employee. After making all the requested updates, we still cannot process payroll or run payments. I cannot even view the payroll summary to know how much we owe so I could hand-write checks. There's no way to reach customer support and we're now frantically hunting for a different payroll provider to resolve this. You can find many Reddit threads from other users experiencing the exact same problem.

“Major problems since 2025

Pros

Before 2025, using Wave was really easy for me as it handled everything I required and offered all the features I needed to manage my small business without any fuss.

Cons

Up until 2025 I never ran into problems with it but starting in 2025 things went downhill. Such as the ability to download report PDFs was removed, employees pay was reduced mysteriously without explanation and tax liabilities failed to be paid.

“Easy to use and full-featured

Pros

Wave is incredibly simple to use, packed with useful features and based on what I need it's either free or very affordably priced.

Cons

The only small thing I'd change is how descriptions work when I add line items to an invoice but it's a minor issue overall.

“Great for daily use

Pros

Using it is not a problem as it's simple to operate and excellent for creating invoices and keeping tabs on expenses, with a clean, generally user friendly interface.

Cons

I feel it lacks the features needed for growing businesses and it misses some advanced reporting capabilities like time tracking and project-level accounting.

“Super helpful for small business

Pros

It incredibly useful for invoicing and staying on top of the small business details. And because I don't have an accounting background, it makes everything seem simple and manageable.

Cons

At first some features were a bit hidden and not easy to find but once I got used to them, things have been smooth. I also really appreciate that the service is free which helps a lot.

“Love using it daily

Pros

One thing I really like is the voice navigation as it guides me clearly and the colorful interface makes using it feel fresh and fun. Overall it's reliable, simple to operate and noticeably better than MapQuest.

Cons

Honestly I cannot come up with any criticisms as it feels like a breath of fresh air compared with other services and I am really grateful a family member recommended it to me.

“Packed with great features

Pros

this tool stands out because it bundles a full range of accounting features without breaking the bank. Even on the free Starter tier I get core functionality like creating invoices, monitoring expenses and pulling financial reports which works really well for my small business.

Cons

My main complaint is that the premium tools are locked behind paid plans and those subscription fees can feel expensive for micro-businesses or new startups trying to keep overhead low.

“Great for beginners

Pros

As a small-business user just getting started, I find the platform very easy to use especially for beginners and smaller companies and the pricing is outstanding.

Cons

I do like the low cost and simple design but in my experience the simplicity means it misses a number of features that would be useful for business owners at various stages.

“Love using it daily

Pros

One thing I really like is the voice navigation as it guides me clearly and the colorful interface makes using it feel fresh and fun. Overall it's reliable, simple to operate and noticeably better than MapQuest.

Cons

Honestly I cannot come up with any criticisms as it feels like a breath of fresh air compared with other services and I am really grateful a family member recommended it to me.