Wave Accounting Erfahrungen

Vorteile

Wave is ideal for freelancers. Set up is really simple and the interface is user-friendly. I have zero background in financial matters, and with Wave that's totally fine.

The price is also right. There's no subscription or hidden fees, they just take a perfectly reasonable percentage from invoice payments. I asked a financial advisor friend of mine before signing up, and she was pleasantly surprised by the low rates, and told me to go for it. I've been using Wave for over 3 years, and I have never once been hit with a fee outside of the basic rates.

Wave also provides a host of reporting and tracking tools in this basic account. They didn't influence my decision to sign up, but they've proven to be very useful.

And finally a small but really helpful feature, especially if you're a freelancer just starting out: immediate money transfers. Once someone pays your invoice, the money is in Wave, and takes 2-3 days to transfer. For 1% more payment, you can transfer money within minutes. For the cash-strapped freelancer, that can be mana from heaven.

Nachteile

There are no major cons that I can think of. One issue I have is mostly my fault: When I first started using Wave I didn't know what I was doing, and I ended up creating a whole bunch of client and work type records unnecessarily. It would be nice if there were some more in-your-face tutorials, maybe some hover tips for new users. But the messiness is mainly from me leaping in before looking.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Quickbooks Online und Zoho Expense

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Wave Accounting

It was the cheapest option, and the most user-friendly looking. I have no background in finance and didn't want complex features built for accountants - Wave has those features, but only if you want them.

Vorteile

Simple and to the point. It does what it needs to do but doesn't have tons of options for doing advanced things. For us, this is great as we don't need all that power. Just simple easy to use accounting software.

Nachteile

Would have preferred the expenses (called bills inside Wave) would allow you to add the payment to them at the time of entry.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Quickbooks Online

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

Months fee on Freshbooks was getting too high

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Wave Accounting

Did everything Freshbooks did, just without the monthly fee.

Vorteile

Ease of use in invoicing and setting up customer database

Nachteile

When I attempted to collect payments through wave, I was asked to complete a questionnaire AFTER they allowed me to submit payment requests and routing information to my bank and received a payment from a customer. I was then told that the account was not approved for receiving payments and my money was to be held for 65 days before it would be released back to the payor. There seems to only be one point of contact and they could not divulge why my application was denied, and wouldn't help expedite the return of funds. This only seems to be that they want to take advantage of holding my money and earning interest on it. the amount in this instance is under $10,000, but if they are doing this to multiple subscribers, they are obviously taking advantage of the situation and cleaning up.

Vorteile

Wave is super simple to use. It's well laid out, intuitive and easy to use. I've been using Wave for years after switching from Freshbooks.

Nachteile

Occasionally, Wave has issues sending invoices to Gmail addresses. This is very surprising given how prevalent Gmail is and I would hope they'd sort this out.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

FreshBooks und Quickbooks Online

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

One of my customers turned me onto Wave. I wasn't necessarily looking to switch, but after checking them out it was an easy decision to make.

Zuvor genutzte Software

FreshBooks

Vorteile

I loved the cost - Free! I was using the free version to invoice my clients. It was easy to use and very professional looking on the client-end.

Nachteile

It lacked certain functionality that I needed for my business. I could not handle overpayments from my clients as a credit on their account to use for future invoices. When a new invoice was sent out, there was no way for the client to see if they had a previous invoice or balance outstanding.

Vorteile

Wave Accounting is a great online accounting platform for small businesses. It's easy to use and offers a variety of features to help you manage your finances efficiently.One of the best things about Wave is that it's free. This means that small businesses can access a professional accounting solution without having to spend a lot of money. Additionally, Wave is accessible online, which means you can access it from anywhere, anytime, which is very convenient for small businesses who want to manage their finances on the go.Wave also offers great integration with other tools like PayPal and Stripe, making it easy to manage payments and financial transactions. Additionally, Wave offers a variety of financial reports to help you understand the financial health of your business and make informed decisions.In conclusion, Wave Accounting is a great option for small businesses looking for a reliable and affordable online accounting solution. It offers a variety of features to help you effectively manage your finances and make informed business management decisions.

Nachteile

Wave Accounting is popular online accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. It offers a range of features, including invoicing, accounting, expense management, and payment management, all designed to help users manage their finances efficiently.However, there are a few points that can be considered disadvantages for some users:Limited Features: Although Wave Accounting offers a number of useful features for small businesses and freelancers, it may lack some advanced features that are often required by larger businesses.Confusing UI: Some users may find the UI a bit confusing at first, as it may take some getting used to.Limited support: Wave Accounting does not offer phone support, which may be a drawback for some users who prefer to speak to a live representative.In general, Wave Accounting can be a good option for small businesses and freelancers looking for affordable and easy-to-use accounting software. However, it is important to consider these potential drawbacks when deciding whether Wave Accounting is right for your specific needs.

Vorteile

The first is the cost. You can use Wave for free, but it is a limited version of the software, and you have to pay to upgrade. The paid version is $10 per month, which is good value for money if you need a basic accounting solution.The second pro is that Wave supports multiple users and "teams" within your business. This means that you can share accounts with other employees without giving them access to your bank accounts or credit cards.

Nachteile

If you're using a team account and someone leaves the company then they will still have access to all of your financial data until they close their account with Wave. This could be problematic if they decide not to close their account without telling anyone else in your team first (and they could potentially do this without needing any sort of password)

Vorteile

I love that it's extremely easy to use and to navigate around. I'm able to track clients that have not paid and send reminders directly from the system. It's helped me manage to get my income a lot faster.

Nachteile

I feel some of the features that are available on desktop version should be available on the mobile version such as customer statements.

Vorteile

Wave Accounting is free for its basic functionality and easy to use with its simple user interface. It offers accurate two-part accounting and tracks income and expenses. It can also integrate with other applications for payroll, billing and payments. You can generate financial reports to help you make informed decisions. In addition, it supports transactions in different currencies and offers secure storage for your financial data and customer information. You can also use it on your mobile device to manage your finances on the go

Nachteile

As a Wave Accounting user, here are some drawbacks I have encountered:Advanced features are not free and must be paid for.Customer support is only available via email, which can be frustrating if I need immediate assistance.Transaction processing can sometimes take longer than I expect, compared to other online accounting platforms.Wave Accounting does not offer a multi-currency chart of accounts, which can be a drawback if I need to work with different currencies.Automatic bank synchronization can be inaccurate for certain types of transactions, which can lead to errors in my accounts.If I have employees in multiple states or provinces, payroll functionality is limited.Project management functionality is also limited, which can be a drawback if I need to track projects closely.Despite these drawbacks, I find Wave Accounting to be a convenient and affordable online accounting solution for small businesses.

Vorteile

Wave Accounting offers a free plan for small businesses and entrepreneurs.Easy to set up and use, with a user-friendly interface.Offers online banking integration with major banks and financial institutions.

Nachteile

Wave Accounting does not offer an integrated payroll system.Does not provide detailed financial analysis tools or forecasting capabilities.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

I just tried out Zipbooks, and although I was impressed, Wave just offered more for the price of free. Zipbooks only offered like 2 reports on the free plan, and I really needed the income statement report to show my categorized expenses.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Wave Accounting

Quickbooks because they are the de-facto standard, and because I would trust their reliablility. However, I just didn't like their price. They have the deal to start off with for the first x months, but it always doubles in price after that period. If Wave didn't exist, i'd probably have gone with quickbooks or paid for Zipbooks.

Vorteile

The app allows you to be able to keep track of your expenses on the go

Nachteile

Billing and payments: every time you get paid with their credit card system, they withhold payments until you provide supporting documentation and their back and forths take forever. You can also not connect other systems like PayPal or Stripe. So you are stuck with their merchant processing if you want to accept payments on the go.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

FreshBooks und Zoho Expense

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

My bank, through WaveApp, claimed this app was easier and more streamlined.

Zuvor genutzte Software

QuickBooks Desktop Pro

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Wave Accounting

Recommended by our Bank

Vorteile

It's everything I need in one place. As a small business, Wave is the best solution for me. I can invoice my clients for free, and easily keep my finances up-to-date making tax season worry free.

Nachteile

Wave no longer integrates with CapitalOne Spark Business accounts, so I have to manually upload two bank statements every month into Wave; One for my checking and one for my savings account, both of which are Spark.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise und Zoho Expense

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

Quickbooks is too expensive and more difficult to use. Wave is a miracle.

Zuvor genutzte Software

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Vorteile

This software is 100% FREE to use! No gimmicks, no catches. I was skeptical when one of my clients told me he used this. I did NOT want to lean yet another accounting software, but once I logged in and found out how easy and streamlined this software was to use, I was 100% sold on it! The ONLY fees they charge are IF you decide to use their payroll (I highly advise AGAINST using their payroll, it needs an overhaul), or IF you use them for payment processing of invoices you send to clients. The fees for using their payment processing are similar to those of Square and Stripe and a small price to pay for the amazing software. I would encourage you to use their payment processing so this service can remain on the free billing platform with no monthly charges!

Nachteile

1) Reporting abilities are lackluster! No way to print "no receipts attached" reports for clients. 2) Sometimes has glitches. We will work in this software, then log in later and all of the work we did has disappeared. Major panic attacks more than once! Still having problems with one account in particular. If I log in on an incognito window, the work is there again (sometimes). 3) Payroll systems SUCKS. I do not recommend! Square payroll is our go-to! 4) Chart of accounts is OUTDATED and does NOT match Schedule C nor S-Corporation tax return expense line items. We should be able to customize a chart of accounts the way we want it and be able to copy/paste it into other client accounts 5) Accountant login is great except the list is not always alphatized correctly. We should be able to alphabetize and/or sort by PRIORITY account 6) Need an easier/quicker way to upload receipts

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

FreshBooks

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

The EASE of use, the FREE software vs. the monthly expese of Quickbooks, How QUICK it is to reconcile monthly.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Wave Accounting

Free software; easy to use; quick to learn; ease to reconcile; accountant login

Vorteile

It was wonderfully easy to use, the invoices looked professional and payment processing features were handy.

Nachteile

TLDR: Major syncing, reconciling and support issues

Two of my accounts synced twice (so I had four accounts in Wave where there should have been two) and they were unable to fix this. Their suggested fixes did not work. They have chat and email support but no phone support and even though they logged in as an admin they were unable to fix this problem.
A recent update to their system caused my entire past four years of records to be unreconciled, and the only fix was to go back to the beginning of time and compare each transaction ever made.
They offered me a bookkeeper to do this for me for $269/month for a minimum of 12 months, despite my being very diligent about keeping my account up to date for the past four years.

I have switched to another system now.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

FreshBooks

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

I wanted to be able to send invoices and have everything be tracked automatically.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Wave Accounting

Essentially an acquaintance was using waveapps and it looked like it would be great.

Vorteile

I use Wave Mobile App for my business' finance, for managing my income and expenses. I use wave for billing and creating invoices for my clients. After using Wave for over 2 years now, I can say it works quite well. It allows me to create client contacts, which the app automatically uses to create client record books. The interface is simple and easy to get along with. The fingerprint unlock integration is one of my best features because I am able to sign in to the app without trying hard to remember passwords or pins. Above all, I think the best thing about Wave is, you get most of the relevant features needed for FREE!

Nachteile

There are few hitches I encounter using wave. I am not able to write off a partly paid bill as bad debt if all attempts to reclaim the payment from my clients fail. Sometimes, people pay about 70% and fail to pay for the rest. In order to close the invoice, I will have to mark it as completely paid and doing that can overstate or affect my financial records and reports within Wave.

Vorteile

It is so easy to use, and customized specifically for small business owners. I absolutely LOVE the invoice feature - it's the primary feature that I use - and it just works so well. My completed payments rate is 100% and I believe is at least in part due to how easy the process is to view/pay invoices.

Nachteile

Sometimes I wish the payment speed was faster after a client makes a payment, but then they introduced instant deposits and I'm happy to pay the small fee to get my money faster!

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Square Payments und Stripe

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

Better fees, faster money and Wave is customized specifically for small business owners just like me.

Zuvor genutzte Software

Square Payments

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Wave Accounting

The UX is so much better, less complicated and I can't say enough how much I like that Wave is designed specifically for small business owners and what matters to them.

Vorteile

I loved Wave Accounting. There was seldom any problems and they had some great ideas on how to do things like bank recons, which are much easier than other accounting software.
And all for free. Can't beat that.

Nachteile

They were taken over by H&R Block and then it was downhill from there!

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Xero

Warum Wave Accounting gewählt wurde

Wave Accounting was free and worked very well with new features coming out on a regular basis

Zuvor genutzte Software

Quickbooks Online

Gründe für den Wechsel zu Wave Accounting

Because it was free and had most of what I needed at the time for my small business

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

The basic version of the software is free and includes many features not found in paid versions. You don't need to purchase expensive add-ons to make it work for accounting, bookkeeping, or invoicing. Wave offers additional services that will help you improve your skills within the program.

Wave automatically syncs your accounting and invoicing, making it a great choice for small businesses that want to consolidate and automate their bookkeeping and billing. Wave's invoicing capabilities are unlimited and completely free. Wave's invoicing features are also customizable and easy to use.

Wave allows you to create customer profiles and send follow-up emails. You can also receive reminders and receipts for payment. Wave also offers a mobile app that lets you track and send invoices.

Wave accounting has an intuitive interface that is simple to use. Wave accounting is different from other accounting software. Wave accounting is easy to use and requires no prior knowledge. It is easy to use, and you can learn quickly as you go.

Nachteile

Wave's accounting software can be used for free. It's a great choice if you have a small business or don't need more advanced features. Wave's functionality is limited for businesses looking to grow. Wave does not provide multiple plans to increase its functionality, which limits its scalability.

It offers limited customer service. Wave Accounting offers only self-service customer support. Wave Accounting offers only one-on-one support to Accounting customers through Wave's paid Accounting Coach option.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

Wave offers a lot of the basic accounting functions needed for small business users, and the best part is that it's FREE TO USE! Woo hoo! I used QuickBooks in my previous career, and liked the detail it provided, but once I started my own small e-commerce business, I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars on software, or get locked into a recurring monthly subscription. I was thrilled to find Wave and amazed that it was FREE!

Nachteile

I wish there was a keyword search function in the Transactions section. Sometimes I need to look for a specific transaction but don't remember the exact date it occurred, so have to scroll through several pages to find what I'm seeking. A workaround is to export an Income Statement, then search or sort in Excel, but obviously that takes several extra steps and time. But since it's not costing me anything, this is a minor inconvenience.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

Wave is so easy to use. In the past, we used QuickBooks and mostly put up with some of the quirks that platform has. With Wave, though, things are streamlined and fairly intuitive.

You have access to a dashboard that shows you all the important things going on with your account, invoices are easy to template and track, and you can link your bank accounts for even tighter tracking and money management.

Mostly what I like about Wave is that I can get in and get out and not get a giant headache trying to figure all of this out.

And we are on the free plan, so that alone is great.

That, however, does come at a price...

Nachteile

I'm not an accountant, so it's not Wave's fault that I don't quite get all the ins and outs I should. But my actual tax accountant tells me that she gets frustrated with how some of the reporting is handled and the way things are reconciled.

Part of that, I think, is that everyone is used to how things run on QuickBooks. So we've ironed out some of the issues and made due where we can. I did mention above that we are on the free plan, so we don't have access to a dedicated rep or some of the bigger features. That's ok for us, but other larger companies might not agree.

We have also had issues at times with how Wave handles syncing to our bank accounts. Sometimes operator error on our end, but sometimes not. Again, it's free, so you should expect to maybe have to put in some extra work here and there. Just letting you know.

Vorteile

We found Wave to be easy to learn and set up and it allowed us to connect to both bank and credit card accounts. Invoicing is easy and flexible allowing us to download a pdf and attach to an email for a client or to send directly from Wave. Our clients can print the invoice and mail us a check or pay online with a credit or debit card through Wave. Wave’s fees are competitive for processing the funds. The funds are directly deposited into our connected bank account, usually within two business days. The invoicing features were our biggest need and the program allows us to send the invoice, send reminders, mark paid and send receipts.
Setting up the chart of accounts was probably the most challenging, but there is a default chart which can be edited or added to and we easily found tutorials online. Their customer service was quite responsive to our questions.
The reports function gave us what we needed for monthly, quarterly and year-end reporting. All in all, Wave was a great solution for our invoicing and accounting needs.

Nachteile

We needed some specific tax calculations but found there was no way to add a specific formula into the tax account. This requires manual entries for us. Because the program is a streamlined accounting version, which is what we really like, it does have some limitations.