QuickBooks Online is a SaaS version of the QuickBooks product. It contains all of the features found in the local version. Higher-priced plans include greater automation, payment management, inventory and time tracking, and analytics features.
$38
per month
Wave Accounting
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Wave Accounting is a free, cloud-based accounting platform exclusively for small businesses. It supports double-entry bookkeeping and permits unlimited user access, invoicing, and expense management. Wave Accounting integrates with Wave's invoicing, receipt scanning, payment processing and payroll apps.
$0
Pricing
QuickBooks Online
Wave Accounting
Editions & Modules
Simple Start
$38
per month
Essentials
$75
per month
Plus
$115
per month
Advanced
$275
per month
Starter
$0
Pro
$16
per month
Pro - billed annually
$170
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
QuickBooks Online
Wave Accounting
Free Trial
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
—
—
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
QuickBooks Online
Wave Accounting
Features
QuickBooks Online
Wave Accounting
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
8.4
Ratings
8% above category average
Wave Accounting
6.2
Ratings
22% below category average
Pay calculation
7.70 Ratings
7.10 Ratings
Benefit plan administration
7.00 Ratings
7.50 Ratings
Direct deposit files
9.00 Ratings
1.20 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management
9.00 Ratings
7.70 Ratings
Reimbursement management
9.50 Ratings
7.40 Ratings
Customization
Comparison of Customization features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
8.3
Ratings
8% above category average
Wave Accounting
8.5
Ratings
11% above category average
API for custom integration
8.70 Ratings
9.90 Ratings
Plug-ins
8.00 Ratings
7.00 Ratings
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
9.7
Ratings
15% above category average
Wave Accounting
6.4
Ratings
26% below category average
Single sign-on capability
9.60 Ratings
6.40 Ratings
Role-based user permissions
9.70 Ratings
6.40 Ratings
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
8.1
Ratings
3% above category average
Wave Accounting
6.3
Ratings
22% below category average
Dashboards
8.60 Ratings
6.00 Ratings
Standard reports
8.20 Ratings
8.00 Ratings
Custom reports
7.50 Ratings
5.00 Ratings
General Ledger and Configurable Accounting
Comparison of General Ledger and Configurable Accounting features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
8.5
Ratings
9% above category average
Wave Accounting
7.0
Ratings
11% below category average
Accounts payable
9.20 Ratings
7.10 Ratings
Accounts receivable
9.40 Ratings
7.10 Ratings
Cash management
8.70 Ratings
8.50 Ratings
Bank reconciliation
9.10 Ratings
8.50 Ratings
Expense management
8.70 Ratings
7.50 Ratings
Time tracking
6.90 Ratings
9.80 Ratings
Fixed asset management
8.10 Ratings
9.80 Ratings
Multi-currency support
7.00 Ratings
10.00 Ratings
Multi-division support
9.20 Ratings
7.10 Ratings
Regulations compliance
9.20 Ratings
5.00 Ratings
Electronic tax filing
9.30 Ratings
5.90 Ratings
Self-service portal
8.80 Ratings
8.00 Ratings
Global Financial Support
8.10 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Primary and Secondary Ledgers
8.70 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Intercompany Accounting
8.70 Ratings
4.00 Ratings
Localizations
8.10 Ratings
5.20 Ratings
Journals and Reconciliations
9.30 Ratings
8.50 Ratings
Enterprise Accounting
8.10 Ratings
4.00 Ratings
Configurable Accounting
7.70 Ratings
5.00 Ratings
Centralized Rules Framework
8.40 Ratings
1.00 Ratings
Standardized Processes
8.50 Ratings
7.00 Ratings
Inventory Management
Comparison of Inventory Management features of Product A and Product B
QuickBooks Online
7.5
Ratings
2% above category average
Wave Accounting
8.1
Ratings
10% above category average
Inventory tracking
8.00 Ratings
5.60 Ratings
Automatic reordering
7.00 Ratings
9.90 Ratings
Location management
8.10 Ratings
8.10 Ratings
Manufacturing module
7.00 Ratings
9.00 Ratings
Order Management
Comparison of Order Management features of Product A and Product B
I appreciate the ability to auto-generate invoices for recurring transactions, which saves time, as well as the option to set up auto-generated transactions. The report option is super helpful when reviewing information, as you can click to view the details in the report without having to go back and forth.
Wave is free to use, and they have some premium features you can pay for. For someone just starting out as a small business, freelancer or independent contractor, this is a Godsend. You can look professional, have something easy to manage, and yet also have excellent records come the end of the year. You won't spend a bunch of time having to learn the program, it's very intuitive and you get a host of great features that will make getting paid easy.
The dashboard provides instant views of month-by month income & expenses for the past 12-24 months, a breakdown of current year expense by category, and net income for the past year and year-to-date.
Invoicing has easy templated set up has lots of per invoice options such as single/recurring payment options, due dates.
Year end reports are easy to generate in either pdf or csv format.
Purchase Orders cannot be linked to multiple bill payments which makes tracking purchase orders in QuickBooks Online obsolete. Without the function we have to track this within a different more manual spreadsheet.
Would be helpful if you could "split" bank transactions directly from the "review" downloads from the bank. Currently, to split transactions to multiple accounts we need to first categorize, then review after assigning to 1 account.
One area of improvement for Wave would be combining the various mobile applications into one app.
Another room for improvement would be on the dashboard level. It would be great if they could use more bar graphs and get away from pie charts for things like expenses.
Some of the other areas from improvement have been addressed by recent updates so I am excited to see what else Wave brings out.
QBO needs better integration with non-Intuit products and developers need to use Intuit's open API to develop better add-ons. Clients are having a great deal of problems with their data importing from the bank and this takes time away from better revenue producing activities. Although the efficiencies are there, they are outweighted by the shortcomings of the product. When we ran a parallel of QBO versus other cloud accounting products, we had more issues with the QBO product than any other
I had very little trouble setting up the program and migrating from our old accounting system. The daily usage is also very intuitive and easy. Anytime we run into minor trouble with the program, there are always tons of help available on YouTube, so we don't even look up the online manual anymore.
Wave [Accounting] is very simple and easy to use. Minimal training was required for all our users as the interface is very user-friendly, especially for small businesses looking to use something to track their financial data, Invoice and make payments. I loved using Wave [Accounting]. It lookes professional and [has] all the features we were looking for.
Wave does tend to slow down when filtering your transactions screen especially by date. This is more of an issue when trying to trouble shoot certain transactions or clean-up a set of books.
In my experience, most representatives keep me on the phone for hours, literally, for a single issue and then usually cannot resolve it satisfactorily. I have 10 open cases that need resolution and, in my experience, there has been NO follow-up communication on any of them.
I've only had to reach out to support once and they were quick to respond and offered valuable insight to resolve my issue quickly. The team is knowledgeable and if the person you're dealing with doesn't have an answer for you, they get back to you quickly with an answer. It was clear that the support team is genuinely concerned about users making the most of the software.
The person in charge of QB needs to be very accurate with record keeping and is recommended to stay on top of tasks. The biggest issue we have is reconciliation, and those issues occur only when too much time has occurred between reconciliations
QuickBooks Online is an accounting software package that allows companies to use a cost-effective and efficient software package. QuickBooks Online allows companies to prepare their balance sheets and income statements. It connects with a variety of other applications, which allows you to be efficient. We are very pleased with QuickBooks Online, and we would highly recommend it.
Wave's price point was in line with what my company needed to manage basic accounting (payable and receivable accounts). It made it easy for me to issue monthly invoices to clients and track when invoices were paid. The software makes these tasks easy to manage and inputting data for accurate accounting and invoicing is a breeze. It really offers a lot of flexibility, so you can use the software the way you need it.
As we have grown along our professional path, we have also expanded our use of QB. The scalability is easy and features seem to be waiting for you until you need them. We have increased profits by over 10x from our first year in business to the current and have yet to find a reason to look elsewhere
I think the help function is cumbersome and hard to use. When I go to refresh myself on a function, say quarterly, I feel like I have to cast about just looking for it.
The account reconciliation works, but in this place that could benefit from messaging, there are no easy helping functions flagging things like amounts that fit the discrepancy.
Even styling invoices and documents is more cumbersome than it should be.
Wave has enabled our accounts payable to maintain a 99% closure rate by leveraging auto reminders through the email system.
Our quote to invoice process is a single click, saving time and effort. Even minor changes during that transition occur simply and easily.
Aside from payments, Wave has been free for our usage. Our bottom line is better because we're not investing in software but instead embracing an entire ecosystem.