Wave is a well-rated payroll solution that offers a self-serve employee portal, time tracking and payroll processing for both employees and contractors. However, it doesn’t automate payroll or offer a mailing service for paychecks. Get more information about how it stacks up with our Wave Payroll review.
You’ll never lose track of payments again, and you’ll be all set at tax time. Bank data connections are read-only and use 256-bit encryption. Wave is PCI Level-1 certified for handling credit card and bank account information. QuickBooks Pro and Premier are two different plans available that offer very similar feature sets leading to much confusion. In short, QuickBooks Premier is best for businesses that need industry-specific features, while QuickBooks Pro is ideal for small businesses with general accounting needs. For more information, check out our guide on QuickBooks Pro vs. Premier.
With a traditional merchant account that vets your business’s risk level before account approval, this type of account instability is not an issue. Wave Payments supports remote, card-not-present transactions, Apple Pay, and ACH payments (EFT in Canada). Wave’s integrated payment services allow your clients to pay you online right from the invoices you email them. Banks have to be part of the Automated Clearing House network to accept and send ACH payments.
Stripe vs Wave: Determining the Ideal Solution for Your Business
The following are common themes when it comes to user praise for the company. Wave offers a mobile app for Apple and Android that allows you to do things like send invoices on the go and initiate instant transfers to your bank account. If your bank account works with the platform, it’s a great way to get fee-free, instant direct deposit payments from individual clients just by sharing your username or email address.
This is a bit of an oversight that puts Wave solidly below a handful of the top services – including FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online, Xero Invoice, and Square Invoices – when it comes to analytics. Wave offers a decent range of invoice creation tools and abilities. While the number of core templates is a little low at just three, you’ll be able to add a company logo, customize colors, and include customer notes. The invoices can calculate taxes and create estimates, while offering multi-currency support – all useful features for a versatile invoicing service. Wave Advisors offers personalized bookkeeping support and coaching for small business owners. The pricing for these services is not specified on the main pricing page, and interested users are encouraged to contact Wave Accounting directly for detailed information.
Wave Pricing Structure
- The invoices can calculate taxes and create estimates, while offering multi-currency support – all useful features for a versatile invoicing service.
- The Terms of Service on Wave’s website features a “translation” of the legalese into plain, friendly language, making it easy to decipher just what you can expect and what’s expected of you as a Wave merchant.
- You’ll get paid faster which saves time for both you and your customers.
- If you’ve ever been paid through “direct deposit” from a job or client, the payer likely used the ACH network to facilitate it.
- An invoice by Wave won’t add tracked hours, won’t display discounts, and doesn’t allow file attachments.
You’ll pay a 2.9% plus $0.25 per transaction fee for invoiced credit card payments; and 1% (up to $10) for ACH payments. Square also offers invoicing and online payments as part of its small-business solutions. Square features include creating and sending unlimited invoices, scheduling invoices for recurring payments, and even saving a card on file to charge automatically. Businesses can also send payment requests via SMS text messaging or sharable links to give customers the most convenient way to pay. Customers can make payments with credit card and ACH bank transfers, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay. If you have a low-risk, low-volume business and send out a limited number of invoices per month, Wave is a pretty good bet, as long as you don’t need to accept in-person payments.
Payment processors such as Stripe and Square set the ACH cost at a percentage of the transaction that’s a fraction of the credit card processing fees. Accept credit cards, bank payments, and Apple Pay for as little as 1%2 per transaction.Your customers can use the secure “Pay now” button on your invoices to instantly pay you. Wave Money is a free business bank account that integrates with your Wave account for easy bookkeeping and faster payments. It comes with no monthly fees and no minimum, and you can receive invoice payments instantly instead of waiting for a payment to process and hit your bank account. QuickBooks by Intuit is a mainstay in online invoicing and accounting for small businesses.
- Bank data connections are read-only and use 256-bit encryption.
- If you don’t live in those states, Wave can still help by crunching the numbers to give you the correct tax information and money owed.
- Businesses can also add a checkout option to websites or social media profiles so customers can order directly from an online store.
ACH payments are electronic transfers from one bank account to another, almost exclusively within the U.S. They’re facilitated by the Automated Clearing House network, a hub connected to wave ach fee thousands of banks around the country. If you run a subscription for a publication, an online community or a yoga or fitness studio, look into adding an ACH payment option for your customers.
These features are consistent across all Wave Accounting plans, ensuring that your financial information remains protected regardless of the plan you choose. Wave Accounting offers native integrations with various apps and services, including Google Drive, PayPal, and Stripe. Additionally, Wave Accounting can be connected to over 6000 apps through Zapier, enabling further automation and integration possibilities. For custom solutions, Wave Accounting provides an API, allowing your team to build tailored integrations that meet specific business needs. A lot of online reviews of Wave’s products center around the accounting solution, but some themes carry over to customer experiences regardless of the product. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services.
Credit Card Processing
Wave deposits money into your connected bank account within two business days of payment. You’ll pay 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction for Visa, Mastercard and Discover; 3.4% plus $0.60 per transaction for American Express; and 1% per transaction for ACH transfer from your client’s bank account. If you’re being paid by a company as a vendor through a platform such as Gusto or Bill.com, it might cost you nothing to accept an ACH payment. Companies typically pay a subscription fee to use their payment processor, which covers ACH transaction fees. Some payment services, including Zelle, offer instant bank-to-bank transfers via ACH (and other networks) without additional fees.
It’s not bad at all, but several services are better, with Zoho Invoice in particular coming out ahead – in fact, it supports every feature mentioned here. Connecting your accounting software to your existing tech stack is vital for easy operations and efficient data management. Reviews often say customer service isn’t helpful, especially in working through disputed claims and chargebacks. Some customers have also complained that Wave freezes payments but won’t give a straight answer about why thousands of dollars in funds are being held up. When everything is neatly where it belongs, tax time is simple.
Small biz-friendly software
With QuickBooks Checking, you can get integrated bookkeeping plus instant deposit of your payments, plus 1% APY interest on your balance (as of July 6, 2022). However, if you have a high-risk business or a larger business with a high volume of transactions, there are better options out there for getting paid online. If you are on Wave’s paid Pro plan, you can set up recurring payments for repeat customers so these customers will be automatically billed every month.
Wave Accounting Pricing FAQs
It also integrates with other Wave software to create a solid product for businesses that are looking for a simple way to invoice customers and get paid. Instant Payout is an additional service offered by Wave subject to user and payment eligibility criteria. The Pro Plan is suited for growing businesses that require more advanced financial features. It’s ideal for companies in industries like professional services and mid-sized retail. This plan offers full accounting, invoicing, receipt scanning, and advanced payroll management.
Visit your dashboard or use your invoicing or accounting features, and click the peach “Upgrade now” button. Learn more about changing subscription periods and plan types, and how to cancel your Pro subscription in our Help Centre. Both Wave and QuickBooks have the option to add payroll capabilities to your account for an additional fee. We also look at contract length and fairness and test out sales staff and customer service channels ourselves to ensure that the company uses reputable, above-the-board sales techniques. Finally, we take the company’s online reputation into account, reading customer reviews and comments. Something to keep in mind is that even if you are approved for a Wave processing account, your account could get frozen or even shut down if Wave’s fraud detection system deems a transaction suspicious.
Once connected, you’ll be able to use the app for sending and duplicating receipts as well as mobile invoicing, which lets you create, customize, and send invoices straight from their mobile device. It also sends automatic notifications, letting you know immediately when an invoice is viewed, past due, or has just been paid. You can also try out Wave Payroll, a paid service Wave offers for those who want to provide employee payroll through the platform as well. Wave Accounting secures your data with up to 256-bit TLS encryption, similar to online banking and shopping standards. Wave Accounting also offers multi-factor authentication for an extra layer of security.