We suggest taking a look at our in-depth FreshBooks review and Wave Accounting review. These reviews will give you a clearer understanding of what each platform provides, their pricing, and the user experience. By highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each software, our reviews can assist you in determining which option is the ideal fit for your needs. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of options available on the market today. Two of those names are FreshBooks vs Wave that are equally popular and recommended by small business owners and accounting enthusiasts alike.
The software lets you assign expenses to customers, a feature that’s not available in Wave. FreshBooks, on the other hand, offers various customer support options such as chat, email, and phone. Email responses are prompt, and you can also chat with live specialists to address any questions or concerns. You can input your business details easily, such as company name, address, and telephone number. Additionally, the main page includes shortcut functions like the +New button to help you execute certain tasks easily, such as creating a new invoice and adding a new customer or bill.
Compare features, reviews, and pricing to find the perfect solution for your business. For small businesses that may experience some growth, FreshBooks may be the better solution. However, for sole proprietors, freelancers, and micro-business owners, Wave offers all of the features and functionality you need to manage your business. Payroll by Wave is also available, but complete payroll tax services are only available in CA, FL, IL, NY, NC, TX, VA, and WA. Users in all other states will need to file their taxes themselves. You can create recurring invoices and expenses in FreshBooks, which is great way to manage both payments and expenses.
Best Accounting and Bookkeeping Apps for Small Businesses
FreshBooks wins this round because it directly connects with more apps than Wave. FreshBooks has native integrations with 100+ other apps like Gusto, Hubspot CRM, SquareSpace, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Slack, and Zendesk. FreshBooks has a help center that offers a range of how-to articles and frequently asked questions. To deepen your understanding of the software, you can even view on-demand webinars. There is no free plan however, there’s a 30-day free trial period to test out FreshBooks, thereafter, a plan has to be purchased.
By reviewing these alternatives, you’ll be better prepared to make the most appropriate choice for your business’s accounting needs. By considering these factors, you can make an informed decision on which accounting solution best suits your business needs. But the good news is the two apps can integrate with each other via Zapier. This means you can connect the two accounting platforms to automate tasks and streamline your workflow by using Zapier as the bridge between them. Wave integrates seamlessly with in-house apps like Wave Payments and Wave Payroll and connects directly with banks and financial institutions.
Product Assistance
We’ve all been the person panicking on the phone trying to reach customer service on a deadline, so it makes a huge difference when customer service is easy to reach and actually helpful. Customers rate FreshBooks’ customer service more positively than Wave making FreshBooks the clear winner in this category. Wave Accounting has a ‘great’ User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 2602 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites. Freshbooks has a ‘excellent’ User Satisfaction Rating of 90% when considering 4096 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.
Zoho has a suite of accompanying software that integrates with its accounting program, including customer relationship management, sales and marketing tools. FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software for freelancers and small businesses. It offers features for invoicing clients, inventory management, business reports, and others. FreshBooks integrates with third-party software to generate advanced accounting reports. If you want a totally free accounting software tailored to freelancers, solopreneurs and small-business owners alike, we recommend Wave.
FreshBooks
Wave’s lower price point and deeper features make it the top choice for smaller operations that need a lot of bang for their buck – as long as they aren’t retailers. With FreshBooks, both you and your team can collaborate on and track time towards the same projects and clients. Your team members can also help you with your business books by creating invoices and tracking their expenses.
- FreshBooks offers you time tracking, expense tracking, payments, reports and so much more.
- Track everyone’s time spent on projects and automatically bill for their hours.
- For small businesses that may experience some growth, FreshBooks may be the better solution.
- FreshBooks partners with Gusto for payroll processing, with plans starting at $39 + $6 per person monthly fee.
- If you wish for a competent Accounting Software product for your enterprise you should make time to evaluate a wide range of options.
- Although every FreshBooks’ plan allows for unlimited invoicing, the two cheapest plans limit how many clients a user can invoice.
These include financial statements, sales tax reports, accounts payable and accounts receivable reports, and a trial balance sheet. FreshBooks also has other add-on services, including advanced payments ($20/month) and Gusto Payroll (starts at $39/month + $6/month per person). Even though you can use Wave for free, certain services like Payroll and Payments do come with fees.
FreshBooks vs Wave: Head-to-Head
User-friendly interfaces, complete with dashboards and drag-and-drop features, make these software solutions accessible even for novices. Any invoice created can also be designated as recurring, and the Wave mobile app for iOS and Android devices lets you create and send an invoice from anywhere. In Wave, you’ll also be notified when an emailed invoice has been viewed, or a payment has been made. It also offers good time-tracking capability with a built-in timer available.
Need a Deep Dive Data Migration From Wave?The First 100 Callers Get Free Migration
FreshBooks automates lots of your business accounting so you can spend more time focusing on your work and your clients. You can have invoices automatically generated and sent, expenses automatically tracked and even have your payments automatically recorded, all from a single software. FreshBooks’ Lite plan falls short for reasons aside from its billable client limit. It’s also missing basics like double-entry 33 timeless sales tips to convert even the most frugal leads accounting reports (i.e., a chart of accounts and general ledger), accountant access and bank reconciliation tools. These features shouldn’t require a plan upgrade and Wave offers them for free, making it a better deal than FreshBooks’ Lite plan. Has a strong invoicing feature; app lets users send invoices on the go; offers significantly fewer reports than competitors; no inventory tracking.
Includes tools that help automate the reconciliation process; auto-categorizes transactions for you, but you can’t set up your own bank rules; no global search function. Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This influences which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. Invite employees, contractors, and clients to collaborate on projects. Partly, because they lack the resources to stay compliant with legislations such as Open Banking and MTD.
FreshBooks ensures your financial records always follow HMRC’s guidelines. Stay on top of your tax records while taking the stress out of preparing and filing your end-of-year returns. Credit card processing fees are 2.9% plus 60 cents per transaction, with a slightly higher rate for American Express at 3.4% plus 60 cents. This round is a tie as both solutions are supported on multiple browsers. The Create New Button in FreshBooks lets you enter new transactions easily.