Wave Pricing 2026: Waveapps Pricing, Wave Accounting Pricing and Wave Fees
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In short
Wave pricing in the US has two software plans. Starter is $0 and covers unlimited invoices, estimates, bills and bookkeeping records, but you add bank transactions yourself. Pro is $19 a month, or $190 a year (about $15.83 a month), and adds automatic bank imports, unlimited receipt capture and late payment reminders. Card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.60 on either plan, and Pro drops the $0.60 on the first 10 transactions each month. Bank payments are 1% with a $1 minimum, payroll is $40 a month plus $6 per person paid, and Wave Advisors bookkeeping starts at $149 a month.
The honest read
Wave is one of the few accounting products where the subscription is the smaller part of the bill. The software is cheap: a Starter plan at $0 and a Pro plan at $19 a month. What you actually pay Wave depends on how your clients pay you, because card processing at 2.9% plus $0.60 on every invoice adds up faster than any subscription, and on whether you need payroll or a bookkeeper on top. This page lays out every US price Wave publishes, read from waveapps.com/pricing, the Wave payments page and the Wave payroll page on September 18, 2026, and then works through what a year really costs for a few common freelance setups. It also flags a problem with most of the Wave pricing figures you will find elsewhere: Wave's pricing page carries both US and Canadian prices in its source and shows one set by location, and several roundups quote the Canadian figures as if they were US ones. Earnly is not accounting software and does not compete with Wave on bookkeeping. We track what creator and seller platforms pay you after their fees, which is the part of the picture a ledger like Wave records only as a net deposit, and we say so plainly where it matters below.
Published prices
Wave pricing in 2026, plan by plan
US prices as published on waveapps.com/pricing, read on September 18, 2026. Prices exclude sales tax, apply to new subscriptions, and are charged per business rather than per user.
| Plan | Price | Billing | What the plan includes | What it leaves out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0 | No subscription | Unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, the mobile invoicing app, a cash flow dashboard, and the option to accept online payments | Automatic bank imports, receipt capture (an $8 a month add-on), late payment reminders, and the card fee waiver |
| Pro, monthly | $19 a month | Monthly | Everything in Starter, plus automatic bank transaction import through Plaid, auto-merge and categorization, unlimited receipt capture, automated late payment reminders, and no Wave branding on invoices | Payroll and bookkeeping help, which are add-ons on every plan |
| Pro, annual | $190 a year | Yearly | The same Pro plan, about $15.83 a month | Saves $38 against twelve monthly payments; no other difference |
| Wave Advisors | From $149 a month | Monthly | Pro features plus a dedicated bookkeeper, monthly financial statements prepared for you, and onboarding from other software | Mobile receipts, which Wave notes are not included |
The Pro price is per business, not per owner. Wave's own FAQ gives the example of three businesses under one login: each is subscribed and billed separately, so three businesses on Pro cost $57 a month. Existing subscribers keep the price they signed up at unless they cancel, resubscribe, or change billing cycle.
Published prices
Wave fees for getting paid and running payroll
These are the transaction and add-on prices from the Wave payments and payroll pages on September 18, 2026. Online payments require a separate approval that includes identity verification and a credit review, on either plan.
| Fee | Starter | Pro | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa, Mastercard or Discover | 2.9% + $0.60 | 2.9% + $0 on the first 10 transactions each month, then 2.9% + $0.60 | Discover processing is available to US businesses only |
| American Express | 3.4% + $0.60 | 3.4% + $0 on the first 10 transactions each month, then 3.4% + $0.60 | The 10 are cumulative across all card types |
| Bank payment (ACH) | 1%, $1 minimum | 1%, $1 minimum | Deposits in 1 to 7 business days, against 1 to 2 for cards |
| Receipt capture | $8 a month or $72 a year | Included | OCR scanning from the app, desktop or email |
| Payroll | $40 a month + $6 per active employee + $6 per contractor paid | Same | Direct deposits included |
| Wave Advisors bookkeeping | From $149 a month | From $149 a month | Coaching packages are sold separately |
The waiver resets each monthly subscription period and applies to the fixed $0.60 only. The 2.9% or 3.4% is charged on every transaction regardless of plan, so the most the waiver can ever save is $6 a month.
Published prices
What a year of Wave costs for four common freelance setups
Subscription plus processing, computed from the published rates. Each scenario assumes every invoice is paid by Visa or Mastercard through Wave unless stated.
| Setup | Starter for a year | Pro annual for a year | Which is cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 card-paid invoices a month at $750 | $1,072.80 in fees | $1,044.00 in fees + $190 = $1,234.00 | Starter, by $161.20 |
| 20 card payments a month at $150 | $1,188.00 in fees | $1,116.00 in fees + $190 = $1,306.00 | Starter, by $118.00 |
| 2 invoices a month at $5,000, paid by bank transfer | $1,200.00 in fees | $1,200.00 in fees + $190 = $1,390.00 | Starter, by $190; the waiver does not touch bank payments |
| The same 2 invoices paid by card instead | $3,494.40 in fees | $3,480.00 in fees + $190 = $3,670.00 | Starter, and asking the client to pay by bank saves $2,294.40 a year |
Pro never wins on fees alone. The waiver is worth at most $72 a year at 10 or more card payments a month, and Pro costs $190 a year, so the upgrade has to be justified by automatic bank imports, receipt capture and reminders, not by payment savings. The biggest single lever in this table is the payment method, not the plan.
Published prices
Wave against the accounting software it is usually compared with
Entry prices for US plans as published by each vendor, most recently checked between September 4 and September 18, 2026. Earnly is included for creators and sellers paid by platforms, and it is a different kind of tool, not a ledger.
| Product | Entry price | Next tier | The catch at the entry price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wave | $0 Starter | $19 a month Pro | No automatic bank feed until Pro |
| Zoho Books | $0 | $20 a month Standard | The no-cost plan stops once financial-year revenue passes $50,000 |
| QuickBooks Solopreneur | $20 a month | QuickBooks Online Simple Start, $38 | Single user, Schedule C focused, not a full ledger |
| FreshBooks Lite | $23 a month | Plus, $43 a month | Five billable clients, then you are forced up a tier |
| Xero Early | $25 a month, $27 from October 1, 2026 | Growing, $55, rising to $59 | Billed per organization, monthly only in the US |
| QuickBooks Online Simple Start | $38 a month | Essentials, $75 on the pricing page, $85 from the seventh invoice | The price every US accountant expects you to be on |
| Earnly | From $12 a month, billed yearly | Creator, $32 | Tracks platform payouts, fees and take-home; not accounting software |
QuickBooks raised Essentials, Plus and Advanced to $85, $140 and $340 for renewals on or after August 1, 2026. Its pricing page on September 18 still showed $75, $115 and $275 to new customers, and Intuit says new subscribers keep their starting price for the first six invoices, so the higher figure applies from the seventh. Simple Start was not part of that increase.
Published prices
US and Canadian Wave prices, which get mixed up
Wave serves both countries from one pricing page and switches the figures by location. Several third-party pricing pages quote the Canadian column as US prices. If you are in the US, the left column is yours.
| Item | US price | Canadian price |
|---|---|---|
| Pro, monthly | $19 USD | $25 CAD |
| Pro, annual | $190 USD | $250 CAD |
| Receipt capture add-on on Starter | $8 a month or $72 a year | $11 a month or $96 a year |
| Payroll base fee | $40 a month | $25 a month |
| Wave Advisors | From $149 a month | From $199 a month |
The per-person payroll charge is $6 in both countries. Canadian payroll is not offered in Quebec.
What Wave Starter includes at $0, and what moved to Pro
Starter is a real no-cost plan, not a trial. It gives you unlimited invoices, estimates, bills and bookkeeping records, the mobile invoicing app, and a dashboard for cash flow and customers. For a freelancer sending a dozen invoices a month and reconciling by hand, it does the job, and there is no subscription to cancel later.
The thing Starter does not do anymore is pull in your bank transactions automatically. Automatic import through Plaid, the auto-merge that matches an imported deposit to the invoice it paid, and automatic categorization all sit on the Pro plan. On Starter you add transactions yourself. That single change is the main reason people who remember Wave as completely free find themselves looking at a $19 bill, and it is worth knowing before you migrate a year of books into it.
Receipt capture is the other split. On Starter it is an add-on at $8 a month or $72 a year; on Pro it is included. If you would buy the receipts add-on anyway, Pro annual at $190 is only $118 a year more than Starter plus receipts, and that $118 buys the bank feed.
Is Wave Pro worth $19 a month? The fee waiver math
Wave markets Pro partly on its payment rate: 2.9% plus $0 per card transaction instead of 2.9% plus $0.60. Read the footnote and the discount applies to the first ten cumulative transactions in each monthly subscription period, after which the normal $0.60 returns. The percentage never changes.
So the waiver is worth $0.60 times however many card payments you take, up to ten. That is $6 a month at most, or $72 a year, against a Pro subscription of $190 to $228 a year. There is no volume at which the waiver pays for Pro by itself. If you take fewer than ten card payments a month, it is worth even less: four card-paid invoices a month saves you $2.40.
That does not make Pro a bad buy. It means you should buy it for the bank feed, which saves real hours if you have more than a handful of transactions a month, and for automatic late payment reminders, which tend to pay for themselves the first time a $1,500 invoice gets paid a week earlier. Just do not count the payment discount as part of the case.
Wave fees on invoices: how the $0.60 compares with QuickBooks Payments
The fixed $0.60 is what makes Wave expensive on small invoices and cheap on large ones. On a $100 card payment Wave takes $3.50, an effective rate of 3.5%. On a $2,000 payment it takes $58.60, or about 2.93%.
QuickBooks Payments charges a flat 2.99% for invoices paid by card, with no fixed fee, according to its own rates page on September 18, 2026. Setting the two equal gives a crossover at about $666.67. Below that amount QuickBooks Payments is cheaper per invoice; above it Wave is, and on Wave Pro the first ten card payments each month are cheaper than QuickBooks at any size because the fixed fee is gone. Both charge 1% for bank payments.
The practical advice is the same on either platform. For large invoices, offer bank payment and make it the default: on a $5,000 invoice, a card costs $145.60 through Wave and a bank transfer costs $50. Across a year of two such invoices a month that difference is $2,294.40, which is larger than every subscription on this page combined.
Wave Payroll pricing for a one-person business
Wave Payroll in the US is $40 a month as a base fee, plus $6 for each active employee and $6 for each independent contractor paid in the month. The price is the same on Starter and Pro. Direct deposits are included in the fee.
The scenario that brings most solo business owners to this line is an S corporation paying its owner a salary. One employee is $46 a month, or $552 a year, before anything else. Add two contractors paid in a given month and that month costs $58. If you are only paying contractors and have no employees, you do not need payroll at all; you need a way to issue 1099-NEC forms at year end, which is a much cheaper problem.
Some roundups list Wave Payroll at $25 a month. That is the Canadian base fee. The US base fee on Wave's own payroll page is $40.
Wave Advisors at $149 a month: when a bookkeeper beats the software
Wave Advisors is not a plan tier so much as a service sold on top of Pro. From $149 a month in the US you get a dedicated bookkeeper who keeps the books current, monthly financial statements prepared for you, support for bookkeeping questions, and onboarding if you are switching from FreshBooks or similar software. Optional coaching packages are sold separately.
At $1,788 a year it is not cheap next to a $19 subscription, but the fair comparison is not the software. It is your own hours, or what a freelance bookkeeper would quote you for the same monthly close. If your books are six months behind and tax season is coming, the service is the product. If you are current and just want less typing, Pro plus an hour a month will do.
Wave prices still circulating that are wrong for US buyers
Three kinds of stale or misplaced figures show up when you search for Wave pricing. The first is the Canadian column: payroll from $25, receipts at $11 a month, Advisors from $199. All three are real Wave prices, in Canadian dollars. The US equivalents are $40, $8 and $149.
The second is the old Pro price. Wave Pro was $16 a month, and $170 a year, before it moved to $19 and $190. Reviews that have not been updated still carry the old numbers, and at least one ranking comparison gives $16 monthly and $170 yearly as current.
The third is a promotion. Wave's pricing page source still contains a $9.50 a month offer for the first three months of Pro, but its own terms say it ran from December 2, 2025 to January 6, 2026, and it is hidden on the live page. Unless Wave shows you a current offer at checkout, plan on $19.
Where Wave stops for creators and online sellers
Wave is built around invoices you send to clients. If most of your money arrives that way, it is a genuinely good, low-cost choice and nothing on this page argues otherwise.
It fits less well when your income comes from platforms. Wave has no marketplace connectors for Shopify, Etsy or Amazon, so sales from those land as a single net deposit with the platform's fees already taken out. QuickBooks Online, by contrast, includes free Intuit connectors for Shopify, Amazon and eBay, which is covered on our Shopify QuickBooks integration page. For a creator, the gap is similar: a Twitch or Patreon payout shows up in Wave as the amount that reached your bank, not the gross the platform reports on your 1099-K.
That gap is the job Earnly does. It puts payouts from YouTube, Twitch, Etsy, Gumroad, Patreon, Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, Amazon and the rest on one board showing gross, then fees, then take-home per source, with a payout calendar. Plenty of people run it next to Wave: Wave for invoices and the ledger, Earnly for what each platform actually paid. If you are weighing a switch away from Wave entirely, the Wave alternatives comparison covers the ledgers, and creators should read accounting software for content creators first.
Side by side
Where the boards differ
| What you get | Earnly | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Entry paid price | From $12 a month, billed yearly | $19 a month or $190 a year for Pro |
| Permanent no-cost plan | No | Starter, $0 |
| Double-entry books and client invoicing | No | Yes |
| Gross, fees and take-home per platform payout | Yes | No |
| Payout calendar across creator and seller platforms | Yes | No |
| Accepts card payments on invoices | No | 2.9% + $0.60, Pro waives the $0.60 on 10 a month |
| Payroll | No | $40 a month plus $6 per person |
Comparison reflects published pricing and feature descriptions at the time of our last check; both products change. Pick the tool that fits how you earn. See what the board looks like on the income tracker homepage, or start with the revenue dashboard.
Questions people actually ask
How much does Wave cost?
Wave Starter costs $0 and Wave Pro costs $19 a month, or $190 a year when billed annually, in the US. On top of that you pay 2.9% plus $0.60 per card payment and 1% (minimum $1) per bank payment if clients pay through Wave, $40 a month plus $6 per person for payroll, and from $149 a month for Wave Advisors bookkeeping. Prices from waveapps.com on September 18, 2026.
How much does Wave cost per month?
Wave Pro is $19 a month billed monthly, or about $15.83 a month if you pay $190 for a year. Starter is $0 a month. Pro is charged per business, so two businesses on Pro cost $38 a month. The add-ons that are also monthly are payroll at $40 plus $6 per person paid, receipt capture on Starter at $8, and Wave Advisors from $149.
Is Wave accounting still free?
Partly. The Starter plan is still $0 with unlimited invoices, estimates, bills and bookkeeping records, and it is not a trial. What is no longer free is automatic bank transaction import, which now requires Pro at $19 a month, and receipt capture, which is an $8 a month add-on on Starter. Taking card or bank payments through Wave carries per-transaction fees on every plan.
How much does Wave charge per transaction?
For card payments, 2.9% plus $0.60 on Visa, Mastercard and Discover, and 3.4% plus $0.60 on American Express. On the Pro plan the $0.60 is waived for the first ten card transactions each month. Bank payments cost 1% with a $1 minimum on both plans. A $100 card payment therefore costs $3.50 on Starter and $2.90 on one of Pro's first ten.
How much does Wave payroll cost?
In the US, Wave Payroll is $40 a month as a base fee plus $6 for each active employee and $6 for each independent contractor paid that month. It costs the same on Starter and Pro. A one-person S corporation paying its owner a salary pays $46 a month, or $552 a year. The $25 base fee quoted in some reviews is the Canadian price.
Is Wave Pro worth it?
It is worth it if you want your bank transactions imported and matched automatically, or if you would otherwise pay $72 a year for receipt capture on Starter. It is not worth it for the payment discount alone: waiving $0.60 on ten transactions saves at most $6 a month, against $190 to $228 a year for Pro. Low-volume freelancers who reconcile by hand are fine on Starter.
Is Wave cheaper than QuickBooks?
On subscription, yes. Wave Starter is $0 and Pro is $19 a month, against $38 for QuickBooks Online Simple Start and $20 for QuickBooks Solopreneur. On payments it depends on invoice size: Wave charges 2.9% plus $0.60 and QuickBooks Payments charges 2.99% on invoices, so QuickBooks is cheaper below about $667 and Wave above it. Our QuickBooks alternatives page compares the rest.
Does Wave charge per user?
No. Wave charges per business, not per user or per owner. Pro is $19 a month for each business profile you subscribe, regardless of how many people use it, and Wave's FAQ confirms that three businesses under one login means three separate $19 subscriptions. That is the opposite of FreshBooks, which charges $11 a month for each extra team member.
How much is Wave Advisors?
Wave Advisors starts at $149 a month in the US and $199 a month in Canada. It includes Pro plan features, except mobile receipts, plus a dedicated bookkeeper, monthly financial statements prepared for you, support for bookkeeping questions and onboarding from other software. One-on-one coaching packages are priced separately.
Does Wave work for Etsy, Shopify or creator income?
It can record it, but only as the net deposit that reaches your bank. Wave has no Etsy, Shopify or Amazon connector and no view of what a platform deducted before paying you, while your 1099-K reports the gross. Sellers who need that split usually add an income tracker such as Earnly, or move to QuickBooks for its free marketplace connectors. See our payout reconciliation guide.