Quickbooks vs Wave – Which Bookkeeping Platform is Right for You?
QuickBooks vs Wave, which is best for you? It’s the question all business owners want the answer to. Let’s break it down!
You might have seen that Wave made a big announcement—well, more like quietly tucked it into an email—but essentially, they’re going to start charging for many of their features. If you’re a current Wave user, have been thinking about trying it, or have considered switching to QuickBooks, let’s jump into all the details and compare these two bookkeeping platforms.
First, a quick overview of why this topic matters: QuickBooks and Wave are both popular, cloud-based bookkeeping platforms. That means no old-school CD-ROMs or installs—just internet access, and you’re good to go. Because they’re both cloud-based, you can access them from any browser. They’ve both gained popularity and recognition, but today I want to break down their key differences, and similarities, and which one I usually recommend for my clients.
So let’s start with the big question—what do they cost?
Until recently, Wave was free, making it a great choice for small business owners who only have a few transactions. It was user-friendly, accessible, and provided simple reporting features. But now Wave is rolling out a paid model for many of the features people have relied on—things like auto-importing bank transactions and auto-categorization, which are essential if you’re trying to automate your bookkeeping. While you can still manually import transactions for free, it’s a lot more work than syncing with your bank and letting things run automatically.
QuickBooks, on the other hand, has always been a paid service. They typically offer a free trial and have tiered subscription levels—the more features you want, the more you’ll pay. Here’s an insider tip: if you’re thinking about getting started with QuickBooks, send me an email. I can help you get set up and hook you up with a better discount than what’s publicly advertised. It’s not a code—I just have to do it for you.
So cost-wise, this is a big shift. I used to say it was fine to use Wave in the early stages of your business. But now that it’s not free, I recommend going with QuickBooks instead. One reason is that Wave has only been publicly available since 2010. QuickBooks has been serving small businesses since 1992. That kind of longevity says something. Sure, QuickBooks raises their rates occasionally, but so do most companies these days. That alone shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
Now, if you’re wondering which platform to start with as a beginner, I wouldn’t pay for Wave. If you’re going to pay for one, go with QuickBooks.
QuickBooks vs Wave – let’s talk about integrations.
Can these platforms sync with other tools you use? Both can. QuickBooks boasts over 750 app integrations. Wave surprised me—it has more than I expected, including Zapier, PayPal, Stripe, Slack, Mailchimp, and even Dubsado. So if you’re looking to streamline and automate your workflow, it’s worth checking which apps sync with your bookkeeping tool. I will say, though—sometimes those integrations cause more bookkeeping headaches than they solve, so talk to a tech expert first. Still, if you’re manually transferring data between systems, integration could save you a ton of time and frustration. So far we’ve covered cost, longevity, and integrations.
QuickBooks vs Wave – let’s talk about ease of use.
This can really depend on how your brain works. Some users say Wave feels simpler and less overwhelming because it has fewer buttons and tools. Others find it clunky or unintuitive. QuickBooks, while more robust, can feel intimidating at first. But once you learn what to do, it becomes a powerful tool. That’s exactly why I created my program—to help people get comfortable using QuickBooks, stop wasting their subscription, and start using the data to make smart business decisions. The program walks you through the features, shares time-saving tips, and gives you a solid monthly bookkeeping routine to stay organized for tax season.
Another question I often get is: which one can I grow with? Here’s where Wave has more limitations. It’s a basic tool with basic reports and features. QuickBooks, however, scales with your business. You can add project reporting, track different locations or business segments (called “classes”), and more. Both platforms offer payroll features now, but they require an additional fee. Still, QuickBooks gives you the option to pay for more advanced features as you grow, whereas Wave is more rigid.
QuickBooks vs Wave – let’s talk about support.
Both companies advertise that they offer support, but reviews tell a slightly different story. Since Wave was free for so long, it’s been tough for users to get help when they need it. I haven’t personally tested their support, but I’ve heard from users that it can be hard to get in touch with someone. That might change now that they’re charging.
And now, QuickBooks support. That is my one big negative about using QuickBooks—their support has been known to be a waste of time, to be honest. You can get some basic help, but if you have anything specific to your business or if something kind of one-off or funky happens, they’re just doing what feels like a glorified Google search. It’s not actually Google, but they must have their own database of canned answers that they’re pulling from to respond to your questions.
That’s one of the big reasons I created my program—so you don’t have to waste your time on the phone with QuickBooks support. Typically, I can help you with a lot of those funky issues. And if I don’t know the answer, I have a great network I can reach out to and usually get answers quickly. That’s much better than spending hours with support and still not walking away feeling confident in the solution. Unfortunately, neither QuickBooks nor Wave has stellar support right now. Maybe that’s something they’ll improve in the future, but currently, both are subpar.
Now, you can access both Wave and QuickBooks on your phone. If mobile features are important to you, both platforms offer them.
The last big thing I want to touch on is reporting.
Wave provides your basic reports, which is honestly all most small business owners need. You’ll get a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement—definitely workable. QuickBooks, on the other hand, offers more robust reporting. So if you eventually need to break things down further or create more specific categories tailored to your business, QuickBooks has those features. That’s another reason I prefer it. I want reports to help small business owners manage their business, not just file taxes.
Many people assume bookkeeping software reports are meant solely for tax returns, but that’s not always true. Often, you have to combine or split categories yourself to fill out a tax return accurately. So I want you to have reports that make sense for your daily business decisions. For example, if you want to see your income split out in a certain way or want to track your marketing costs to see if ads are increasing sales over time, those types of insights are so valuable. That’s how you shift from just doing the data entry to becoming a smart CEO who makes informed decisions based on real numbers.
That’s another win for QuickBooks: the ability to customize reports and access more detailed insights.
So if you’ve made it through this, it’s probably clear by now that my winner is QuickBooks. I used to say Wave was great because it was free for certain scenarios—but now, I wouldn’t even bother with the free plan. The whole point of using bookkeeping software over a spreadsheet is to access automations, syncing, and smart categorization for better decision-making. And now that Wave is charging, it’s just not worth it anymore.
Oh, and one last thing—we didn’t even talk about this earlier, but I recently tried to help someone using Wave find a bookkeeper for a specific project, and it was really tough. There are still way more bookkeepers who work with QuickBooks than with Wave. So if you eventually want to outsource your bookkeeping, need a one-time cleanup, or just help with a specific issue, it’s going to be hard to find someone who works in Wave. Since Wave hasn’t been around as long and is still smaller, it’s just not worth the cost or hassle of transitioning later if you’re going to end up outsourcing anyway.
I hope all of that makes sense! Let me know if you have questions about this—I’d love to hear from you. I’ve been wanting to give you a truthful, yet blunt, answer to the question QuickBooks vs Wave, especially with the recent announcement that Wave will start charging. I hope it helps you make a confident decision.
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