Home / Do the Books / Wave Accounting
A real ledger that starts at $0 — unlimited invoices, estimates, bills and bookkeeping records free, with bank feeds and receipt capture on the $19 Pro plan.
The safest free start in the Books job: a real ledger at $0 beside your existing bank, and a single flat $19 step to full automation when manual entry starts to cost you evenings.
Visit Wave Accounting ↗ Compare all do the books agents
Wave is a standalone accounting ledger with a free tier that actually works: unlimited invoicing and records at $0, and a $19 Pro plan that adds the bank feed, categorisation and receipt capture.
You want to keep your current bank and still have real books — start free, and upgrade to Pro at $19/month per business when manual entry starts costing time.
You need bank feeds from day one at $0, deep third-party integrations on a free plan, or tax filing inside the product.
Workflows are built only from verified capabilities in our listing research — no vendor copy, nothing invented.
Starts You finish a piece of work for a client
You get A paid invoice without a manual chasing round
Getting paid stops depending on your memory to follow up
Starts Bank transactions land during the month
You get Books that track the bank with review instead of data entry
Approval You review merges and categories rather than accepting them blind
The monthly bookkeeping session shrinks to checking, not typing
Starts You spend on the business while out
You get An expense record with its evidence attached
Tax-time deductions stop living in a shoebox
Starts DIY bookkeeping stops being worth your time
You get Tax-ready books maintained for you inside the same product
The upgrade path is a person, not a migration to new software
Unlimited invoices, bills and records at $0 — no trial clock.
Add your logo and branding, and send your first invoice from the web or mobile app.
$19/month per business turns on bank auto-import, categorisation and unlimited receipt capture.
Receipts on Starter, payroll if you hire, Advisors if you want a human — each is priced separately and optional.
Time to first useful result: Same day — free account in minutes; bank connection on Pro once you upgrade · no-code 5/5
Starter is $0 forever. Pro is $19/month billed monthly or $190/year billed annually, charged per business (not per owner), plus applicable taxes. Payment processing, receipts (on Starter), payroll and Advisors are priced separately: card payments 2.9% + $0.60 (Amex 3.4% + $0.60), bank payments 1% with a $1 minimum, receipts add-on $8/month or $72/year on Starter, payroll from $40/month base + $6 per person, Advisors bookkeeping from $149/month and coaching from $199/month.
$0 — free plan
Flat / month · $0/mo for one person
$19/month billed monthly; $190/year billed annually — per business, not per owner
Flat / month · $19/mo for one person
| Plan | Published price | Solo monthly | Billed by | Limits & overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0 — free plan | $0/mo | Flat / month | No automatic bank import — transactions are entered manually · Receipt capture is a paid add-on on this plan · Third-party integrations require Pro |
| ProSolo pick | $19/month billed monthly; $190/year billed annually — per business, not per owner | $19/mo | Flat / month | Bank connection depends on Plaid coverage of your institution · Payroll, payments processing and Advisors are priced separately |
The jump is one step, $0 to $19, and it is triggered by tedium rather than volume: the day manual entry hurts, Pro is the fix, and its price is flat per business. The real extras to watch are payment-processing percentages and the Advisors fee if you hand the books to a human.
Price record · 2026-11-05: First listing check, 2026-11-05, on waveapps.com/pricing — read in full this run: Starter $0; Pro $19/month or $190/year per business (the pricing FAQ confirms $19 USD per business, charged per business not per owner). The page also shows promotional Advisors figures ($134/$172 struck against $149/$199 starting prices); this listing publishes the $149/$199 starting prices, not the promotion. Receipts add-on on Starter read at $8/month or $72/year; payroll from $40/month base plus $6 per person. Card rates: 2.9% + $0.60 (Amex 3.4% + $0.60), with Pro waiving the $0.60 on the first 10 card transactions a month.
The same fields on every deep listing in this job, so agents compare field by field. “Not verified” means our research has not confirmed it yet — it never means “doesn't have it.”
Wave is the ledger-first route into this job: a proper double-entry-style accounting product you keep alongside whatever bank you already use, rather than a bank account with books attached. The free Starter plan is unusually complete for $0 — unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, a cash-flow and customer dashboard, invoicing from the mobile app, and the option to accept online payments at 2.9% plus $0.60 per card transaction (3.4% plus $0.60 for Amex; bank payments 1%). What Starter does not do is connect the bank: transactions are entered manually. Wave Pro at $19 a month, or $190 a year, billed per business rather than per owner, adds the automation layer — auto-import of bank transactions via Plaid, auto-merge and categorisation, unlimited digital receipt capture with OCR, automated late payment reminders, invoice attachments and reusable email templates, extra user roles, and a discounted card rate that waives the $0.60 fixed fee on the first 10 card transactions each month. Around the plans sit honest add-ons rather than hidden tiers: receipt capture alone for Starter at $8 a month, US payroll from a $40 monthly base plus $6 per active employee or contractor paid, and Wave Advisors if you want a human — bookkeeping from $149 a month with a dedicated bookkeeper and monthly statements, coaching from $199 a month. The catches: integrations require Pro, not all banks connect through Plaid, and the free plan's manual entry is a real time cost once transaction volume grows — Pro is the realistic working tier, and at $19 flat per business it is still one of the cheapest ledgers in this job.
Solo Fit stays the public score: the qualitative roll-up of these four published inputs under the How We Rank method. Two published prices and a per-business unit make the cost about as clear as this job gets; the only softness is the add-on menu (receipts, payroll, Advisors) around the plans.
The difference: Found is the bank account with books inside, free for money that lives there; Wave is a ledger beside your existing bank — free to start, $19/month when you want its bank feed.
The difference: FreshBooks prices by billable clients ($23 for 5) and leads with invoicing polish; Wave's client count is unlimited and its entry price is $0.
The difference: QuickBooks Online is the deeper, accountant-standard ledger at a monthly rent; Wave covers the solo core free or for $19, with a thinner integration and reporting bench.
Starter is $0 with unlimited invoices, bills and bookkeeping records. Pro is $19/month billed monthly or $190/year, charged per business rather than per owner, checked on waveapps.com/pricing on 2026-11-05. Payment processing, payroll and Advisors cost extra.
The automation layer: no automatic bank import, no auto-categorisation, and receipt capture becomes an $8/month add-on. Invoicing, bills and unlimited bookkeeping records are fully included — the free plan's cost is your time entering transactions by hand.
Not in the plans themselves. Wave Advisors is an add-on service from $149/month for bookkeeping (dedicated bookkeeper, monthly statements, onboarding) and from $199/month for coaching packages, per the pricing page checked on 2026-11-05.
Card payments cost 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction (3.4% plus $0.60 for Amex) and bank payments 1% with a $1 minimum. On Pro, the $0.60 fixed fee is waived on the first 10 card transactions each month.
Wave Accounting is not in a published stack yet — stacks are edited buying guides, and memberships are added only when the combination has been worked through.
Compare all do the books agents → · How we rank → · Get a weekly shortlist →