FreshBooks vs Wave
A source-aware comparison of pricing, documented capabilities and workflow fit.
Short answer
- Price: not directly comparable — FreshBooks is from $23/mo, Wave is free tier available.
- How to start: FreshBooks is from $23/mo, Wave is free tier available.
- Where they differ: only FreshBooks has public api; both offer mobile app.
These lines are generated from the pricing we track, not from a paid placement. How we score tools.
What FreshBooks is
What FreshBooks isFreshBooks handles invoicing, expenses and time tracking for freelancers and small service businesses. It is aimed at people who bill for time rather than sell products: tracking hours, turning them into an invoice and chasing payment is the main path through the product. Inventory and complex accounting are where it runs out, and that is when firms move to a full ledger.
What Wave is
What Wave isWave offers free accounting and invoicing for very small businesses, making money on payments and payroll instead. For a sole trader or a very small firm the free ledger and invoicing genuinely cover the job. It stops being enough once you need inventory, multi-currency or an accountant working in the file alongside you.
Side by side
| FreshBooks | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Finance Tools | Finance Tools |
| How to start | $23/moverified | Free tiernot a monthly price |
| Public API | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Open source / self-hostable | No | No |
| SSO (SAML) | No | No |
| Visit | FreshBooks ↗ | Wave ↗ |
Some links on this page earn us a commission if you sign up. It never changes a price you pay, a verdict we publish, or the order tools appear in.
What FreshBooks is built to do
- Invoicing and reminders
- Sends invoices and chases unpaid ones on a schedule automatically.
- Time tracking
- Records billable hours against a client or project and bills them.
- Expense capture
- Imports bank transactions and attaches receipts to expenses.
What Wave is built to do
- Double-entry accounting
- Keeps a real ledger with reconciliation rather than a spreadsheet.
- Invoicing
- Sends invoices and recurring bills with online payment links.
- Receipt capture
- Scans receipts and files them against expenses.
Choose FreshBooks if
- Freelancers and small firms that invoice a handful of clients
- Anyone who wants invoicing, expenses and time tracking in one place rather than three
- Testing cheaply: new accounts get 90% off for the first three months
Skip FreshBooks if
- You are budgeting from the advertised price — $2.30/mo is promotional for 3 months; Lite is $23/mo after that
- You have a team: every extra member is $11/mo on top of the plan
- You have more than 5 clients on Lite — that is the plan's cap, and Plus is $43/mo
Choose Wave if
- Freelancers and very small businesses that want free invoicing and bookkeeping
- Owners who want bank imports and receipt capture for $19/month or $190/year
- US and Canadian businesses that want payroll as an add-on
Skip Wave if
- You take card payments on the free plan and object to 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction
- You need inventory, multi-currency ledgers or advanced reporting
- You want a dedicated bookkeeper on a budget — Advisors start at $149/month
Evidence and freshness
Where a claim on this page comes from a vendor page, it is linked here.
FreshBooks: pros & cons
- Invoicing is quick and looks professional
- Time tracking built in
- Simple enough to use without an accountant
- Client limits on lower plans
- Weaker for inventory or product businesses
- Payroll requires a separate service
Wave: pros & cons
- Accounting and invoicing at no cost
- Simple enough to use without training
- Payments integrated
- Feature depth is limited
- Support is limited on the free product
- Availability varies by country
Our verdict on FreshBooks
Well suited to service billing. Product businesses need proper accounting instead.
Our verdict on Wave
Hard to argue with free for simple needs. Growth will push you to paid accounting.
Published plans, side by side
Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page and is shown with the sentence it came from. Where a vendor publishes no plan prices, we say so rather than guess.
FreshBooks
- Lite$23/mo
Lite $23/mo regular, $2.30/mo promotional; 5 billable clients
- Premium$70/mo
Premium $70/mo regular, $7 promotional; unlimited clients
Wave
- Pro$19/mo
Pro $19/month or $190/year: bank imports, auto-categorisation, receipts, reminders; discounted processing
- Payroll$25/mo
Payroll from $25–$40/month; Advisors from $149–$199/month
- Advisors$149/mo
Payroll from $25–$40/month; Advisors from $149–$199/month
FreshBooks vs Wave: common questions
- Does FreshBooks or Wave have a free plan?
- FreshBooks has no free plan listed, while Wave has a free tier with limits.
- Which is cheaper once you start paying, FreshBooks or Wave?
- Wave has the cheaper first paid step: Pro at $19/mo, against Lite at $23/mo for FreshBooks. Both figures come from the vendors' own pricing pages.
- What is the difference between FreshBooks and Wave?
- On the criteria we check, only FreshBooks has public api; both offer mobile app. The table above lists every criterion side by side.