Wave Review — Completely Free Accounting Software for Contractors Just Starting Out

Real Pricing

⚠ Credit card processing: 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction. Bank payments via ACH: 0%. No payroll included — you need a separate payroll provider. Mobile receipt scanning is good but less polished than FreshBooks. Support is through a help center and chatbot, not live representatives.

What It Actually Does

Wave provides free accounting software with unlimited invoicing, expense tracking, receipt scanning, and basic financial reporting. It uses double-entry accounting, which means your books are structured the way a CPA or bookkeeper expects them to be — not a glorified spreadsheet. When tax time comes, your accountant can work with the reports Wave generates instead of telling you to redo everything in QuickBooks.

The invoicing is clean and functional. You can customize how invoices look with your logo and branding, send them by email, and include a pay now button if you enable Wave’s payment processing. Recurring invoices for maintenance customers are supported, which matters for pool techs and landscapers with regular service schedules.

Receipt scanning works through the mobile app. You take a photo of a receipt with your phone, and Wave reads the vendor, amount, and date automatically. The receipt attaches to the transaction in your books. Tax time becomes pulling reports instead of sorting through a shoebox.

Bank connections import your transactions automatically. Instead of manually entering every deposit and expense, you connect your business bank account and Wave pulls in the transactions. You categorize them, and the software learns from your categorizations over time.

Wave stays free by making money on two optional services: credit card processing and payroll. If you accept credit card payments through Wave’s invoicing, they charge 2.9 percent plus 60 cents per transaction. If you use Wave Payroll, they charge a monthly fee. If you use neither, Wave costs you nothing. There is no trial period, no time limit, and no upgrade prompts locking basic features behind a paywall.

What It Does Not Do

Wave does not track inventory. If you carry truck stock — HVAC parts, electrical supplies, plumbing fittings — Wave cannot tell you what’s on each truck or what your parts cost. For inventory tracking, you need QuickBooks Online or specialized inventory software.

Wave does not do job costing. You cannot see profit and loss broken down by individual job or project type. You can see that your business made money overall. You cannot see that pool construction jobs are more profitable than pool service jobs, or that certain types of electrical work have better margins than others. For job costing, you need QuickBooks Online.

Wave does not handle progress billing natively. Pool contractors who bill in milestones — 30 percent at excavation, 30 percent at shell, 25 percent at decking, 15 percent at completion — will find Wave’s invoicing too basic for this workflow. QuickBooks Online handles progress invoicing properly.

Wave does not include payroll. If you have employees, you need a separate payroll provider like Gusto or Square Payroll. Wave’s own payroll product is available but separate from the free accounting software.

Who It Is For

Wave is the starter home of contractor accounting. You move in when you need real bookkeeping but cannot justify $20 to $90 a month for FreshBooks or QuickBooks. You stay until your business needs something Wave cannot do.

Solo electricians, HVAC techs, and plumbers just starting out should use Wave. The free price removes every barrier to having proper books from day one. When the business grows to the point that job costing or inventory tracking becomes necessary, the transition to QuickBooks is straightforward because Wave’s double-entry accounting exports cleanly.

Pool service techs with recurring customers benefit from Wave’s recurring invoicing. Set up monthly invoices for your maintenance customers once, and Wave sends them automatically. The free price means your accounting costs don’t eat into your recurring revenue.

Landscapers with straightforward project and maintenance billing can use Wave effectively. The invoicing handles both one-time project invoices and recurring maintenance invoices. The receipt scanning captures material receipts from the nursery or supply house.

Pool contractors doing multi-stage construction projects should skip Wave entirely. The lack of progress billing and job costing means you cannot manage construction accounting properly. Go straight to QuickBooks Online Plus at $90 a month. The cost is justified by the complexity of the work.

From the Trenches

Wave is the tool you use when your business is real enough to need accounting but young enough that every dollar counts. It is real accounting software, not a toy, and it is genuinely free. The limitations are real too — no inventory, no job costing, no progress billing — but those limitations only matter once your business reaches a certain size. For the first year or two of a trade business, Wave covers everything you need.

The alternative to Wave is running your business on a spreadsheet or a notebook until you can afford QuickBooks. That path leads to messy books, frustrated accountants, and tax time panic. Wave eliminates all of that for free. Start with Wave on day one. Move to QuickBooks or FreshBooks when you outgrow it. The transition is clean and your books are already in good shape.

One note on payment processing. Wave’s credit card rates at 2.9 percent plus 60 cents are slightly higher than Square’s 2.6 percent plus 10 cents for in-person transactions. If you take payments in person frequently, use Square for the card processing and Wave for the accounting. If most of your payments come through online invoices, Wave’s payment processing is convenient and the fee difference is minimal.

Alternatives

• Cheaper: Nothing — it's actually free
• Simpler: FreshBooks ($19-60/month, better invoicing experience and live support)
• More powerful (and more expensive): QuickBooks Online ($30-90/month, full accounting with inventory and job costing)