Is Wave free?
By Riley Park · Last verified: October 2026
Yes. Wave's Starter plan costs $0 and includes unlimited invoices, estimates, bills and bookkeeping records, plus invoicing from the mobile app. You pay only for extras: 2.9% + $0.60 per card payment (3.4% + $0.60 for Amex) if you accept payments online, and optional paid services such as receipt scanning, payroll and bookkeeping. The Pro plan is $19 a month or $190 a year. Verified on Wave's pricing page, October 4, 2026.
What Starter includes. Unlimited invoicing, estimates, bills and bookkeeping records, branded invoice templates, a cash-flow dashboard, and core reports such as profit and loss. You can invoice from the mobile app. With online payments turned on, Starter also sends invoices automatically, takes deposits on estimates, and sends late-payment reminders.
What Starter leaves out. Automatic bank imports and categorization, unlimited receipt capture, third-party integrations, invoice attachments and saved message templates, removal of Wave branding, and additional admin, editor or viewer users. Starter can give a payroll manager or a Block Advisors tax pro access to the account.
What Pro adds for $19 a month. Bank transactions imported and categorized automatically, unlimited receipt capture, automated late-payment reminders, team roles, integrations, and lower card fees on your first 10 card payments each month (2.9% + $0 instead of 2.9% + $0.60). Pro is priced per business: three businesses on Pro means three subscriptions.
Does Wave Starter connect to my bank? Not automatically. On Starter you add transactions yourself; automatic import and categorization of bank transactions is a Pro feature.
Is there a catch? The software is free; Wave earns money on payment processing and paid services. If customers pay invoices by card through Wave, each payment costs 2.9% + $0.60 on Starter. Bank imports, receipt scanning and live support cost extra, through Pro or add-ons. Live chat and email support (weekdays, 9 AM to 4:45 PM Eastern) come with Pro or with any paid add-on; without either, Starter users have Wave's self-serve help center.
How DDR treats Wave Starter. It passes DDR's free-plan test: a one-person business can run a year of normal invoicing and bookkeeping on it, there is no revenue cap or time limit, and Wave presents it as a standing plan. The trade-off is manual work, since transactions go in by hand without Pro. Wave's lower DDR Score reflects its narrower scope across the category, not how well it does basic invoicing and bookkeeping; see the Wave review.
Wave Starter or QuickBooks Free? For invoice volume, Wave Starter: it has no invoice cap, while QuickBooks Free allows two invoices a month unless you use QuickBooks Payments. QuickBooks Free connects one bank automatically; Wave Starter does not. See Is QuickBooks free? and QuickBooks vs Wave.