Wave

What Wave is

Wave provides genuinely free double-entry accounting and invoicing, earning its money on payment processing and payroll. For a side-hustle or first-year contractor who needs clean books without a subscription, it is a defensible starting point that a bookkeeper can still work with.

What it does well

• Free proper double-entry bookkeeping
• Unlimited invoicing included
• Receipt scanning on mobile
• Low barrier to getting organised

Integrates with

Stripe · Zapier

Integration lists change often and "integrates" can mean anything from a real two-way sync to a one-way push through Zapier. Ask the vendor which fields move, in which direction, and how often.

Before you commit

• Pick what your accountant already works in unless you have a strong reason not to. Migration costs real money.
• Job-level profit is the number to chase. Verify labour burden — not just wage — flows into job cost.
• If you run crews across jurisdictions, check multi-state payroll tax handling before you commit.
• Prevailing-wage or public work means certified payroll. Confirm it is supported natively.
• Weekly categorisation habit beats any feature. Software makes bookkeeping faster, not automatic.

How to judge it in a trial

Run one real job through it end to end — not the demo data. Quote it, schedule it, do it, invoice it, take the payment. Then ask the only question that matters on day 400: did the people who have to use this every day find it faster than what they do now? Friction you notice in week one compounds forever, and tool-hopping costs more than any feature gap.