Wave vs QuickBooks: which one is right after the 2026 price rise
Wave is free forever for invoicing and bookkeeping. QuickBooks just raised Plus by 41 percent and Advanced by 70 percent. Where the free option is genuinely enough, and where it is not.
Verdict
Wave is free and stays free for invoicing and bookkeeping. QuickBooks costs more after its August 2026 increase, up 41 percent on Plus, but handles inventory, multi-currency, and accountant handover that Wave does not.
At a glance
| Criterion | WaveBest free option | QuickBooks OnlineMost accountants know it |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $0, permanently | About $38/mo (Simple Start) |
| Invoices on the entry plan | Unlimited | Unlimited on Simple Start |
| Bank transaction import | Pro plan, $19/mo | Included from Simple Start |
| Card payment fee | 2.9% + $0.60 | Around 2.9% plus a fixed fee, varies by method |
| Inventory tracking | No | Plus tier and above, $140/mo |
| Multi-currency | No | Essentials and above |
| Payroll | Paid add-on, US and Canada only | Paid add-on |
| August 2026 price change | None | Plus +41%, Advanced +70% |
| Accountant familiarity | Low | Very high |
| Full review | Read the Wave review | Coming soon |
What the winner gets right, and where it falls short
What works
- Wave is the only mainstream accounting tool where unlimited invoicing and double-entry bookkeeping genuinely cost nothing, with no trial clock
- QuickBooks is what most US accountants and bookkeepers already work in, which makes year-end handover cheaper in professional time
- Both handle the core job well enough that the choice comes down to what your business needs rather than software quality
What does not
- QuickBooks raised Plus by 41 percent and Advanced by 70 percent in August 2026, which is a large increase to absorb mid-year
- Wave has no inventory tracking and no multi-currency, so a product business or an exporter runs out of road quickly
- Neither vendor makes card processing cheap. At roughly 2.9 percent, payment fees dwarf any subscription difference for an invoicing-heavy business
The one question that decides it#
Do you sell products or services?
If you sell services and invoice clients, Wave does the whole job for nothing and QuickBooks is an expense with no matching benefit. If you carry stock, Wave has no inventory tracking at all, and no plan or add-on changes that. You are on QuickBooks Plus at $140 a month whether you like it or not.
Almost every other difference is a detail next to that one.
What changed in August 2026#
+70%
QuickBooks Advanced increase
From $200 to $340 a month for renewals on or after 1 August 2026. Plus rose 41 percent, from $99 to $140.
For subscriptions renewing on or after 1 August 2026:
| Plan | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Start | About $35 | About $38, if it moved at all | Sources disagree |
| Essentials | $60 | $85 | +42% |
| Plus | $99 | $140 | +41% |
| Advanced | $200 | $340 | +70% |
Intuit's own communication says Simple Start was not part of the change. At least one independent breakdown lists it moving from $35 to $38. It is a small enough gap not to change any decision, but we would rather flag the disagreement than guess.
Two things worth knowing about the timing. If you prepaid annually you generally hold your old rate until that term ends, and recent signups may have a six-month price protection window before the new rate applies.
Where Wave genuinely wins#
Unlimited invoicing at zero. Not a trial, not a 30-day window, not capped at five invoices a month. Unlimited, permanently. Almost nothing else in this market does that.
Real bookkeeping, not a lightweight ledger. Double-entry, proper cash flow reporting, connected to the invoicing. The free plan is a real accounting product rather than an invoice generator with a dashboard.
$19 for the parts that matter. Wave Pro adds bank transaction auto-import and receipt scanning, which is the difference between an hour a week of manual entry and none. At $19 a month it undercuts QuickBooks Simple Start while covering the same ground for a service business.
Where Wave runs out of road#
No inventory. The hard stop for any product business.
No multi-currency. If you invoice overseas clients in their own currency, Wave cannot do it.
Payroll is limited. Wave's payroll is a separate paid add-on, US and Canada only.
Accountant familiarity. This is a real cost that appears on no pricing page. A bookkeeper who works in QuickBooks daily will take longer, and charge more, working in Wave.
The fee nobody puts in the comparison#
Both charge roughly 2.9 percent plus a fixed fee per card payment. Wave's is 2.9 percent plus $0.60.
Run that against your own volume before spending any time on the subscription difference. A business invoicing $30,000 a month by card pays around $870 in processing fees. Next to that, the gap between $0 and $140 a month is close to noise.
The subscription only dominates the decision if most of your clients pay by bank transfer.
Our call#
Choose Wave if you are a service business, invoice clients, hold no stock, work in one currency, and either do your own books or have an accountant who is relaxed about the tool. Start free and add Pro at $19 when manual bank entry starts to hurt.
Choose QuickBooks if you carry inventory, invoice in more than one currency, or work with an accountant who charges by the hour and works in QuickBooks. After the 2026 increase you are paying noticeably more for that, and it is worth checking whether the real alternative is Xero rather than Wave. We cover that one in our Xero review.
Tool by tool
Wave
Best free optionUnlimited invoicing and real double-entry bookkeeping at zero, which no other mainstream accounting tool offers. The cost shows up in card processing fees, not the subscription.
- Starting price
- Free, Pro $19/mo
- Best for
- Service businesses invoicing clients, with no inventory and no multi-currency
QuickBooks Online
Most accountants know itThe default in US small business accounting, with the deepest feature set and the widest accountant familiarity. It is also the one that just raised prices sharply on the mid tiers.
- Starting price
- From about $38/mo
- Best for
- Businesses with inventory, multi-currency, or an accountant who works in QuickBooks
Frequently asked questions
- Is Wave a real free alternative to QuickBooks?
- For a service business, yes. Wave includes unlimited invoices, estimates, bills, and double-entry bookkeeping at zero cost with no time limit. It is not a match for QuickBooks if you need inventory tracking, multi-currency, or an accountant who already works in QuickBooks.
- How much did QuickBooks go up in August 2026?
- For subscriptions renewing on or after 1 August 2026, Essentials moved to $85 a month, Plus to $140, and Advanced to $340. That is roughly a 41 percent rise on Plus and 70 percent on Advanced. Simple Start sits at about $35 to $38, and sources disagree on whether it changed at all.
- Which is cheaper overall, Wave or QuickBooks?
- Wave, by a wide margin on subscription cost, and the gap grew after the 2026 increase. But if you take card payments the processing fee is around 2.9 percent on both, so a business invoicing $30,000 a month pays roughly $870 in fees either way. That dwarfs the subscription difference.
- Can I move from QuickBooks to Wave?
- You can, but plan it rather than doing it mid-year. Wave imports customers and basic data, though historical transaction detail and reconciliations do not transfer cleanly. The practical moment to switch is at the start of a financial year, with the old books closed.
Written by
Tashawar Awais
Researcher and editor
Tashawar handles verification and editing. Every figure in a review is checked a second time before it goes out, and anything that cannot be traced to a vendor page or a documented source is either qualified or cut. Where pricing is genuinely unclear, as it is with Canva team plans or Close CRM tiers, the article says so and tells the reader to confirm directly instead of quoting a number with false confidence.
- Second check on every published figure
- Removes claims the sources do not support
- Flags pricing that changes without notice