The Wave alternative without the upsells
Wave is free because payments, payroll, and add-ons pay for it. SmallBooks has one honest price, $19/month, with the whole toolkit included and no one nudging you toward processing fees.
Free during early access · No card required
| SmallBooks | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (Personal) · $19/mo (Business) | Free (Starter) · $16/mo (Pro) |
| How it makes money | The subscription. That's it. | Payment processing, payroll, receipt add-ons |
| Bank feeds | Included (Plaid) | Pro plan; limited on free Starter |
| AI receipt reading + auto-match | Included | Paid add-on or Pro plan |
| PDF + CSV statement import with dedup | Included | CSV via tools; no PDF extraction |
| Bills / accounts payable with aging | Included | Basic |
| Budgets vs. actuals | Included | Not offered |
| Projects / classes / locations | Included | Not offered |
| Multi-currency with FX gain/loss | Included | Limited |
| Team access with scoped permissions | Included, module-based | Limited collaborator roles |
| Period locking + audit trail | Included | Not offered |
| Price locked at signup | Yes, your rate never increases | Free tier has narrowed over the years |
Wave pricing and plan boundaries as published in mid-2026. Always confirm current details on their site.
An honest take: when Wave is the right choice
If you need invoicing plus simple tracking and the price has to be zero, use Wave Starter, it's the best free option there is. The trade you're making is depth and independence: fewer bookkeeping features, and a product whose business model wants you on its payment rails. When your books get real, receipts piling up, an accountant asking for a balance sheet, a team member who needs access, that trade stops being free.
Common questions
Why pay $19 when Wave is free?
Wave is a genuinely good free product, and if your books are simple it may be all you need. The free tier is funded by nudges toward paid payments, payroll, and add-ons, and features like bank feeds and receipt scanning have moved behind the Pro plan over time. SmallBooks charges one transparent subscription and includes everything: no upsells inside your bookkeeping, and your rate is locked for life.
When is Wave the better choice?
If your budget is exactly zero and you mainly need invoicing with basic income and expense tracking, Wave Starter is hard to argue with. SmallBooks' free Personal plan covers personal finances, but business books need the paid plan.
Can I switch from Wave?
Yes. Export your Wave transactions to CSV and import them (duplicates are caught automatically), or just connect your bank via Plaid and let history sync. Rules rebuild your categorization quickly.
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