Wave accounting vs QuickBooks: which plan fits in 2026

Wave Starter is still USD 0 as of October 2026, with unlimited invoices and no automatic bank import. Wave Pro lists at USD 19 a month or USD 190 a year in the US and CAD 25 a month or CAD 250 a year in Canada, per business. Simple Start lists at USD 38 in the US, or USD 19 for three months. Stay on Wave when one person runs the books: a second editor means Wave Pro or a paid QuickBooks plan, Quebec payroll means QuickBooks Canada payroll, and QuickBooks Plus adds inventory tracking. Look past both when a warehouse and a multi-step close are the job.

Owners still ask "Why would I pay for QuickBooks when Wave is free?" The 2026 answer is that Starter is free for manual books, and almost every convenience sits on a paid plan. Pro is half of Simple Start's list price on Wave's own comparison, and it is the same USD 19 as Intuit's three-month Simple Start offer. Price month four, then price payroll, then check whether inventory, classes, or a Quebec pay run even live in the product you are about to buy.

What Wave Starter and Pro include as of October 2026

Wave's pricing page bills Pro per business, for new subscriptions, tax excluded. One company on the monthly plan is USD 19 or CAD 25. The annual plan is USD 190 or CAD 250, which works out to about USD 15.83 or CAD 20.83 a month if you pay the year up front. A second company is a second subscription. Three businesses on monthly Pro are USD 57 or CAD 75 before tax, even if the same owner runs all three.

Starter, at USD 0, includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records, plus a mobile app for invoicing. Automatic bank import is not on Starter. Wave describes the books as double-entry, and a Starter user can switch data in from QuickBooks. Budget a cleanup on that import, and ask whoever moves the file which years, open invoices, and attachments come across.

Pro adds auto-import of bank transactions through Plaid (not every bank is supported), auto-merge and categorization, late-payment reminders, a logo and brand colors, removal of Wave branding, and collaborator roles: admin, editor, and viewer. A payroll manager or a Block Advisors tax pro can be added without Pro. If the only extra person is the payroll admin, you can stay on Starter and still hand them that role. If a bookkeeper needs to edit transactions, Pro is the plan that sells those seats.

Human support is narrower than the feature list suggests. Live chat and email run Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Eastern, and the pricing table ties that human support to Pro or any paid add-on. Starter is a self-serve product during a close.

Receipts are the line to pin down before you sign. The same pricing table shows a receipts-capture add-on at USD 11 per month or USD 96 per year in one column and USD 8 per month or USD 72 per year in the other. A later layout marks receipts as included on one plan. The columns are not labeled cleanly enough to treat either pair as the price. Ask Wave which column applies to a new subscription, and get the answer in writing.

One footnote on that page still describes a Pro monthly offer of USD 9.50 for three months, half off, dated December 2, 2025 to January 6, 2026. That window is closed. Budget USD 19 or CAD 25.

What QuickBooks lists in the United States and in Canada

US list prices on Intuit's pricing page, as of October 2026, sit beside a 50 percent for 3 months offer. Billing is monthly, with no annual contract, and plans can be cancelled anytime. Paid plans include two accountant seats, three on Advanced. Free has none.

• Free (List per month: USD 0 · Offer for 3 months: USD 0 · Users: 1 · What the cap changes: 1 bank, 2 invoices a month unless Payments is enabled, no accountant)
• Simple Start (List per month: USD 38 · Offer for 3 months: USD 19 · Users: 1 · What the cap changes: Full invoicing for a single user, plus two accountant seats once you leave Free)
• Essentials (List per month: USD 85 · Offer for 3 months: USD 42.50 · Users: 3 · What the cap changes: Room for a second operator and a bookkeeper under the user cap)
• Plus (List per month: USD 140 · Offer for 3 months: USD 70 · Users: 5 · What the cap changes: Inventory, project profitability, budgets, classes and locations up to 40)
• Advanced (List per month: USD 340 · Offer for 3 months: USD 170 · Users: 25 · What the cap changes: Unlimited classes and locations, custom permissions, batch invoicing, Excel sync, workflow automation)

Wave's comparison page says Pro is 50 percent less expensive than QuickBooks Simple Start. That matches the October 2026 list prices of USD 19 versus USD 38. It does not match the promotional Simple Start price of USD 19 for three months. For those three months the two paid entry plans cost the same in the United States, and Wave is cheaper only after the offer ends, at USD 19 against USD 38. Compare the price you will still be paying in month four.

Canada is a different card. On the Canadian pricing page, Lite shows a list price of CAD 20 per month, struck through beside a promotional CAD 2 per month. Lite is one user, with no accountant access, up to two bank connections, and five report templates. It does not include Intuit Intelligence or the mobile app that EasyStart adds. EasyStart is the one-user plan above Lite. Plus is five users and adds inventory, project profitability, multi-currency, and up to 40 classes and locations. Advanced is 25 users, with unlimited classes and locations, custom roles, and revenue recognition. An FAQ on that page still describes an Essentials tier for up to three users with bills and time.

A 90 percent off for 6 months promotion covered the dollar amounts for EasyStart, Essentials, Plus, and Advanced on that page in October 2026. Budget those plans from the checkout price after the six months, for your province. A US screenshot will not match that card.

QuickBooks Desktop is no longer sold to new subscribers in Canada. Intuit says support for QuickBooks Desktop 2023 and older ends after May 31, 2026. A firm still closing on a desktop file needs a dated plan off that product. Online is the product Intuit is still selling north of the border.

How payroll and payments differ in the US and Canada

Payroll is where a low software price stops being the whole bill, and where the country split matters more than the subscription.

For new Wave Payroll customers after April 2, 2025, Wave's payroll page lists a USD 40 base fee plus USD 6 per active employee and USD 6 per contractor paid in the United States. In Canada the base is CAD 25 plus CAD 6 per active employee and CAD 6 per contractor paid. Both include unlimited direct deposit. A 30-day trial starts when the first payroll is processed, so the trial clock is the first run, not the day you click sign up.

Wave Payroll tax service in the US is offered in all 50 states. Wave says it will transfer payroll tax payments and file with the state agency and the IRS. It explicitly excludes 1099 filings from that automatic service. In rare cases tax payments may not transfer automatically, so someone on your side still confirms the payment left the account. In Canada, Wave Payroll is available in every province and territory except Quebec. It remits to the CRA and generates T4 and T4A slips. It does not cover Revenu Québec payroll. A Montreal or Quebec City employer cannot treat Wave Payroll as a complete pay run.

QuickBooks Online Payroll in Canada can e-file and remit to the CRA or Revenu Québec, and it prepares T4 and RL-1 forms. Payroll is a separate subscription (Core, Premium, or Elite) and can be bought without QuickBooks Online. Take the Core, Premium, and Elite figures from Intuit's checkout for your employee count before you compare them with Wave's CAD 25 plus CAD 6.

US QuickBooks sells payroll bundled with the accounting plan. On the US payroll pricing page, as of October 2026:

• Workforce Payroll with Simple Start (List per month: USD 88 · Offer for 3 months: USD 44 · Per employee: USD 6.50 list and during the offer)
• Workforce Payroll with Essentials (List per month: USD 125 · Offer for 3 months: USD 62.50 · Per employee: USD 6.50 list and during the offer)
• Workforce Premium with Plus (List per month: USD 203 · Offer for 3 months: USD 101.50 · Per employee: USD 10 list and during the offer)

Payments are a separate meter, and Wave does not sell a monthly payments subscription. Card rates are 2.9% plus USD 0.60 for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, and 3.4% plus USD 0.60 for American Express. On Pro, the fixed USD 0.60 is waived for the first 10 card transactions in a monthly period, then the Starter rates apply. Discover processing is US-only. Bank payments, ACH in the US and EFT in Canada, are 1% per transaction with a USD 1.00 minimum on both Starter and Pro. Approval requires identity verification and a credit review. Card payouts are quoted as 1 to 2 business days and bank payouts as 1 to 7 business days.

On a USD 1,000 Visa payment, 2.9% is USD 29. Add USD 0.60 on Starter, or on Pro after the tenth card charge that month, and the fee is USD 29.60. A USD 80 bank payment is not USD 0.80. The 1% minimum lifts it to USD 1.00. A USD 2,000 EFT is USD 20. If customers pay you in small ACH or EFT amounts, the minimum matters more than the headline 1%.

Where the two free plans run out

A September 11, 2026 test by Fit Small Business of the free tiers matches what Intuit and Wave print. QuickBooks Free auto-imports one bank and caps invoices at two a month, with unlimited invoices only if the user qualifies for and enables QuickBooks Payments. It has no accountant access. Wave Starter allows unlimited invoices and bills and keeps automatic bank import on Pro.

That split decides the free choice more than brand preference. A freelancer who sends a handful of invoices and will connect one bank gets a feed on QuickBooks Free and hits a wall on the third invoice. A freelancer who invoices every week and will type or upload the bank lines gets an unlimited invoice stack on Wave Starter and spends the time on data entry. One owner with no employees called Wave easy to use, then wrote that "Once I grow bigger I'll look at other options, but wave is a great free option to get started." Another reply on the same thread said, "Sounds like Wave is your better bet. No employees and you can probably get away with the free version." Both comments describe a one-person file. They stop being advice the month an employee, a second editor, or a stock count shows up.

QuickBooks Free is a trial of the habit of using QuickBooks, with a hard ceiling. Two invoices a month is six invoices a quarter. A contractor who bills each job, or a shop that invoices every shipment, will cross that in the first week unless Payments is approved. Turning Payments on to lift the invoice cap also means accepting Intuit's payment product, which is a separate commercial decision. Wave Starter does not make you turn on payments to keep invoicing. It makes you pay, at USD 19 or CAD 25, the month you want the bank feed, the branding, or an editor seat.

Accountant access is the quiet upgrade. On a paid QuickBooks plan the accountant seat is included, two of them, three on Advanced. On Wave, collaborator roles for admin, editor, and viewer require Pro. You can add a payroll manager without Pro, and that is a different job from reviewing the general ledger. If your accountant logs in monthly, put Pro or a paid QuickBooks plan in the budget now. Waiting until tax season means a rushed seat purchase in March.

What a working month costs once payroll is on the bill

Headline subscription prices hide the stack you will pay. Assume one US business, Wave Pro billed monthly, and Wave Payroll for two active employees and no contractors, as a new payroll customer after April 2, 2025. Pro is USD 19. Payroll is USD 40 plus USD 6 times two employees, USD 12. The month is USD 71 before card or bank fees and before whatever the receipts line turns out to be.

The closest QuickBooks bundle is Workforce Payroll with Simple Start: USD 88 plus USD 6.50 per employee at list. Two employees add USD 13, so the list month is USD 101. During the three-month offer the base is USD 44, and the employee fee stays USD 6.50, so two employees cost USD 57 for those three months. Wave at USD 71 costs more than the promotional bundle (USD 57) and less than the list bundle (USD 101). After month three, Wave Pro plus payroll is USD 30 a month under the QuickBooks list bundle, before fees.

Fees can close or widen that gap. Assume the same company takes USD 8,000 of Visa payments in twelve charges, all past the waiver, so Pro no longer waives the USD 0.60. At 2.9% plus USD 0.60, 2.9% of USD 8,000 is USD 232, and twelve charges add USD 7.20. The card total is USD 239.20. Ask Intuit for the card rate that matches your volume, and put that fee next to USD 239.20 before you treat processing cost as the tie-break.

A contractor-heavy month moves Wave faster than people expect. Assume the same Pro plan, two active employees, and four contractors paid. Payroll becomes USD 40 plus USD 12 plus USD 24, which is USD 76, and with Pro the month is USD 95. Each contractor paid is another USD 6, the same as an employee. If those contractors should receive 1099s, Wave's automatic tax service does not file them. Budget the filing separately.

Canada, same shape, still outside Quebec. Assume Pro at CAD 25 and payroll for two active employees: CAD 25 plus CAD 25 base plus CAD 12, which is CAD 62 a month before EFT fees. Set CAD 62 against the post-promotion checkout total for the QuickBooks plan that files with Revenu Québec if you need RL-1s, or against a CRA-only payroll product if you do not. Canadian QuickBooks accounting prices above Lite belong in that same checkout, because the public cards were covered by the 90 percent promotion.

Annual Wave Pro changes the US example by USD 38 a year, which is USD 228 of monthly billing minus the USD 190 annual price. It does not change the payroll base. The payroll fee is monthly either way. USD 38 is a small number next to the USD 40 payroll base, so pay annually only once you know you will stay the year.

Which operating limits should change the product

QuickBooks Plus, at a US list price of USD 140 a month (USD 70 for three months), is the plan that adds inventory tracking, project profitability, budgets, and class and location tracking up to 40. Advanced raises classes and locations to unlimited and adds custom user permissions, batch invoicing, Excel sync, and workflow automation, at USD 340 list or USD 170 for three months, with a 25-user cap.

Use those gates as the buying test, in order:

1. A second person who edits bills, invoices, or the bank feed, and who is not only a payroll manager. Wave requires Pro for admin, editor, and viewer. QuickBooks Essentials is the first US plan with three users, at USD 85 list.
2. Inventory quantities and purchase orders as part of the close. In the US that is Plus. In Canada, Plus is the plan Intuit describes with inventory, and the post-promo price has to come from the live card.
3. Class, location, or project profitability. US Plus caps classes and locations at 40. A retailer with more than 40 locations, or a job shop that outgrows 40 classes, is already on an Advanced conversation at USD 340 list.
4. Multi-currency on the Canadian side. Intuit places multi-currency on Canadian Plus, along with project profitability.
5. A pay run Wave cannot finish. Quebec payroll is the clearest case: Wave does not cover Revenu Québec, and QuickBooks Canada payroll prepares RL-1s and can remit to Revenu Québec. US 1099 filing is the quieter case, because Wave excludes it from the automatic service.
6. More than five people in the US file. Plus stops at five users. The next Intuit step is Advanced at USD 340 list, or USD 170 for three months, with a cap of 25 users.

Wave's own comparison publishes a testimonial, "I was able to get all of the features, they functioned better, and they were easier to navigate inside of Wave for a much lower cost than going to something like QuickBooks." Wave discloses a complimentary Pro subscription with that line, so treat it as a vendor testimonial. The list-price gap after the US promo ends is separate and checkable: USD 19 versus USD 38. Inventory, classes, and Quebec payroll still have to be priced on the plan that contains them.

Plus will track inventory quantities inside the accounting file. A warehouse, a purchasing cycle, and a multi-step bill of material are a different scope. Once those have to move with the ledger, compare another year of Plus or Advanced with a first phase on Odoo or Business Central. Our target for a first usable phase is 8 to 12 weeks, scoped to the workflows that are already breaking, with a consultant reviewing the configuration before you go live on it. The Odoo vs QuickBooks guide is the direct next read if QuickBooks is the incumbent. When to move from QuickBooks to ERP covers the operating signals that show up after the accounting plan is already the expensive one.

How to decide in an afternoon

Pull three months of invoices, the employee and contractor list, and the number of people who would log in. Then run this sequence.

1. If you send more than two invoices a month and you will not turn on QuickBooks Payments, cross QuickBooks Free off. If you want a bank feed and you will not type every line, cross Wave Starter off. One of those two sentences ends the free-tier debate for most owners.
2. Write the month-four price. In the US that is Wave Pro at USD 19, or Simple Start at USD 38, Essentials at USD 85, Plus at USD 140, Advanced at USD 340. Ignore the three-month half price except as a cash-flow note for the first quarter. In Canada, write Wave Pro at CAD 25 and QuickBooks Lite at CAD 20 list (CAD 2 on the current promo), then fill EasyStart, Plus, and Advanced only from the live checkout after the 90 percent promotion.
3. Add payroll for your country. US Wave: USD 40 plus USD 6 per active employee plus USD 6 per contractor paid. Canada Wave, outside Quebec: CAD 25 plus CAD 6 per active employee plus CAD 6 per contractor paid. US QuickBooks: the bundle row that matches the accounting plan, plus the per-employee fee. Quebec: QuickBooks Canada payroll, with the dollar amount from Intuit, because Wave stops at the provincial border.
4. Add a fee sketch. Your typical card ticket at 2.9% plus USD 0.60, or 3.4% plus USD 0.60 for American Express, and your bank tickets at 1% with a USD 1 minimum. Count whether you will clear 10 card transactions and lose the Pro waiver.
5. Check the seat and the support clock. If an accountant must log in, you are on Wave Pro or a paid QuickBooks plan. If you need a person on chat outside weekday Eastern hours, Wave's published window does not cover that. Confirm QuickBooks support hours on the plan you select before you count them as a reason to switch.
6. If step 2 lands on Plus or Advanced, or step 3 lands on Quebec, or you already re-key orders into a sheet beside the books, stop the accounting-only comparison. Price a first phase. The Odoo pricing calculator is there for the subscription side. The implementation side depends on how many workflows move in phase one, which is a scoping conversation, not a list price.

A practical tie-break: if the only gap is typing the bank feed, pay for Wave Pro and revisit in six months. If you cannot see what you own, what you ordered, and what you billed without a spreadsheet beside the file, USD 140 for Plus buys the inventory and class tools and leaves the warehouse process for later. We implement both Odoo and Business Central for companies in that second group, in the US and Canada, in phases sized to a team of about 20 to 100 people when the business has reached that size, and in a smaller first phase when it has not.

Assume three people must log in: the owner, an office manager who edits bills, and a bookkeeper. Wave Pro stays one subscription at USD 19 or CAD 25, because the collaborator roles sit on the business, and the bookkeeper uses editor rather than a separate payroll-only seat. QuickBooks Free and Simple Start stop at one user, so the same trio needs Essentials at USD 85 list in the United States (USD 42.50 for three months). The month-four gap is USD 66 in the United States before payroll. In Canada, price that same trio on the post-promotion card, since Essentials there is described as the tier for up to three users with bills and time, and its dollar amount was under the 90 percent promotion.

How Flectic can help

Flectic implements Odoo one app at a time on a single database, starting with the apps that remove the most manual work. It suits companies of 20 to 100 people in the US and Canada that outgrow free bookkeeping plans and want sales, stock and finance in one database. Core operations (four to six apps, a basic data import, up to 25 users) has a planning range of $6,000 to $30,000, not a quote. Compare the Odoo implementation service with your plan, then book a free discovery call with Flectic.

Sources

Wave Pricing, Wave, October 2026

Payroll Software for Small Businesses, Wave, October 2026

Accept Invoice Payments Online, Wave, October 2026

Small Business Accounting Software, Wave, October 2026

Best QuickBooks alternative, Wave, October 2026

QuickBooks Online Pricing, Intuit, October 2026

Plans and Pricing, QuickBooks Canada, Intuit, October 2026

Online Payroll Services, QuickBooks Canada, Intuit, October 2026

Payroll Services Pricing, Intuit, October 2026

QuickBooks Free vs. Wave, Fit Small Business, September 2026

Wave Vs. QuickBooks Comparison, Forbes Advisor, June 2024

Wave vs Quickbooks, Reddit