Wave Accounting vs AccountEdge

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Our analysts compared Wave Accounting vs AccountEdge based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Accounting Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Wave Accounting Software Tool
AccountEdge Software Tool

Product Basics

Wave Accounting streamlines financial management for small businesses and freelancers. Its intuitive interface simplifies bookkeeping tasks like expense tracking, invoicing, and receipt scanning. Users praise its ease of use and mobile accessibility, making it ideal for entrepreneurs on the go. Wave offers core accounting features like bank reconciliation and income/expense reports, all for free. Premium plans unlock advanced functionalities like payroll, double-entry bookkeeping, and tax filing for an affordable monthly fee. Compared to similar products, Wave shines in user experience. Reviews highlight its intuitive design, helpful tutorials, and responsive customer support. However, its free plan lacks features crucial for larger businesses, requiring an upgrade for robust accounting needs. Ultimately, Wave excels as a beginner-friendly, cost-effective solution for solopreneurs and small teams seeking hassle-free financial management.

Pros
  • Free core features
  • Easy to use interface
  • Mobile-friendly design
  • Excellent customer support
  • Free bank reconciliation
Cons
  • Limited features in free plan
  • No inventory tracking
  • No double-entry accounting
  • Few integrations with other software
  • Limited reporting options
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AccountEdge helps small businesses establish inventory, billing, managing contacts, creating and tracking sales and purchases. It’s compatible with both Mac and Windows operating systems. An on-premise and accounting management solution, it gives users the freedom to create an eCommerce platform where they can sell items online using Shopify, download orders directly to the account and synchronize the inventory items for selling. The banking tool gives users the freedom to receive and send money, create bank deposits, print checks and account reconciliation. The purchase order feature enables users to create and track purchase orders and bills. It handles every aspect of business and gives the owners the ability to organize, process and report financial information.

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$20 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
$20 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
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Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Free: Utilize Wave Accounting's free features forever, making it a great help for entrepreneurs and freelancers who may find themselves in the preliminary stages of launching their business or service.  
  • Easy Setup: Get to work immediately with easy account setup and installation. 
  • Available Anywhere: Access this solution on computers and mobile devices to access and change anything from practically any location. All changes are automatically saved and synced so users always see current information. 
  • Instant Transactions: Connect bank accounts for instant transaction recordings. It also eliminates manually inputting receipts. 
  • Stay Organized for Tax Season: Sort incomes, expenses, payments and invoices in one centralized location for tax time.  
  • Collaborate with Accountants: Share data and collaborate with accountants for smooth financial processing and advice. 
  • Top-Notch Security: Protect financial information with security components such as bank connections with 256-bit encryption in read-only formats and PCI Level-1 security for managing credit cards and bank account information. 
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  • Quotes and invoices: Create personalized quotes and invoices. Convert quotes to invoices with a click. 
  • Cost-effective: Pay only a one-time fee charged for each plan. This means extra payments are to be made only when the users purchase available add ons.  
  • Compatibility: Use Pro on Windows or Mac or get a mobile app for iOS devices. Access data without leaving the comfort of the desktop application with Connect. Get all the desktop features with Pro Hosted.  
  • Easy Installation: Get it up, running and access a vast amount of information within minutes. Learn more about using the platform by logging in to the user forum on the community page. Enjoy the simple to use interface and flexible reporting system. 
  • Simple Reporting: Look up information in numerous ways. Drill down into accounts and transactions with the interactive balance sheet and profit and loss reports. Slice and dice data for analysis. Easily control services from quote complete to invoice delivery. 
  • Time Billing and Retainers: Review how much money a client has to deposit and what is to be billed at the end of the month. Easily log in on-site with the quick interaction on the mobile app. 
  • Reconciling Statements: Find the amount by viewing them by debits or credits. Change marked items to blue which makes scanning the remaining numbers easy. 
  • Easy Job Budgeting And Analysis: Ensure easier functionality with new buttons added under budget analysis. Edit amounts for the job, calculate and display adjusted budgets and compare the actuals, in one window. 
  • Reminders: Add promise date as a reminder for the completion of job schedule. 
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  • Link Accounts and Credit Cards: Connect an unlimited amount of bank accounts and credit cards. Users may supervise multiple businesses with one account. 
  • Smooth Integrations: Integrate Shopify transactions and link with PayPal, Shoeboxed and Etsy accounts. 
  • Intricate Dashboards: Elaborate dashboards that display cash balances, invoice statuses, incomes, expenses and payments. This accessory also provides bill and invoice reminders. 
  • Export Various Reports: Export a variety of accounting reports such as profit and loss, sales tax, cash flow, comparative and others. 
  • Automatic Updates: Receive prompt updates and reminders on invoices, payments and payroll details. 
  • Evaluate High Volumes of Transactions: Process a bulk amount of transactions to ensure rapid bookkeeping practices. Users can also perform and accept transactions in foreign currencies and search for transactions based on descriptions. 
  • Double-Entry Accounting: Operate with double-entry accounting—a method that chronicles transactions in two or more accounts — that performs prompt exchange rate calculations and has a flexible sales tax module. 
  • Adaptable Expense and Income Categories: Use account IDs to create adjustable expense and income categories, sometimes called chart of accounts. There's also an unlimited income and expense tracking accessory. 
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  • Accounts: Maintain charts of accounts. Choose from over 100 templates in Pro or create templates. Create a budget for any active account or for each job and project by tracking individual jobs. 
  • Banking: Set up and manage all bank related activities, which includes importing bank statements for reconciliations. Connect credit card and bank accounts to the application with automatic bank feed options. 
  • Contacts: Manage all customers, vendors and employees from a central location. Attach documents or contracts to vendor files, add a photo or create custom letters for the customers. 
  • Sales: Create a quote, process a sales order, create an invoice for a customer and accept customer payments for all open orders. Make shipping the product easy by integrating the invoice with UPS and providing customers with the tracking details. Place comments and choose how to deliver invoices. Create sales orders for customers that pay in advance. Accept credit card payments and record incoming payments by creating an account with Merchant Account. Manage online sales and inventory by syncing online stores using Shopify connector. Attach a document to invoices and purchases to enable tracking of warranties and package slips. 
  • Time billing: Track time and bill customers with Pro. Track billable and non-billable hours spent on the project or track employee time for billing purposes. Remotely track time using Connect. Monitor all work in progress to bill the customers as the project continues. 
  • Purchases: Create a purchase order, convert a bill to an order, enter vendor accounts payable and pay them electronically or by check. Complete vendor payment electronically and process 1099 forms at year end for contractors, using information tracked in purchases.  
  • Payroll: Set up payroll using the payroll assistant. Do the calculations inhouse or outsource through SurePayroll. Get a variety of add-on options like direct deposit, payroll forms and e-file services when processing payroll in-house. 
  • Inventory: Add details about specific items as well as selling and buying options with the Pro inventory module. Assign multiple pricing levels to the products, get an alert when the stock drops below a specified point. Keep track of best-selling products, and even build items and kits. 
  • Purge Jobs: Remove unused, older jobs from a larger list. Delete the selected job and remove it from the transaction list. 
  • Custom List and Custom Fields: Track the jobs by adding custom list and custom fields upto the count of three. Define list names, list members and field names, and use a custom list as a filter for job reports. 
  • Customized Job Status: Check which job is pending, delivered or on hold by customizing the job status. 
  • Activity Slips: Track time tied to a job under the job list Window. Drill into the activity slip or print out a report.  
  • Transactions: Get easy access to a list of all the transactions under the job information window. Get information like quotes in summary or detail. 
  • Job Number: Automatically assign job number to each line of transaction when creating a sale to a customer that has a single job associated with it. Remove or overwrite it as and when needed.  
  • Job Address: Manually enter or automatically include address and contact information for a job from a linked customer address and phone number, especially in cases where the job is associated with site or location.  
  • Job Transaction Summary Report: Get a list of transactions, including quotes and orders that are associated with the specific jobs. Filter it out on the basis of type, sales and purchase order.  
  • Emails: Use merge tags to create email templates. Include additional email addresses and choose an email address from Card. Open and view the email in the email client instead of it being automatically sent. 
  • Search Option: Search by account number or account name and use starts with/contains filters. Search account list by number or name and look by contact on the cards list. Identify unknown or forgotten company names by using search from list on transactions. 
  • Paid Stamp: Avoid confusion when re-sending a copy of a paid invoice to a client with a paid stamp which is a custom field and can appear on printed and PDF sales form. 
  • Deleting Deposits: Edit or delete the deposit payment after an order has been converted into an invoice. 
  • Calendar Event: Create a calendar event in the MacOS Calendar app, while recording the transaction or when the payment is due. Reminders can also be created from the card file. 
  • Add Note: Remember why the inventory was adjusted or created a particular job entry by adding a note to all the transactions. Check stubs and other transactions by adding a note field to the appropriate report.  
  • Forecasting with Recurring Sales: Get a more accurate estimation of financial situation at a point in time. Only get relevant fields displayed when the radio button is used. 
  • Company Data Auditor: Make sure that the financial information is accurate, protected and balanced. Backup and verify the company file with the audit tools. Lock down reconciled financial data, keep an audit trail and run reviews to make sure the numbers are in balance. 
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Product Ranking

#4

among all
Accounting Software

#171

among all
Accounting Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Wave Accounting
AccountEdge
+ Add Product + Add Product
Accounts Payable Accounts Receivable Banking And Cash Management Budget And Expense Management Financial Statements And Revenue Management General Ledger And Chart Of Accounts Integration And Extensibility Inventory Management Journal Entries Mobile Support Multi-company Accounting And Asset Management Platform Capabilities Project Accounting Reporting And Analytics Tax Management 78 92 87 57 98 61 58 50 73 90 65 78 56 70 88 0 25 50 75 100
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Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 2602 reviews
Great User Sentiment 176 reviews
88%
of users recommend this product

Wave Accounting has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 2602 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

88%
of users recommend this product

AccountEdge has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 176 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

4.0 (15)
n/a
4.4 (203)
n/a
4.43 (1298)
4.36 (88)
4.4 (964)
4.4 (88)
4.0 (122)
n/a

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

System Performance: Of the users who mentioned this solution's performance, precisely 65% said it's easy to use, documents all tasks performed and provides accurate information.
Modules: Approximately 57% of users who discussed this program's functionality said it has a variety of capabilities such as an assortment of reports, bank account synching and invoice reminders.
Cost: Of the users who mentioned this application's pricing, approximately 87% of users said they like the free version because it comes with plenty of appliances.
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Strong Support: Users consistently praise AccountEdge's helpful and responsive customer support team.
Desktop Functionality: Many users appreciate that AccountEdge is a desktop-based application, which they find more reliable and secure than cloud-based alternatives.
Industry-Specific Features: AccountEdge offers specialized features for various industries, such as construction and manufacturing, making it a good fit for businesses with specific accounting needs.
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Frustrating reconciliation process: Users often describe matching transactions as difficult and time-consuming, leading to delayed reconciliation and potential errors.
Limited reporting options: Users express a desire for more robust and flexible reporting features, including better sorting, exporting, and preset date options for generating customized reports.
Lack of phone support: Wave relies primarily on email and online resources for support, which can be frustrating for users who prefer immediate assistance or have complex issues to resolve.
Occasional glitches and errors: Users have reported occasional software glitches, such as duplicated transactions or difficulties with bank syncing, which can disrupt workflows and create data inconsistencies.
No inventory management: Wave lacks full-fledged inventory tracking and management capabilities, making it unsuitable for businesses with complex inventory needs or those who sell directly through eCommerce platforms.
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Usability Challenges: Some users find AccountEdge less intuitive than other accounting software options, requiring a steeper learning curve to navigate its features effectively.
Limited Features: AccountEdge may not offer the same breadth of features as some competitors, potentially lacking specific functionalities that some businesses require.
Higher Cost: AccountEdge's pricing structure can be more expensive compared to other accounting software solutions, potentially impacting budget-conscious users.
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Wave Accounting users appreciate its simplicity and affordability, making it a popular choice for freelancers and solopreneurs. The free plan covers essential features like invoicing, expense tracking, and basic reporting, catering to those with straightforward accounting needs. Users praise its intuitive interface and mobile app for on-the-go tracking, highlighting its convenience compared to clunky desktop software. However, Wave's limitations become apparent as businesses grow. Users cite frustrating reconciliation issues, limited reporting options, and the lack of advanced features like inventory management or payroll integrations. Compared to competitors like Quickbooks or Xero, Wave feels less capable of handling complex accounting workflows. While its automatic bank imports save time, the absence of phone support can be a dealbreaker for some users who need immediate help troubleshooting issues. Ultimately, Wave shines for its ease of use and zero-cost entry point, but its lack of scalability and robust features might necessitate switching to more powerful alternatives as businesses evolve. Choosing Wave comes down to prioritizing convenience and affordability over comprehensive functionality and expert support.

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Want to know if AccountEdge will give you an edge in accounting? AccountEdge is a popular accounting software for small businesses, especially those familiar with desktop-based applications. Users praise its comprehensive features, including general ledger, accounts payable/receivable, invoicing, and inventory management, all without requiring a subscription like QuickBooks Online. Many find it easier to use than QuickBooks, citing its intuitive interface and logical workflow. However, some users point out its limitations for businesses with complex needs, such as limited integrations with other software and a lack of advanced reporting features. AccountEdge shines for small businesses seeking a robust, desktop-based accounting solution with a one-time purchase cost. Its ease of use and comprehensive features make it ideal for managing day-to-day finances, especially for those who prefer a traditional accounting software experience. However, businesses requiring advanced features or extensive integrations might find AccountEdge limiting and should consider cloud-based alternatives.

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