QuickBooks Desktop vs Wave: Is Free Accounting Good Enough?

▶ At a Glance

▶ Where Wave Makes Sense

▶ Where QuickBooks Desktop Makes Sense

▶ The Hidden Cost of "Free"

▶ Signs You've Outgrown Wave

▶ Moving From Wave to QuickBooks Desktop

▶ Three Real-World Scenarios

▶ Questions to Ask Before You Decide

▶ FAQs

At a Glance

Where Wave Makes Sense

• You're a freelancer, sole proprietor or side business
• Your bookkeeping is mostly invoices and expenses
• You don't hold inventory
• You want to keep costs at zero while you get started

For those businesses, Wave's free plan is genuinely useful.

Where QuickBooks Desktop Makes Sense

• You sell physical products and need to track inventory
• You have employees or subcontractors and need to cost jobs
• You need purchase orders, sales orders or assemblies
• You need detailed reports for your accountant, lender or partners
• You want industry features for contracting, manufacturing, retail or nonprofits
• You'd rather own your software than depend on a free plan that can change

The Hidden Cost of "Free"

Free plans are funded by paid add-ons like payments processing and payroll, and the free features can change over time. That's not a criticism; it's how free software works. Just factor it in. When the free plan is missing something you need every week, the time spent working around it costs more than a license.

Signs You've Outgrown Wave

• Your accountant spends hours cleaning up at year-end
• You're tracking inventory in a separate spreadsheet
• You need to know profit by job, project or location
• More than one person needs proper access
• You need purchase orders to manage suppliers

Moving From Wave to QuickBooks Desktop

Export your customers, vendors, products and chart of accounts from Wave as CSV files, import them into QuickBooks Desktop, and enter opening balances as of a clean cut-off date. Keep your Wave reports for history. Our installation guide gets QuickBooks set up in under an hour.

Three Real-World Scenarios

A weekend photographer

A handful of invoices a month and a few expenses. Wave's free plan is more than enough, and paying for QuickBooks wouldn't make sense yet.

A growing food truck business

Two trucks, part-time staff, supplier bills and stock to track. Wave starts to creak here. QuickBooks Desktop Pro handles purchase orders, inventory and payroll records, and gives your accountant proper reports.

A small contractor bidding bigger jobs

Estimates, progress invoices and job profit reports aren't really possible in Wave. QuickBooks Desktop Premier Contractor is built for exactly this. Our contractor guide walks through it.

Questions to Ask Before You Decide

• Is our bookkeeping just invoices and expenses, or more than that?
• Do we hold inventory or plan to?
• Will more than one person need to work in the books?
• How much time does our accountant spend cleaning things up each year?

Frequently Asked Questions