Wave Payments Review: Convenient Invoicing Comes with a Cost
Invoicing is the main use case for Wave Payments. But expensive rates dull the value of this freemium option.
The bottom line:
Wave made its name with cost-conscious business software. Its payment processing breaks that mold — and not in a good way. Wave Payments is expensive. And even with a paid subscription's lower rates, you may not save much. If you use Wave for accounting, swapping savings for convenience may be worth it. But beware how much that trade-off costs you.
Software details
Monthly fee
$0
Wave subscription required.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Automatically integrates with Wave’s accounting software.
No long-term contracts if you choose monthly billing.
The Starter plan has no monthly subscription fees.
Cons
Starter plan’s processing rates are steep (2.9% plus 60 cents).
AmEx cards have higher rates (up to 3.4% plus 60 cents).
Paid plans have lower rates, but limit them to 10 invoices monthly.
Only available to Wave accounting customers.
No card readers or Tap to Pay for in-person transactions.
Compare to other products
Wave Payments
3.0
NerdWallet rating
NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account the type of software being reviewed (such as accounting, point of sale, invoicing or payroll) and the software’s range of features, cost, integrations, customer support and more.
QuickBooks Payments
4.1
NerdWallet rating
NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account the type of software being reviewed (such as accounting, point of sale, invoicing or payroll) and the software’s range of features, cost, integrations, customer support and more.
5.0
NerdWallet rating
NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account the type of software being reviewed (such as accounting, point of sale, invoicing or payroll) and the software’s range of features, cost, integrations, customer support and more.
5.0
NerdWallet rating
NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formula takes into account the type of software being reviewed (such as accounting, point of sale, invoicing or payroll) and the software’s range of features, cost, integrations, customer support and more.
Payment processing fees
2.9% + $0.60
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.5% + $0.00
Online: 2.99% + $0.00
Payment processing fees
In-person: 2.6% + $0.15
Online: 3.3% + $0.30
Payment processing fees
In-person: 0.4% + $0.08
Online: 0.5% + $0.25
Plus interchange
Need more options? Check our picks for best payment processing systems
QuickBooks Payments: Lower transaction fees for online invoicing. If you’re looking for an accounting solution with built-in payment processing, QuickBooks Online is worth considering. At 2.99% per online transaction, its processing fees are lower than Wave’s. And there’s no additional charge for American Express. QuickBooks also sells a card reader in case you need to accept the occasional in-person payment. Read our full QuickBooks Payments review.
Square: More hardware options. In terms of dedicated payment processing solutions, Square delivers. It has lots of hardware options for in-person payments. You’ll find a handheld device, countertop register, iPad system and multiple card readers. You can also use its free plan to invoice customers. But its rate of 3.3% plus 30 cents means you’ll pay more than with Wave’s free plan for invoices above $75. Read our full Square review.
Helcim: Better for high-volume transactions. Unlike Wave, Helcim uses interchange-plus pricing. Instead of charging the same amount per card, it passes interchange fees (which vary) straight to you. If you own a high-volume business, this pricing model can help you save in processing fees. Read our full Helcim review.
Full review
Wave is an accounting platform with built-in payment processing capabilities. But those capabilities are few. Customers can’t pay you via Wave in person or through an online store, for instance. Instead, its use cases are limited to business owners who use Wave to track their finances and bill via invoice.
There are lots of reasons to use Wave for accounting. First and foremost, it’s affordable. It has a free plan and a $19-per-month plan. It also offers most of the features solopreneurs need: straightforward invoicing tools, basic reporting and transaction tracking.
For example, Crystal Statskey-Biichle is a marketing strategist in Rochester, New York who has been using Wave for seven years. As a solopreneur, she values its recurring invoicing and automated invoice reminders. You can access both features in the free plan as long as you use Wave's online payment processing.
Wave Payments doesn’t stand out for much aside from the fact that it’s built into that software ecosystem. You can use it to add “pay now” buttons to your invoices and accept payment via card, bank transfer or Apple Pay. That’s about it. Plus, its processing rates are higher than many competitors. But if you have a relatively low sales volume, the convenience may outweigh the cost.
If you often accept payments in person, Wave isn’t the right choice — both as a payment processor and as accounting software. The platform is meant mostly for invoice-based solopreneurs. For more robust payment solutions, explore our list of the best payment processing companies.
Wave Payments is best for:
✔️ Wave accounting subscribers.
✔️ Online invoice payments.
✔️ Solopreneurs.
Wave Payments Overview
Payment processing model | Flat rate. |
Payment processing fees |
|
Monthly fee |
|
Hardware cost | No hardware available. |
Contract length | No long-term contract, unless you choose to pay annually. |
Customer support | Live chat and email support 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. ET on weekdays. |
Where Wave Payments stands out
Gives you access to more accounting features
Accepting online invoice payments through Wave gives you access to a handful of tools that would otherwise be behind a paywall. For example, Wave’s free accounting plan typically doesn’t let you automate late payment reminders. Usually, free plan subscribers can’t accept deposits through estimates or access live customer support either.
You’d need to upgrade to the $19-per-month Pro plan to make that happen. Or, you could just use Wave to process online invoice payments.
The “loophole” is likely designed to maximize how much Wave makes in processing fees. Still, it’s better than having to subscribe to a paid plan.
Seamless Wave accounting integration
Wave’s payment processing services integrate smoothly with its accounting software. After a customer pays an invoice, that payment flows right into your books. This makes it easier to track payments and keep tabs on overdue ones. Plus, it reduces manual data entry.
Carolina Sanchez-Hervas, owner of CSH Translation in Miami, has been using Wave Payments for more than nine years. Its accounting integration has been a big time saver for her, especially during tax time.
At the end of the tax year, she downloads reports from Wave and sends them to her accountant. “It kind of makes her job easier and my job easier,” she tells NerdWallet. “It just keeps everything in one place.”
Where Wave Payments falls short
Steep transaction fees
Wave charges 2.9% plus 60 cents for most online card transactions. The 60-cent fee is really high, especially next to competitors.
QuickBooks Online, for example, charges 2.99% per online transaction — there’s no flat fee. Zoho Books, another accounting software provider, charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per online transaction. And neither charges extra for American Express card payments. Wave, on the other hand, charges 3.4% plus 60 cents per AmEx payment.
If you’re sending out just a few invoices per month, the steep flat fee won’t matter all that much. If you’re sending out invoices every day, though, it can add up.
For example, say you process $10,000 in credit card payments monthly. Here’s how much you’d pay in fees with each option above at different invoice amounts:
Invoice Amount | Invoices Sent | Wave Total Fees | QuickBooks Total Fees | Zoho Total Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
$50 | 200 | $410 | $299 | $350 |
$100 | 100 | $350 | $299 | $320 |
$500 | 20 | $302 | $299 | $296 |
$1,000 | 10 | $296 | $299 | $293 |
Wave lags behind the competition in almost every instance — and this doesn’t even account for AmEx upcharges.
I also really dislike how Wave advertises “lower” payment processing rates in the paid Pro plan. The website lists Pro plan rates as 2.9% flat. Initially, I looked at it and thought, that’s a deal. Then I spotted the double asterisks next to it.
The fine print says Pro plan subscribers get that rate for their first 10 transactions per month only. After that, they pay the same rate as free plan subscribers. This feels like a sneaky way to go about disclosing that very important detail. I've reviewed more than 20 payment processors, and this is the only one that imposes this kind of cap for a paid plan's lower rates.
No hardware options for in-person payments
Let’s say you mostly transact via online invoice. But maybe you meet up with clients every once in a while and want to accept payments in person. Wave cannot accommodate this. It doesn’t sell card readers. And its app doesn’t have Tap to Pay capabilities.
If you’re just using Wave to accept online invoice payments, this isn’t an issue. The platform isn’t meant to double as an in-person processing solution. But it’s still worth pointing out.
What small-business owners think of Wave Payments
I checked online forums like Reddit and reviews from sites like Trustpilot, G2, the App Store and Google Play to gauge how users feel about Wave Payments. I used an AI tool to help analyze this feedback. I also followed up with Statskey-Biichle and Sanchez-Hervas, who spoke with my colleague Whitney Vandiver for a previous version of this review. Here are the major trends I spotted.
👍 Ease of use
Online commenters praise Wave’s simplicity — especially compared to competitors. They appreciate how easy it is to get set up and start sending invoices.
One user even said alternatives were too complicated for their business. And this is often the case for small solopreneur operations.
Wave is easier to navigate and get used to than more robust alternatives, like QuickBooks Online, because its features are limited. But for smaller solopreneur operations, that’s sometimes preferable.
For example, Sanchez-Hervas, owner of CSH Translation, especially likes the streamlined invoice flow.
“You can send a client invoice and they’ll pay it right away,” she tells NerdWallet. “And then you get the funds in a couple of days.”
👎 Customer support
Users are not happy with Wave’s customer service. This comes as little surprise considering Wave has no phone support. There are lots of people who prefer to speak to a human on the phone and get their issue resolved before hanging up.
The comments about long response times for live chat and email are more concerning. These are Wave’s only support channels. And by the sounds of it, the company sometimes takes multiple days to respond to pressing issues.
This is certainly inconvenient if, say, you’re having trouble logging in. But what if Wave freezes your funds? According to commenters, it happens (these types of complaints are unfortunately common for payment processors in general). If you can’t reach customer support, it’s going to take that much longer to access your funds. And that can seriously disrupt cash flow.
How we evaluated Wave Payments
NerdWallet’s writers and editors independently review payment processing solutions, like Wave Payments, by analyzing more than 30 data points. I also collected data from Wave’s public-facing website, help articles and company representatives.
I reached out to business owners who previously provided insight to NerdWallet about Wave Payments to see if their experiences had changed. I also looked through individual reviews and feedback on sites like Trustpilot, the App Store, Google Play and Reddit as well. Then I used AI tools to help spot larger trends within those comments.
Since our team cannot verify those users’ individual experience, we don’t incorporate such reviews in our star ratings. For more information on how we score payment processing companies, see our full methodology.