If your Wave account started asking you to upgrade, or your transactions quietly stopped appearing on their own, you are not imagining it. Wave moved three of its most-used features out of the free plan on June 1, 2026. Here is exactly what moved, what the paid plan costs, and — honestly — when you should just stay put.
The short version. Wave Starter is still free and still real double-entry bookkeeping with unlimited invoices. But automatic bank feeds, adding a second person, and receipt scanning are now part of Wave Pro at $19/month or $190/year — and Pro is billed per business profile, not per account.
What actually changed
Wave notified existing free users at the end of April 2026 and made the change on June 1. Three capabilities that had been part of the free product moved onto the paid Pro plan:
| Feature | Before June 1, 2026 | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic bank feeds | Free | Wave Pro only — on Starter you export from your bank and import or type it in |
| Collaborator access (a second user) | Free | Wave Pro only — adding a bookkeeper or partner needs a subscription |
| Receipt scanning | Free | Wave Pro only |
| Unlimited invoicing | Free | Still free |
| Double-entry bookkeeping and core reports | Free | Still free |
| Multiple business profiles | Free, up to 15 | Still free on Starter — but Pro is bought per business |
Of the three, the bank feed is the one people notice. It is the difference between bookkeeping that mostly does itself and an evening a month with a CSV file.
Why Wave did it — the boring, honest reason
It is worth understanding, because it tells you whether the change is likely to be reversed. It isn't.
Wave has never made its money from the accounting software. It earns from payment processing (2.9% + $0.60 a transaction, 3.4% + $0.60 on Amex), from payroll ($40 a month plus $6 per person paid, with automatic tax filing in all 50 states), and from Wave Advisors, its own bookkeeping service starting at $149 a month. Wave has been part of H&R Block since 2019, and tax preparation sits at the end of that funnel.
Bank feeds, though, cost Wave money on a per-connection basis — they run through a third-party banking data provider. A free user who never takes a card payment and never runs payroll is a customer Wave pays to serve. Sooner or later, a free tier funded by attached services has to put a price on the expensive part. That is what June 1 was.
The practical consequence: this is a structural decision, not a promotion that will lapse. If a free bank feed is what you were counting on, plan around it rather than waiting for it to come back.
What Wave Pro costs — and the detail that catches people out
Wave Pro is $19 a month, or $190 if you pay for the year. There is usually an introductory rate for the first three months.
The part worth reading twice: a Pro subscription covers one business profile. Wave will hold up to fifteen businesses in a single account, and that is still free on Starter. But Pro is bought per business. Two sets of books with bank feeds means two subscriptions. Three means three.
That is the same shape as QuickBooks Online, where every company file is its own subscription — and it is where the arithmetic starts to move:
| Sets of books | Wave Pro (annual billing) | BizBooks Pro |
|---|---|---|
| One | $190/yr | $299/yr — Basic |
| Two | $380/yr | $299/yr — Basic includes two companies |
| Five | $950/yr | $540/yr — Professional includes five |
Pay monthly rather than annually and Wave's column goes to $228, $456 and $1,140.
When you should stay on Wave
We sell competing software, so treat this next part with the scepticism it deserves — and then check it, because it is true.
Stay on Wave Starter if…
- You run one business, on your own, with no second person on the books.
- Your transaction volume is low enough that importing a bank statement once a month is a ten-minute job rather than an evening.
- You want payroll in the same app — Wave has it and we do not offer payroll at all.
- You take card payments through Wave already and like having invoicing and payments in one place.
Free is free, and $0 is a price no paid product beats. If that is your situation, stay where you are.
When it is worth looking around
The calculation changes once you are paying anyway. If you are about to hand Wave $190 or $380 a year, the useful question stops being "free versus paid" and becomes "what does this money buy?"
- More than one company. Per-business billing adds up quickly. Our Basic licence covers two companies for $299 and Professional covers five for $540 — the price does not change when the fifth one opens.
- Accounting beyond bookkeeping. Inventory, billable time, multi-currency, fixed-asset depreciation, revenue recognition, a GAAP/IFRS presentation switch, and reporting dimensions you define yourself. Wave is a good invoicing and bookkeeping tool and stops there deliberately.
- Where your books live. BizBooks Pro installs on your own computer and keeps your data in a PostgreSQL database you control. It works with the internet off, and nothing about your plan can be reorganised mid-year.
- A price you can plan around. Our rate is locked for twelve years. That is the specific thing a free plan cannot promise you, as June 1 demonstrated.
If you are moving, take your data first
Whatever you decide, export your Wave data while your account is in good standing — the chart of accounts, customers, vendors and transaction history, as CSV. That is worth doing even if you stay, as a backup you control. BizBooks Pro imports CSV and Excel directly and auto-maps the columns, and there is no limit on how far back your history goes.
Try it before you renew anything
Thirty days, every feature, no credit card. Two companies, bank feeds included on every plan, and your books on your own machine. If it does not suit you, you have lost an afternoon.
Start your free trialNot sure which side of the line you are on? Read the full Wave comparison or tell us what you are running.
Questions people are asking about this
Is Wave accounting still free in 2026?
Yes. Wave Starter is still free, with unlimited invoicing and genuine double-entry bookkeeping at no charge. What changed is what sits inside it: on June 1, 2026, automatic bank feeds, collaborator access for a second user, and receipt scanning moved onto the paid Pro plan. Wave emailed existing free users about it on April 30, 2026.
How much does Wave Pro cost?
$19 a month, or $190 a year paid annually, usually with a promotional rate for the first three months. The subscription covers one business profile — Wave allows up to 15 profiles in one account free on Starter, but Pro is bought separately for each business.
Can I keep using Wave for free?
Yes. Nothing forces you off Starter. You lose the automatic bank feed, so you download transactions from your bank and import or enter them yourself, you cannot add a second user, and receipt scanning is unavailable. For a sole trader with modest volume that is a perfectly workable arrangement.
Why did Wave start charging for bank feeds?
Wave earns from payment processing, payroll and its Wave Advisors bookkeeping service rather than from the software. Bank connections are supplied by a third-party data provider that charges per connection, so free users who never attach a paid service cost Wave money to serve. That is why the change is unlikely to be reversed.
What is the best alternative to Wave if I am now paying anyway?
It depends on what you were paying for. If you need payroll bundled in, Wave Pro is genuinely competitive. If you keep books for more than one business, or you want inventory, multi-currency, depreciation or your data on your own hardware, a desktop licence covering multiple companies at one flat annual price is usually cheaper and does more. Compare on total cost over five years rather than on the monthly figure.