Wave still has a free plan — but the parts most businesses actually use moved to a paid one on June 1, 2026. Here is the arithmetic, without the spin.
Try BizBooks Pro FreeFor years, Wave's pitch was simple: real double-entry bookkeeping, unlimited invoices, no charge. That is still true of the Starter plan, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. But on June 1, 2026, Wave moved three things out of the free plan and behind Wave Pro, having emailed legacy free users about it on April 30:
Wave Pro costs $19/month, or $190/year paid annually. The detail that catches people out is that the subscription covers one business profile. Wave lets you keep up to 15 businesses in one account for free on Starter — but if you want Pro features on three of them, you subscribe three times.
None of that makes Wave a bad product. It makes it a priced product, and once you are comparing prices the question is a different one.
One business, one owner, one login: Wave Pro is cheaper than us, and that is the honest answer. The moment you have a second set of books, the per-profile billing does the work for us.
| How many businesses | Wave Pro | BizBooks Pro |
|---|---|---|
| One | $190/yr annually ($228 monthly) | $299/yr — Basic |
| Two | $380/yr annually ($456 monthly) | $299/yr — Basic includes two |
| Three to five | $570–$950/yr annually | $540/yr — Professional includes five |
These are not hidden — Wave publishes all of them. They just are not what people picture when they hear the word "free":
| Feature | BizBooks Pro | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP & IFRS Double-Entry | ✓ Both Standards | ⚠ Basic |
| Basic Accounting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Expense Tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Financial Reports | ✓ | ✓ |
| Desktop App (Local Data) | ✓ | ✗ (Cloud only) |
| Where your books live | ✓ Your own machine | ⚠ Wave's servers |
| Second person on the books | ⚠ 1 seat included, $120/yr each after Your accountant connects free and doesn't use a seat |
⚠ Pro plan only since June 1, 2026 |
| Multi-Currency | ✓ (15+ currencies) | ⚠ (Limited) |
| Multiple businesses | ✓ 2 on Basic, 5 on Professional, one price | ⚠ Free on Starter; Pro is billed per business |
| Time Tracking | ✓ (Pro+) | ✗ |
| Inventory Management | ✓ (every plan) | ✗ |
| Bank Reconciliation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Automatic Bank Feeds | ✓ Dual networks, every plan | ⚠ Pro plan only since June 1, 2026 |
| Payroll | ✗ Not offered | ✓ $40/mo + $6/employee, 50-state filing |
| Mobile apps | ✗ Desktop, plus remote access | ✓ |
| Price you can plan around | ✓ 12-year price lock | ✗ Free-plan features repriced in 2026 |
| Self-Learning AI Assistant | ✓ Community-powered | ✗ Support chatbot only |
We would rather say this plainly than have you find it out later. If you run one business, work alone, and you are content to import your bank statements by hand, Wave Starter at $0 beats us and always will. It is proper double-entry bookkeeping with unlimited invoices for nothing, and there is no version of our pricing that competes with nothing. If that is you, stay where you are — and if you outgrow it, we will be here.
Two businesses on Wave Pro is $380/year and climbing with each one you add. Two companies on BizBooks Pro Basic is $299/year, and five on Professional is $540 — the price does not change when the fifth one opens.
If you were on Wave's free plan before June 1, 2026, the automatic bank feed you relied on is now $190/year. If you are paying anyway, it is worth knowing what else that money could buy.
Inventory, time tracking, multi-currency, fixed-asset depreciation, revenue recognition, a GAAP/IFRS switch and user-defined tracking dimensions. Wave is a well-made invoicing and bookkeeping tool; it does not go here.
BizBooks Pro installs on your computer and keeps your data in a PostgreSQL database you control. It works with the internet off, and it cannot be repriced or reorganised out from under you mid-year.
Wave's free plan is a genuinely good deal for a one-person business that does its own data entry. What changed in 2026 is that most of the reasons people chose it — the bank feed, a second user, receipt capture — now sit behind a $190/year subscription that is charged for each business you run.
At that point you are not choosing between free and paid. You are choosing what to get for your money: a cloud plan billed per business, or a desktop licence that covers two companies for $299, keeps your books on your own hardware, and holds its price for twelve years.
Free 30-day trial. No credit card. Two companies, bank feeds, and your data on your own machine.