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Smartbills vs Wave

Free is a strong argument and it holds for a long time. It stops being the strongest one when receipts go missing and tax cannot be substantiated.

At a glance

Smartbills vs Wave, in one screen

Wave offers free accounting and invoicing for small businesses and earns its money on payments and payroll. Receipt scanning is a paid add-on, and Wave is the default when the software budget is nothing.

Smartbills

Best for

Businesses that have grown into card spend, staff purchases and tax detail that has to hold up.

Where it's stronger

  • Receipts arrive itemized instead of being photographed and classified later.
  • Policy, approvals and cards for a business that has started hiring.
  • Tax categories captured at the moment of purchase, not reconstructed in March.
  • Payables and receivables are handled before anything posts.

Wave

Best for

Very small businesses that need a competent ledger and client invoicing at no cost at all.

Where it's stronger

  • It is free, which settles the question for a business turning over very little.
  • A complete, competent ledger with client invoicing included at no cost.
  • Payments and payroll are there when the business is ready for them.
  • If missing receipts are not costing you anything yet, stay on Wave.

Every comparison on this site names what the other product does better. If we couldn't think of anything, we didn't publish the page.

Side by side

Smartbills and Wave, feature by feature

These are structural differences, not plan checkboxes. Capabilities change, so check the vendor's own documentation before deciding on any single row.

What the software costs

SmartbillsSubscription
WaveFree core accounting

Ledger and client invoicing

SmartbillsWe post into yours
Wave

How a receipt gets in

SmartbillsMerchant-issued and swept from email
WavePaid add-on, photograph based

Line detail without reading an image

Smartbills
Wave—

Spending rules and approvals

Smartbills
Wave—

Corporate cards

Smartbills
Wave—

Handling supplier bills

Smartbills
WaveBills, manually

Moving from Wave

None of this needs a big-bang cutover. Most teams run both tools for one cycle and compare capture rates before switching anyone off.

  1. Work out what the gap costs

    Estimate the tax you can't back up today before you pay for anything.

  2. Connect the mailbox first

    Email receipt capture is the cheapest improvement, and it needs nothing else in place.

  3. Add card feeds next

    In-person spending only shows up once the cards it's paid with are connected.

  4. Confirm the ledger sync

    Check Wave sync coverage with us before assuming the two will post to each other.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What people ask us before they sign up.

You should not, until unrecoverable tax and the hours spent chasing documents cost more than the subscription. That is a number you can estimate in an afternoon.

Check the specific integration with us, because our sync targets the major ledgers first and Wave coverage is not something to assume.

Somebody other than the owner starts spending, and free tools have no policy, approval or card layer to hold that spend to a budget.

Keep comparing

More comparisons

The products people evaluate alongside Wave.

All Wave alternativesBest accounts payable software

The products that do the work.

Each product works on its own, and when you run two, the same record carries from the receipt to the ledger entry.

Get started

Ready to see it against Wave?

Bring one month of your own receipts and card transactions, and we'll show you the capture rate on both sides instead of a slide deck.

Book a demo