Wave: Small Business Software Reviews

by Palouse Custom Cleaning

We starting using the invoicing part of Wave, and loved it! We decided it would be a good idea to start utilizing the payment option. It took them several weeks to get through the verification process and our bank added, all while they were still accepting and holding our payments from our clients. We finally got that issue resolved, and our clients were raving about being able to utilize this feature. We own a cleaning business, we cleaned two homes for a home owner who lives internationally, it was a big job with a large payment. We received the notification that we’d been paid and then immediately got an email saying our business is considered a risk. We now have $1100 that they are holding with no explanation as to why. We were given two options, one being that they hold the payment for 120 days (which is apparently standard) or have the payment sent back to the sender. The first representative said 3-5 business days and then the second rep said 10 days. We’ve asked several times for formal documentation with no response. If you’re a small business like we are and depend on all payments, do not use Wave.

by Idv84u

This service is not trust worthy. When things work Wave is fine, however if you have any problem don’t expect resolution - expect to be disregarded. I coordinate work for myself and several (7) independent contractors. We all need to be able to send invoices and get paid by credit card. After a successful trial run I suggested Wave to my entire team. One of us had a problem with a $3,000 invoice; this app did not contact him and refunded the money back to his customers credit card. Since he was in a pickle that was the result of my suggestion, I offered to help him sort it out. Unfortunately there was no sorting it out. It is not possible to speak to a human when you need to. You must email or text chat, which would be okay except that through both communication channels we were dismissed. this app was completely unhelpful. The problem was never explained, much less solved. Difficult to express the situation this created without cussing like a sailor, but just imagine a $3,000 problem with no attempt at resolution. My entire team has switched to the service named after a geometric shape. this app lost 8 accounts because they treated my worker as insignificant. Don’t get screwed over - don’t use this app !!!!

by Ben_blanco

I run a small private chef business in Philadelphia. I use Wave to make invoices and accept payments. I verified all my info and received a email saying I was all set to receive payments, it even showed the date that my payments would reach my bank account. Out of no where my account was no longer allowed to receive payments and my payout was canceled! Reaching customer service is extremely difficult, there is no phone number and you have to talk to a bot and wait days for a reply from this app and when they do reply it’s a automated generated reply! I now have thousands of dollars in limbo with this app that they are threatening to refund to customers. My service was already provided so if a refund is given to customers I will lose out big time. If my money has to sit for 120 days I will also be at a lose and no clear answer is being given as to why! This is by far the worst experience of my life and Wave is supposed to make running a small business easier but it makes it extremely difficult and pushes your business into the red without giving it a second thought!

by Hrsflorida.com

My client made an ACH payment on 7/6 at 9:30am for almost $6000 and I have yet to receive my money or an explanation as to why a domestic ACH payment from City bank to Wells Fargo would take longer than 1 full business day. On their site it does say ACH payments can take up to 7 business days and for international transactions that might be true. But there is absolutely no reason a domestic ACH payment should take that long even when taking into account the fact that this app must first take the full amount from my clients bank, take their fee and send me the remainder. ACH payments clear at least 3 times per day and domestic transactions are now standard same day. The only reason I can think of is that this app is using the funds to gain interest payments or use as capital for an unrelated venture. I have tried to contact their customer service multiple times but was unable to talk to anyone with any useful knowledge. If I do not receive my funds by July, 12 end of business day I am going to the BBB and any other organization or forum that I can to alert of what is happening.

by @timewladyfrostn

Well I got super excited to use this product as it seemed like it would really function well, but I went through the process to set up the ability to process credit card payments, verified my information, and got a message saying “We need to talk.” I call the number provided and the rep tells me I present too much of a risk so the company won’t allow me to process credit card payments. I’ve formed my LLC legally, business bank account legally, linked my business bank account to this app (which was of course able to be linked to their system with no problem); I am on the brink of having an 800 credit score, and now I can’t process credit card payments with this app. No explanation of such a decision. First time I’ve been rejected for anything dealing with business, banking, etc. Well so much for that!

I can say the rep was straight to the point. I’ve had to deliver hard news before and that’s the way I wish more people were. I know he’s just the messenger so I can’t be mad at him, I’m just shocked at how poorly the company responded.

by CJMI8

Loved the invoice sending / payments etc.

***BUT***

-They charge YOU instead of your clients for credit card payments- which adds up to a LOT of money out of your pocket (thousands for me)- takes away from the “convenient” credit card pay experience.

-their app has no “undo” feature so if you accidentally do something wrong, expect to spend a lot of time fixing your error. (I clicked something and all of the invoices I had marked as “paid” became unmarked and I had to go through 200+ invoices and try to see which were still unpaid)

-unless you pay vendors/workers through their payroll, your payments won’t be tracked for 1099. Even if you attach an expense to a vendor/contractor and input their W9 info. Why even have that as an option if it’s not going to produce a 1099 at year’s end? I thought this app would have been good for book keeping & filing 1099s all in one place but not in this case.

-duplicates- again - have fun going through each transaction manually to weed out duplicate uploads! My “income” was above what it should have been and I spent a lot of time trying to fix it.

Buggy. Missing data from imported transactions which = inaccurate books. Different person responds to emails each time even on same thread.

Disappointing- Wave looks great and I liked it a lot to begin with. Sure it’s “free”. (Not really since they charge you for receiving payments) But time is money! And this was definitely a waste of time.

by KaleifromHawaii

PROS: This invoicing app is so convenient to have on my iPhone. I am able to input data, generate invoices, and email invoices to my customers within Wave . I was using the full version this app app online, but my computer started acting up. It helped a great deal that I input a lot of customer and repeating job info onto the online version. From my iPhone, I am able to select this info from menus or type in new info. I’ve been using the free version of Wave for years. CONS: What I don’t like about it is that it will completely lose ALL the data I just entered into an invoice. I’ll leave the invoice to find some data, then when I log back in to Wave ... POOF!... the invoice is gone. I look for the invoice, it cannot be found in drafts, WTH! This is very frustrating! I’m looking for another app that is more reliable.

by S. Sanoski

There’s little quirky things I don’t dig, but it’s enough for 3 stars. I was going to just send an email to support, but couldn’t find it, which ties into my first issue: Wave does not really flow and feels like it’s lacking something. The 2nd issue, when trying to save/send an invoice, it kept saying “can’t be saved, invalid format” but wouldn’t tell me the issue. Apparently my description was too long, but the alert didn’t tell me that and there’s no character count in the typing area. I do construction, so there’s times I have long descriptions, having a character count or allowing them to be as long as I need, either would be helpful, but the ladder would be best. My third issue, when I click preview I have yet to be able to find a PDF preview. I like to review my work before I submit, and most of the companies I work for would be using the pdf attached in the email, which it would be nice for there to be an option in settings for that to just be turned on all the time so I don’t have to remember. Oh, one last thing, you also can’t add files to send with an invoice (receipt, work order, timesheet, etc)

by Nkytle

A couple things... I love the look of the estimates and invoices that can be created on this app apps. However, I am on the go very often with my Handyman business. Therefore I love when I can complete work, and create professional looking documents on the go via Wave . The only problem... I can’t create estimates within Wave , only invoices. I write more estimates than invoices, but I have to do every estimate from my computer which I don’t use as much this has led me to use another software. Lastly the card cost is a little too expensive, especially since there is no option to just use a card reader within Wave . Fees are too much for my taste. I am a one man show, every dollar counts. The first and only couple times I ran cards I cringed by the amount of the fees I was charged. I think Wave is beautiful, as well as the ease. I also love how easy it is to find recent clients and services. But those couple things have forced me out.

by Nortonfam

I have been using the website version of Wave for years and am very happy with it. There’s a few glitches like applying an overpayment to an invoice won’t carry over to another invoice so you have to finagle the payments also when you make a note when applying a payment (like to record a check number) you can’t see the note again anywhere that I can find. But the credit card processing works great and only takes a couple days to show up in my bank account. The processing fee is a little high tho. Also sometimes the invoice flies straight into a customers spam account especially with yahoo email addresses. You have to select “send with Gmail” instead of “send with this app” to work around that. Overall 4 stars because it is simple and easy and free.

by Marc XL Films

Great for simple invoicing, it is the best invoicing app I have found so far. However, I do have a few complaints. I wish Wave was better compatible for the new iPads. the user interface also takes some time to navigate and get used to. My first few invoices were horribly miss-formatted and I ended up sending a bad invoice to a client. After some trail and error on my end I figured out how to use Wave correctly. I also would like to see an update where I can attached other documents with the invoice, such as W9s and start paperwork. I currently have to send multiple emails to a client in addition to the invoice generated on this app. But over all it is a very useful app, It is the only invoice app I use and I haven’t had any real problems yet. It’s a good way for me to track my earnings through out the year.

by Lionheart Music

I’m an AV contractor. From getting paid to paying venders, Wave helps me keep track of all my financials. I like how I can send invoices directly from Wave or export using Gmail. The reason I’m giving it 4 stars is because Wave is becoming very glitchy.

I’m running Wave on my iPhone but I’m left with always going to their web version because Wave itself delays when clicking on it as well as “payment due date” comes up blank when I try to set a custom date. Those little things get frustrating when you need to make quick changes to an invoice before sending it out.

Other than that, this is a great app! I’m always recommending it to my co-workers. The auto payment reminder emails has been a game changer for me getting paid on time. Great feature!

by SuperGplus

I use and recommend this app as a great invoicing and payments solution. I don’t use the bookkeeping but that looks great too.

My nitpick is with the iPhone app and client look up. I will search for a client (probably have a few hundred), and they won’t show up, unless I click “load more.” Yet the same client will appear under “my contacts”, which is confusing as if I do that it will duplicate the client. I’d like all of the contacts to be searched and not have to tap load more.

Also the performance on Wave stutters sometimes. Seems like it should be a fluid experience on an iPhone X but it’s not.

by __TBurch___

For a free app to have this much detail involved and so many features this is amazing. My invoices are very professional and I use them for my business extensively. Keeping customer info is very helpful if they want recurring jobs and being able to keep details of those particular jobs is a definite bonus. Haven't really dabbled into trying out the credit/debit card button or ACH draft button yet. But I will definitely experiment with them in the future. Being able to send copies to yourself and seeing when others view their invoice is very useful for accountability. I would recommend Wave to anybody that has a business for sure!!!!

by AfScott19

After a horrible customer experience with Square I decided to try this app. They have better invoicing options and much better support and service. I have now been using them for around 6 months and it has been a great experience. Their templates are well designed and professional.

Regarding Square - a disgruntled business partner started disputing any charges associated with the business (including mine for a website) and Square shut my account down and held my funds for 90 days. All of the disputed charges were returned when the bank ruled in my favor (had signed contracts and communication). It didn’t matter to Square, still held my funds (even after being returned by the bank) and insisted they would not reopen my account. Their reason? Because it states in the contract they can shut it down for any reason. All they would say over and over is we have that right. There are countless stories out there saying the same thing, so I would advise anyone considering Square to stay away.

by Josh_MB

I use this app for invoicing. Wave has been incredibly helpful for times when I’ve been away from my desk but needed to refer to an invoice, check on payment status, record a payment, or any other of a number of additional tasks. For me, it isn’t a replacement for the full suite of tools and data available when accessing this app from a computer. But isn’t trying to be — and that’s what makes Wave great. In other words, Wave seems to have been developed as a tool for accessing specific data or completing common tasks when you’re not at a computer. That clarity is evident when you use Wave : it does what it’s supposed to do, and it does it well.

One more thing: I’m a freelancer who does work in two separate fields, and I manage the invoicing separately (a neat feature offered by this app, where you can configure sub-accounts within one this app account). I was very pleasantly surprised to see that Wave supports switching between my two sub-accounts. That kind of functionality — the little stuff that’d be easy for them to overlook — is how you know this is a thoughtfully-developed app from a company that knows what it’s doing.

by Esw2010

This is truly one of the best invoicing app in the market today. Wave has a lot of robust features. This is a must have invoice app if your a small business owner. Wave will present your business in a professional light and your client will love this invoice when they receive it. This invoice can be updated in real time even after the client opens it in the event you make a mistake or have to do a price override or match. This invoice will allow you to setup the customer on recurring invoices if that’s something you need. One of the best features is using their built in merchant service account. You take payments even with out having setup your own merchant processing account.

by Mr Me Three

I work as a freelance audio engineer and video producer with a few different companies and while the interface had a slight learning curve, after using this app for just a few weeks I don’t think I can go back to the traditional word document method of generating invoices. I’ve used their web-based invoice generator and honestly Wave blows it out of the water. Everything is super easy and there have always been times where my computer (and therefore my invoice template) were away from me and sending invoices occasionally slipped my mind resulting in a huge delay in pay delivery due to pay schedules, etc. this app makes it so that I can immediately generate an invoice on location and have it in my client’s inbox before they get home.

by DontCallBetty

What a great app. Simplifies invoicing and payments, gives you just the right number of options exactly as you need them. I expected a silly, quickbooks-style invoice, but what my customers see is very professional and fully customized to my business. It’s so good, In fact, that I cannot help but wonder how in the world they can give this away. Presumably they make a cut of each transaction that occurs on the platform, but I don’t know this to be true. Either way, it’s a win-win because either my customers automatically pay for the service in proportion to their use of the system, or they send me a check and then it’s truly 100% free. This is a smart, professional app that makes it look like I put hours into my invoicing and payment system. Makes me look smart and professional along with it. Exactly what technology SHOULD be doing. Thank you for a great idea and excellent execution.

by Ti_3221

I am self-employed. Since 2013, I have used this app Apps for more than one small business. Wave is everything you ❤️ about QuickBooks and similar software, streamlined, easy to use and efficient. I can invoice my customers and add new clients, from any device. My tax info is wrapped up at the end of the year, easing the headache of filing.

Sending invoices and knowing what is outstanding or paid, is clearly formatted and displayed—access is truly available with just a few taps. this app Apps also sends me billing updates, so I don’t have to rely on checking Wave . Customers can pay for goods or services through the invoice and you get paid, with a deposit to your connected financial institution. You can’t go wrong with this app Apps. I will be a customer for life and l’ll definitely continue telling everyone running a business, to use Wave. this app Apps has made it faster for me to get off the computer and back into my art studio. Thank You!