A Wave Alternative for Businesses That Are Growing

People look for a Wave alternative for different reasons. Some want features Wave does not offer, such as inventory tracking or a client portal. Others have added a partner or bookkeeper and need more than one login. This guide compares Wave accounting pricing and features with PilotLedger, and is direct about where Wave is the better deal.

Both products are cloud accounting software built on double-entry accounting, so every transaction lands in a proper ledger. The differences are in pricing model, team size and what sits around the ledger.

Wave accounting pricing vs PilotLedger

Regular list prices as of October 2026, billed monthly:

Wave's Starter plan is free to use, and Wave earns money from per-transaction fees when customers pay invoices online. Wave Pro adds automatic bank import, receipt capture and payment reminders. As of October 2026, Pro is around $19/month.

For a solo business owner who needs basic books and sends more than 10 invoices a month, Wave Starter is cheaper: it is free with unlimited invoices, while PilotLedger needs Starter at $14.99/month. Against Wave Pro ($19/month), PilotLedger Starter costs less but has no automatic bank import. The comparison changes once you need more users or features Wave does not have. See our pricing page for annual prices.

What Wave does well

Wave earns its popularity, and it is fair to start there:

• A genuinely free plan. You can invoice, track income and expenses, and run reports without a subscription.
• Low cost for automation. Wave Pro gives you automatic bank import and receipt capture for less than most paid tools.
• Online payments. Customers can pay Wave invoices online, with a fee per transaction.
• Simplicity. Wave is designed for very small businesses, so the interface stays focused.

If you are a sole proprietor with a handful of clients and no inventory, Wave may be all you need.

Where PilotLedger goes further

PilotLedger is aimed at businesses that have started to outgrow the basics:

• More users. Growth includes 5 users and Business 15 users, so a partner, an employee and your accountant can all log in. Free and Starter have one user, like Wave Starter.
• Inventory. PilotLedger tracks stock at average cost. Bills add stock, invoices remove it and cost of goods sold posts automatically. Wave does not offer inventory tracking. See inventory.
• Customer portal. On the Starter, Growth and Business plans, customers sign in to a branded portal to view invoices and quotes, download PDFs and accept quotes. Wave has no customer portal.
• Full multi-currency accounting. Wave lets you invoice in other currencies. PilotLedger, from the Growth plan ($34.99/month), also handles foreign-currency bills, payments and bank accounts, with automatic daily exchange rates and realized and unrealized gains and losses. See multi-currency.
• Accounting controls. An audit log, roles and permissions, and 11 reports including a trial balance and Cash Flow Statement on every plan, plus period lock dates and a close checklist on Business.
• Quotes that convert. On the Starter, Growth and Business plans customers accept quotes in the portal, and you convert them to invoices in one step on any plan.

Multi-currency: invoicing vs full accounting

Wave lets you send invoices in other currencies, which covers many freelancers with one overseas client. Full multi-currency accounting goes further, and it matters once foreign currency shows up on both sides of your books.

On PilotLedger's Growth and Business plans (Growth is $34.99/month), you can set a currency per customer, record bills from foreign vendors, and keep bank accounts in other currencies. Exchange rates update daily. When a customer pays a EUR invoice and the rate has moved since you sent it, PilotLedger posts the difference as a realized exchange gain or loss. At period end, it can revalue open foreign balances so your balance sheet reflects current rates.

For example, you invoice a German client EUR 2,000 when the rate is 1.08, so the invoice is recorded at $2,160. The client pays a month later when the rate is 1.10, and $2,200 lands in your account. PilotLedger records $40 as a realized exchange gain, and your receivable clears to zero. Doing that by hand each time is where spreadsheets and errors creep in.

If you only ever invoice in a foreign currency and get paid into a USD account, Wave's approach may be enough. If you pay foreign vendors or hold a foreign-currency bank account, full multi-currency is worth having.

Where Wave is stronger

To be clear about the trade-offs:

• Price for one person. Wave Starter costs nothing beyond transaction fees, with unlimited invoices. PilotLedger's free plan is capped at 10 invoices a month and doesn't include bank reconciliation.
• Bank import. Wave Pro imports bank transactions automatically. PilotLedger does not have bank feeds; you reconcile against your statement.
• Receipt capture and online payments. Wave offers both. PilotLedger has neither.
• Payroll. Wave offers payroll as a paid add-on in some regions. PilotLedger has no payroll.

If automatic bank import and card payments are what you value most, Wave Pro is excellent value.

Comparing costs for real businesses

Headline prices only tell part of the story. Here is what each option costs at list price as of October 2026 for a few common setups, along with what you would be giving up.

The pattern is consistent. For one person with simple needs, Wave Starter is free with unlimited invoices, so it is the cheapest option once you pass 10 invoices a month. A solo owner who reconciles the bank pays less on PilotLedger Starter than on Wave Pro, but gives up automatic bank import. Once the business adds people, stock or foreign-currency costs, PilotLedger does work Wave does not, at a modest monthly price.

Inventory: the most common reason to leave Wave

If you sell physical products, inventory is often what pushes you to look for a Wave accounting alternative. Without inventory tracking, you typically expense stock when you buy it. That makes your profit swing from month to month: a big stock purchase in March makes March look like a loss, and April looks unusually profitable.

With perpetual inventory, the purchase sits on the balance sheet as an asset until you sell it. Say you buy 100 candles at $6 each. In PilotLedger, the $600 bill increases inventory. When you invoice 30 candles at $18, revenue of $540 posts to sales and $180 moves from inventory to cost of goods sold. Your profit and loss shows a gross profit of $360, and the balance sheet still shows $420 of candles on hand. Your monthly profit reflects what you actually sold, which makes pricing and tax planning far easier.

Who should choose PilotLedger as a Wave alternative

PilotLedger fits when you:

• Need two or more people in the books.
• Sell physical products and want inventory and cost of goods sold handled correctly.
• Want clients to view invoices and accept quotes in a portal.
• Work with foreign-currency vendors or bank accounts, not just foreign-currency invoices.
• Want period locking and an audit log before handing books to an accountant.

Stay with Wave if you are a solo business without inventory that values free software, automatic bank import on Pro and online card payments.

Moving from Wave to PilotLedger

Switching takes an afternoon for most small businesses. Do it at a month end you have already reconciled in Wave.

1. Export your lists. Export customers, vendors and products from Wave. Import items into PilotLedger by CSV and add customers and vendors.
2. Match your chart of accounts. Compare Wave's accounts with PilotLedger's default chart of accounts and add any you need.
3. Enter opening balances. Run a trial balance in Wave for your cut-over date and enter each balance in PilotLedger as an opening balance. If you hold stock, enter quantities and costs for tracked items.
4. Add open items. Enter each unpaid invoice and unpaid bill so receivables and payables age correctly.
5. Confirm it balances. Compare PilotLedger's trial balance with Wave's. They should match exactly.
6. Set a lock date. On Business, lock the period before your cut-over so opening balances stay fixed.

Download any Wave reports you need for your records before you stop using it. Our small business bookkeeping guide covers a simple monthly routine for after the switch.