Comparison
ProfitBooks vs Wave
Wave costs $0 or $19 a month ($0 or $190 a year). ProfitBooks is $20 a month, billed annually, plus pay-as-you-go credits, and the AI does the categorizing. Here is an honest comparison.
At a glance
Wave in one paragraph
Free Starter plan (manual entry, no bank import) and Pro at $19 a month or $190 a year with bank connections and auto-categorization.
Best for: Freelancers who send invoices and are happy to categorize by hand for free.
Where Wave is better
- Genuinely free invoicing and manual bookkeeping
- Payments and payroll add-ons
- Simple, well-designed interface
Where ProfitBooks is better
- The AI does the categorizing; Wave Pro auto-categorizes with rules you still have to confirm, and the free plan is fully manual
- Receipt capture and matching included; Wave charges for it
- Works from PDF statements and photos, no bank login and no feed to break
- Coverage map shows exactly which months are in your books
Side by side
Feature and price comparison
| ProfitBooks | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $240 (Profit) or $1,188 (Full Books) + credits | $0 (manual) or $19/mo |
| Bank transaction import | From statements, CSV | Pro only |
| AI categorization | Pro only, rules-based | |
| Receipt capture | Pro only | |
| Invoicing | Upload and match | Built in, free |
| Users | Unlimited | 1 + accountant |
Other comparisons
FAQ
Questions, answered
Should I use Wave free plan instead?
If you mostly need to send invoices and you enjoy categorizing transactions by hand, Wave's free plan is a fine choice and costs nothing. ProfitBooks is $240 a year against Wave Pro's $190, and the difference buys the part that takes the time: the AI categorizes and matches receipts from your statements, and Full Books reconciles every account.
Try the $20-a-month alternative to Wave.
Create a free account, drop in a bank statement, and watch every transaction get categorized. 100 free credits to start, 10 more every day. No card required.
Takes about 90 seconds. No sales call, no onboarding fee, no contract.