Wave alternatives
The 5 best Wave alternatives in 2026
The short answer: people looking for a Wave alternative usually hit one of three walls. One: on the free plan you cannot send invoices from Wave — per the vendor that requires Pro ($19/month), enabled online payments or payroll. Two: Wave serves only the US and Canada, in English only — permanently, per the vendor. Three: the payment fees (2.9% + $0.60 per card payment, 1% ACH with a $1 minimum). If you are based in Germany or Austria and want to write invoices with AI and get paid without a per-payment fee, Backbone (formerly Billy; from €19/month incl. VAT) is our pick — it is our own product, so for a US-based business we list it last, and below we are transparent about where it wins and where it does not.
To stay fair: invoice creation in Wave is genuinely free and unlimited, and simple accounting is included — nothing to apologize for there. This roundup covers all five serious alternatives, with verified pricing (as of July 2026) and honest weaknesses.
All alternatives at a glance
| Zoho Invoice | Square Invoices | FreshBooks | QuickBooks | Backbone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Free invoicing with sending from the tool | Free invoicing with in-person card payments | Hourly billing with time tracking | Full US accounting with taxes and payroll | AI invoices with no per-payment fee (DE/AT) |
| Document limit | 500 invoices/year, 2 users | Unlimited (free plan too) | Invoices unlimited; Lite: max 5 clients | Free: 2/month; Simple Start: unlimited | Monthly allowance per plan; numbers not published yet |
| Price | $0 (500 invoices/year) | Free; cards 3.3% + 30¢ | Lite $23 / month (5 clients) | Simple Start $38 / month | from €19 / month incl. VAT |
| Invoice from AI prompt | Noonly in paid Zoho Books | No | No | Partiallybeta/connector, 25 prompts/mo | Yesassistant Billy, asks before sending |
| All features via AI assistant | NoZia: insights & text drafts | NoAI answers questions only, no actions | Nomarkets no AI features | Nodrafts; never sends on its own | Yesnearly everything; also from Claude/ChatGPT (MCP) |
| Professional templates | Yesdeepest free customization in the US field | Partially3 layouts | Partially3 designs, only 2 fonts | PartiallyStandard & Modernized | Partially2 templates (Basic, Minimal), logo + accent color |
| Live preview | Nopreview on click | Nopreview on click | YesWYSIWYG — you edit the invoice itself | Nopreview via print/download only | Yesyou write on the page itself |
| Recurring invoices | Yes | Yes | Yes | YesSimple Start included | Yesevery plan |
| Automatic email sending | Yesseries optionally automatic; reminders free | Yesseries sent on schedule | Yesseries optionally automatic; reminders all plans | Partiallyreminders yes; recurring invoices save as drafts | Yesinvoices by email; reminders on schedule from Studio |
| Bookkeeping | Nothat is paid Zoho Books | No | Partiallydouble-entry from Plus | Yescore strength | Nono EÜR/VAT filing; export for your tax advisor |
| E-invoicing | Nono XRechnung/ZUGFeRD | Nono XRechnung/ZUGFeRD | Nono XRechnung/ZUGFeRD | Nono XRechnung/ZUGFeRD | PartiallyZUGFeRD; XRechnung coming soon |
Competitor pricing and feature claims per the vendors, verified on August 2, 2026, prices net. Backbone details per back-bone.io as of October 9, 2026, prices incl. VAT. Subject to change.
Zoho Invoice
The free tool in the Zoho ecosystemZoho Invoice is the most direct free alternative to Wave — and it fixes Wave’s biggest catch: sending, recurring invoices and automatic payment reminders are included for free, plus the deepest free template customization of the five US tools. Unlike Wave, it is not restricted to the US and Canada.
It has its own limits, though: per Zoho you bill only in your base currency, caps of 500 invoices a year and 2 users apply (Zoho says its limits are updated yearly), and creating invoices from a prompt requires the paid Zoho Books. It is free as the on-ramp into an ecosystem of 50+ apps.
Strengths
- Permanently free — including sending from the tool, unlike Wave
- Deepest free template customization of the five US tools
- Recurring invoices and automatic payment reminders free
- Not restricted to the US/Canada
Weaknesses
- Base currency only — per the vendor; a hard limit for international clients
- 500 invoices/year and 2 users (Zoho says limits are updated yearly)
- Prompt-created invoices need paid Zoho Books, not Zoho Invoice
- Free as the on-ramp into the Zoho ecosystem — the upsell path is built in
Square Invoices
Invoicing inside the payments ecosystemSquare Invoices runs on the same model as Wave — free invoicing, monetized through payment processing — but without Wave’s sending catch: creating and sending is included on the free plan, automatic payment reminders too. If you already take payments through Square terminals, it is a seamless add-on.
In exchange, the free card rate is higher than Wave’s: 3.3% + 30¢ per card payment (2.9% + 30¢ only with a subscription — Plus is $49, Premium $149 per location; the old standalone "Invoices Plus" at $20 is legacy). One currency per account applies, Square is not available in Germany or Austria, and the AI only answers questions without being able to take actions.
Strengths
- Creating AND sending invoices is free — Wave’s biggest catch does not apply
- Automatic payment reminders on the free plan too
- Seamless if you already use Square POS or terminals
- Your own logo and color, even on the free plan
Weaknesses
- The free plan pays the higher card rate: 3.3% + 30¢ versus 2.9% + 30¢ with a subscription
- Not available in Germany or Austria; one currency per account
- The AI only answers questions about your data and cannot take actions
- Unified plans: Plus $49, Premium $149 per location (the old $20 Invoices Plus is legacy)
FreshBooks
The freelancer classicFreshBooks is the step from "free with catches" to "paid with comfort": mature time tracking and project billing, automatic payment reminders on all plans, and invoices in 16 languages — including German (document text only), where Wave stays permanently English.
In return, limits come back: Lite ($23) allows only 5 billable clients — archived clients count — Plus ($43) 50, unlimited only with Premium ($70). Every extra team member costs $11 a month, and FreshBooks markets no AI features.
Strengths
- Mature time tracking and project billing
- Automatic payment reminders on all plans
- Invoices in 16 languages, including German (document text only)
- Native iOS and Android apps
Weaknesses
- Lite ($23) allows only 5 billable clients — archived clients count
- Every extra team member costs $11 per month
- Markets no AI features at all
- Only 3 invoice designs and 2 fonts; removing vendor branding needs Premium ($70)
QuickBooks
The accounting heavyweightIf you are leaving Wave because its simple free bookkeeping no longer suffices, QuickBooks is where you land: bank feeds, tax categories, payroll integration and the biggest ecosystem in US accounting. Prompt-drafted invoices exist too these days — as a beta or via a connector, capped at 25 prompts a month.
The jump is the priciest in this roundup, though: Simple Start is $38 a month, Essentials $75, Plus $115 — and Intuit announced price changes for renewals from August 2026 without publishing amounts. Foreign currencies need Essentials and up, and German is not among the six languages.
Strengths
- Full US accounting: bank feeds, tax categories, payroll integration
- Huge ecosystem — the standard of US accounting
- Prompt invoicing at least exists (beta/connector, 25 prompts/month)
- Automatic payment reminders (up to 3) on all plans
Weaknesses
- From $38/month; Essentials $75, Plus $115 — price changes announced for renewals from August 2026
- Prompt-to-invoice only as a beta/connector capped at 25 prompts a month
- Foreign currencies only from Essentials ($75)
- Six languages, German not among them; no §14 UStG compliance
Backbone
Invoices, receipts and dunning with an AI assistant (DE/AT)Backbone is the alternative for people in Germany or Austria for whom Wave’s "free" turns out expensive or narrow in practice: you send invoices straight from the tool — by e-mail with the PDF, on every plan — and instead of forms you have the AI assistant draft them, executing after your confirmation. Wave markets no AI features at all.
Full transparency, since Backbone is our product: it is not an accounting tool — Wave’s free bookkeeping deliberately has no counterpart in Backbone, and Backbone is not built for businesses in the US or Canada. There is also no built-in payment processing: you get paid by bank transfer (with a scan-to-pay QR code) or your own processor — in return, Backbone takes no cut of your payments, because it earns on the subscription.
Strengths
- Invoices drafted by an AI assistant — Wave markets no AI at all
- Sending from the tool on the entry plan — not possible on Wave’s free plan
- No per-payment fee: Backbone earns on the subscription, not on your revenue
- Germany and Austria in one account (mandatory-detail check under §14 UStG / §11 UStG), invoices also in English and USD — Wave serves the US/Canada only
- Invoices in German and English; Wave is permanently English-only
Weaknesses
- No bookkeeping — Wave’s free accounting has no counterpart here
- No built-in payment processing: you get paid by bank transfer or your own processor
- No permanent free plan (7-day trial with a card on file, €0 due today)
- Web app rather than a native mobile app; public API coming soon; prices in euros incl. VAT
How we evaluated
All pricing and feature claims come from the vendors’ own pricing and help pages, last verified on 31 July 2026 (Backbone details: as of 9 October 2026) — including the inconvenient details like sending restrictions, card fees and client caps. Where a vendor does not document something, we do not claim it. Backbone is our own product: because it is built for freelancers in Germany and Austria, we list it last for US-based businesses, and we state its weaknesses as plainly as everyone else’s.
Do not choose Backbone if …
Backbone is ranked first on this page, and this page belongs to Backbone (formerly Billy). So that you can weigh that: here are the cases where another tool is the better choice.
- You already invoice public-sector clients (XRechnung)Backbone produces ZUGFeRD e-invoices, but XRechnung (and Austria’s ebInterface) is only coming soon. sevDesk, easybill and FastBill ship XRechnung in their cheapest tier, and in Austria FreeFinance creates ebInterface and XRechnung. If you must bill public-sector clients today, choose one of those.
- You want to do your bookkeeping inside the toolBackbone collects receipts, matches them to payments and takes bank statements, but deliberately does no bookkeeping: no EÜR, no P&L, no VAT return via ELSTER or FinanzOnline. Your tax advisor does the books from the export. If you want everything from one tool, take sevDesk, Lexware Office, or FreeFinance in Austria.
- Your tax advisor insists on a DATEV or BMD exportBackbone has none. It delivers a named ZIP of receipts, sent invoices, bank statements and a CSV report — or a free bookkeeper login. Any accountant can open that, but it is not a DATEV interface. If your accountant insists on one, that rules Backbone out — sevDesk and Lexware Office are built for it.
- You want a native mobile appBackbone is a web app: it runs in your phone’s browser and you can upload receipt photos with it — but there is no native app in the store (a Mac app for the timer is coming soon). sevDesk, Lexware Office, FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho and Square all ship one.
- You never want to payBackbone has no free plan: after a 7-day trial (card on file at Stripe, €0.00 due today) it costs from €19 a month incl. VAT. easybill (50 documents a month) and sevDesk (3 invoices a month) have permanently free tiers, and in the US so do Wave and Zoho Invoice.
- Your business is based in the USBackbone is built for Germany and Austria. It invoices in English and in USD, GBP or CHF too — for a German or Austrian business billing clients abroad. It does not handle US sales tax. For a US-based business, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho Invoice or Square are the better-fitting tools.