Prices verified October 2026. We built The Invoice Tool and are transparent about that — but every competitor fact below was checked against official pricing pages, linked throughout the post.
In early 2024, Wave replaced its single free plan with two tiers: Starter (free) and Pro ($19/month). Under the current pricing, bank feeds, removal of Wave branding, and most collaborator roles sit behind Pro. Receipt scanning is included in Pro or available as a separate paid add-on. Some legacy accounts received grandfathered access to certain features during the transition.
If you used Wave mainly to send invoices, the Starter plan still works — it includes unlimited invoicing, estimates, and core bookkeeping. But if you relied on bank feeds to reconcile payments, gave your accountant collaborator access, or wanted Wave's footer branding removed from your invoices, those features now require Pro at $19/month or $190/year.
That's prompted a lot of freelancers and small business owners to look for alternatives. This post covers the best options depending on what you actually need.
Here's what now requires Pro (or a paid add-on) under Wave's current pricing:
What's still free on Starter: unlimited invoices and estimates, your own logo and brand colors, manual income and expense tracking, core financial reports (profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow), and the mobile app for invoicing on the go.
| Tool | Free invoices | Signup? | Bank feeds | Late reminders | Branding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wave Starter | Unlimited | Yes | Pro only ($19/mo) | With online payments | Your logo; Wave footer |
| The Invoice Tool | Unlimited | No | No | No | Your branding only |
| Zoho Invoice | 500/year | Yes | No | Yes | Zoho-branded |
| Invoice Ninja | 5 clients | Yes | No (Enterprise) | Pro only | Ninja-branded |
| Invoice Simple | 2 docs + 1 send | Varies | No | Plus: due-date prompts | Paid plans |
Many freelancers used Wave for one thing: creating and sending invoices. If that's you, you don't need to replace Wave with another accounting platform. You need a dedicated invoice generator that does that one job well.
A free invoice generator that runs entirely in your browser. No account, no signup, no invoice limits. Your invoice data stays on your device in local storage — it's never uploaded to our servers. (The site does use privacy-focused analytics to count page views, but no invoice content is transmitted.)
What it doesn't do: bookkeeping, bank feeds, expense tracking, online payments. It's a focused tool for people who need professional invoices without the overhead of accounting software.
Best for: Freelancers and contractors who invoice a few clients per month and track finances elsewhere (a spreadsheet, their accountant, or separate accounting software).
No signup. No limits. Your branding, not ours.
Try The Invoice Tool →If you used Wave for both invoicing and tracking expenses or time, these tools cover invoicing plus those features. Neither is a full accounting replacement for Wave — for core bookkeeping and financial reports, you can retain Wave Starter (which still includes those) or use a dedicated accounting product like Zoho Books. Wave Pro adds automatic bank imports and other paid features on top.
Zoho Invoice is genuinely free — no paid tiers, no trial period. It's a dedicated invoicing tool with expense tracking, time logging, and a client portal. It's not full accounting software (that's Zoho Books), but it covers the invoicing-plus-expenses workflow many freelancers relied on Wave for.
The catch: "Powered by Zoho Invoice" branding appears on your invoices and can't be removed. No bank feed import. If you outgrow the limits, Zoho directs you to Zoho Books (their full accounting product) or Zoho Billing.
Best for: Freelancers who want free invoicing with time tracking and expense management, and don't mind the branding or the 500-invoice annual cap.
Invoice Ninja is a source-available invoicing platform (licensed under Elastic License 2.0). The hosted free plan covers up to 5 clients with unlimited invoicing. Paid plans start at $14/month (Pro) and $18/month (Enterprise).
The catch: The 5-client cap is tight. Invoice Ninja branding appears on free-plan invoices. Late-payment reminders, advanced reporting, and API access require paid plans. Bank integration only comes with Enterprise.
Best for: Developers and technically inclined freelancers who want a source-available tool they can self-host, or freelancers with 5 or fewer regular clients.
If Wave's Pro at $19/month doesn't feel worth it but you're open to paying something, here's how the paid options compare.
If everything else about Wave works for you, Pro might still be the simplest path. You keep your existing data, clients, and workflow.
Worth it if: You already use Wave for bookkeeping and payments and the migration cost of switching tools exceeds $19/month in your time.
Invoice Simple offers a limited free allowance — up to 2 free documents and 1 send, no credit card required — but its main plans are paid. After the free allowance, you're paying $6.99 to $21.99 per month depending on how many invoices you send.
The problem: Invoice Simple's unlimited plan costs more than Wave Pro, and Wave Pro gives you full accounting on top of invoicing. It's hard to recommend Invoice Simple as a Wave alternative unless you specifically prefer its interface.
Best for: People who send fewer than 3 invoices per month and want a simple mobile-first experience. But at $6.99/month for 3 invoices, consider whether a free tool would serve you better.
The right tool depends on what you actually used Wave for. Here's a quick decision framework:
"I just sent invoices." You don't need accounting software. Use The Invoice Tool — it's free, has no signup, and your invoices look professional with your own branding. No Wave footer on your PDFs.
"I used Wave for invoicing and tracking expenses." Zoho Invoice gives you invoicing, expense tracking, time logging, and payment reminders for free. The 500-invoice annual cap and Zoho branding are the tradeoffs. For core bookkeeping and financial reports, you can keep Wave Starter (which still includes those) or move to a dedicated accounting tool like Zoho Books.
"I need bank feeds and I don't want to pay $19/month." Unfortunately, free bank feeds are rare. Invoice Ninja Enterprise ($18/month) includes them, but that's barely cheaper than Wave Pro. Your best bet might be separating concerns: use a free invoice generator for invoicing and Wave Starter's manual entry (or a spreadsheet) for tracking finances.
"I have 5 or fewer clients and want everything free." Invoice Ninja's free plan covers you for invoicing with recurring invoices and auto-billing. Note that automated late-payment reminders require their Pro plan ($14/month). If you're technical, the self-hosted version includes Pro and Enterprise features.
Skip the accounting software. Create a professional invoice in minutes — free, no signup.
Create an Invoice →Wave's free Starter plan is still a legitimate option — especially if you never used bank feeds or collaborator access in the first place. Here's what you keep for free:
The main downsides of staying on Starter: you're entering bank transactions by hand, Wave's footer branding stays on your invoices, and if you don't qualify for automated reminders through online payments or an active payroll subscription, you'll be sending manual follow-ups.
For many freelancers who invoice 5–10 clients a month, the practical move is to keep Wave Starter for expense tracking and switch to a dedicated invoice generator for the actual invoicing — one that doesn't put its own branding on your PDFs.
Partially. Wave's Starter plan is free and includes unlimited invoicing and core bookkeeping. But bank feeds, removal of Wave's branding, and most collaborator roles require Pro at $19/month. Receipt scanning is included in Pro or available as a separate add-on. Wave introduced these tiers in early 2024, and some legacy accounts received grandfathered access to certain features during the transition.
It depends on what you need. For invoicing only, The Invoice Tool is completely free with no signup, no limits, and no third-party branding. For invoicing plus expense tracking, Zoho Invoice is free with a 500-invoice annual cap. For a source-available option, Invoice Ninja is free for up to 5 clients.
Yes. Wave lets you export customer lists and accounting data, and download individual invoices as PDFs. Wave Connect also lets you download data into Google Sheets. Export before you cancel or downgrade so you have a record of everything. (Note: bulk PDF invoice export is not currently available.)
Not necessarily. Many freelancers track income and expenses in a spreadsheet and use a separate tool for invoicing. Full accounting software makes sense once you're managing payroll, inventory, or complex tax situations. For straightforward freelance invoicing, a focused invoice generator is usually enough.
Wave's changes are frustrating if you relied on features that moved to Pro, but they also clarify something: if you were only using Wave to send invoices, you were using a full accounting platform for a job a simpler tool does better.
The Invoice Tool is designed to give you professional PDFs with your own branding, without signup or invoice caps. It does one thing and does it well.
If you need expense tracking too, Zoho Invoice and Invoice Ninja are solid free options with their own tradeoffs. And if Wave's ecosystem still works for you, Pro at $190/year isn't unreasonable for what you get.
The worst option is paying for features you don't need. Figure out what you actually use, then pick the tool that fits — not the one with the longest feature list.
Related: Best Free Invoice Generators in 2026 · What to Include on a Freelance Invoice · Invoice vs Receipt: What's the Difference?
Disclaimer: This article reflects our honest assessment as of October 2026. Features, pricing, and limitations may change — we've linked to official pricing pages throughout so you can verify current details. We built The Invoice Tool and are transparent about that, but we've tried to be fair in our comparisons. We encourage you to try multiple tools and decide for yourself.