Wave Accounting vs Zoho Books
The honest version: both are capable, both have real weaknesses their users write about constantly, and there's a third option this comparison won't hide until the end — it's free, so we can afford to be fair about the first two.
Wave Accounting
"Free" — single-user, no bank feeds, can't even email invoices; Pro ~$19/mo
The best-known free accounting tool — invoicing and bookkeeping for very small businesses in the US and Canada.
Wave's free plan shrank in June 2026: bank feeds, collaborator access, receipts — even emailing invoices from the platform — moved to the ~$19/mo Pro plan, including for long-time free users. Payroll is a paid add-on, and card payments run only through Wave's own processor at their rates.
- “June 2026: bank feeds, collaborators, receipts — even emailing invoices — were pulled from free accounts with a month's notice”
- “'Free forever' turned out to mean 'until the Pro plan needed features'”
- “Support is a chatbot unless you pay”
Zoho Books
"Free" until you grow (revenue cap, 1 user); paid ~$20–$70/mo
The accounting piece of the sprawling Zoho suite — a capped free tier, then per-org plans with per-user add-on fees.
Zoho Books' free plan is limited to the smallest businesses (a revenue threshold, one user plus an accountant, capped invoices). Outgrow any limit and you're on ~$20–$70/mo plus ~$3/mo per extra user — $240–$840+ a year.
- “Support is 24/5 in theory and unreachable in practice”
- “The free plan expires when you cross the revenue threshold”
- “Extra users, autoscans and locations all cost extra”
you want the simplest possible start and live in the US or Canada.
you want more accounting for less money and can climb a learning curve — Zoho's pricing has also stayed stable.
The option Wave-vs-Zoho Books articles skip
Coordinator covers what both do — free, with unlimited users and no usage meters — inside one system that also runs the rest of a small business: real books, projects with job costing, booking pages, client records, and a network where your invoice lands in your client's books. The honest trade: it's web-only today, and each specialist keeps its deepest niche feature — both comparison pages above say exactly which.
Free. No card. About two minutes to set up.
Competitor pricing approximate, from published plans as of August 2026.
Settle it with the free one
Try the third option this afternoon — if it doesn't fit, the other two aren't going anywhere.
Free. No card. About two minutes to set up.