Wave review - genuinely free accounting for the smallest nonprofits

What it is

Wave is cloud accounting and invoicing aimed at freelancers and tiny businesses, and its Starter plan is genuinely free - real double-entry bookkeeping, profit and loss, and balance sheet at $0, with unlimited invoices and no time limit.

The honest math

Starter costs $0. The Pro plan at $19/month (or $190/year) adds automatic bank-feed imports, auto-categorization, and branded invoices. Receipt scanning is a paid add-on (about $8-11/month), and if you accept card payments the fee is roughly 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction. Note that automatic bank feeds, which used to be free, now sit behind Pro, so on the free plan you enter bank transactions manually.

Who it fits

The smallest all-volunteer nonprofit that just needs to track money in and money out without spending a cent. The key caveat: Wave is not nonprofit-specific - there is no fund accounting, no restricted-fund or grant tracking, and no donation-receipt features. It is business bookkeeping you adapt to a nonprofit, not software built for one.

The honest take

For a tiny organization with simple finances, Wave is hard to beat on price. Green for that use, with eyes open that you will outgrow it the moment your funds get restricted or a funder wants nonprofit-standard reports - at which point Aplos or donated QuickBooks is the next step. There is no affiliate relationship here; you sign up directly.