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BillGrid vs Wave
Wave gives you free bookkeeping with invoicing attached. BillGrid is paid invoicing built around billing for your time, on your own Stripe account.
The short answer
Choose Wave if you want free accounting with your invoices and can use Wave's own payment processing, which unlocks its recurring invoices, reminders and online estimate approval. Choose BillGrid if you bill for your time: it tracks hours onto invoices and holds client retainers, and card payments run through your own Stripe account at 2.9% + 30¢ instead of Wave's 2.9% + 60¢.
Price and limits
| BillGrid | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $8 a month (Professional), $20 (Company) | Starter free; Pro $19 a month or $190 a year, per business |
| Invoices, estimates and clients | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free plan | No; 30-day trial, no card | Yes, Starter |
| Adding your team | Staff logins on Company, $5 a month per extra person | Pro: add users with admin, editor or viewer roles |
| Card payment fees | Stripe's standard rate, 2.9% + 30¢ for US cards; BillGrid adds nothing | 2.9% + 60¢; on Pro, the first 10 card payments a month are 2.9% + 0¢ |
| Bank (ACH) payments | No, cards only | 1%, $1 minimum |
Features
"With Wave Payments" means the feature works on the free plan once your business uses Wave's payment processing, which Wave approves after an identity and credit check.
| BillGrid | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring invoices | Yes, weekly to yearly | With Wave Payments, or on Pro |
| Automatic payment reminders | Yes, on the schedule you set | With Wave Payments, or on Pro |
| Estimates clients approve online | Yes; an approved estimate becomes an invoice in one click | With Wave Payments, or on Pro |
| Time tracking for billing | Yes; billable hours go onto invoices | Not on Wave's pricing page |
| Retainers and projects | Yes | Not on Wave's pricing page |
| Foreign-currency invoices | Yes; card payments in USD, CAD, EUR, GBP and AUD | Yes, with currency gains and losses tracked |
| Bookkeeping and accounting | No | Yes, on both plans |
| Automatic bank import | No | Pro |
| Receipt capture | No; log expenses or import a CSV | Pro, or a paid add-on on Starter |
| Payroll | No | Paid add-on |
| Mobile app | No, BillGrid runs in the browser | Yes |
Which fits you
Wave is the better choice if
- you want bookkeeping and invoicing together, for free
- you're happy to take payments through Wave, or the $19 Pro plan suits you
- you want bank payments (ACH), receipt scanning or payroll
BillGrid is the better choice if
- you bill by the hour and want time tracked straight onto invoices
- you take client retainers or organize work by project
- you'd rather use your own Stripe account and pay Stripe's rate, with nothing added
Switching to BillGrid
There's no import for clients or past invoices yet, so most people add clients as they next bill them and keep their old tool for history. Expenses can be imported from a CSV file. Card payments go through your own Stripe account, which you connect in a few minutes; BillGrid adds no fee on top of Stripe's.
Both BillGrid plans are free for 30 days, with no card needed. Start free See pricing
Sources: Wave pricing, Wave Help Center articles on recurring invoices, reminders, estimate approval and payment fees, and Stripe pricing. US prices. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.