ToolNestFree FreshBooks vs Wave Cost Calculator
Last updated: November 12, 2026
Quick answer: FreshBooks and Wave look like a $23-against-$0 decision until you count what each one charges after the subscription: FreshBooks meters billable clients (Lite stops at 5, Plus at 50) and charges $11 a month for every extra team member, while Wave's software is free and its bill is a cut of every payment you take — 2.9% + $0.60 per card transaction against FreshBooks' 2.9% + $0.30. This free FreshBooks vs Wave cost calculator prices both on your billable clients, your monthly invoicing, your card transactions, your team size and your payroll over year 1 and 3 years. On the defaults (10 billable clients, $5,000 invoiced a month, 20 card transactions, 70% paid by card, annual billing), FreshBooks Plus costs $161.20 a month, $1,934.40 in year 1 while Wave Starter costs $128.50 a month, $1,542 in year 1 — a $32.70 monthly gap, $1,177.20 over 3 flat years. Everything runs in your browser; your client list and revenue stay private.
List prices, November 2026: FreshBooks Lite $23 (up to 5 billable clients), Plus $43 (up to 50), Premium $70 (unlimited) per month; annual billing about 10% off ($20.70/$38.70/$63.00). One user included; each extra team member $11/month. Wave Starter $0, Pro $19/month or $190/year. Payment processing: FreshBooks card 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, bank 1%; Wave card 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction (American Express 3.4% + $0.60), Pro waives the $0.60 on the first 10 card transactions a month, bank 1% with a $1 minimum per transaction (the $1 minimum is not modelled — it only bites on bank payments under $100). Payroll add-on $40/month + $6 per person on both vendors. Worked check: 10 billable clients, $5,000 invoiced a month, 20 card transactions, 70% by card, annual billing — FreshBooks Plus $38.70 + processing $122.50 = $161.20/mo, $1,934.40 year 1; Wave Starter $0 + processing $128.50 = $128.50/mo, $1,542 year 1; gap $32.70/mo, $1,177.20 over 3 flat years. Verify against each vendor's current pricing page before signing.
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How to Use the FreshBooks vs Wave Cost Calculator
- Enter your billable clients — the clients you actually invoice, not your whole contact list. This number picks your FreshBooks plan: Lite stops at 5 billable clients and Plus at 50, and archived clients count toward the cap, so count everyone you billed this year.
- Pick your FreshBooks plan and Wave plan. FreshBooks Lite ($23) suits a freelancer with a handful of clients; Plus ($43) is the usual step once you pass 5; Premium ($70) removes the cap. Wave Starter is $0 with unlimited invoices; Pro ($19) adds bank feeds, receipt capture, multi-user access and automated reminders.
- Enter your monthly invoicing, your card transactions per month and the % paid by card. The rest is assumed paid by bank transfer at 1%. This is where Wave's bill actually lives: on $5,000 invoiced with 20 card transactions, processing is $122.50 on FreshBooks and $128.50 on Wave Starter — more than the subscription gap at low volumes.
- Enter your team members. FreshBooks includes one user and charges $11 a month for each extra; Wave charges nothing per seat, but multi-user access is a Pro feature — enter 2 or more people on Wave Starter and the calculator prices Wave Pro instead, with a warning.
- Choose annual or monthly billing. FreshBooks annual billing is about 10% off (Plus drops from $43 to $38.70); Wave Pro annual is $190 a year against $228 monthly. Tick Add payroll if you run payroll — it costs $40 a month plus $6 per person on both vendors, so it raises both totals equally and never changes the verdict.
- Add annual invoicing growth and a one-time migration cost if you are planning ahead. Growth compounds the invoiced volume year over year, so the processing-fee lines grow with the business, and migration lands in year 1 only. Press Compare total cost for the monthly, year-1 and 3-year totals side by side.
Why Use Our FreshBooks vs Wave Cost Calculator?
- The client-cap trap, priced honestly — FreshBooks Lite looks like a $23 plan until your sixth client arrives, and then it is a $43 plan. The calculator enforces the caps (Lite 5, Plus 50, archived clients included) and tells you to pick a higher plan instead of silently pricing a plan you cannot buy.
- Payment fees as the real bill — Wave's $0 subscription hides a per-transaction fee that is double FreshBooks' ($0.60 against $0.30 per card payment). On $5,000 invoiced a month the processing lines are $122.50 against $128.50 — bigger than the subscription gap at this volume, and the gap flips at high transaction counts.
- The honest breakeven, not a slogan — every card transaction saves you $0.30 on FreshBooks. At Plus annual prices ($38.70) against Wave Starter ($0), the subscription gap closes at about 129 card transactions a month; against Wave Pro ($15.83 annual) it closes at about 96, because Pro's first-10-transactions waiver absorbs the first $6 of the saving. Below that, Wave wins on price; above it, FreshBooks does.
- Team members priced both ways — FreshBooks charges $11 a month for each user past the first; Wave charges nothing per seat but gates multi-user access behind Pro. A 3-person team pays $22 a month extra on FreshBooks and $0 extra on Wave beyond the $19 Pro plan.
- Payroll as an equal adder — both vendors charge $40 a month plus $6 per person for payroll, so the checkbox raises both totals by the same amount and never flatters one side. Wave payroll is US and Canada only, same as its payments.
- Private by design — the maths runs entirely in your browser. Your client count, invoicing volume and team size never leave your device.
Common Use Cases
- A solo freelancer with 5 clients: 5 billable clients, $3,000 invoiced a month, 10 card transactions, 100% by card, annual billing: FreshBooks Lite $20.70 a month plus processing $90 (3,000 x 2.9% = $87 plus 10 x $0.30 = $3) is $110.70 a month, $1,328.40 in year 1. Wave Starter $0 plus processing $93 (87 plus 10 x $0.60 = $6) is $93 a month, $1,116 in year 1. Wave wins by $17.70 a month, $212.40 a year, $637.20 over 3 flat years.
- A growing firm with 40 clients and a 3-person team: 40 billable clients, $12,000 invoiced a month, 60 card transactions, 80% by card, 3 team members, annual billing: FreshBooks Plus $38.70 plus 2 extra members at $11 ($22) is $60.70 in subscription; processing is $320.40 ($9,600 card volume at 2.9% = $278.40 plus 60 x $0.30 = $18, plus $2,400 bank volume at 1% = $24) — $381.10 a month, $4,573.20 in year 1. Wave Pro $15.83 (multi-user forces Pro); processing $332.40 ($278.40 plus 50 x $0.60 = $30 after the first-10 waiver, plus $24 bank) — $348.23 a month, $4,178.80 in year 1. Wave wins by $32.87 a month, $394.40 a year, $1,183.20 over 3 flat years.
- A firm taking 150 small card payments a month: 8 billable clients, $10,000 invoiced a month, 150 card transactions, 100% by card, annual billing: FreshBooks Plus $38.70 plus processing $335 ($10,000 at 2.9% = $290 plus 150 x $0.30 = $45) is $373.70 a month, $4,484.40 in year 1. Wave Starter $0 plus processing $380 ($290 plus 150 x $0.60 = $90) is $380 a month, $4,560 in year 1. FreshBooks wins by $6.30 a month, $75.60 a year — the rare case where the per-transaction saving outweighs the subscription gap, and the breakeven sits at about 129 card transactions a month.
FreshBooks vs Wave Cost Calculator vs Alternatives
- Subscription: Wave Starter $0 a month against FreshBooks Lite $23; Wave Pro $19 against FreshBooks Plus $43. Wave wins the subscription line at every tier — the gap is $23 to $24 a month before a single payment is processed.
- Payment fees: FreshBooks card 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction against Wave card 2.9% + $0.60; bank payments 1% on both. FreshBooks wins $0.30 on every card transaction, which is worth $6 a month at 20 transactions and $45 at 150 — the only line where FreshBooks claws money back.
- Team members: FreshBooks $11 a month for each user past the first; Wave $0 per seat, with multi-user access gated behind the $19 Pro plan. A 3-person team pays $22 a month extra on FreshBooks and $0 extra on Wave beyond Pro.
- Free plan: Wave Starter is $0 with unlimited invoices and real double-entry bookkeeping; FreshBooks has no free plan at any size — only a 30-day trial. A freelancer who invoices little pays Wave only the processing fees on what clients actually pay.
The honest summary: Wave wins on price for almost every freelancer and small team, because a $0 subscription beats a $23–$70 one and the payment-fee gap only closes past about 129 card transactions a month. FreshBooks wins when you take a very high volume of small card payments, or when you need what Wave Starter does not offer — accountant access, double-entry reports and bank reconciliation. Price the payments you actually take, not just the subscription.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FreshBooks or Wave cheaper?
Wave, in most small-business cases — but the gap is smaller than the $23-against-$0 headline suggests. On the defaults (10 billable clients, $5,000 invoiced a month, 20 card transactions, 70% by card, annual billing), FreshBooks Plus costs $161.20 a month against Wave Starter's $128.50 — a $32.70 monthly gap, $392.40 a year. Wave wins the subscription line by $38.70 a month and gives back $6 of it on payment fees. At very high card-transaction counts the verdict flips: past about 129 card transactions a month, FreshBooks Plus becomes cheaper than Wave Starter.
Is Wave really free?
The Starter plan is $0 a month and genuinely includes unlimited invoices, estimates, bills and double-entry bookkeeping. What is not free is getting paid: every card payment costs 2.9% + $0.60, and bank payments cost 1%. Pro at $19 a month adds automatic bank feeds, receipt capture, multi-user access and automated payment reminders, and waives the $0.60 on your first 10 card transactions a month. Payments and payroll are US and Canada only — outside those countries you get the free accounting, but not the money tools.
What does FreshBooks' 5-client cap actually mean?
Lite allows 5 billable clients — the clients you invoice, not your contacts — and archived clients count toward the cap, so a client you stopped billing this year still occupies a slot. Your sixth billable client forces you onto Plus at $43 a month ($38.70 annual), a $20 monthly jump for one client. Plus stops at 50 billable clients the same way; Premium is unlimited. This calculator enforces both caps and tells you to pick a higher plan instead of pricing a plan you cannot buy.
Why does FreshBooks charge $11 per extra team member while Wave charges nothing?
Different business models. FreshBooks includes exactly one user on every plan and charges $11 a month for each extra team member with a paid role, so a 3-person team on Plus pays $43 + $22 = $65 a month before processing fees. Wave charges nothing per seat — but multi-user access is a Pro feature, so a team of 2 or more pays the $19 Pro plan instead of $0 Starter. At 3 people that is $22 a month extra on FreshBooks against $19 a month on Wave Pro, which narrows the subscription gap without closing it.
When does FreshBooks win on price?
When you take a lot of small card payments. Every card transaction costs $0.30 less on FreshBooks than on Wave Starter, so the saving compounds with volume: at 150 card transactions a month on $10,000 invoiced, FreshBooks Plus costs $373.70 a month against Wave Starter's $380 — FreshBooks wins by $6.30 a month. The breakeven is about 129 card transactions a month against Starter, or about 96 against Wave Pro at annual prices (Pro waives the $0.60 on the first 10 card transactions, which absorbs the first $6 of the saving). FreshBooks also wins on capability where it matters: accountant access, double-entry reports and bank reconciliation start on Plus, while Wave Starter has none of those.
What does the 3-year total assume?
Flat list prices with no price rises on either vendor, invoiced volume growing by the percentage you enter (compounded year over year, card-transaction count held flat), payroll charged at $40 a month plus $6 per person if ticked, and any migration cost charged once in year 1. Wave Pro's first-10-transactions fee waiver is applied every month; the 1% bank-payment $1 minimum is not modelled, since it only bites on bank payments under $100. Rates are November 2026 list prices — both vendors run promos and raise prices from time to time, so verify against their current pricing pages before signing.
Does payroll change the verdict?
No. Both vendors charge $40 a month plus $6 per person for payroll, so ticking the box adds the same amount to both totals and the gap does not move. What payroll does change is the total you budget: on a 3-person team it adds $58 a month ($40 + 3 x $6) to either side. Wave payroll is US and Canada only; FreshBooks payroll runs on Gusto and is US only.
Which should a 3-person team pick?
On price, Wave — but run your own numbers. Take 8 billable clients, $4,000 invoiced a month, 15 card transactions, 70% by card, annual billing: FreshBooks Plus $38.70 plus 2 extra team members at $11 ($22) is $60.70 in subscription, plus $97.70 in processing, $158.40 a month. Wave Pro $15.83 plus $96.20 in processing is $112.03 a month. Wave wins by $46.37 a month, $556.40 a year. The case for FreshBooks at this size is capability, not price: accountant access, double-entry reports and bank reconciliation on Plus, which Wave Starter does not offer.