5 Best Wave Alternatives in 2026 for Freelancers

Wave built its name on a simple promise: real accounting and invoicing, free. The free plan still exists, but the edges have been moving. Bank auto-import, receipt scanning, and live support moved behind the Pro plan during 2024 and 2025, and on the free plan, automatic payment reminders only work if you accept payments online through Wave.

One G2 reviewer summed the shift up in their title: "Great free core for freelancers, but key automations now locked behind Pro."

If the thing you miss most is the reminder that used to be free, you may not need another accounting suite at all. Here are five alternatives worth considering in 2026.

Disclosure: We built LeaveItToBumBum, so our own tool appears in this comparison. Our recommendations reflect publicly documented product features and intended use cases. We have not conducted controlled hands-on testing of every competitor. External vendor plan details were reviewed in November 2026.

Quick comparison

1. Leave It to Bum Bum: Best for the chasing layer

Full honesty first: Leave It to Bum Bum is not accounting software, and it will not do your books. What it does is the specific job Wave now charges $19 a month to unlock. The Invoice Chaser tracks who owes you and drafts the follow-up emails in your voice, and the Client Follow-Up Tracker keeps every other promised follow-up in view.

Your invoicing can stay exactly where it is, including in Wave's free plan. The chaser sits on top as a standalone tool, so nobody can move it behind a bigger suite later. There is no bigger suite.

Why consider it?

• Automatic follow-up tracking without an accounting upgrade
• Reminder drafts written for you, in your voice
• Free to start, one flat plan when you outgrow it
• Works alongside whatever invoicing you already use
• No features held hostage to a higher tier

Where Wave wins: Real double-entry accounting, payments, and a free starter plan. If you need books, Wave (or another pick below) is the tool. Bum Bum is the follow-up layer, nothing more.

Best for: Freelancers whose actual pain is late payers, not bookkeeping.

Try the Invoice Chaser

2. FreshBooks: Best invoicing-first accounting

FreshBooks is the polished option: Lite is $23 per month (up to 5 billable clients), Plus $43 (50 clients), Premium $70. Watch the tier design, though. Automated late-payment reminders and late fees are Premium-tier features, so the chasing job is exactly what FreshBooks uses to pull you up the ladder.

Best for: Freelancers who invoice a handful of clients and want it to feel effortless.

3. QuickBooks Online: Best for the accountant ecosystem

QuickBooks Online (Simple Start $38 per month, Essentials $85, Plus $140, Advanced $340 after the August 2026 increases) is what most accountants ask for by name. Prices have risen every year, and most solos use a fraction of it, but if your accountant wants it, that conversation is already over.

Best for: Businesses with an accountant, payroll, or inventory in the picture.

4. Bonsai: Best for contracts plus invoicing

Bonsai (Essentials $25 per month is the first tier with invoicing) wraps proposals, contracts, and invoices into one freelancer workspace. It was acquired by Zoom in late 2025, with capabilities to be folded into Zoom over time.

Best for: Freelancers whose workflow starts with a proposal and a signed contract.

5. Zoho Books: Best budget accounting

Zoho Books has a genuinely useful free tier for very small businesses and paid plans that undercut QuickBooks and FreshBooks. The interface is less friendly, but the accounting underneath is complete.

Best for: Solos who want real books at the lowest sustainable price.

Is Wave worth it in 2026?

Wave Starter is still free, and for basic invoicing plus accounting that remains a good deal. Wave Pro at $19 per month is really a $228-a-year charge for the automations that used to define the free product: bank feeds, receipt scanning, and reminders that work regardless of how clients pay.

If those automations are why you would upgrade, price them separately before you do. The reminder, on its own, is a much cheaper job than a suite upgrade.

Our recommendation: Choose Zoho Books or Wave for free accounting, FreshBooks for polished invoicing, and Leave It to Bum Bum for the chasing layer on top of any of them.

Get the reminder without the upgrade

Frequently asked questions

Is Wave still free in 2026?

Wave's Starter plan is still free for invoicing and accounting, with payments charged at 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction. The Pro plan ($19 per month) now holds features that used to be free, including bank auto-import, receipt scanning, and unrestricted automatic payment reminders.

Why are Wave users looking for alternatives?

Mostly the paywall drift: features users already had for free moved behind the $19 per month Pro plan during 2024 and 2025, and automatic reminders on the free plan only work if you take payments online through Wave.

Does Leave It to Bum Bum do accounting?

No. Bum Bum is not accounting software and does not replace your books. Its invoice chaser covers the follow-up layer: tracking who owes you and drafting the reminder emails, while your invoicing stays wherever it already lives.

What is the best free Wave alternative?

For full accounting, Zoho Books has a free tier for very small businesses. For invoicing follow-up specifically, a standalone chaser on a free tier covers the reminders Wave now charges for.

Wave or FreshBooks for a freelancer?

FreshBooks is more polished for invoicing-first freelancers, but its Lite plan caps you at 5 billable clients and automated late-payment reminders are a Premium-tier feature. Wave is cheaper to start; FreshBooks is nicer to use if the client cap does not bite.