Wave is the better choice for free books and invoices
Wave’s a strong choice when free accounting and invoicing are the whole job. looch’s the better Wave alternative when you need to form the business, run accounts and cards, accept payments, and keep the books in the same app.
That distinction matters because these aren’t interchangeable products. Wave starts with accounting software. looch starts earlier, with the company itself, then keeps the financial activity that follows connected to the ledger.
Wave’s a software company owned by H&R Block. Its accounting and invoicing tools are software, and its payment and payroll features run on partner infrastructure. looch is operated by Simplicity Fintech Inc, a financial technology company, not a bank. Funds held in looch financial accounts are kept at Fifth Third Bank N.A., Member FDIC (source: looch.money).
If you already have a business and bank account, send a manageable number of invoices, and want capable free books, Wave has a clear advantage. If you are building the operating system around a new company, free accounting alone doesn’t solve the rest of the setup.
Wave makes free accounting genuinely useful
Wave’s strongest feature is not a temporary trial or a narrow free tier. Its Starter plan gives freelancers and small businesses accounting and invoicing without a monthly software charge. You can create unlimited estimates, invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records, while using the mobile app and building financial reports (source: waveapps.com/pricing).
That is a meaningful advantage for a solo operator. A consultant, contractor, or early freelancer may need a professional invoice, a place to track income and expenses, and enough reporting to understand the business. They may not need card controls, company formation, or an integrated financial platform. In that situation, Wave answers the question cleanly.
Wave also lets businesses accept payments without a monthly minimum on the free plan. Accepting bank payments on invoices costs 1% per transaction with a $1.00 minimum (source: waveapps.com/payments/bank-payments). Card payments are 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction, and 3.4% + $0.60 for American Express (source: waveapps.com/pricing).
Wave Pro adds automation for operators who have outgrown a manual process. The paid plan is $19/month, or $190/year (source: waveapps.com/pricing). It adds automatic bank transaction import, auto-categorization, receipt capture, automated late payment reminders, and discounted card processing. Your first 10 card transactions each month are 2.9% + $0, then standard rates apply (source: waveapps.com/pricing).
That progression is sensible. Start free. Add automation when manual work becomes the cost. For a business that wants standalone accounting software and doesn’t mind connecting the rest of its financial tools separately, Wave is hard to dismiss.
Wave leaves the rest of the financial stack to you
Wave doesn’t form a company, obtain an EIN, or provide registered-agent service. You arrive with the business already created, or you create it through another provider first.
It isn’t also the business account itself. Wave doesn’t give you account and routing numbers to operate from or issue spending cards with controls. It helps you record the activity from the accounts and cards you use elsewhere.
That separation shapes the accounting experience. On Wave’s free plan, automatic bank import and auto-categorization sit behind Pro at $19/month (source: waveapps.com/pricing). Free users can still keep books, but they must bring the activity in and handle more of the work themselves. Wave can’t automatically record a complete picture of banking, card spending, and payment acceptance when those functions live outside Wave.
Wave also doesn’t file 1099s for you. It can help track contractor payments, but filing remains a separate job.
Its additional services are paid add-ons, which may be worthwhile for the right business. Payroll is $40/month base plus $6 per active employee or contractor (source: support.waveapps.com). Receipt capture on Starter is $8/month or $72/year, while Pro includes it (source: waveapps.com/receipts). Wave Advisors starts at $149/month (source: waveapps.com/pricing).
None of those gaps make Wave weak. They make its scope clear. It’s built for accounting and invoicing. It is not designed to be the place where a founder forms the company, operates the accounts, controls card spend, accepts payments, and sees that activity entered into the books.
looch connects formation to the books
A founder who hasn’t incorporated yet usually faces a chain of separate decisions: Form the entity, get an EIN, choose accounts, issue cards, set up payment acceptance, and select accounting software. Each tool can work well on its own. The work’s in stitching them together.
looch Start is built around removing that handoff. It forms the entity and gives the founder a financially operational company. The all-in price is $249. Once formation is complete, accounts, cards, payments, and accounting live in the same app under one login.
That’s the gap Wave doesn’t fill. With Wave, accounting’s the starting point and the rest of the stack sits around it. With looch, accounting’s the record of activity already happening inside the platform.
looch accounts and Smartcards create the activity the books need
looch provides no-fee business accounts. The accounts are part of the same system as the ledger, so transactions don’t need to be exported from a separate bank and rebuilt in a separate accounting tool.
looch Smartcards are issued from the app with controls for spending limits, merchant categories, and more. Card activity’s entered into the books as it happens. That is a practical difference for a founder who wants to issue a card without creating another accounting cleanup task.
The point isn’t that every freelancer needs this setup. Many don’t. The point’s that a company with contractors, operational purchases, multiple accounts, or a growing payments flow will eventually need a way to keep financial activity and financial records aligned. looch makes them parts of the same product.
looch Pay puts accepted payments in the same system
looch Pay accepts cards online and in person, along with instant pay by bank. With instant pay by bank, the customer approves the payment from their own bank. The money is pushed to the business, settles instantly, and is final on arrival. No disputes, chargebacks, or reserves.
Payment acceptance then feeds the same accounting system as the accounts and Smartcards. That is the operator-level benefit. A payment isn’t merely accepted, then exported, matched, and handled later. It’s already part of the business’ financial picture.
looch keeps the ledger running in real time
looch uses automatic transaction tagging to maintain CPA-quality books in real time. Instead of reconciling activity by hand or paying $19/month for bank import and auto-categorization, the activity begins inside the same financial system as the books.
This doesn’t mean every founder should avoid outside expertise. Businesses with more complicated operations may still want a CPA or bookkeeper. But the baseline record shouldn’t require a monthly cleanup project. For help deciding where a professional adds value, read do you need a bookkeeper.
looch also includes AI-powered 1099 calculation and filing. looch AI scans transactions and payment methods to determine what belongs in the filing, and instant 1099 filing costs $2 per filing (source: looch.money/pricing). Wave tracks contractor payments but doesn’t file the 1099s for you.
The products solve different operating problems
| Feature | looch | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Core accounting | Real-time accounting with automatic tagging, CPA-quality books | Free on Starter; auto-import and auto-categorization require Pro at $19/month |
| Invoicing | Yes, tied to looch Pay and your books | Yes, free and unlimited (estimates, invoices, bills) |
| Monthly software fee | $0 for the financial accounts | $0 free Starter plan; Pro is $19/month or $190/year |
| Company formation | Yes, included at $249 all-in | Not offered |
| EIN and registered agent | Yes, handled at formation | Not offered |
| No-fee business accounts | Yes, funds at Fifth Third Bank N.A., Member FDIC | Not offered (accounting and invoicing software, not a bank account) |
| Smartcards with spend controls | Yes, issued from the app | Not offered |
| Card payment acceptance | Yes, online and in-person | Yes: 2.9% + $0.60 per card; 3.4% + $0.60 Amex |
| Bank payment acceptance | Yes, instant pay by bank | Yes: ACH at 1% per transaction ($1.00 minimum) |
| 1099 filing | Yes, AI-powered, $2 per filing | Not filed for you (tracks contractor payments only) |
| Payroll | See looch pricing | Add-on: $40/month base plus $6 per active employee or contractor |
| Bookkeeping service | Real-time books built in | Wave Advisors from $149/month |
| Receipt capture | Built into the platform | Add-on on Starter ($8/month or $72/year); included on Pro |
Wave wins several rows outright. Free unlimited invoicing and free core bookkeeping aren’t minor benefits. They are the reason Wave is the right answer for many small businesses.
looch wins when the accounting question is only one part of the decision. A founder who still needs to create the business and operate it day to day gets more value from a connected system than from a free accounting tool alone.
Choose Wave when free standalone software is enough
Wave is likely the right choice if you’re a freelancer, contractor, or small business that mainly needs invoices and basic books. It is especially compelling when your budget is tight, your company and accounts are already in place, and you don’t need card issuing or an integrated financial platform.
It’s also a reasonable fit if you’re comfortable with manual work on the free plan. You can pay $19/month for Pro when bank import, auto-categorization, receipt capture, and reminders become worth it.
Choose Wave if you want accounting software, not a financial operating system. That’s not a compromise. For the right business, it is disciplined tool selection.
Choose looch when the business is still being assembled
looch’s the stronger choice if you haven’t incorporated yet and want formation, an EIN, accounts, Smartcards, payments, and books to begin in the same app, at $249 all-in.
It’s also the better fit if the business already exists but you’re tired of financial activity being scattered across a bank, a card provider, a payment processor, and an accounting tool. looch brings those activities together so the books are built from the same transactions used to run the company.
Choose looch if you want to accept card payments and pay by bank, issue controlled Smartcards, and keep real-time books without treating accounting as a separate after-the-fact task. Choose it if 1099 filing should be part of the same financial workflow, at $2 per filing, rather than another task to remember.
For founders starting from zero, looch Start is the clearest distinction. Wave can help once the business exists. looch can help create it, then run what comes next.
The decision comes down to scope
Ask what you need the product to do today, not what a feature checklist says it might do later.
If the answer’s free invoicing and straightforward accounting, Wave is the better choice. It’s capable, honest about its scope, and difficult to beat on price. If you’re happy to pay $19/month for Pro, it adds bank import and auto-categorization.
If the answer includes forming the company at $249 all-in, operating accounts, controlling spend, accepting payments, filing 1099s at $2 per filing, and keeping the books current as that activity happens, looch’s built for the broader job. Explore looch’s full financial stack or see pricing to decide whether that connected setup fits how you run the business.
The bottom line’s simple: Wave’s free standalone accounting and invoicing. looch’s the platform for founders who want the company’s formation, money movement, cards, payments, and books to run together.
