Wave is one of the few accounting tools that is genuinely free. If you are a freelancer who needs to send invoices and keep simple books without paying a monthly fee, Wave is a strong, honest answer. But Wave is standalone accounting and invoicing. It does not form your company, give you a bank account, or issue cards. If you want the whole financial stack in one app, the comparison changes. This post maps it both ways.
looch is a financial technology company, not a bank. looch is operated by Simplicity Fintech Inc. Funds held in looch financial accounts are kept at Fifth Third Bank N.A., Member FDIC (source: looch.money). Wave is a software company owned by H&R Block. Its payment and payroll features run on partner infrastructure, and its accounting and invoicing tools are software, not banking (source: waveapps.com).
What Wave is (and what it is not)
Where Wave is strong
Wave's core accounting and invoicing are free, with no monthly fee. The free Starter plan lets you create unlimited estimates, invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records, with mobile app access (source: waveapps.com/pricing). For a freelancer or a very small business on a tight budget, that is a real advantage. You can run your books and send professional invoices without paying a subscription at all.
The free tier is not a stripped trial. It is the actual product. You can track income and expenses, build financial reports, and invoice clients indefinitely without upgrading. That is rare in accounting software, and it is the main reason Wave has a loyal base of solo operators.
Wave also keeps a low barrier on payments. You only pay processing fees when you actually accept a payment, with no monthly minimum on the free plan. Accepting bank payments (ACH) 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).
If you ever outgrow the free plan, Wave's paid Pro plan is $19 per month, or $190 per year (source: waveapps.com/pricing). Pro adds automatic bank transaction import, auto-categorization, receipt capture, automated late payment reminders, and discounted card processing (your first 10 card transactions each month at 2.9% + $0, then standard rates) (source: waveapps.com/pricing).
For a freelancer who needs free books and invoices, Wave is the better fit. There is no spin to put on that. It does the job, it costs nothing on the core, and it does not try to upsell you into a stack you do not need.
Where Wave has gaps
Wave does not form your company. There is no entity formation, no EIN service, and no registered agent. You arrive at Wave with a business already set up, or you set one up separately first.
Wave is not a bank account. It does not give you account and routing numbers to operate from, and it does not issue spending cards with controls. Its payments feature lets you accept money into your own external bank account; it is not the account itself.
Wave's accounting, while free, is manual on the free plan. Automatic bank import and auto-categorization sit behind the $19 per month Pro plan (source: waveapps.com/pricing). On the free tier you reconcile by hand. There is no real-time, always-on ledger that tags transactions the moment they happen across your banking and card activity, because Wave does not hold your banking and card activity.
Wave does not file 1099s for you. Its tools help you track contractor payments, but the filing itself is a separate task you handle elsewhere.
Wave's other capabilities are paid add-ons layered on top. Payroll is $40 per month base plus $6 per active employee or contractor (source: support.waveapps.com). Receipt capture is an add-on if you stay on Starter ($11 per month or $96 per year), and is included on Pro (source: waveapps.com/pricing). Done-for-you bookkeeping through Wave Advisors starts at $149 per month (source: waveapps.com/pricing). None of that is wrong, but it means a growing business ends up assembling pieces rather than running from one operational platform.
The gap Wave does not fill: One app for banking, cards, payments, and books
Wave answers one question well: how do I do free accounting and invoicing? It does not answer the broader question a founder actually faces, which is how do I form the company, open accounts, issue cards, accept payments, and keep real-time books without stitching together four or five separate tools.
Forming the entity, getting the EIN, opening accounts, issuing cards, and running the ledger are normally separate steps across separate providers. looch closes them into a single app.
What looch Start includes
looch Start forms your entity and hands you a financially operational company. The all-in price is $249. From there, your financial accounts, cards, payments, and accounting all live in the same app, under one login.
That is the structural difference. With Wave, accounting is the product and everything else is your problem to solve elsewhere. With looch, accounting is one layer of a platform that also runs your banking and payments.
What opens up after formation
Once your entity is formed, your looch financial accounts are ready. These are no-fee accounts, with funds held at Fifth Third Bank N.A., Member FDIC (source: looch.money). looch itself is a fintech, not a bank.
Smartcards are issued directly from the app, with spend controls built in. You manage cards, limits, and categories in the same place you see your books, because the card activity feeds the ledger automatically. See looch's full financial stack for the complete card controls.
Payment acceptance covers cards online and in-person, plus pay by bank via Request for Payment, where your customer approves a payment directly from their bank account with no card required. Acceptance ties straight into your books through looch Pay.
Real-time accounting runs in the background with automatic transaction tagging. This is the contrast with Wave's free tier: instead of reconciling by hand or paying $19 per month for auto-import, looch keeps CPA-quality books in real time because the banking, cards, and payments all run through the same platform. If you are weighing whether to handle books yourself or hire help, do you need a bookkeeper walks through the tradeoff.
AI-powered 1099 filing is built in. looch AI scans your transactions and payment methods to determine what to include, and instant 1099 filing costs $2 per filing (source: looch.money/pricing). Wave does not file 1099s for you; looch does.
looch vs Wave: A side-by-side comparison
| 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 financial 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, pay by bank via Request for Payment | 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 ($11/month or $96/year); included on Pro |
Some items in this table favor Wave. Free unlimited invoicing and free core bookkeeping are genuine wins, and for a solo operator they may be all that matters. The table does not hide that.
Who should use Wave
Wave is the right call if:
- You are a freelancer, contractor, or very small business that mainly needs to send invoices and keep simple books without paying a monthly fee
- Your budget is tight and free, capable accounting matters more than an integrated stack
- You already have your company formed and your banking handled elsewhere, and you just need software to track the numbers
- You are comfortable reconciling manually on the free plan, or you are happy to pay $19 per month for Pro to automate import and categorization
- You do not need card issuing, spend controls, or real-time books that update straight from your accounts
If that describes you, Wave is a strong, legitimate choice and probably the easiest path. This post is not arguing otherwise. A freelancer who only needs free books and invoices should use Wave.
Who should use looch
looch is the right call if:
- You have not incorporated yet and want to go from idea to a financially operational company in one app, formation, EIN, accounts, and cards together
- You want banking, Smartcards, payments, and real-time accounting under one login instead of accounting in one tool and everything else scattered across others
- You want CPA-quality books that update in real time with automatic tagging, rather than reconciling by hand or paying monthly to automate import
- You need to file 1099s and want it handled with AI at $2 per filing instead of as a separate manual task
- You want to accept payments by card and by bank through Request for Payment, with acceptance wired directly into your books
The core difference is scope. Wave is free standalone accounting and invoicing. looch is an all-in platform that forms the company and then runs the banking, cards, payments, and books from one place. If you want the whole financial stack in one app, looch covers more of that path.
The honest decision framework
Five questions that clarify the decision quickly.
1. Do you mainly need free invoicing and simple books, and nothing else? Yes: Wave's free Starter plan is hard to beat, and you should use it. No: keep reading.
2. Do you still need to form the company and get an EIN? looch forms the entity and handles the EIN at formation for $249 all-in, then opens your accounts in the same flow. Wave does not form companies at all.
3. Do you want banking, cards, payments, and accounting in one app? looch runs all of them under one login, with the ledger updating from your own activity. Wave is accounting and invoicing software; banking and cards live elsewhere.
4. Do you want real-time books, or are you fine reconciling manually? looch keeps CPA-quality books in real time with automatic tagging. Wave's free plan is manual; auto-import and auto-categorization are on Pro at $19 per month.
5. Do you need to file 1099s? looch files them with AI at $2 per filing. Wave tracks contractor payments but does not file the 1099s for you.
Bottom line
Wave is genuinely free for core accounting and invoicing, and for a freelancer or very small business that is exactly the point. looch is the right choice when you want one app to form the company and then run banking, Smartcards, payments, and real-time books together, rather than free standalone accounting plus a stack of separate tools around it.
Ready to run the whole stack in one place? looch Start forms your entity and opens your accounts in one app, $249 all-in. Or explore looch's full financial stack if you are already incorporated and weighing your options.
