Frappe Books vs Wave
Frappe Books
frappe.io
Wave
waveapps.comSide by side
| Figure | Frappe Books | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $6/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 10 |
| Spec score · Financial Management | 8.9 (#3) | 8.6 (#10) |
| Spec score · Bookkeeping Software | 8.7 (#22) | 9.3 (#4) |
| Accounting | It keeps double-entry books and includes a country-specific chart of accounts, journal entries, and financial reports. | Wave uses double-entry accounting and provides income, expense, cash-flow, profit-and-loss and balance-sheet reporting. |
| API | Frappe supplies REST and RPC HTTP APIs, including CRUD endpoints for documents and whitelisted Python method calls. | Wave provides an API with application creation, endpoint documentation, query and mutation examples, a playground and webhooks. |
| API authentication | The REST documentation describes token authentication using an API key and secret, plus cookie-based sessions. | Third-party integrations must use OAuth2 and may require Wave approval; Wave reserves the right to impose restrictions or future access fees. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Praise: ease of use | One SourceForge reviewer called the interface intuitive and well designed for a small business. | G2 reviewers repeatedly praise Wave as user-friendly, especially for non-accountants. |
| Purpose | Frappe Books is accounting software for small businesses. | Wave’s invoicing software helps businesses create and send invoices, get paid, and manage customer information. |
| What it does | Frappe Books is accounting software for small businesses and freelancers. | Wave provides cloud accounting, invoicing, payments, payroll and bookkeeping tools for small businesses, freelancers and contractors. |
Plans
Wave
- StarterFree
- Pro$19 a month
- StarterFree
- Receipts$8 a month
- Pro$19 a month
- Pro Plan$19 a month
- Receipts$72 a year
- Wave Advisors$149 a month
- Pro$190 a year
- Pro Plan$190 a year
In their own words
Frappe Books
Frappe Books is accounting software for small businesses, available free under the AGPL-3.0 license. It supports quotes, invoices, payments, bills, supplier payments and returns, alongside double-entry bookkeeping, journal entries and financial reports. Inventory tools track stock across locations, including batches, expiry dates and serial numbers, and the software supports point-of-sale transactions. Businesses in India can produce GSTR-1 and GSTR-2 reports for GST returns. Books User, Books Manager and System Manager roles control access to records, reports and settings. Company data stays in the database of the customer’s Frappe site, and the software runs on the customer’s own server. It is listed for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, self-hosted use, web and Windows. On phones, it runs in a browser and can be added to the home screen, but an internet connection is required. The old desktop app is no longer supported. Frappe states that its quality and information security systems have ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2022 certifications and SOC 2 Type II attestation.
Wave
Wave's invoicing software helps businesses create and send invoices, receive payments, and manage customer information. Invoice templates can be customized with a logo and brand colors using drag-and-drop editing. It supports recurring invoices and automatic credit card payments for repeat customers. Customers can pay by credit card, bank payment (ACH/EFT), or Apple Pay, and invoice and payment information connects to Wave's accounting feature. The free Starter plan costs nothing and includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records; online payments have transaction fees. Pro costs $19 a month and adds automatic bank transaction import, transaction merging and categorization, receipt capture, expense tracking, and late-payment reminders. Wave lists integrations including Amazon, eBay, Capsule, and Etsy, with workflows through Make. Connecting or maintaining Partner integrations and Make requires Pro or a Wave Advisors bookkeeping subscription; third-party API connections also require an active Pro or Wave Advisors package. Wave says it is not HIPAA-compliant and does not support healthcare-related businesses.