FAQ: Plans for legacy businesses

On June 10, 2024, any business(es) created in Wave before January 29, 2024, in Canada and February 5, 2024, in the United States will automatically move to Starter. Learn what this means for you.

When your business migrates, you will see a Starter label next to your business name at the top-right of the screen and you will receive an email to notify you of this update. Once the update occurs, you can upgrade to the Pro Plan. If you upgrade to the Pro Plan, the label will show Pro.

Wave has two plans—a free Starter Plan and a paid Pro Plan. You can continue to enjoy the Starter Plan features for free or upgrade your business to Pro if you want easier ways to manage your money and stay on top of your bookkeeping.

If you upgrade to Pro and then cancel your Pro subscription or switch to a receipts add-on subscription, you’ll lose access to auto-import bank transactions, user collaborators (admin, viewer, and editor roles), and paid Pro features that are currently included for free as a legacy business on the
Starter plan.

To upgrade to the Pro Plan, sign in to your Wave account. Visit your dashboard or use your invoicing or accounting features, and click the peach “Upgrade now” button. For detailed information about how to upgrade, see Change your Pro or Receipt subscription plan. You can read Wave's full terms and conditions in our subscription terms of service.

Although we don’t offer a free trial, the Pro Plan is a pay-as-you-go subscription, so you can cancel anytime. You will keep access to the features for the remainder of the period you paid for and then return to the Starter Plan. The Starter Plan is free.

Yes, you can unsubscribe at any time! After you cancel, you will have access to the paid plan until the end of the billing period. At the end of the billing period, your business will return to the Starter Plan. Learn how to cancel your subscription.

Yes. If you created your businesses before January 29, 2024, in Canada and before February 5, 2024, in the United States, your existing businesses are now automatically part of the free Starter Plan. You can upgrade each business individually to Pro.

From now on, when you create a new business in Wave, you’ll choose between Starter and Pro.

Legacy businesses that already auto-import bank transactions and/or have users added as collaborators to their businesses as of May 1, 2024, will have the auto-import, auto-merge, and auto-categorize features and the ability to add users to their businesses for free. Legacy businesses not actively using the auto-import bank transaction and added user features will need to upgrade to Pro to access those features in the future.

If your existing business in Wave is already auto-importing bank transactions and/or already has users added to it as of May 1, 2024, that Starter business can continue to auto-import, -merge, and -categorize transactions AND add users as collaborators
for free.

If your existing business didn’t have any users added and had a bank connection, but the auto-import bank transactions feature was turned off, before May 1, 2024, your Starter business no longer has access to these paid Pro Plan features.

Nothing changes. You can continue to enjoy your receipts subscription while on Starter.

Alternatively, receipts features are included at no extra charge if you upgrade to Pro! Wave’s Pro Plan includes everything you get with a receipts subscription (digitally capture unlimited receipts and track expenses) and more features for better, faster, and easier bookkeeping for your business.

If your receipts subscription is currently billed through Apple or Google, we recommend upgrading to Pro on your phone, through the same store you originally subscribed with (either the App Store or the Play Store). This will ensure any time remaining on your Receipts subscription is credited towards your new Pro Plan! Learn how to change your plan in Change your Pro or Receipts subscription plan.

You can manually upload and attach receipts to your accounting transactions on your desktop or from Wave’s mobile site with the Starter Plan. Learn how to manually upload receipts.

To access receipt scanning with optical character recognition (OCR) technology, add a receipts subscription to your Starter Plan. Or you can upgrade to Pro, which includes receipts, auto-import bank transactions, and the option to send via Wave (which lets you automatically send invoices, estimates, and attachments right from Wave), so you can automate the boring stuff.

Businesses that already have users added and/or an active bank connection (and the auto-import bank transactions feature turned on) as of May 1, 2024, can continue to add users to their businesses and auto-import, -merge, and -categorize transactions for free. For these businesses, nothing changes for existing users who have admin, editor, or viewer access.

If your existing business accepts online payments or has an active subscription to payroll, you can still send invoices, estimates, and reminders through Wave with the Starter Plan.

If your Starter business doesn’t accept online payments or have an active subscription to payroll, you can upgrade to Pro and enjoy the option to send via Wave. With one click, you can fire off your invoices and attachments, right from Wave. Plus, you’ll continue to enjoy automated reminders and other ways to speed up and simplify how you manage your money.

There are no changes to processing fees to accept online payments through Wave when you move to the Starter Plan. If you choose the Pro Plan, you’ll pay a reduced fee on the first 10 payments you process every month—you'll find detailed pricing in the answer below.

The option to accept online payments is available with Starter or at a discounted rate with Pro.

Approval to use online payments is subject to eligibility criteria, including identity verification and credit review. You’ll need to answer a few questions about your business and provide us with a little more information about yourself in order to get approved to accept online payments.