Neo-Capital vs Wave
Wave is free the way ad-supported things are free. Neo-Capital Desktop is $49, once, and then it's simply yours.
14 days free on Online, 5-day trial on Desktop, no card either way
Wave earned its place: free invoicing and basic bookkeeping got a lot of tiny businesses off spreadsheets, with the business model living in payment processing fees and an upsell to Pro at about $16 a month for bank feeds and priority support. For a side project with a handful of transactions, it is a fine answer.
The comparison changes the moment the books matter. Neo-Capital Desktop Basic costs $49 once, about three months of Wave Pro, and after that there is no monthly bill, no monetisation of your payment flow, and no ceiling: a real ledger with reconciliation and close underneath, a growth path to Pro and Firm on the same file, and your books in a local file that no business-model pivot can touch.
Neo-Capital vs Wave
Competitor prices and features are US list as checked July 2026; both products change, so verify anything load-bearing on their site and ours.
| Neo-Capital | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 once (or $19/mo cloud) | Free / $16/mo Pro |
| Business model | You buy the software | Payment fees + subscription |
| Books stored on your own machine | ||
| Bank feeds | Pro plan | |
| Invoices with online payment | ||
| Bank reconciliation and period close | Limited | |
| Audit trail | ||
| Inventory and fixed assets | ||
| Multiple businesses | Yes, one licence/subscription | Separate accounts |
| Mileage tracking | ||
| Sales-tax nexus monitoring | ||
| AI assistance available | Ours or bring your own |
Where Wave is genuinely strong
The price of entry. Free is free: for a brand-new side hustle with a dozen transactions a month and no appetite for any spend, Wave's invoicing and simple books are hard to argue with, and its payment processing is easy to switch on.
Where Neo-Capital wins
Everything after the first year. $49 once buys books that reconcile, close, and survive an accountant's questions, with deduction finding and quarterly estimates that typically pay for the software in found tax savings. You aren't the product, your payment flow isn't the revenue model, and when the business grows the same file grows with it.
Switching from Wave
Export your Wave transactions and customers as CSV and drop them into Neo-Capital's import. The review queue categorizes as it lands, and most Wave-sized books are fully moved in an afternoon.
Neo-Capital vs Wave, asked plainly
Is Wave really free?
The starter plan is free, monetised through payment processing fees, with bank-feed automation on the Pro plan at about $16/month. Neo-Capital Desktop Basic is $49 once, which is roughly three months of Wave Pro, and then costs nothing forever.
Is Neo-Capital overkill for a tiny business?
Basic is built exactly for that scale: personal and business money in one place, plain-English bookkeeping, deductions surfaced, quarterly taxes estimated. The heavier machinery only appears if you upgrade editions.
Can I move my Wave books over?
Yes, via Wave's CSV exports. Transactions and customers import through the review queue, so everything lands categorized and approved by you.
What about accepting card payments?
Get Paid connects your own Stripe or Square account, so invoices carry a pay button and the money and fees post themselves. The processor relationship, and its pricing, is yours, not ours.
Two ways to stop overpaying.
Subscribe to the full platform in a browser, or buy the desktop program once and own it forever. Either way, you can always leave with everything.
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