QuickBooks vs FreshBooks vs Wave Compared

The Question Changed Shape

Two assumptions sit under this comparison, including the version of this page I am replacing: that QuickBooks means QuickBooks Self-Employed at $15 a month, and that Wave is the free one. Neither survives a look at the current pricing pages.

Self-Employed is closed to new customers. Intuit's wording is that existing subscribers "can still continue your subscription, or you can upgrade to QuickBooks Solopreneur," and that "New customers will be able to choose from our other products, including QuickBooks Solopreneur." Meanwhile QuickBooks Online now lists a Free plan at $0 with no credit card required, and Wave has moved receipt capture behind an $8 add-on.

So the useful version of this comparison is not a feature grid. It is a bill. Below, the same three products are priced against three ordinary side hustles, because the thing that decides this is which cap you hit first.

What Each Name Buys in 2026

Two things worth pulling out of that table before the scenarios. FreshBooks charges for clients, not invoices, which is the cap most people trip over. And the cheapest full-featured year on this page is FreshBooks Lite at $12, because of a first-year offer that renews at $276. A $1 a month price is a marketing decision, not a budget.

The Two Free Plans, Head to Head

The QuickBooks free tier is recent, so it is worth putting the two $0 plans side by side. They are not close substitutes:

The shape of the QuickBooks free plan tells you what it is for. Two invoices a month is not a business, it is a demo, and the escape hatch from the cap is enabling QuickBooks Payments, which is where Intuit makes its money. Wave's free plan does not cap invoices at all and monetizes the same way, through processing, just without the gate in front.

If invoicing is the job, Wave Starter is the more honest zero. If you want to be inside the Intuit ecosystem eventually, the free plan is a reasonable place to keep a year of books while you decide.

Three Side Hustles, Three Bills

Same three products, priced at regular rates against three patterns that cover most of the people this comparison gets written for.

The driver: 12,000 business miles, no client invoices

DoorDash, Instacart, rideshare. The deduction that matters is mileage, there is nobody to invoice, and money arrives by deposit rather than card.

• Solopreneur, $240 a year. Intuit's feature list for the product includes mileage tracking, receipt capture and quarterly tax estimation, which is exactly this reader's shortlist.
• FreshBooks Lite, $276 a year. The mileage tracker is on Lite: FreshBooks calls it "a free feature that is included in all our plans, even during the trial period." You are paying $276 for trip logging plus an invoicing engine you will not open.
• Wave Starter, $0. Wave's own help center answers the mileage question by pointing outward: "Wave offers an integration with Driversnote to track mileage." That is a second app to install and possibly pay for.

At 72.5 cents a mile through June 2026 and 76 cents after, 12,000 miles is roughly $8,900 in deductions. That number is why the driver is the one reader here who should stop optimizing for a $240 subscription and pick whichever tool actually logs the trips without being asked twice.

The writer: eight regular clients, a dozen invoices a month

This is where the received wisdom breaks.

• FreshBooks, $516 a year. Lite caps you at five billable clients, so eight clients means Plus at $43 a month. The product with the best invoicing reputation is now the most expensive line on this page.
• Solopreneur, $240 a year. Invoicing plus the Schedule C plumbing, with the limits noted below.
• Wave Starter, $0. Unlimited invoices, no client cap.
• QuickBooks Free, $0, but it fails here. Two invoices a month against a dozen sent, unless you qualify for and enable QuickBooks Payments, which lifts the cap and puts your invoices on Intuit processing rates.

The honest version of "FreshBooks is the best for invoicing" is that it is the nicest to use, and that for this reader it costs $516 more a year than the free option that has no cap. Whether the workflow is worth $43 a month is a real question with a real answer, but it should be asked out loud.

The service business: $2,000 a month paid by card

Photographer, cleaner, tutor, anyone whose clients pay the invoice with a card. Four invoices a month, $500 each.

• Wave Starter, $0 in software. Processing is 2.9% plus $0.60, so $58 plus $2.40, about $60 a month or $725 a year.
• Wave Pro, $228 a year, and it is worse here. Pro removes the $0.60 on the first ten transactions a month. At four transactions that saves $2.40 a month, against $19 a month for the plan.
• FreshBooks Lite, $276 a year in software. Cards start at 2.9% plus $0.30, so $58 plus $1.20, about $59 a month. The interesting line is the other one: FreshBooks prices US bank transfers at 1% per transaction, which on the same $2,000 is $20 a month instead of $59. Getting clients onto ACH saves more than any plan choice here.
• QuickBooks: not computable in advance. See below.

Notice the scale. The processing fee on a modest $24,000 a year of card revenue is larger than every subscription in this comparison, and it is the number people skip.

The Line Item That Beats the Subscription

Two of the three publish their rates, and they are not the same. Wave prints 2.9% plus $0.60 per card transaction, 3.4% plus $0.60 on Amex. FreshBooks prints cards "Starting at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction," US bank transfers at "1% per transaction," buy now pay later at 6% plus $0.30, and instant payout at 1.5%. On a $500 invoice paid by card the gap between those two card rates is 30 cents. Paid by bank transfer through FreshBooks the same invoice costs $5 instead of $15.10, which is worth changing your invoice defaults over.

Intuit is the one you cannot price in advance. Its payments page describes pay as you go pricing with "no separate monthly fee or processing minimums" and says "processing fees vary based on how your customer pays," with a note that businesses processing more than $2,500 a month may qualify for up to 25% off standard rates. The standard rate itself is not on that page. Wave prints card and Amex rates on its pricing page and does not print a bank payment rate there.

None of this is hiding anything, rates genuinely vary by card type and entry method. The point is proportion: if you take card payments, the subscription comparison you are reading, including this one, is the smaller half of the decision. Get Intuit’s number before you choose, then redo the math above with your own volume and your own mix of card and bank payments.

Which Limit Bites You First

Forget best. Ask which wall you hit, because that is what forces the upgrade you did not budget for.

• Client count. FreshBooks Lite at five billable clients. The most common surprise on this page.
• Invoice count. QuickBooks Free at two a month, unless you turn on QuickBooks Payments.
• Receipts. Wave, at $8 a month once you want them captured rather than filed in a drawer.
• A second pair of hands. Solopreneur and QuickBooks Free both print "1 user" and "No accountant access." The bookkeeper or CPA you hire in year two cannot log in beside you.
• Your own chart of accounts. Solopreneur is single entry with preset categories. Intuit's guidance is that customizing the chart of accounts means moving to Simple Start at $38 a month.
• Mileage. Wave sends you to Driversnote. Solopreneur and every FreshBooks plan include a tracker.

Pick the one whose wall is furthest from where you are heading in the next 18 months, then stop shopping. For the wider field, including Xero and Keeper, the five-platform roundup covers the same prices with more options, and the tracking setup guide covers the version of this job that costs nothing at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wave still free in 2026?

The bookkeeping and invoicing are, and there is no trial clock on them. Two pieces that used to get described as free are not: receipt capture is an $8 per month add-on or part of Pro at $19 per month, and taking card payments costs 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction, 3.4% plus $0.60 on Amex.

Does QuickBooks have a free plan now?

Yes, and most comparisons of these three have not caught up. QuickBooks Online lists a Free plan at $0 with no credit card required. The printed limits are the story: 1 user, no accountant access, send 2 invoices per month, connect 1 bank. Intuit adds that invoices are unlimited if you qualify for and enable QuickBooks Payments, which is how a free plan pays for itself.

Can I still buy QuickBooks Self-Employed?

Not as a new customer. Intuit states that current subscribers "can still continue your subscription, or you can upgrade to QuickBooks Solopreneur," and that "New customers will be able to choose from our other products, including QuickBooks Solopreneur." Older comparisons quoting $15 a month for Self-Employed are quoting a product you cannot sign up for.

Which one is cheapest if I invoice a lot of clients?

Wave Starter, at zero, because its plans are not priced by client count and its free plan prints unlimited invoices. FreshBooks Lite stops at five billable clients, so a freelancer with eight regular clients is on Plus at $43 a month, which is $516 a year. The tool with the best reputation for invoicing is the most expensive way to send invoices on this page.

What about payment processing fees?

They are usually the largest number in this comparison. Wave prints 2.9% plus $0.60 per card transaction, FreshBooks prints cards starting at 2.9% plus $0.30 and US bank transfers at 1%. On $2,000 a month across four invoices, cards cost roughly $725 a year at either one, more than any subscription here, while routing the same money through FreshBooks bank transfers costs about $240. Intuit describes QuickBooks Payments as pay as you go with rates that vary by payment method and does not print a standard rate on its pricing page, so ask before you assume.

Sources

Prices, plan limits and quoted wording were checked against these pages on September 22, 2026.

• QuickBooks Online pricing, for the Free plan limits and the Simple Start price
• Intuit, Solopreneur vs Self-Employed, for the new-customer wording and the $20 per month or $215 annual price
• Intuit, Introduction to QuickBooks Solopreneur, for the feature list and the chart of accounts guidance
• QuickBooks Payments, for the pay as you go wording and the $2,500 a month note
• FreshBooks pricing, for plan prices, the five-client cap on Lite and the first-year offer
• FreshBooks accept payments, for the card, ACH, BNPL and instant payout rates
• FreshBooks mileage tracker, for mileage being included on all plans
• Wave pricing, for the Starter and Pro plans and the processing rates
• Wave receipts, for the $8 add-on
• Wave Help Center, How to record mileage, for the Driversnote integration
• IRS, Standard mileage rates, for the 2026 business rates: 72.5 cents January 1 to June 30 (IR-2025-128) and 76 cents July 1 to December 31 (IR-2026-29)

Bruce Samuels

Personal Finance Writer

Bruce writes about the money side of self-employment: taxes, banking, and the recurring costs that look small until you annualize them. Not a CPA.

Bruce Samuels is a pen name; MoneySavvyHQ is written and fact-checked by a small editorial team, none of whom are CPAs. How we work.