Wave Payroll review 2024: Cost, plans, features and more
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BLUEPRINT
Updated 4:51 p.m. UTC Jan. 3, 2024
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Pros
- Fast and quick payroll processing.
- Integrates with other Wave software.
- Free accounting, invoicing and banking add-ons available.
- 30-day free trial.
Cons
- Limited customer service options.
- Limited multi-state automated tax filing.
- No international payroll processing.
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Featured payroll software offers
OnPay
Monthly fee
$40 per month plus $6 per employee
Direct deposit
Yes
SurePayroll
Monthly fee
$29.99 per month plus $5 per employee
Direct deposit
Yes
Gusto
Monthly fee
Starting at $40 plus $6 per month per employee
Direct deposit
Yes
Rippling
Monthly fee
$35 per month + $8 per user
Direct deposit
Yes
Wave payroll software review
Pricing and plans
Wave charges two base prices depending on whether you process payroll in tax-service states ($40 per month) or self-service states ($20 per month). However, no matter where you run payroll, it charges and additional $6 per active employee or contractor paid during each pay run.
To clarify, if you run payroll in tax-service states, Wave will automatically file payroll taxes on your behalf. If you run payroll in self-service states, Wave helps you by supplying the information required to file your payroll taxes yourself.
Its current tax-service states include:
- Arizona
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Minnesota
- New York
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
The company plans to offer the service in more states soon.
In addition, for $17 a month in tax-service states and $10 monthly in self-service states, Wave offers a limited plan for companies needing to pause their payroll processing for a time. The software provider’s limited version includes most features of the full version, but you cannot process new payroll runs. You can still access all your data on a paused account.
Wave also provides some add-on features for an extra one-time or monthly fee. And some Wave software is free. They include:
- Accounting software: $0.
- Invoicing software: $0.
- U.S.-only banking software: $0.
- Personalized bookkeeping services: $149 and up per month.
- Accounting and payroll coaching services: $379 (one-time fee).
- Mobile receipt capture software: $8 per month or $72 per year.
- Online payment processing services: $1% to 3.4%, plus 60¢ per transaction, depending on payment type.
Wave sits in the middle of the pack in terms of pricing. Several other companies charge around $30 to $40 per month, including Roll by ADP and Patriot. However, you can process payroll at no charge using Payroll4Free or spend more to get additional features through a provider like QuickBooks Payroll.
Wave Payroll might be right for you if you’re a solopreneur or freelancer on a budget who wants your payroll, invoicing, payments and other accounting data integrated through one software provider (a capability free payroll software like Payroll4Free doesn’t offer).
Features and add-ons
Wave Payroll’s feature set includes:
- Fast payroll processing.
- Employee and contractor payment processing tools.
- Direct deposit capabilities
- Automated tax filing and payments (in select states).
- W-2 and 1099 tax form generation.
- Payroll expense report generation.
- Leave time and accrual tracking.
- Automatic integration with other Wave tools, including its free invoicing and accounting solution.
- Employee self-service (with self-serve paystub and tax documentation downloads and contact and banking information updating capabilities).
- A partnership with Next Insurance to offer workers’ compensation coverage.
Wave offers a 100% payroll guarantee. It will cover up to $500 in penalties due to a payroll tax miscalculation. To qualify, all the information on your end must be accurate, and you must notify Wave within 90 days of receiving the fine.
As a freelancer, solopreneur or independent contractor, Wave Payroll may cover all of your needs. With Wave Payroll and other add-ons (such as its payment processing, accounting, invoicing, bookkeeping, mobile receipts and coaching services), you can invoice clients, receive payments via direct deposit or credit card, keep accurate tax records, view your pay stubs and tax documents and get assistance filing payroll taxes.
However, Wave lacks a native time-tracking function, which means you’ll have to rely on a third-party integration to track how many hours you’ve worked on a project for a client. If you want your payroll processing and time-tracking functions to come from the same software, you’ll have to look at other solutions, like Gusto.
In addition, Wave lacks advanced employee hiring and onboarding tools. If you plan to hire employees soon, consider payroll software like Homebase, which offers employee hiring and onboarding workflows and tools.
Customer support and experience
Wave’s customer service options are limited. You can’t speak to a representative by phone. Live assistance is only available Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time via email and online chat. If you need help outside this timeframe, you must engage with the company’s chatbot, Mave, or reference articles and guides using Wave’s online help center.
Wave’s website is straightforward to navigate. However, you may have to sift through support articles in its help center to understand all of Wave’s capabilities and to get answers to your questions. For example, Wave doesn’t mention the ability to integrate with other applications with Zapier (an integrating service) on the payroll product page or the homepage, but information on how to do so is offered via Wave’s help center.
In addition, some of the information within its help center articles is contradictory. For example, the same article states that direct deposits occur either two or three days after payroll processing, depending on which paragraph you read.
Wave offers a relatively well-rated mobile app for Android (3.7 out of five stars) and iOS (4.5 out of five stars) platforms. You can use the app to manage invoices, payments and banking activities. However, you can’t use it to perform payroll-related tasks.
Wave’s online reputation is mixed. User review sites such as Capterra and G2 give the company 4.0 and 4.1 out of five stars, respectively. Positive user reviews praise the software for its ease of use and extra features, such as invoicing and accounting tools. However, user reviews on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) give the firm one out of five stars and complain about difficulties getting refunds and receiving poor customer service.
Wave vs. the competition
Wave makes payroll processing, accounting and invoicing easy for an affordable price, which is why we consider it a great option for solopreneurs and contractors. However, it’s limited on benefits administration, automated payroll functionality, automated tax filing (in 36 states), hourly time tracking, direct integration options and global workforce management tools. Here are some alternative payroll software that can help you in these areas:
- Quickbooks Payroll: Quickbooks offers automated tax filings and payments and payroll processing. It also offers the ability to integrate over 750 applications, allowing you to sync and streamline your entire company’s tech stack.
- Homebase: Homebase offers free time-tracking and employee-scheduling tools, to which the Homebase payroll software can be added.
- Rippling: Rippling offers tools for paying and managing a global workforce, including multi-currency payment processing, global compliance tools and the ability to pay contractors around the world. It also integrates with over 500 applications and offers robust benefits administration tools.
Is Wave right for your business?
We chose Wave as the best payroll software for solopreneurs and contractors due to its ease of use and ability to sync with other Wave tools, such as add-on payment processing, receipt capture tools, banking solutions and free accounting and invoicing tools and payment processing. For solopreneurs needing extra guidance, it also offers personalized bookkeeping services and accounting and payroll coaching services for a fee.
However, Wave may not be adequate if your business is growing because it won’t report your new hires, help you administer employee benefits, pay international employees, process wage garnishments or handle payroll tax filings in most states.
We know that no small business is the same, and you should research and compare several payroll software solutions to find the right one for your company. Read other reviews in this payroll software series to choose the best fit for you:
Methodology
We extensively research the key competitors within an industry to determine the best products and services for your business. Our experts identify the factors that matter most to business owners, including pricing, features and customer support, to ensure that our recommendations offer well-rounded products that will meet the needs of various small businesses.
We collect extensive data to narrow our best list to reputable, easy-to-use products with stand-out features at a reasonable price point. And we look at user reviews to ensure that business owners like you are satisfied with our top picks’ services. We use the same rubric to assess companies within a particular space so you can confidently follow our blueprint to the best payroll software.
Featured payroll software offers
OnPay
Monthly fee
$40 per month plus $6 per employee
Direct deposit
Yes
SurePayroll
Monthly fee
$29.99 per month plus $5 per employee
Direct deposit
Yes
Gusto
Monthly fee
Starting at $40 plus $6 per month per employee
Direct deposit
Yes
Rippling
Monthly fee
$35 per month + $8 per user
Direct deposit
Yes
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Wave offers a 30-day free trial, which is the industry-standard trial period. However, some competitors offer more, such as Roll by ADP, which provides a three-month free payroll software trial.
Wave includes direct deposit as part of its payroll services at no extra charge. Your employees will receive their money within two to three business days of the payroll processing date.
Wave offers automated federal, state and local tax filing in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. The company states that its tax filing services will be available in more states soon.
The price for Wave’s tax-filing-included payroll processing solution is $40 per month plus $6 per active employee or contractor paid. If you process payroll in a state where Wave doesn’t offer tax-filing services, the software costs $20 monthly, plus $6 per active employee or contractor paid.
Wave Payroll won’t track your employees’ working time, though it does track leave time and accruals for payroll processing purposes. However, you can integrate a time-tracking application, like Toggl, to capture that information.
Wave offers a mobile app for both Android and iOS devices. You can use the app to handle invoices, process payments, track expenses and complete banking tasks. However, you can’t process payroll through it.
Wave Payroll automatically integrates with other Wave products. That way, all your data is up-to-date and consistent across your systems. Wave also supports thousands of integrations through Zapier. You can set up integrations, or zaps, to apps like Toggl, Stripe, Gmail and Dubsado.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
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