Wave

Wave is accounting software first, invoicing tool second, and field service platform never. The Starter plan is genuinely free, with invoicing, basic bookkeeping, and expense tracking included at no monthly cost. The Pro plan runs $19/month (or $190/year) and adds auto-bank-import via Plaid, automated late payment reminders, and discounted payment processing at 2.9% + $0 for the first 10 transactions monthly. For a solo appliance tech or a one-truck plumber who just needs to send invoices and reconcile their books, the price-to-function ratio is hard to beat.

But Wave was not built for trades. There is no job scheduling, no dispatch board, no service history by equipment, no parts inventory, no flat-rate pricing library, and no GPS tracking. The comparisons Wave makes on its own website are against QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Xero. Not ServiceTitan. Not Jobber. Not Housecall Pro. That tells you exactly where this tool sits in the market.

Contractors who run payroll will pay an additional $25-$40/month depending on plan tier. The Wave Advisors bookkeeping service starts at $149/month on Pro, going up to $199/month on Starter. Customer support is live chat and email only, Monday through Friday, 9am to 4:45pm Eastern, and only if you have a paid add-on. For a contractor dealing with a billing dispute on a Saturday afternoon, that is a real problem. Wave makes sense as a back-office accounting layer for a very small shop that already handles scheduling and dispatch through another tool, or for someone just starting out who needs free invoicing before they can afford anything else.