Small business accounting software · Comparison
Wave vs Xero vs Zoho Books
3 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Wave | Xero | Zoho Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Worth the priceInvoices, bills and bookkeeping for free, and bank imports, users and reminders for $19 a month per business. | Worth the priceAccounting priced per business, not per user, with inventory, purchase orders and bank feeds on every plan. | Worth the priceBills, multi-currency, inventory, projects and custom roles on a $50 plan with 5 users, backed by SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001. |
| Overall score | 6.7 | 7.1 | 8.2Best |
| Free option | Free plan | 30-day free trial | Free plan |
| Card to start | –Not measured | Card required | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $19/mo | $27/mo | $20/mo |
| Pricing model | Tiered | Tiered | Tiered |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing unit | Per business per month or year | Per organization per month; no per-user license fees | Per organization per month, in plan tiers; extra users $3/mo each |
| Free option | Free Starter plan (unlimited invoices and bills, no bank import) | No free plan; one month free with billing details taken at sign-up | Free plan under $50K yearly revenue (1 user + 1 accountant, no bills or bank feeds); 14-day trial |
| Reference scenario (3 users, monthly) | $19/mo on Pro, computed | $59/mo on Growing, computed | $50/mo on Professional, computed |
| Users per plan | Admins, editors and viewers on Pro; payroll manager and tax pro on all plans | No per-user fees on any plan | 1 + accountant / 3 / 5 / 10 / 10 / 15; extra users $3/mo ($2.50 yearly) |
| Multi-currency | Foreign currency invoices and bills | Established ($97) | Professional ($50) and up |
| Inventory and projects | Not listed | Inventory in every plan (Inventory Plus $39/mo); projects on Established | Stock tracking and project profitability on Professional ($50) |
| Card / bank payment fees | 2.9% + $0.60 (first 10 a month at 2.9% + $0 on Pro) / 1%, $1 minimum | 2.9% + 30¢ / ACH debit 1% capped at $9 (Stripe, managed by Xero) | 2.9% + 30¢ / ACH 0.8% capped at $5 (Zoho Payments) |
| Payroll | $40/mo + $6 per employee and per contractor paid | Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto: $36/mo + $6 per employee or contractor | Zoho Payroll from $39/mo + $6 per employee |
| SOC 2 / ISO 27001 | Not stated; Level 1 PCI DSS | SOC 2 Type II report on request; ISO/IEC 27001:2022 | SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 for Zoho cloud services |
| Custom roles / audit log | Fixed roles that cannot be customized; no audit log described | Fixed user roles; History and notes audit trail | Custom roles on Professional; activity log on every plan |
| Data export | Data Export: journal entries and transactions, bills, customers, vendors (XLS or CSV) | Any report exported to Excel or PDF; API | Reports to CSV, XLS, XLSX or PDF; API on every plan |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Wave is the lowest-cost way here to keep small business books: free invoices and bills, and bank imports and users for $19 a month. It lists fewer bookkeeping and security features than the larger suites. | From its public pages, Xero is full small business accounting priced per organization with no per-user fees, with inventory and purchase orders on every plan. Most businesses that pay bills start on Growing, and currencies and projects need Established. | From its public pages, Zoho Books puts the broadest set of bookkeeping and control features at $50 a month, with SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 behind it. Bills start on Professional, and the free plan is limited to businesses under $50K revenue. |
Evidence: Wave: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Xero: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Zoho Books: facts checked 2026-10-16 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Wave review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Wave when
- You want free invoicing and bills with no revenue limit, or the lowest price for 3 users.
- Pick Zoho Books when
- You need inventory, purchase orders, custom roles, an activity log or SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
From our Xero review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Xero when
- You want no limit on users and capped ACH fees with Stripe.
- Pick Zoho Books when
- You want multi-currency, projects and custom roles on a $50 plan, or a free plan under $50K revenue.
From our Zoho Books review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Zoho Books when
- You want multi-currency, projects and custom roles below $97 a month.
- Pick Xero when
- You want no per-user fees at all and inventory on every plan.
From our Zoho Books review
Checked Oct 16, 2026- Pick Zoho Books when
- You need inventory, purchase orders, custom roles, an activity log or SOC 2 and ISO 27001.
- Pick Wave when
- You want free invoices and bills with no revenue limit, or bank imports for $19 a month.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- WaveLowest pricePro$19/mo$190 billed yearly; per business
- Automatic bank imports and auto-categorized transactions
- Admin, editor and viewer users
- Payment reminders and recurring invoices
- First 10 card payments a month at 2.9% + $0
- XeroEarly$27/moBilled monthly; 80% off for 3 months shown for new US customers
- Quotes and 20 invoices a month
- Enter 5 bills a month
- Bank reconciliation, sales tax, W-9 and 1099
- Auto-reconcile as a $5/mo add-on
- Zoho BooksStandard$20/mo$15 billed yearly; 3 users
- Bank and credit card feeds
- Sales and use tax tracking
- Transaction locking and custom reports
- No bills (expenses only)
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Wave 2026-10-16, Xero 2026-10-16, Zoho Books 2026-10-16.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Zoho BooksSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 3 self-serve products here (8.2/10).
- Lowest starter price
- Wave$19/mo for the Pro ($190 billed yearly) plan.
- Highest overall score
- Zoho Books8.2/10 (Excellent). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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