Invoice Ninja vs Wave vs FreshBooks

Compared on	Invoice Ninja Free plan · from $11.67/mo VisitRemove	Wave Free plan · from $15.83/mo VisitRemove	FreshBooks Free trial · from $20.70/mo VisitRemove
What it is	Source-available invoicing, payments, expenses and time tracking, hosted from free or self-hosted	Free invoicing and double-entry bookkeeping for small businesses, with a $19 Pro plan for bank sync	Invoicing and accounting for freelancers and service businesses, priced by number of billable clients
Free plan	Up to 5 clients with unlimited invoicing, 11 invoice templates, online payments, recurring invoices and auto-billing, expenses, projects and time tracking, client portal; Invoice Ninja branding stays on	Starter: unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records; mobile invoicing; optional online payments at 2.9% + $0.60 per card transaction (3.4% + $0.60 for Amex). No automatic bank import or auto-categorisation; receipt capture is an $8/month add-on; collaborators limited to payroll manager or Block Advisors tax pro access.	No
Cheapest paid plan	$11.67/mo billed annually (Ninja Pro)Invoice Ninja pricing	$15.83/mo billed annually (Pro)Wave pricing	$20.70/mo billed annually (Lite)FreshBooks pricing
What it covers	Unlimited clients and invoices, no Invoice Ninja branding; $140 billed yearly. 30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.	Per business; $190 billed yearly. Card fees drop to 2.9% + $0 on the first 10 transactions each month. Canadian price CA$25/month or CA$250/year.	Invoice up to 5 billable clients; extra team members $11/month each; $248.40 billed yearly. Promotion: 80% off ($4.60/month) for the first 4 months.
Free trial	None stated	None stated	30-day free trial, no credit card required
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, Linux, API	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android
Integrations (vendor's figure)	Dozens of payment gateways, plus hundreds of apps via Zapier, Make and Pabbly	Not stated	100+ apps in the FreshBooks AppStore
Open source	Yes, self-hostable	No	No
Good for	Freelancers with a handful of clients who want free invoicing Businesses that want to host their invoicing data themselves European businesses that need PEPPOL e-invoicing	Freelancers and sole owners who want free invoicing and bookkeeping Small businesses in the US or Canada that invoice often on a small budget Owners who want a bookkeeper to keep the books for them	Freelancers and consultants who bill a small number of clients Service businesses that invoice for tracked time and project work Owners who want their accountant working in the same books
Watch out for	The hosted Free plan is limited to 5 clients and keeps Invoice Ninja branding Bank sync, team users and permissions need Enterprise Its pages do not describe payroll, tax filing or AI features	Automatic bank imports and transaction categorisation need the Pro plan Receipt capture costs $8 a month on the free plan Its pages do not describe AI features, multi-currency or inventory tracking	Lite invoices only 5 clients and Plus 50; unlimited clients need Premium ($70/mo) Each team member costs $11 a month on top of the plan Bank reconciliation, receipt scanning and accountant access are not on Lite
Made by	Invoice Ninja LLC	Wave Financial Inc.	2NDSITE Inc.

Entry prices are the cheapest paid plan, as each vendor publishes it; “What it covers” says what that price is per (a user, a channel, a brand, a number of contacts). The sources are listed on each tool's page.

Every tool in accounting and invoicing software is on its category page, with the written head-to-heads on Compare.