Wave is free. So are we — and you can read our source.
Wave’s Starter plan is genuinely free, and we’ll say that plainly. But it’s closed and cloud-only, it has no built-in inventory, its automation lives behind Wave Pro at $19 USD/month, and it has been an H&R Block product since 2019. LineLedger is free too — and open source, self-hosted, and a deeper double-entry core.
Comparison as of July 2026.
What you actually pay
Wave’s Starter plan is genuinely free — credit where it’s due. Its bill shows up when you need Pro features, accept card or bank payments, or run payroll. LineLedger’s never does, because there isn’t one.
LineLedger
Free because it’s open source — not free because you’re the product.
- Open source under the AGPLv3 — $0, forever
- Real double-entry with inventory & multi-currency
- Unlimited invoices, bills, and users
- Runs on your server; portable ZIP export
- No owner who can change the terms on you
Wave
Free — or $19 USD/mo for Wave Pro
Free Starter tier; Pro, payments, and payroll are extra.
- Starter is genuinely free: manual entry, no bank import
- Pro $19 USD/mo (or $190/yr) adds bank import & receipt capture
- No built-in quantity/stock inventory
- Closed source, cloud-only — no self-host
- US & Canada only; backed by H&R Block
| Same books | LineLedger | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Just invoicing & manual books | $0 | $0 Wave Starter is genuinely free too |
| Add automatic bank import | $0 | $19 USD/mo Bank import requires Wave Pro |
| Track stock quantities | $0 | Not available Wave has no built-in quantity inventory |
| Read the source / run it yourself | $0 | Not available Wave is closed and cloud-only |
Wave figures are current US published pricing, promotional discounts and payment-processing rates excluded as of July 2026. Source.
Feature for feature
Where each one is ahead — including the things Wave does that we don’t yet.
| Capability | LineLedger | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| What it costs | $0 — open source | Free, or $19 USD/mo for Pro |
| Real double-entry ledger | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in inventory tracking Wave has no built-in quantity/stock tracking; its own guidance is to track inventory manually by value, using an asset account and a COGS account. | FIFO or weighted-average | No |
| Foreign-currency accounting Credit where due: Wave handles foreign-currency invoices, bills, and bank accounts, and posts realized FX gain/loss. | Included | Included |
| Open source — audit, patch, or fork (AGPLv3) | Yes | No |
| Runs on your own server | Yes | No |
| Portable full-company export | Portable ZIP, anytime | Closed, cloud-only |
| Automatic bank import Wave’s free Starter is manual entry; automatic bank import and receipt capture both require Wave Pro. | Statement import included; live feeds on roadmap | Pro only ($19 USD/mo) |
| Available outside the US & Canada Wave supports the United States and Canada only. | Run it anywhere | No |
| Vendor independence | Fork the source (AGPLv3) | Backed by H&R Block since 2019 |
What it costs
Real double-entry ledger
Built-in inventory tracking
Wave has no built-in quantity/stock tracking; its own guidance is to track inventory manually by value, using an asset account and a COGS account.
Foreign-currency accounting
Credit where due: Wave handles foreign-currency invoices, bills, and bank accounts, and posts realized FX gain/loss.
Open source — audit, patch, or fork (AGPLv3)
Runs on your own server
Portable full-company export
Automatic bank import
Wave’s free Starter is manual entry; automatic bank import and receipt capture both require Wave Pro.
Available outside the US & Canada
Wave supports the United States and Canada only.
Vendor independence
Depth you won’t outgrow
Built-in inventory with FIFO or weighted-average costing, a fixed-asset register with depreciation, classes and locations, and drill-through reports. Wave has no built-in quantity inventory.
Free *and* open
Wave is free the way a closed cloud service is free — until it isn’t. LineLedger is free because the AGPLv3 source is on your disk. Nobody can price it, gate it, or switch it off.
Owned by you, not H&R Block
Your books live on your own server and export to a portable ZIP. Wave has been an H&R Block product since 2019 — fine, until product priorities change.
Common questions
- Wave is already free. Why switch?
- Three reasons, none of them price. Wave’s free Starter is manual-entry only — automatic bank import and receipt capture require Wave Pro at $19 USD/month, while all of LineLedger is free. Wave has no built-in inventory, so a growing business outgrows it. And Wave is closed and cloud-only: you cannot read the code, run it yourself, or keep it if H&R Block changes course.
- Isn’t “free” the same either way?
- Not really. Wave is free at someone else’s discretion — the terms, the tiers, and the product’s future belong to its owner. LineLedger is free because the AGPLv3 grants you the code permanently, and it runs on your hardware. One is a price; the other is a property right.
- What can’t Wave do that LineLedger can?
- Wave has no built-in quantity/stock tracking — its own guidance is to track inventory manually by value. It is closed-source and cloud-only, so you cannot self-host it or audit how your numbers are calculated, and it serves the United States and Canada only. LineLedger includes inventory, is open source under the AGPLv3, and runs wherever you put it. To be fair to Wave: it does handle foreign-currency accounting with realized FX gain/loss, and its free plan really is free.
- Who owns Wave?
- Wave has been backed by H&R Block since 2019. That’s fine until product priorities change — which is exactly why LineLedger is AGPLv3: if we ever broke faith, you could fork the code and carry on without us.
See the difference on your own books.
Free and open source under the AGPLv3. Clone it, run it on a server you control, and bring your history with you — there is nothing to subscribe to.
Wave and the Wave logo are trademarks of Wave Financial Inc., used here for identification and comparison only. LineLedger is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Wave Financial Inc. Comparison based on publicly available information as of July 2026; pricing and features may have changed — see the source.