They scattered your business across ten logins. We collapsed it into one.
Wave used to be free. Now it's $16/month. The features you relied on are behind a paywall. Helix is $279 once — and it includes scheduling and CRM that Wave never had.
Bottom line: Wave went from free to $16/month ($192/year) — and that's before the 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction in payment processing fees. Helix is a one-time purchase of $279 with invoicing, expense tracking, P&L, CRM, scheduling, and time tracking. Break-even: ~17 months. But unlike Wave, Helix will never paywall features you're already using. Over 3 years, Wave Pro costs $576. Helix costs $279.
Wave is pre-selected below. Add any other tools you're paying for to see the full picture.
Wave Pro: $16/mo = $192/year + processing fees. Break-even with Helix: ~17 months.
Wave's invoicing is simple and clean — easy enough for anyone to pick up. The bookkeeping basics work: income tracking, expense categorization, basic reporting. For years, Wave was the go-to recommendation for freelancers who needed "something free that works." The UI is friendly and non-intimidating, which matters for people who aren't accountants.
The elephant in the room: Wave went from free to $16/month. Features that attracted millions of users — receipt scanning, payment acceptance, bank connections — are now behind the Wave Pro paywall. On top of the subscription, payment processing costs 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction. There's no scheduling, no CRM, no time tracking. Reports are basic. And after the H&R Block acquisition in 2019, the trust is gone — if they paywalled it once, what stops them from raising prices again?
Most Wave defectors hit one of four triggers: (1) paywall anger — "I chose Wave because it was free, and they pulled the rug out," (2) they need scheduling and CRM that Wave doesn't offer, (3) they've realized $192/year for basic bookkeeping is not a deal when full business suites exist for less, or (4) broken trust — they no longer believe Wave won't raise prices again. The Wave-to-Helix switch is often emotional as much as financial.
In Wave, export your clients, invoices, and transactions as CSV files. Download your receipt images if needed. Takes about 15 minutes.
15-minute setup. Import your clients, configure services and pricing. Set up your chart of accounts. The Setup Wizard walks you through everything.
Run both systems for a few days. Enter transactions in both. Make sure your books match and you're comfortable with the new workflow.
Once you're confident, cancel your Wave Pro subscription. No more monthly fees. No more paywall surprises.
Yes. Helix includes invoicing, expense tracking, P&L, plus CRM, scheduling, and time tracking that Wave never had. $279 once vs Wave Pro's $192/year — and Helix gives you more features with no recurring cost.
Wave Pro is $16/month = $192/year. Wave used to be free but paywalled core features in 2023. Payment processing adds 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction on top of the subscription.
Wave was acquired by H&R Block in 2019 for $537M. After the acquisition, features that were free — receipt scanning, payment acceptance, and payroll — were paywalled behind Wave Pro at $16/month. The "free accounting" that attracted millions of users no longer exists.
Wave has no scheduling, no CRM, no time tracking, and limited reporting. It's basic invoicing and bookkeeping — and now it costs $16/month for that. Helix includes all of these for $279 once.
Yes. Export your clients, invoices, and transactions from Wave as CSV. Import into Helix. Most users complete the migration in under 30 minutes.
Wave costs $192/year + processing fees for basic bookkeeping. Helix is $279 once for everything.
Calculate Your Savings· Data sourced from official pricing pages
Wave is free until you need payroll, payments, or support. Then the bills start. Helix is $279 and you're done. Wave is another login, another sync, another place your data can leak. Helix is a Single Source — 65,000+ workflows, zero walls between them.
One point of truth. Zero points of failure.