Relentify vs Wave: When Free Accounting Software Isn't Enough
Free accounting software sounds too good to be true. That's because it usually is.
Wave is genuinely free — no credit card, no trial period, no "upgrade in 30 days" nag screen. Its core accounting, invoicing, and receipt scanning work without cost. For a solo freelancer just starting out, that's genuinely useful. But free software works the way all free software works: someone is making money somewhere, and it's probably not by helping you build a sustainable business.
The "relentify wave free accounting software" question boils down to this: is Wave's zero price actually cheaper than Relentify's free tier, or do the missing features cost you more in time and compliance risk?
What Wave gets right
Wave does deliver on its promise. You get double-entry bookkeeping, unlimited invoicing, automatic bank feeds, and receipt scanning — all without paying a pound. Wave's founders aren't trying to scam anyone. They make money from payment processing (2.9% plus 60p per transaction) and payroll add-ons, and they're happy to let you use the core accounting for free.
For a sole trader who sends three invoices a month and tracks expenses in a spreadsheet anyway, Wave covers the legal minimum. The interface is clean. The mobile app is functional. It does what it says on the tin.
The transaction matching is solid, too. Bank feeds sync within hours, and the interface for matching transactions to invoices is straightforward. For simple businesses with one or two bank accounts, Wave's reconciliation handles it without ceremony.
The feature gap: what Relentify's free tier includes that Wave doesn't
Here's where the conversation gets interesting. Both are free. But they're not equivalent.
| Feature | Relentify (Sole Trader Free) | Wave (Free) |
|---|---|---|
| Invoicing | Unlimited + quotes + credit notes | Unlimited (basic) |
| Expense claims | Yes | No |
| Mileage tracking | Yes, with auto-distance | No |
| Financial reporting | Full suite (P&L, balance sheet, trial balance, cash flow) | Basic only (P&L, balance sheet) |
| Credit notes | Yes | No |
| Quotes | Yes, convert to invoice | No |
| Mobile app | Full feature parity | Read-only mostly |
| Support | Live chat, 24/7 | Forum + email (days wait) |
Even on a free plan, Relentify includes expense claims, mileage tracking, quotes, credit notes, and comprehensive reporting. Wave either doesn't offer these or hides them behind paid tiers. This matters because these aren't luxury features — they're things your accountant will ask for in January, or you'll need them to claim tax relief properly.
The reporting gap is where things get serious. Wave offers profit-and-loss and balance sheet. Call that the minimum viable set for tax purposes. It does not offer cash flow forecasts, trial balance, aged payables, or general ledger. If your accountant needs any of these for year-end, you'll be exporting CSV files and building them in a spreadsheet. Which defeats the entire purpose of using accounting software instead of a spreadsheet.
Relentify's free tier includes all standard reports. Cash flow forecasting, trial balance, aged payables, general ledger, journal detail — everything your accountant or bookkeeper would need. Upgrade to a paid plan and you add custom reporting, but the essentials are already there on free.
VAT, compliance, and hidden costs
UK-specific, and this matters: Wave's support for Making Tax Digital is incomplete. You can track sales tax in Wave, but submitting your VAT return directly to HMRC isn't seamless. You'll calculate the figures in Wave, then manually key them into HMRC's portal. That's an extra 45 minutes in January and a higher chance of errors.
Relentify supports MTD on every plan, including free. This isn't a nice-to-have. If you're registered for VAT and submitting quarterly returns, MTD compliance is mandatory. Calculate your VAT in Relentify, review the nine-box breakdown, and submit directly to HMRC without leaving the application. It takes 10 minutes instead of 45.
Wave also subsidises its free accounting through payment processing. When customers pay you via card, you're charged 2.9% plus 60p per transaction. For a business processing £5,000/month in card payments, that's roughly £145/month in fees — £1,740 per year. Relentify integrates with Stripe, so you use your own merchant rate, which is often lower at higher volumes. The "free" accounting isn't free if it costs you money every time someone pays you.
Scalability and growth: where Wave stops scaling
Wave is optimised for micro-businesses at the very start. It does one job well: basic invoicing and expense tracking. But it doesn't scale.
There are no purchase orders (a problem the moment you're buying supplies on credit terms). No multi-entity management (so you can't run multiple businesses from one account). No project tracking. No approval workflows. No permission controls if you hire help or bring in a bookkeeper.
The moment your business grows past "solo freelancer," you'll outgrow Wave. Then you migrate — losing 3 years of data formatting, rebuilding templates, learning new software. That migration costs time and money you didn't budget for when you chose "free."
Relentify scales from free sole trader to growth plans with purchase orders, multi-entity management, and project tracking. You start free and grow without switching platforms. If you're likely to hire team members, consider how each platform handles timesheets and payroll. Relentify's time-recording features integrate with payroll. Wave's don't.
For freelancers specifically, Relentify includes expense tracking and mileage logging — features built-in for your use case, not bolted on as afterthoughts.
Support, data, and the cost of having no one to call
Wave's free tier includes community forum support and email with response times in days. No phone. No live chat. If you have a reconciliation question at 5pm Thursday and you're sending invoices Friday, you're stuck.
Relentify includes live chat support on every plan, including free. An AI handles common questions instantly. A human takes complex issues. You're not waiting for an email; you're chatting in real time.
Wave stores data on North American servers. For most UK sole traders, this is fine. But if you have clients requiring UK data residency or you work with other UK businesses with data protection obligations, this is a problem. Relentify stores data on UK and EU servers — it's a baseline expectation for UK-based accounting.
FAQ
Q: Is Wave really free forever? A: The core accounting is free as long as Wave decides to keep it that way. Free software can change terms, alter features, or shut down. Relentify's free tier is a published, supported plan tier — same as any other tier.
Q: Can I do my self-assessment using Wave's numbers? A: Wave exports a profit-and-loss statement, which gives you the net income figure. But the export format isn't HMRC-compatible, so you'll manually key numbers into your tax return. Relentify's reports export in formats that work with tax software.
Q: Is Wave okay if I'm a freelancer? A: Freelancers benefit from expense tracking and mileage logging — neither included in Wave. If you're using Wave as an invoice tracker and managing expenses in a spreadsheet anyway, fine. But compare Relentify's free tier or dedicated freelancer tools purpose-built for contractor bookkeeping.
Q: What happens when I hire someone? A: Wave has no expense claim workflow, team permissions, or approval routes. Fine if you're solo. Once you add a bookkeeper or employee, you'll need more structure.
Q: Does Wave's payment processing save money? A: 2.9% plus 60p per card transaction is competitive at volume. But if you already have a Stripe or PayPal account with better rates, you'll often pay less accepting payments into your own account than routing through Wave's processor.
Q: Can I migrate from Wave to Relentify later? A: Yes. Relentify imports Wave data via CSV or bank feed. Most migrations take a weekend. You'll lose custom Wave templates, but financial data — invoices, transactions, expenses — comes across cleanly.
Q: What's the catch with Relentify's free tier? A: No catch. It's the same features and support as paid customers get. Paid tiers add project tracking, advanced reporting, purchase orders, multi-entity management — features you don't need until you do. Upgrade when you actually need them, not before.
The choice: what's actually cheaper?
Wave costs nothing and delivers basic accounting that works. For a sole trader with minimal invoicing, it's rational.
But "free" isn't the same as "cheap." It's the same as "subsidised by payment-processing fees and limited by design." A free tool that costs you 5 hours a month in manual reporting is more expensive than a tool that costs £15/month and saves you those 5 hours.
Relentify's free tier costs nothing and includes more — expenses, mileage, credit notes, full VAT support, comprehensive reporting. When you grow (purchase orders, project tracking, multi-entity accounting), you upgrade without migrating to entirely different software.
The decision between Wave and Relentify isn't about price. It's about whether your time is worth £15 a month when you eventually upgrade. For most UK small businesses doing more than occasional invoicing, it is.
Ready to see what you're missing? Try Relentify free for 14 days — no payment method required. Keep all your data if you switch later. See whether the extra features (expense tracking, mileage, credit notes, full reporting) actually save you time on work that matters to your business.