Kemback Business vs Wave

The short answer

Choose Wave if you want free invoicing and bookkeeping for a small business and don’t mind entering bank transactions yourself, or paying for Pro to import them automatically. Payroll and online payments are there when you need them, at a published price.

Choose Kemback Business if your business is a part of a household that also has personal accounts and perhaps rental homes, and you’d rather keep everything together, exact to the cent: every company’s books for one household price, and Rental Houses for the homes you let.

Who Wave suits

Wave’s Starter plan is free and includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, a dashboard, reports such as profit and loss, and the mobile app. Pro, priced per business, adds automatic bank import and categorisation through Plaid, unlimited receipt capture, late-payment reminders, your own branding, and user roles for admins, editors and viewers.

Wave’s payroll add-on covers all 50 US states for tax filing, with direct deposit and an employee portal. Online payments let customers pay invoices by card, Apple Pay or bank payment, with published fees. Wave also sells its own bookkeeping service, Wave Advisors. Its reports include a cash flow statement and a sales tax report, and all your accounting data can be exported as CSV or XLS.

Where Kemback Business is different

One login for personal, business and rentals. Kemback Business adds each company you run, with its own double-entry books, and your rental homes, beside your personal Kemback. Personal views leave business accounts out unless you include them, and one Small Business subscription covers every company in the household.

Built around Schedule C. Each account maps to its Schedule C line; mileage at the IRS rate, the simplified home office and 1099-NEC tracking feed the year’s Schedule C summary.

Rental Houses for small landlords. Homes let whole or by the room, tenants without double booking, leases signed with Kemback Sign, rent and deposits recorded and matched to bank deposits, a security deposit held as a liability, mortgages split into principal, interest and escrow, Schedule E per home, a calendar with seasonal pricing and iCal sync, and a free tenant portal. See rental property tracking.

No processing fees, no data sold. Kemback doesn’t take payments, so it charges no processing fees; customers and tenants pay you directly and Kemback records it. Kemback is paid for by its plans, with no ads and no selling of data, and bank sync goes through Plaid without Kemback seeing your bank password. See security.

Where Wave is stronger

• Free business books. Wave’s Starter plan is free. Kemback’s Small Business is a paid add-on.
• Payroll and payments. Wave offers payroll in every state and online payments. Kemback doesn’t run payroll or take payments.
• A bookkeeping service. Wave Advisors does the books for you. Kemback is software only.
• Mobile. Wave’s app works on the phone; Kemback’s Small Business is on the web.

Switching from Wave

1. Export Wave’s accounting data (journal entries and transactions, customers and vendors, as CSV or XLS) and your receipts, and keep them for your records.
2. In Kemback, switch on Small Business, add your company and its bank and card accounts.
3. Start at a period boundary with opening balances from Wave’s balance sheet, then enter any unpaid invoices and bills so nothing is missed.

Bottom line

Wave is hard to beat for free invoicing and bookkeeping, with payroll and payments when you need them. Kemback Business is for owners who want their household, rentals and business together, exact to the cent and never sold. See the pricing, create a Kemback account, or read the other comparisons.

Wave is a trademark of its owner. Kemback isn’t affiliated with Wave. Prices change; confirm them on Wave’s site.

Sources

• Wave pricing, checked 2026-10-17: Starter at $0 and what it includes, Pro at $19 a month or $190 a year per business and what it adds, bank import through Plaid on Pro, user roles, the payroll add-on price, payment fees for cards and bank payments, Wave Advisors.
• Wave plans FAQ, checked 2026-10-17: no free trial for Pro.
• Wave recurring billing, checked 2026-10-17: recurring invoices need Pro or online payments.
• Wave payroll, checked 2026-10-17: payroll tax service in all 50 states, direct deposit, the employee portal, per-person fees.
• Wave accounting, checked 2026-10-17: profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow reports.
• Reconcile your books (Wave help), checked 2026-10-17: reconciliation on the web.
• Download your account data (Wave help), checked 2026-10-17: accounting data as CSV or XLS and receipts as a ZIP.

Questions

Can Kemback Business keep my business books?

Yes. Small Business keeps each company's double-entry books, with invoices, estimates, bills, reconciliation, profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow and a Schedule C summary. It's an add-on to Kemback, billed per household; see the pricing page.

Is there anything Kemback Business never does?

Yes. It doesn't run payroll, file tax returns, 1099s or sales tax, or process card or bank payments. Customers and tenants pay you directly, and the payment is recorded and matched to the deposit in your bank account.

Does Kemback sell my data or store my bank password?

No. Kemback is paid for by its plans, with no ads and no selling of data. Bank sync goes through Plaid, and Kemback never sees or stores your bank password.