SimplePayment vs. Wave
Free and domestic, or built for clients abroad.
Wave bundles free accounting with invoicing, built mainly for US and Canadian businesses. SimplePayment is a focused, international-first way to invoice and get paid — the exact bank transfer a client's country uses, multi-currency invoicing, and a payment page they read in their own language.
Best fit
This mostly comes down to one question: are your clients international?
Choose SimplePayment if…
- You invoice clients outside the US and Canada, or in multiple currencies.
- You want your client’s payment page to actually read in their own language.
- Your clients need to pay by the exact bank transfer their country uses — IBAN, SWIFT, CLABE, sort code — not just card or ACH.
- You want a payment page built for getting paid, not a corner of a bookkeeping product.
- Accounting is already handled elsewhere, or you don’t need it yet.
Choose Wave if…
- Your business is US or Canada-based, with mostly domestic clients.
- You want free accounting bundled together with invoicing.
- Your clients are comfortable paying by card or bank debit, and international reach isn’t a priority.
Side by side
The criteria that actually matter for getting paid.
| Criteria | SimplePayment | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Professional invoicing | ||
| Card payments | ||
| Bank transfers | Region-correct international fields | US/Canada-centric, thin abroad |
| Multiple payment methods, one page | Card and offline together | Primarily card and bank payments |
| International payment experience | Built around it | Thin outside the US and Canada |
| Multi-currency | Basic, secondary to domestic use | |
| Multiple languages | 5-language client page, PDF, email | English-first |
| Team users | Owner/admin/user roles | Limited collaborator access |
| Payment tracking | Automatic sent → opened → paid | Invoice status tracking |
| Branded payment page | Logo, color, your business | Basic branding |
| Accounting features |
Where SimplePayment excels
Built for the client abroad Wave wasn't built for.
Real international payment support
Region-specific bank-transfer fields, multi-currency invoicing, and a five-language client page — built for a client abroad, not added on top of a domestic tool.
A more polished, branded client experience
The page a client opens looks like your business and is built to be paid on, not a screen inside a wider bookkeeping product.
More payment choice on one page
Card and offline methods — bank transfer, cash, check — sit together, so a client who can’t or won’t pay by card still has a real path to pay.
Free without the accounting trade-off
The Free plan is a genuine way to send real invoices and get paid — it doesn’t require taking on a bookkeeping suite you may not want.
Where Wave excels
If you're domestic and want free accounting, Wave is hard to beat.
Free accounting, bundled in
Wave’s free bookkeeping alongside invoicing is real, useful software — a hard combination to beat for a domestic micro-business on a budget.
Established trust with US/Canada micro-businesses
Wave has years of adoption and goodwill with small, domestic businesses — a real advantage if that’s exactly who you are.
Questions
Before you decide.
Is SimplePayment free like Wave?
There’s a genuine Free plan — 3 clients, 5 invoices a month, no credit card required. It won’t match Wave’s free accounting, because SimplePayment isn’t an accounting product; it’s built to be the better choice specifically once a client lives outside your home country.
Does SimplePayment do accounting like Wave?
No. That’s a deliberate line — SimplePayment stays focused on invoicing and getting paid, not bookkeeping. See how it works
Why wouldn’t I just use Wave if it’s free?
If your business is domestic and card/ACH covers how your clients pay, Wave is a reasonable, free choice. It gets harder once a client is abroad and needs to pay by their own country’s bank-transfer method, in their own language — that’s the gap SimplePayment fills.
Can my international clients pay easily through Wave?
Wave is built primarily around US and Canadian payment rails. SimplePayment presents the exact bank-transfer fields a client’s country needs — IBAN, SWIFT, CLABE, sort code, and more — right on the payment page. See the international details
Can I switch later?
Yes — start on the Free plan and move up as your client base grows or goes international. See pricing
Weighing other options?
See how SimplePayment compares elsewhere.
Got clients outside the US and Canada who need to actually pay you?
Send the next invoice the way it should have worked all along.
Free to start · No credit card