InvoiceCharlie vs Wave
An honest comparison of InvoiceCharlie and Wave for sole traders and small businesses: what each costs, what each does, and which one suits which kind of business.
Written by us, about a competitor — read it that way.
Everything below about Wave is taken from what they publish themselves, checked on 20 September 2026. Prices and plans change; check theirs before deciding. Their pricing page.
Where Wave is the better choice
- Wave includes double-entry accounting — a real general ledger, bank reconciliation and year-end reports. We do not, and are not trying to.
- If you want one tool for bookkeeping and invoicing together, that is Wave's whole point and it is a reasonable choice.
- Wave has been around far longer, with a much larger body of help articles and third-party advice.
Where InvoiceCharlie is the better choice
- Cost at low volume: your first 10 invoices cost nothing, then $1 each with a hard ceiling of $12 a month — you never pay for a quiet month.
- Invoices can be written in your client's language: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch or Portuguese.
- Nothing to learn. There is no chart of accounts to set up before you can send an invoice.
Side by side
| InvoiceCharlie | Wave | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to send your first invoice | Free | Free |
| Cost of a quiet month | $0 — you pay per invoice, and only for invoices you send | Depends on the plan you are on |
| Accounting (ledger, reconciliation) | No — invoicing only, by design | Yes |
| Invoice in the client's language | 7 languages | Not published |
| Where payments land | Your own Stripe account | Wave's payment processing |
Wave publishes a Starter plan at no cost and a Pro plan billed monthly; payment processing is charged per transaction on both.
Which should you pick?
If you want bookkeeping and invoicing in one place, Wave is the more complete tool and we would not pretend otherwise. If you send a handful of invoices and want that to be quick, cheap and finished — and you would rather your accountant did the accounting — that is what we built.
Try it on one real invoice
The fastest way to know is to send one. It takes about a minute and costs nothing.
Start free