Wave Payroll's simple, low-cost features may be basic but they're well-suited for small businesses needing an affordable all-in-one accounting and payroll solution.
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| Total Rating | 3.0 |
|---|---|
| Pricing3.5 | |
| Ease Of Use2.9 | |
| Features3.2 | |
| Customer Service2.1 | |
| User Reviews4.1 | |
Payroll Processing Time
3 DaysPricing Range
$20/month + $6/person - $40/month + $6 per employeeBusiness Size
Small businesses paying 1-150+ employeesTable of Contents
Wave Payroll is a simple payroll solution for small businesses needing basic payroll features, such as direct deposit, deductions, check-printing, and much more. Wave Payroll’s seamless integration with Wave Accounting makes it one of the best payroll software options for businesses in need of a combined accounting and payroll solution.
Wave Payroll offers many basic payroll features and works seamlessly with Wave’s accounting features like invoicing, expense tracking, and basic inventory reporting. Its full-service model is a definite rival of Intuit QuickBooks, but Wave offers a more modern and basic interface at a cheaper price point.
| Pricing3.5 |
|---|
| Software Plans 4.5 |
| Pricing Transparency 5.0 |
| Pricing Customization 3.0 |
Wave’s 3.5/5 star rating in the pricing category is actually among one of the highest scores awarded in this category. The software’s score was boosted by its pricing, free trial, selection of add-ons, and pricing transparency.
Compared to other payroll solutions, Wave Payroll’s pricing is on the lower end — as is the number of features it supports.
Wave Payroll’s two pricing packages, Tax Service States and Self-Service States, respectively, offer full-service and self-service payroll.
Here’s a look at Wave Payroll’s pricing plans:
| Wave Payroll Plans | Price | When To Use |
|---|---|---|
| Wave Payroll Self Service States | $20/month + $6/person | If you need DIY payroll tax support for a team of up to 20 individuals |
| Wave Payroll Tax Service States | $40/month + $6 per employee | If you need full-service payroll in a valid state for up to 20 team members |
Wave Payroll’s full-service payroll package is only available in 14 states, including Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Customers in the other 36 states are consigned to Wave Payroll’s self-service package by default and must handle payroll taxes by themselves.
In addition to offering a free 30-day trial, Wave Payroll’s subscription-based pricing model is transparent, with no setup fees or hidden charges.
Wave Payroll’s Self-Service States plan costs $20/month + $6 per person paid and includes:
Full-service is $35/month + $6 per person and includes everything from Self Service States, plus:
| Wave Payroll Extra Costs | Price |
|---|---|
| Wave Payments | Starts at 2.9% + $0.60 per credit card transaction |
| Wave Advisors | Starts at $149/month |
| Worker's Compensation | Varies |
Outside of worker’s compensation insurance through Next Insurance, there are no extra costs or fees associated with Wave Payroll’s services. However, if your business intends to use any of Wave’s other software tools, you’ll need to cover the costs associated with each tool or service.
More specifically, Wave Payments pricing starts at 2.9% + $0.60 per credit card transaction and 1% per transaction for AHC payments. If your business needs tax, bookkeeping, or accounting advisory services, Wave Advisor will provide them at a starting price of $149/month.
| Ease Of Use2.9 |
|---|
| Set Up 3.0 |
| Software Reliability 4.0 |
| Everyday Use 4.0 |
| Integrations 1.8 |
Wave payroll earned a low 2.9/5 star rating in the ease of use category, as the software can be tedious to set up, lacks many integrations, and doesn’t offer any white glove set up options.
However, if you’re already familiar with Wave Accounting, Wave Payroll’s cloud-based system will seem familiar and easy to get used to. Wave Payroll is great for those needing a simple interface, intuitive categories, and not a ton of ways to get turned around inside of a program.
However, despite its simplicity, onboarding new employees can be a bit cumbersome, although Wave has a self-onboarding option for companies to offer to employees. Further, Wave Payroll’s integration options are very limited compared to other software and require the use of Zapier, rather than offering direct integrations.
| Features3.2 |
|---|
| Payroll Processing 3.7 |
| Employee Management & PTO 3.5 |
| Time Tracking 0.8 |
| Payroll Tax Support 5.0 |
| Reporting & Tax Forms 4.2 |
| Onboarding & HR 2.5 |
| Benefits Administration 1.8 |
| Niche Features 0.0 |
Compared to other payroll software, Wave Payroll offers a very limited feature set, which ultimately drove the software’s feature rating down to a 3.2/5 stars.
While the software provides just enough features to run payroll, there are so many basic features missing that you’d expect from payroll processing software. Wave Payroll doesn’t support off-cycle payroll runs, multistate payroll is a technicality, full-service tax support is nonexistent in 36 states, built-in time-tracking isn’t a thing, and the list goes on. What you may gain in affordability, you lose in functionality.
However, that’s not to say that Wave Payroll is bad payroll software. On the contrary, it’s a great payroll software for businesses with basic payroll needs. Additionally, Wave is perfect for small businesses already using Wave products or businesses looking to integrate simple accounting software with payroll software.
Drill down to learn more about Wave Payroll’s specific features.
Wave Payroll offers all the basic features necessary to run payroll but not much else.
Here’s a look at Wave Payroll’s payroll processing features:
Similar to its payroll processing features, Wave Payroll offers just enough employee management and PTO features to be functional.
Wave Payroll’s employee management and PTO features include:
Wave Payroll doesn’t offer time-tracking features beyond timesheet management. Users will need to rely on one of Wave Payroll’s time-tracking integrations to use that integration with payroll.
Wave Payroll’s full-service payroll tax support is currently only available in 14 states, but there are goals to expand full-service options nationwide in the future.
If your business is on Wave Payroll’s Tax Services State plan, you can expect the following payroll tax features:
At the moment, Wave has limited reporting options. There are currently 13 different reports available, and only two are specific to payroll.
Wave Payroll doesn’t include HR features, and its onboarding features are limited to new hire self-guided onboarding. Simply add your new hire’s email address, and they’ll be sent an onboarding checklist to complete.
Here’s what you can expect from Wave Payroll’s HR and onboarding features:
| Customer Service2.1 |
|---|
| Personal Support 2.3 |
| Self-Service 1.8 |
Unfortunately, Wave Payroll has a lot of room for growth in its customer service offerings — earning a low 2.1/5 stars in the category. Wave Payroll lost points in this category due to its very limited support options and self-service resources.
While Wave Payroll lacks phone support, users can access live support through text and email from 9 AM to 5 PM EST. For the busy business owner, Wave Payroll’s customer service options are limited and may not be useful in an emergency.
Here’s a full look at Wave Payroll’s support options:
| Wave Payroll Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
However, Wave Payroll’s help center is fully-fledged and consistently updated. Additionally, posts in Wave’s community forum get addressed quickly.
| User Reviews4.1 |
|---|
| Customer Feedback 4.0 |
| Review Site Aggregate 4.2 |
Wave Payroll earned a solid 4.1/5 stars in the review category, as users generally approve of the software.
Businesses that use Wave Payroll are generally happy about their experience. The software earned an average of 4.2/5 stars across popular user review collection platforms.
While the complaints are few, some negative experiences include frustration at the lack of features and reporting options, plus an inability to talk to a real human (compounded by Mave the Bot’s occasionally confusing responses to questions).
Wave Payroll doesn’t publish a list of its integrations but does integrate with Google Sheets and Zapier, which functions as a bridge to over 1,000 applications. It also has an open API and, of course, integration with native Wave software.
Wave Payroll’s security measures are on par with those of banking institutions. The platform works hard to keep your data safe.
Wave Payroll’s security features include:
| Wave Payroll Review Summary | |
|---|---|
| Pricing Range | $20/month + $6/person - $40/month + $6 per employee |
| Choose If You Need |
|
Wave is an excellent option for payroll and accounting software for small businesses. Wave’s entire mission is to bring robust accounting, payments, and payroll programs to more small businesses. If you already love using Wave’s free accounting software and don’t mind a simple payroll system without a ton of robust features, Wave’s payroll software could be a solid, inexpensive fit.
However, any business looking to offer healthcare options, a 401(k), or that needs to send garnishments will find Wave Payroll lacking. And if you have more than 20 employees, Wave Payroll isn’t your best choice.
Check out our Gusto review or SurePayroll review for comparable options with stronger payroll features and HR support. Each of these Wave Payroll alternatives offers more support and operates in more states than Wave.
We research, evaluate, and test each payroll software app that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate granular ratings.
Our exhaustive, 76-point rubric guides the star rating of each payroll provider we review, examining pricing, ease of use, features, customer service, and user reviews. Each section is weighted differently.
When rating payroll software, we are looking for very specific qualities. The speed and cost of payroll runs and the availability of tax filing services are given high weight, as are the quality and availability of accounting, time-tracking, HR integrations, and user onboarding services. We also look for the presence of client and employee portals, benefits administration, PTO and time management tools, and many more vital features.
Learn more about how we rate payroll software providers.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
Our reviewers like ADP Payroll for its advanced employee management, strong payroll features, and great customer support. For a limited time, get three months free.
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