EternalEngine vs Wave
Wave is free invoicing and bookkeeping software for very small businesses, monetized through payment-processing fees rather than subscription tiers.
The price story
Wave: Free (Starter) for invoicing and bookkeeping; Pro $19/mo — Wave's pricing page does not publish per-seat or multi-user figures. EternalEngine: from $9.95/mo (Basic), Team at $49/mo for 3 users, every paid plan with a 30-day free trial —full plan ladder.
Wave's own pricing page does not publish per-seat or multi-user figures — it reads as one bookkeeper's ledger, not a team product. A 3-person shop would have no documented way to add teammates. EternalEngine Team is $49/mo flat for 3 real logins with a CRM pipeline, a booking page and a shared calendar.
Verified against waveapps.com/pricing on 2026-09-15. Competitor prices change — check their site for current figures.
| Feature | EternalEngine | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $9.95/mo (Basic) after Free | Free (Starter) / $19/mo (Pro) |
| Multi-user / team pricing | Seat blocks included per paid tier | Not published — appears single-user |
| CRM + pipelines | ✓ | — |
| Online booking pages | ✓ | — |
| Invoicing + payments | ✓ | ✓ |
| Payment processing | Stripe standard rates via PayGate | 2.9% + $0.60/card txn (fee-free on first 10/mo on Pro) |
| AI assistant included | ✓ | — |
| Free tier | ✓ | ✓ |
EternalEngine rows describe the 17 launch apps — see thefeatures overview for what each one does and which plan carries it.
Choose Wave if…
- You want free, no-cost invoicing and bookkeeping for a genuine one-person side business and do not need a team.
- Your card-payment volume is low enough that Wave's per-transaction fee (2.9% + $0.60, Amex 3.4% + $0.60) stays cheap in absolute dollars.
Choose EternalEngine if…
- You have, or plan to add, teammates — Wave has no published multi-user pricing.
- You want a CRM pipeline and a booking page, not just an invoice ledger.
- You want a free tier that still includes a CRM and online booking with document caps, not payment-fee monetization instead.
What the other column looks like
The business overview every EternalEngine plan opens on — revenue, pipeline, invoices, tasks and appointments from the same data, no exports between tools.
Built for your trade
See how EternalEngine fits the businesses Wave is most often compared against.
Other comparisons
See it for yourself
Set up in under 5 minutes. Import your customers, send your first invoice today.
Start freeFree has no card and no time limit · every paid plan starts with a 30-day trial · or start Basic at $9.95
EternalEngine vs Wave questions
Is Wave really free?
Yes — the Starter plan is $0/mo for unlimited invoices, estimates and bookkeeping records; Wave makes money on payment-processing fees instead. EternalEngine Free is also $0/mo, with a CRM, booking, 5 invoices and 5 estimates a month, and it is monetized by upgrading to paid tiers rather than transaction fees.
Can multiple people use one Wave account?
Wave's public pricing page does not list per-seat or team pricing, so as far as we could verify it is built around a single login. If you have or plan to add teammates, that is worth confirming directly with Wave before you commit.
Which is cheaper for card payments, Wave or EternalEngine?
It depends on your transaction volume and card mix — Wave charges 2.9% + $0.60 per card transaction (fee-free on the first 10/mo on Pro); PayGate runs on Stripe's standard processing rates. We have not run a side-by-side cost comparison across every volume tier, so do that math against your own numbers rather than trusting either vendor's marketing.
Can I move my Wave invoices and clients over?
Export your client list from Wave as CSV and import it into ClientForge; past invoices themselves stay in Wave for your records, and new ones go out from EternalEngine going forward.