You had clients. You did work. You needed to send an invoice and track who had paid and who had not. That was the whole job. You searched for a free invoicing tool. Wave came up. Free invoicing. Clean interface. Good reviews. You signed up.

The invoicing itself was straightforward. You built a template, added your logo, set up the client list. You sent your first invoice. The client asked if they could pay online.

You turned on Wave Payments. The payment went through. Then you noticed the fee. Two point nine percent plus thirty cents. On a A$1,000 invoice that is A$29.30 going to Wave. On every payment. Every month. For as long as you use Wave to collect money.

The Job and the Hidden Cost

The job was send an invoice and get paid. Wave does that. It also processes the payment, takes a percentage, and the transaction fee model means your cost scales with your revenue. The more you invoice, the more Wave collects.

For businesses where clients pay by bank transfer or cheque, Wave's free invoicing is genuinely free. For businesses that rely on online card payments, the transaction fees become a significant ongoing cost.

What Wave's payment model costs you
  • 2.9% plus 30 cents per card transaction
  • Fees scale with every dollar invoiced online
  • No cap on total fees paid per month
  • Wave Payments required for online collection
  • Wave Pro plan (A$20/month) for additional features
  • Payroll processing at additional monthly cost
  • No way to reduce the per-transaction rate
What most small businesses actually need
  • Send an invoice with your branding
  • Track who has paid and who has not
  • A reminder system for overdue invoices

Who Wave Is Actually Built For

Wave is well-suited for businesses where clients pay by bank transfer, cheque, or cash. The invoicing is genuinely free for those businesses and the tool works well. Wave also suits freelancers or sole traders with low invoice volumes who want an accounting platform included at no cost.

If your business relies on card payments from clients, the transaction fee model changes the economics. Two point nine percent sounds small. On A$60,000 a year in online invoicing, that is A$1,740 going to Wave every year. Not a subscription you can cancel. A cost baked into every transaction.

The Three-Year View

Picture a small consulting firm that invoices A$5,000 a month in online payments. At Wave's rate, they pay approximately A$150 a month in transaction fees. That is A$5,400 over three years. The invoicing tool was free. The payment processing was not.

A Merebase invoice tracker built by Merebase sends payment links to your own Stripe account directly. Stripe's rate for Australian cards is lower than Wave's processing fee, and the tracker itself is a one-time build.

Wave Payments: transaction fees over 3 years
A$5,400
A$150/month in fees on A$5k/month invoiced online.
Merebase Merebase invoice tracker
A$499
Once. No transaction cut. No monthly fee.

What a Merebase invoice tracker Includes

A Merebase invoice tracker is built for the send-and-get-paid job. You describe the fields your invoices need, the client records you keep, and the status workflow for outstanding payments. The app handles it.

What a Merebase invoice tracker includes:

Invoice builder with your branding and GST or no-tax options. Client records. Outstanding invoice view with payment status. Overdue tracking and notes. Data export at any time. A$499 once.

Note: this covers the invoicing and payment tracking job. Bank reconciliation, BAS preparation, and tax reporting are a job for your accountant or a dedicated accounting platform.

You bring your own hosting. A basic plan runs A$5 to A$20 a month.

There is no transaction fee on the invoicing side. No percentage going to a third party on every payment. The data lives on your hosting. If clients pay via a payment link, that goes to your Stripe account at Stripe's rate.

The scope covers invoicing and payment tracking. It does not replace your accountant or your bookkeeping platform. Those are different jobs.

Common questions
Is there a free alternative to Wave for sending invoices?
A Merebase invoice tracker built by Merebase does what most small businesses use Wave for: send invoices, track who has paid, and follow up on overdue payments. A$499 once. No subscription fee. No transaction fee on the invoicing side. You bring your own hosting.
Can I migrate my Wave invoices and client data to a Merebase app?
Yes. Wave lets you export clients and invoices as CSV files. A custom Merebase app can be built to accept that data as a starting point. Your client records and invoice history come with you. The scope for how your data transfers is agreed in writing before any payment.
What does a Merebase invoice tracker include?
A Merebase invoice tracker from Merebase includes an invoice builder with your branding, client records, an outstanding invoice view with payment status, overdue tracking, and data export. It covers the send-and-get-paid job. Bank reconciliation and tax reporting are out of scope. A$499 once, agreed in writing before payment.
What if I need to add features later?
Additional features can be added as separate builds. Each change is scoped and priced in writing before any payment. You are never locked into a recurring fee or dependent on a platform's roadmap.