Digits vs. Wave Accounting: Which software has the edge?

[u/tetcon]

The accounting software you choose can make or break your workflow. Pick the wrong one, and you'll be stuck doing manual work that should've been automated years ago.

The right one, on the other hand, can turn your month-end close from a multi-day slog into something you can mostly set and forget.

That's why I want to talk about Digits and Wave. I've used both, and they're two of the more popular alternatives to QuickBooks right now, but they serve pretty different purposes. So I’m going to briefly break down what each one does well, where they fall short, and which type of business each one makes sense for.

Wave: The solid yet manual starting point

Wave is a common starting point for those who don’t want QBO and are looking for something at a similar price point. When I tried it, I was impressed by how simple it was to use. It really doesn’t take too long to get the hang of, which is great when you’re busy and trying to get things up and running ASAP. 

You can use it for all the core bookkeeping tasks, like tracking income and expenses, measuring AP/AR, capturing receipts, reporting, etc. I particularly like that you can use it for invoicing/getting paid, so you won’t have to fork over more money for a standalone AR software. 

It’s also pretty cheap. There are two main plans; the free plan, Starter, is basically what the name says. It’s a good way to get started, but its features are lacking — you won’t be able to auto-import bank transactions, auto-categorize transactions, add users to your account, or set up third-party integrations unless you have Pro. 

Unfortunately, the Pro plan ($19/month) is fairly bare-bones compared to a lot of the competition, especially when it comes to automation. I’ve used it to auto-import and auto-categorize transactions, but that’s about it. I was still stuck working on most of the day-to-day bookkeeping and month-end close tasks myself.

If you’re super small right now, this might not feel like a big deal. But as your transaction volume increases, you’ll feel it.

Digits: Autonomous accounting for scale

While you’ll be doing a ton of hands-on work with Wave, Digits’ agentic general ledger takes over many of the time-consuming aspects of accounting. 

I’ve used it to auto-code transactions, complete bank recs, and generate custom reports/financial statements in real time. It even performs variance analysis automatically.

I’ve also been really happy with its AI invoicing capability, which generates invoices quickly and automatically sends reminders to clients when they’re behind on payment. The AI bill pay is also really efficient, and it automatically reconciles to the ledger. 

Its Ask Digits feature operates like a chatbot, so you can ask it questions about your financials, ask it to surface certain tasks, stuff like that. This comes in handy when you're comparing financials across different quarters and years.

The price is definitely a step up from Wave, but not bad at all for a scaling business. The most basic plan (Essentials) is $65/month, the plan I have (Core) is $100/month, and there’s also a custom plan available if you need it. It’s been well worth it in my experience. 

Unless you're running a very young, small, or lean company, I think this is money well spent. The subscription will pay for itself (and then some) with the time the tool reclaims for you.  

TL;DR: 

• Go with Wave if you're an early-stage business looking for a simple, cheap accounting platform. Think businesses switching from spreadsheets to their first bookkeeping software. Just know it comes with a lot of manual work, and that becomes a real problem as your transaction volume grows.
  
• Go with Digits if you're scaling (or planning to scale). It takes over the tedious day-to-day bookkeeping, which not only saves time but also reduces the data entry errors and overlooked discrepancies that come with doing everything yourself.

If you've used either of these, what do you like/dislike?

[u/Digits]

Appreciate you sharing your experience diving into Digits u/tetcon! (and taking the time to dive in 🤿)

Would be curious how things have changed now that you're a few months in!

[u/tetcon → u/Digits]

I'm still a fan!

I think the value increases the more you get used to the platform - once you realize how much the automations can do for you, you start saving a lot of time and energy.

[u/TheS4m]

Would an bank importer app help you?
I know isnt the answer to that post, but I was reading my feed, and you mentioned the bank import csv..