Choose Wave when invoicing belongs inside your bookkeeping workflow; choose Square when invoices need to sit beside in-person payments and point-of-sale operations. If you already keep your books elsewhere and mainly need a payable invoice, compare a separate-provider invoicing tool as a third route.
This comparison is for invoice-led small businesses deciding how to collect agreed customer charges. The cost example uses published US prices in US dollars, checked on 15 November 2026. It is not a Dutch or Canadian price quotation, a hands-on product test or a recommendation based on customer results.
Check eligibility before comparing costs
Wave's account guidance limits its service to businesses in the United States and Canada. The US rates below do not establish Canadian terms. Square availability, plans and rates also depend on the account country; use its local offering rather than treating a US comparison as worldwide eligibility.
Write down where your business is established, where customers pay from, the currency and whether payment is online through the invoice, in person or entered manually. Different channels can have different prices even within one provider.
Decide which responsibilities you want together
| Your main requirement | Wave route | Square route | Separate invoice collection route |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep bookkeeping and invoicing together | Accounting-led product | Check how sales reach your accounting records | Keep a defined handoff to your bookkeeper |
| Take payments in person as well as by invoice | Assess a separate in-person workflow | POS ecosystem is a central reason to consider it | A payable invoice does not supply POS hardware |
| Send an agreed amount and track payment | Invoice and payment workflow | Invoice and payment workflow | Suitable if this is the scope you actually need |
| Switch existing recurring charges | Review consent, data and collection arrangements | Review consent, data and collection arrangements | Do not assume saved cards or authorizations transfer |
Wave describes its combined accounting and invoice approach on its own comparison page. Square's invoice plan page lists invoicing alongside its broader business tools. Neither is evidence that every feature is included in every tier. Check the exact features you need against the live plan comparison.
Compare the invoice-card channel, not a generic headline rate
Wave pricing lists Starter at $0 and Pro at $19 per month on monthly US billing. For standard Visa, Mastercard and Discover transactions, Starter uses 2.9% + $0.60. Pro removes the $0.60 component on its first ten cumulative transactions per monthly subscription period, then restores it. Amex has different pricing. Temporary offers and annual billing are excluded here.
Square's US fee schedule gives online/invoice card rates of 3.3% + $0.30 on Free and 2.9% + $0.30 on Plus. Its invoice pricing page lists Plus at $49 per location per month. Legacy plans and custom account rates may differ. Bank payments, manual entry, international-card additions and other channels are outside this example.
Reproduce a month of twenty $300 payments
Assume one location, twenty successful eligible domestic card payments of $300 each and a full monthly subscription period. Total collected is $6,000. There are no refunds, disputes, add-ons or hardware purchases in the model. These are hypothetical transactions, not payments we processed.
| Plan | Percentage component | Fixed component | Monthly plan | Modeled total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wave Starter | $174 | 20 × $0.60 = $12 | $0 | $186 |
| Wave Pro | $174 | 10 × $0.60 = $6 | $19 | $199 |
| Square Free | $198 | 20 × $0.30 = $6 | $0 | $204 |
| Square Plus, one location | $174 | 20 × $0.30 = $6 | $49 | $229 |
Download the editable comparison worksheet. Replace volume, transaction count and the applicable rates before using it for your decision. The totals compare only these stated subscription and processing costs; they do not measure time saved, accounting quality or overall business value.
At this volume, Wave Pro's modeled processing reduction is $6 against Starter, below its $19 subscription. Choose its additional tools for their actual value rather than assuming “lower fees” makes the plan pay for itself.
Square Plus reduces the percentage by 0.4 percentage points against Free in this channel. With one $49 monthly location fee and no other differences, $49 ÷ 0.004 = $12,250 of monthly volume offsets that fee. This is a fee-only threshold, not a reason to ignore useful features or additional locations.
For the two free plans, the modeled cost difference is 0.004 × volume − $0.30 × transaction count for Square minus Wave. The crossover is an average $75 payment under these assumptions. Transaction size matters; one $6,000 payment is not priced like twenty $300 payments.
When PayRequest is a relevant third option
Consider PayRequest invoicing if your job is to send an invoice and collect it through an eligible supported provider while keeping accounting elsewhere. It is not a native replacement for Wave's bookkeeping or Square's POS. Do not assume Wave or Square processing accounts can simply be connected to PayRequest.
PayRequest pricing includes basic invoicing on Free: €0 monthly plus a 2% standard payment fee, capped at €25 per transaction. Premium is €5/month and Business €20/month, removing standard platform fees while active; provider charges and commission-payment exceptions remain separate. These euro platform prices are not an all-in USD processing quote. Compare your actual provider fees and currency costs separately. Recurring billing requires the appropriate plan and supported collection setup.
To assess this route, create one invoice, connect an eligible provider, review its payment methods and keep a clear accounting handoff. Registration or selecting a plan alone does not activate paid access.
Make the decision before moving customer charges
Retain your invoice history and outstanding balances. Decide where future invoices originate, how external payments are recorded and how your bookkeeper receives the records. Confirm recurring-payment consent and migration possibilities directly with the relevant services; do not assume importing a customer list transfers authority to charge.
Choose the workflow that covers your real responsibilities. Then compare its total cost for your own payment mix. A lower hypothetical card-fee total cannot compensate for missing bookkeeping, missing POS or an ineligible account.
Editorial method: AI-assisted preparation and conceptual cover; official price pages and arithmetic reviewed. No live payment test, software benchmark, savings outcome or customer migration is claimed.
