Best for
Best for German freelancers and small businesses whose tax adviser works in DATEV and who mainly need to invoice and collect.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Accounting & Invoicing Comparison
Billomat vs. Wave
At a glance
At a glance
Best for
Best for freelancers and very small businesses that want free invoicing and bookkeeping, with paid add-ons for bank automation, receipts and payroll.
- Freelancers
- Small and mid-sized
Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.
Full Comparison
| Criterion | Billomat | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From €19 / month plus VAT Professional plan billed annually; €29 / month on monthly billing. Business is €29 annually or €39 monthly, Enterprise €99 annually or €119 monthly. Each further user is €10 / month on Business and Enterprise; Professional allows a single user. | Free; Pro from $19 / month The Starter plan is free with unlimited invoicing and bookkeeping. The Pro plan adds bank connections, automatic categorization, invoice branding and reduced payment fees. Receipt scanning (from $8 / month) and Wave Payroll (from $25 / month) are paid add-ons. |
| Free trial | 14 days free with all features, no credit card needed, and the trial ends automatically | Not stated |
| API | Yes, the billomat[API] over HTTP with XML or JSON, with webhooks; 100 API calls per 15 minutes on Business, more in blocks of 100 for €33 / month, and a sandbox account on Enterprise | Not stated |
| Hosting | Cloud (SaaS); Billomat states that its servers are in Germany | Cloud (SaaS) |
| Made in | Germany (Nuremberg) | Not stated |
| Invoicing and quotes | Yes, invoices, quotes with an acceptance function, order confirmations, delivery notes, recurring and correction invoices, cancellations, XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoices, reminders with individual dunning levels and a customer portal; Professional is capped at 30 invoices a month | Yes, unlimited professional invoices, estimates and bills on every plan, with recurring billing, online payments and automated late-payment reminders on Pro |
| Bookkeeping and bank feeds | Bank connection through the partner finAPI, which matches incoming and outgoing payments against invoices and receipts, on Business and Enterprise; SKR 03 and SKR 04 charts of accounts and cost centres on every plan | Yes; the Pro plan connects bank accounts and auto-imports, merges and categorizes transactions, while the free Starter plan records them manually |
| Expenses and receipts | Yes, incoming invoices imported and sorted by drag and drop with automatic text recognition, receipts scanned in the mobile app, and a document inbox | Receipt scanning with OCR is a paid add-on (from $8 / month); expenses are otherwise tracked through categorized transactions and the Tags feature |
| Tax and compliance | The EÜR (cash-basis profit statement) with the matching ELSTER line shown for each amount, individual tax rates, GoBD compliance as stated by the vendor, and on Business and Enterprise DATEVconnect, the DATEV Buchungsdatenservice and a tax adviser login | Through the paid Wave Payroll add-on: automatic payroll tax payments and filings with state agencies and the IRS, excluding 1099 filings, plus W-2, W-3 and 1099-NEC forms in the US and T4 and T4A slips and summaries in Canada |
| Payroll | No payroll module is named on the feature, pricing or add-on pages | Available as a paid add-on, Wave Payroll, from $25 / month |
| Reports and exports | A Reports and Exports menu with the EÜR for a chosen period and the DATEV transfer of booking data and receipt images | Yes, financial reports and dashboard insights, with a Tags feature for tracking profitability by project or client |
| Integrations and API | Open billomat[API] over HTTP with XML or JSON and webhooks, plus add-ons for DATEV, WooCommerce, Mollie, Commitly, Agicap, clockodo, mite, Debitor-Inkasso, PixelLetter, EMAILBRIEF, OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox | Yes, a documented GraphQL API on Wave's developer portal, with OAuth applications, a single public endpoint, webhooks and an API playground |
| Deployment | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based | Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based |
| Support | Email helpdesk | more entries Email helpdesk, Chat |
| Onboarding | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Guided onboarding, Live online demos and webinars | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized | Freelancers, Small and mid-sized |
| Integrations | more entries DATEV, WooCommerce, Mollie, Commitly, Agicap, clockodo, mite, Debitor-Inkasso, PixelLetter, EMAILBRIEF, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, finAPI | Plaid |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.
The short version
Key Differences
- Starting price Billomat From €19 / month plus VAT Wave Free; Pro from $19 / month
- Hosting Billomat Cloud (SaaS); Billomat states that its servers are in Germany Wave Cloud (SaaS)
- Support Billomat Email helpdesk Wave Email helpdesk, Chat
- Invoicing and quotes Billomat Yes, invoices, quotes with an acceptance function, order confirmations, delivery notes, recurring and correction invoices, cancellations, XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoices, reminders with individual dunning levels and a customer portal; Professional is capped at 30 invoices a month Wave Yes, unlimited professional invoices, estimates and bills on every plan, with recurring billing, online payments and automated late-payment reminders on Pro
- Bookkeeping and bank feeds Billomat Bank connection through the partner finAPI, which matches incoming and outgoing payments against invoices and receipts, on Business and Enterprise; SKR 03 and SKR 04 charts of accounts and cost centres on every plan Wave Yes; the Pro plan connects bank accounts and auto-imports, merges and categorizes transactions, while the free Starter plan records them manually
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
Billomat
Strengths
- Business and Enterprise send booking data and receipt images to DATEV from inside the app
- XRechnung and ZUGFeRD e-invoices are included on every plan
- Bank matching through finAPI covers over 4,700 banks in Germany, Austria and other countries
- Annual billing lowers each plan by €10 to €20 a month
Limitations
- Professional allows one user and 30 invoices a month, without DATEVconnect or bank connection
- API access starts on the Business plan
- Payroll is not named among the features, so wages need a separate tool or the tax adviser
- Ticket support starts on Business; Professional has the knowledge base only
Wave
Strengths
- Free Starter plan with unlimited invoices, estimates, bills and bookkeeping
- Pro plan connects bank accounts and auto-categorizes transactions
- Add-ons for receipt scanning, payroll and expert bookkeeping through Wave Advisors
- Accepts credit card, bank transfer and Apple Pay payments
Limitations
- Bank connections, invoice branding and reduced fees require the paid Pro plan
- Receipt scanning and payroll are paid add-ons rather than included
Plans
Pricing
Billomat
- Professional €19 Per month billed annually, €29 on monthly billing, plus VAT. Basic feature set, one user, 30 invoices a month, knowledge base support.
- Business €29 Per month billed annually, €39 on monthly billing, plus VAT. Full feature set, unlimited invoices, one user included and €10 / month for each further user, 100 API calls per 15 minutes, ticket support.
- Enterprise €99 Per month billed annually, €119 on monthly billing, plus VAT. Five users included, a sandbox account, a personal contact and one hour of technical support a month.
Wave
- Starter Free Unlimited invoices, estimates, bills and bookkeeping, plus the mobile app. Online payments cost 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction.
- Pro $19 / month Adds bank connections with automatic import and categorization, custom invoice branding, automated late-payment reminders and reduced payment-processing fees. Also $190 / year.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Billomat
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
Wave
- Ease of use
- Not rated yet
- User interface
- Not rated yet
- Onboarding
- Not rated yet
- Support and service
- Not rated yet
- Value for money
- Not rated yet
- Features
- Not rated yet
No reviews yet. Nothing has been published here yet, and no score is shown. How a review is checked before it appears is described below.
How we check reviews
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Where this comes from
Where this comes from
Billomat https://www.billomat.com/ · checked against the official source on 2026-10-29
Wave https://www.waveapps.com · checked against the official source on 2026-09-12
This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.