Wave combines invoicing with accounting and optional online payments for eligible businesses in the United States and Canada. Pepper runs on your hosting and keeps invoices, payments you record and supplier receipts together. Pepper has no bank feeds or bookkeeping ledger. Stripe invoice payments collect against staff-issued invoices, with partial payments and confirmed credit-note refunds.
Wave’s Starter plan includes invoicing and bookkeeping records. Pro adds features such as automatic bank transaction imports and receipt capture; online payments have separate terms and fees. Sources checked 13 October 2026: Wave’s plans and account eligibility. Wave excludes US territories from account eligibility.
Compare accounting, payments and receipts
| Requirement | Pepper | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting records | Invoice and purchase records for export; no ledger | Bookkeeping and financial reporting |
| Bank imports | Not included | Automatic imports on Pro, subject to bank support |
| Receipt entry | Attach a file and enter its amounts yourself | Receipt capture on Pro or through the relevant add-on |
| Online payments | Record money received elsewhere | Available subject to eligibility and transaction fees |
| Hosting | You maintain your own installation | Hosted service |
Where Pepper fits
Consider Wave when your business is eligible and you need accounting or online payments alongside invoicing. Consider Pepper when you want your own installation and source code, and your accountant handles the books in another system.
Pepper also connects fixed-price projects and team boards to billing records. Its monthly, quarterly and yearly exports include available source files. It does not read receipt images or file tax returns. Check the invoicing and bookkeeping boundary against your accounting process.
Compare the full cost
Pepper costs $199 for one production installation, full source, a perpetual licence, and one year of updates and support. Updates and support renew automatically at $199/year unless you cancel. Cancel anytime to stop future charges; your downloaded copy keeps working after the paid period ends. Hosting, email and maintenance are separate costs. Licence and support terms.
Compare those costs with Wave’s applicable plan, add-ons and transaction charges. Pepper has no Wave migration tool. Preserve earlier records and check a sample export with your accountant before switching.
Follow the purchase-to-accountant example to see the hand-off. You can inspect existing records in the read-only demo.