Tool profile
Wave Receipts: cost, fit and limits
Wave Receipts is the receipt capture feature in Wave, an accounting and invoicing product made by Wave Financial Inc., that uses optical character recognition to read receipts and log expenses alongside the books of a small business.
What to know first
Wave Receipts is sold inside Wave rather than as a separate app. Starter costs $0 but receipt capture is an add-on at $11 a month or $96 a year. Pro is $19 USD a month or $190 USD a year and includes unlimited receipt capture, also priced at CAD $25 monthly or $250 yearly. The pricing page names OCR and Plaid bank connections.
Wave Receipts at a glance
| Maker | Wave Financial Inc., Not stated on the vendor pages |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | $0 (Starter); receipts add-on $11 per month or $96 per year |
| API access | No |
| Category | Best AI Receipt Scanner Apps in 2026, rank 9 of 12 |
| Website | waveapps.com |
Who Wave Receipts is best for
Small businesses keeping books in Wave
Receipts, expense tracking, invoicing and accounting share one account, so entries do not need to be moved between separate tools at month end.
Sole traders who want one bill
Pro bundles unlimited receipt capture with the accounting plan at $19 a month, which avoids a separate receipt subscription on top of the accounting fee.
Owners who connect bank accounts
Bank connections run through Plaid, so scanned receipts can be matched against imported bank transactions inside the same Wave account.
Wave Receipts plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0 | The accounting base plan at no charge; receipts are available only through the paid add-on, not in the base plan itself. |
| Starter receipts add-on | $11 per month or $96 per year | Receipt capture on the Starter plan, billed in addition to the free base plan, with no numeric scan cap stated on the page. |
| Pro | $19 USD per month billed monthly, or $190 USD per year (CAD $25 monthly, $250 yearly) | Unlimited receipt capture and expense tracking, bundled into the paid plan alongside the accounting features, per the pricing page. |
Checked November 2026.
What Wave Receipts does
- Receipt capture
- Digital receipt capture is described as unlimited on Pro, with no numeric cap stated on the pages opened, unlike the per-user scan caps of several rivals.
- OCR processing
- Optical character recognition processes receipts, and the pricing page names it explicitly while stating no AI feature, so automatic text reading is the verified part.
- Expense tracking
- Expenses are tracked alongside invoicing and accounting in one account, so receipts feed the same books that the business already uses for sales. That suits owners who invoice customers in Wave as well.
- Bank connections
- Bank connections via Plaid import transactions that can be reconciled with scanned receipts, which saves typing card charges into the expense list by hand. Plaid is the only named connection provider.
How Wave Receipts handles your data
The pricing page and the privacy page at waveapps.com were the sources. Neither page opened states whether receipts train models, how long data is kept, or where it is hosted. An unlabeled badge appears in the footer, but its text names no certification, so none is claimed here. Wave's privacy page should be read in full by anyone uploading receipts that include personal details, and any hosting or retention questions put to Wave directly.
Where Wave Receipts falls short in practice
- Add-on on Starter. Starter users must pay $11 a month or $96 a year before receipts work, which changes the real cost of what is advertised as a free plan.
- Thin integration list. The pages opened name no integration except Plaid, so connections to payroll, expense approval or other ledgers remain unverified for a buyer. Check Wave directly before depending on one.
- No AI claim. The pricing page names OCR but no AI feature, so categorization suggestions, fraud checks or an assistant are not described anywhere on it. Treat any AI assumption as unverified.
Works with
Alternatives to Wave Receipts
Wave Receipts: common questions
Is Wave Receipts free?
No. Starter is $0 but receipt capture is an add-on at $11 a month or $96 a year. Pro, at $19 USD a month or $190 USD a year, includes unlimited receipt capture. A promotional offer on the pricing page ran from 2 December 2025 to 6 January 2026 and is no longer current.
Does Wave Receipts use AI?
The pricing page names optical character recognition for receipt processing and does not state any AI feature. That means automatic reading of text from receipts is described, while categorization, fraud checks or an assistant are not. The pages opened give no accuracy figure.
Can I use Wave Receipts without Wave accounting?
The pages opened present receipts as part of a Wave account, with Starter or Pro as the base. No standalone receipts product is described. Someone who keeps their books elsewhere would pay for the Wave account just to capture receipts.
How many receipts can Wave Pro capture?
Pro describes receipt capture and expense tracking as unlimited. No numeric cap is stated for Pro on the pages opened. The Starter add-on does not state a cap either, so confirm limits with Wave if you scan a very large number of documents.
What does Wave connect to?
The pricing page names Plaid for bank connections and describes other integrations only as third-party, without naming any. Anyone relying on a specific payroll, payment or ledger connection should check Wave's integrations list directly before subscribing. The pages opened give no list of named integrations.