Wave is one of the most popular free invoicing tools on the market. Clervo is a newer alternative built for freelancers and tradespeople who want to invoice fast from their phone. Both have a free tier — but free doesn't mean the same thing for each of them. Here's how they compare.
What Wave Offers for Free
Wave's free tier includes unlimited invoicing, unlimited clients, basic accounting (income and expense tracking, financial reports), and receipt scanning. Payment processing costs extra — Wave charges a fee per transaction when clients pay online.
It's a genuinely useful free tool, particularly if you want basic accounting alongside invoicing and you do most of your work from a desktop.
What Clervo Offers
Clervo is built around fast mobile invoicing — creating and sending professional invoices and quotes from your phone, on site, in under a minute. Payment tracking and automatic reminders are built in.
The focus is narrower than Wave: Clervo doesn't try to be an accounting platform. It's a billing tool, optimised for the way tradespeople and freelancers actually work.
Check clervo.com/pricing for current plan details.
Mobile Experience
This is where the two products diverge most clearly. Clervo is mobile-first — the entire product is designed around creating invoices from a phone, with a clean interface that works on a small screen without compromise.
Wave has a mobile app, but it's a scaled-down version of the desktop product. The desktop experience is where Wave works best. If you're primarily invoicing from a phone or tablet on site, this matters.
Invoicing Speed
Clervo is faster. The interface is stripped to just what you need — client, line items, send. No navigating past accounting dashboards or features you're not using. For tradespeople who want to invoice immediately after finishing a job, that speed difference is felt every time.
Wave's invoicing works well but involves more steps, particularly on mobile.
Accounting Features
Wave has them; Clervo doesn't. If you want to track income and expenses, reconcile bank transactions, and run profit and loss reports in the same tool, Wave covers it at no cost.
If you use a separate accountant or accounting tool for your books and just want clean invoice records, the accounting features in Wave are features you're navigating around rather than using.
Payment Processing
Both platforms allow clients to pay online. Wave charges per transaction for card payments — around 2.9% + $0.60 for Visa/Mastercard. Clervo's payment processing details are at clervo.com/pricing.
Who Should Use Each
Choose Clervo if:
You invoice primarily from your phone
You're a tradesperson or freelancer who needs fast, simple billing
You want quotes and invoices in one workflow
You don't need accounting features built into your invoicing tool
Choose Wave if:
You work primarily from a desktop
You want free accounting alongside free invoicing
You need income and expense tracking without paying for separate software
You're comfortable with a more complex interface in exchange for more features
Free doesn't mean right for everyone. The best invoicing tool is the one you'll actually use consistently — and for most tradespeople and freelancers working on site, that means mobile-first. Try Clervo free →