Wave

Wave is the classic 'starting block' for business owners. If you are a freelancer or a simple service business, it is incredibly hard to justify paying £30/month for Xero when Wave’s core accounting is free. The AI categorization is robust enough to handle about 80% of your bank feed without you touching a button, which is a massive win for the time-poor founder. However, I need to be candid: Wave is a tool for starting, not necessarily for scaling. Once you start hiring a team, holding physical stock, or dealing with complex international tax treaties, you'll feel the walls closing in. Use it to keep your burn rate low in the early days, but have an exit strategy for when you hit that £100k revenue mark or need deep financial reporting.