Wave no longer serves Australian businesses. It says it has focused only on the US and Canada since November 2020, and has stopped product and customer support everywhere else. Its help centre, updated in September 2026, says users outside those two countries can still create invoices, but can no longer send them, or reminders, through Wave. If you used Wave here, download your records and move to software built for GST and the BAS. Zoho Books, which Wave itself points users to, is free while your revenue is under $50,000.
Everything below was read from Wave's own help centre and from each company's own site on 2 October 2026.
Can you still use Wave in Australia?
Partly, for now. An existing account stays open, and Wave says that may change in the future. From Australia you can still:
- create invoices and estimates, and share them as a PDF or a link;
- keep your bookkeeping records, and see the dashboard and reports.
What you cannot do is send an invoice or a reminder through Wave, or take online payments, which Wave offers only to businesses in the US and Canada. Wave also says it does not guarantee that its software meets the rules outside those two countries. For an Australian business, those rules include GST, tax invoices and the BAS.
New sign-ups are no answer either: Wave says people outside the US and Canada are sent to Zoho Books instead.
How do you download your records from Wave?
Do it before you cancel anything, and before Wave changes what an Australian account can do. Wave's help centre describes the export:
- Sign in as the owner or an admin. Collaborators with the Viewer or Editor role cannot export.
- Request the download. Your accounting data comes as four Excel or CSV files, and your receipts as a ZIP file.
- Open the email promptly. Wave emails a download link, and it lasts 24 hours.
- Keep the files for five years. The ATO expects your records kept that long whichever software produced them, so store them somewhere you control.
What should an Australian Wave user switch to?
Most people chose Wave because it was free, so the free plans come first. Standard prices, without introductory offers:
| Software | Free plan | Paid from |
|---|---|---|
| Zoho Books | Under $50,000 revenue, up to 1,000 invoices a year | $16.50 a month billed yearly |
| Tyro Accounting | Unlimited invoices and quotes | $29.95 a month |
| Sole | Limits after 30 days, not listed | $14.99 a month |
| MYOB | None | $99 a year for Solo, which cannot lodge a BAS |
| Rounded | None | $23.95 a month, or $29.95 for Pro with the BAS |
If you are not registered for GST, any of the free plans covers what Wave did for you: invoices, quotes and expenses. If you are registered, you need software that handles the BAS. Zoho Books prepares it for you to lodge, on its free plan as well as its paid ones, Rounded prepares it on Pro, and MYOB Business Lite, at $35 a month, lodges it from the software. MYOB Solo tracks GST but cannot lodge a BAS.
For the paid options in full, accounting software for sole traders compares nine products, and what free means in accounting software explains how each free plan pays for itself, which is worth knowing after a free product has left you once.
Why does it matter that Wave was not built for Australia?
An Australian business registered for GST has rules a US product does not know about. Its business customers need tax invoices, showing its ABN and the GST included, to claim their GST credits, and it reports GST to the ATO on a Business Activity Statement, usually each quarter. Software built for Australia tracks the GST on every transaction so the BAS figures are ready when it is due.
How to invoice with GST lists what a tax invoice must show, and what a BAS is covers the statement itself.
Where does Balaana fit?
Balaana is free accounting and invoicing software built for Australian sole traders, which is the gap Wave left, but it is not launched yet. Its free plan has unlimited invoices and quotes, unlimited clients, expense and receipt capture, GST tracked on every transaction, a BAS summary each quarter and a profit and loss statement, for one user. The Plus plan is $7 a month and adds payment collection, a bank feed and up to three users.
If you need software today, use one of the products above and export your records from Wave now. See our pricing page for Balaana's full plan split, and why the free plan is free.
Related reading
- What "free" actually means in accounting software
- Accounting software for sole traders, compared
- Xero alternatives, compared on price
- A free invoice generator, for the invoices in between
Frequently asked questions
Not fully. Wave says it has focused only on the US and Canada since November 2020. An Australian account stays open for now, and you can still create invoices and keep your records, but you cannot send invoices or reminders through Wave or take online payments. Wave also says it does not guarantee its software meets the rules outside those two countries.
Yes, for now. Wave says existing accounts outside the US and Canada remain active but that this may change in the future, so download your records while you can.
Sign in as the owner or an admin, because Viewers and Editors cannot export, and request your account data. Wave emails a link to four Excel or CSV files of accounting data and a ZIP file of receipts, and the link lasts 24 hours. Keep the files for five years, as the ATO expects.
Zoho Books is the closest, and it is the replacement Wave itself points users to. It is free while your revenue is under $50,000 a year, for up to 1,000 invoices, and it prepares a BAS for you to lodge. Tyro Accounting has a free plan with unlimited invoices and quotes, and Sole advertises a free plan with limits after 30 days. Balaana, which is not launched yet, also has a free plan.
Wave says that in November 2020 it chose to focus exclusively on the US and Canada, and it stopped product and customer support for users elsewhere. It has not given a market-by-market reason.
Sources
- Wave, Changes for Wave users outside the United States and Canada: the countries Wave serves, what still works elsewhere, and the pointer to Zoho Books.
- Wave, Download your account data: what the export contains, who can run it, and how long the link lasts.
- Wave, What to do if you can't find your Wave account: sign-ups from outside the US and Canada.
- Zoho, Zoho Books pricing; Tyro, Tyro Accounting; Sole, Sole for small business; MYOB, MYOB pricing; and Rounded, pricing: free plans, prices and BAS handling.
Every figure was read from the company's own site on 2 October 2026, not from a third party. Prices and Wave's own terms can change, so check the live pages before you decide, and treat anything here older than a quarter as out of date.