Compare

Redline vs Wave: two different free plans.

Wave's free plan is for billing and bookkeeping: unlimited invoices, estimates and books. Redline's Free plan is for running the week: the chat, contacts, a job pipeline and a calendar that finds open slots. Both do estimates for free. Past that they cover different ground, and Redline's invoicing is on its paid Solo plan.

Get started free App Store

The short version

Wave answers "how do I bill people and keep my books?" Redline answers "what am I doing Thursday, and who haven't I called back?" On Redline Free you message it to add a customer, find a time, book the visit and draft a quote. When you want to bill from those same jobs, Solo at $29 a month ($23 billed yearly) adds invoices, card pay links on your own Stripe account and overdue flags.

Wave is invoicing and accounting software for freelancers, sole proprietors and small businesses in the US and Canada. It isn't built for one trade. It does unlimited invoices with notifications when an invoice is viewed, due or paid, itemized estimates that convert to invoices in one click, bookkeeping, and an iOS and Android app for invoices, estimates and transactions. Its pages don't describe job scheduling, dispatch or a job pipeline.

Wave's pricing page lists Starter at $0 a month, with unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records and online payments at higher processing fees than on Pro. Pro is listed at $19 a month billed monthly in the US, or $190 a year, and adds receipt scanning, bank transaction import, auto-categorization and recurring invoices.

Booking a house wash between other jobs

Find a time next week for the Ortiz house wash in Medford. About 3 hours.

Three openings:

Tuesday 9am: you're at the Lam deck in Medford at 1pm, so it's one trip

Wednesday 8am: open morning

Friday 9am: open day

Tuesday is my pick. Book it?

Tuesday. And move the Ortiz job to Accepted.

Booked the Ortiz wash Tuesday at 9am. Moving Ortiz to Accepted needs your OK: tap confirm.

Scheduling and the pipeline are on every plan, including Free. Visits are grouped by town name, not by map.

Redline and Wave, side by side

	Redline	Wave
How you use it	Chat first. You message it ("invoice Sullivan for the roof job") and it updates contacts, jobs, the calendar and invoices, asking you to confirm before it changes customer records. Web and iPhone.	Invoicing and bookkeeping screens on the web, with an iOS and Android app for invoices, estimates and transactions.
Free plan	Yes. $0 with no end date: AI chat, contacts, pipeline, calendar, scheduling assistant, Quick-Sort and a Pro Page. 1 seat and 4,000 AI credits that don't refill.	Yes. Starter is $0 with unlimited estimates, invoices and bookkeeping records. Online payments cost more in processing than on Pro.
Starting price	Solo at $29 a month, or $23 a month billed yearly. 7-day free trial on the web.	Pro at $19 a month billed monthly in the US, or $190 a year, per its pricing page.
Seats	Free and Solo: 1. Team ($129 a month): 3. Team+ ($299 a month): 10, plus extra seats at $29 each.	See their site.
Quotes	Itemized quotes by chat, including from a site photo, with an optional deposit %. Good, better and best options and tax are in the Quote composer (Solo and up). Saved as drafts; you email the customer from your own Gmail. No quote link, online approval or e-sign today.	Itemized estimates that convert to invoices in one click.
Invoicing and payments	Solo and up. Branded card pay links on your own Stripe account, no Redline fee on top. Card only, US dollars. Overdue flags at day 3, 7 and 14.	Unlimited invoices on the free plan, with online payments. Notifications when an invoice is viewed, due or paid. Recurring invoices on Pro.
Scheduling	Every plan. Suggests up to 3 open slots, groups visits in the same town, sets up repeating visits with one save. No calendar sync, no online booking.	Not described on its pricing or product pages.
Dispatch	Team and up. Dispatch board, tech app, assign jobs by chat, crew chat. Techs tap their status; there's no GPS.	Not described on its pricing or product pages.
What Wave has that Redline doesn't	Not in Redline today.	Invoicing and online payments on a free plan. Bookkeeping and bills. Bank import and receipt scanning (Pro). Recurring invoices (Pro). An Android app. Canadian pricing.
What Redline has that Wave doesn't	A calendar with a scheduling assistant, a job pipeline and quotes by chat on the Free plan. Crew dispatch on Team.	Its pages describe invoicing, payments and bookkeeping, not scheduling or a job pipeline.

Wave details come from Wave's own website, checked October 2026. Plans and prices change, so confirm on their site before you decide.

Who should pick which

Pick Wave if

Your work is booked and you just need to bill it, free
You want your bookkeeping in the same place as your invoices
You bill the same customers the same amount every month (recurring invoices on Pro)
You want bank transactions imported and receipts scanned (Pro)
You work in Canada or carry an Android phone

Pick Redline if

Your problem is the schedule and the follow-ups, not the invoice
You book a lot of short jobs around a few towns and want them grouped
You want to see every lead and quote by stage, from Lead to Paid
You'd rather type "book the Ortiz wash Tuesday" than fill in forms
You'll pay $29 a month later for invoicing that starts from the job

Questions contractors ask

Wave is free. Is Redline?

Both have free plans, and they cover different things. Wave's Starter includes invoicing and online payments. Redline's Free plan doesn't: it covers the chat, contacts, pipeline, calendar, scheduling assistant and quotes. Redline invoicing is on Solo at $29 a month, with a 7-day free trial on the web.

Can I run Redline Free and bill in Wave?

Yes. Book and quote in Redline, then type the invoice into Wave. They don't connect, so the job total won't carry over. If you'd rather bill from the job you already have, that's what Solo adds.

Does Redline do recurring invoices?

No. Redline books repeating visits (up to 52 in a series, with saved presets like "Biweekly mow"), but there's no automatic recurring billing. You invoice each visit or job. See recurring jobs.

Does Redline do bookkeeping?

No. On Solo it tracks expenses against jobs and shows profit, collected and spent, with a QuickBooks-format CSV export. There are no bank feeds or bills. If you want books and invoices in one free app, Wave is closer. See Wave alternatives.

Your week, on the Free plan.

Put next week's jobs into Redline and let it find the gaps. Keep billing wherever you bill now.