Businessily vs QuickBooks, Wave & FreshBooks
A plain-spoken, side-by-side look — including where the incumbents still beat us.
What you'd pay in a year
Estimated from publicly listed plans (FreshBooks ~$19/mo, QuickBooks ~$35/mo). Wave moved to freemium in 2024.
Feature & price comparison
| Businessily | QuickBooks | Wave | FreshBooks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core features free | ● Always | ✕ Paid only | ◐ Freemium | ✕ Paid only |
| Fully on-device option | ● Apple apps | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| No bank-login required | ● Import a file | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| 1099 & W-2 tax prep | ● Both, free | ◐ Higher tiers | ✕ | ◐ Limited |
| Mileage tracking & IRS export | ● Free | ◐ App add-on | ✕ | ◐ Limited |
| Scheduling & booking links | ● Built in | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| No ads, no data resale | ● | ● | ◐ | ● |
| Multi-platform | ● Web now; apps soon | ● Web + apps | ● Web + apps | ● Web + apps |
| Card payments to your own Stripe | ● Direct to you | ◐ Their processor | ◐ Their processor | ◐ Their processor |
| Monthly price | ● $0 | $35+ | $0–16 | $19+ |
Competitor pricing and features summarized from publicly listed plans and change over time — check each provider. Last reviewed June 2026.
Where Businessily wins
Free essentials
Invoicing, expenses, mileage, 1099 & W-2, scheduling — no card, no ads.
Private by design
On-device on Apple; web in a row-level-secured database. Full SSN/EIN never in the cloud.
All-in-one
One app instead of three subscriptions. No bank-login — import a CSV/OFX/QFX, parsed locally.
Where the incumbents are stronger
Huge accountant network, payroll, lending, proven at large scale.
Mature project & team-collaboration tooling, years of polish.
SOC 2 / ISO audits and dedicated support teams today. We don't have these yet.
Independent, bootstrapped; native apps soon; web tier is RLS-isolated, not zero-knowledge.
If you need an accountant already in your software or compliance attestations today, an incumbent may suit you better. Exactly what we do and don't store is on Security.
A note on Wave going freemium
Wave was free for years, then added paid tiers and per-transaction fees in 2024 — a reminder that "free" can change.
On-device-first design keeps our costs near zero, so the essentials can stay free. More on Pricing and the FAQ.
See it for yourself
The free web app is live now. iPhone, iPad, Mac and Android apps are coming soon.