If you run a solo business or a small operation, you have probably landed on both Stintly and Wave while hunting for tools that handle invoicing, time tracking, and the money side of things without draining your wallet. Both promise to cost you nothing, which is rare and genuinely useful. But "free" means different things depending on the tool, and the way each app is built makes them suited to very different people.
This is an honest comparison. Wave is a capable product with real strengths, and we will name them plainly. But there are specific situations where Stintly is the better fit — mostly around offline access, privacy, and simplicity. Let's break it down so you can pick the right tool instead of switching twice.
Quick Comparison
Here is the fast version for people who just want the headline differences before reading further.
| Feature | Stintly | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no paid tiers | Free core, paid payroll & payments |
| Works Offline | Yes, 100% offline | No, web-based only |
| Account Required | No account, no signup | Yes, email account required |
| Best For | Solo operators, mobile-first, privacy-focused | Small businesses wanting full accounting books |
| Platform | iOS (App Store) | Web browser, limited mobile |
| Key Features | Time tracking, invoicing, expense logging | Double-entry accounting, invoicing, payroll |
| Data Privacy | Data stays on your device | Data stored on Wave's cloud servers |
Pricing
Both apps lead with "free," and both are telling the truth — but the structure differs in ways that matter over time.
Wave offers free invoicing and accounting. That core is genuinely free and always has been. Where Wave makes money is on add-ons: payroll runs roughly $20–$40 per month plus a per-employee fee depending on your state, and payment processing takes a cut of every card or bank transaction you accept through the platform (commonly around 2.9% + $0.60 per card payment). If you only use invoicing and bookkeeping, you can stay on the free tier indefinitely — though Wave's free tier shows ads and upsells, and the company was acquired by H&R Block, so the product roadmap follows their priorities, not necessarily yours.
Stintly is free with no paid tier at all. There is no upsell waiting at the next screen, no premium unlock, no payroll module to graduate into. That also means Stintly does not try to be a full accounting suite — it is focused on the day-to-day work of tracking time, sending invoices, and logging expenses for a single operator.
| Cost Over Time | Stintly | Wave (core) | Wave + Payroll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 | $0 | ~$35/mo |
| 1 Year | $0 | $0 | ~$420 |
| 3 Years | $0 | $0 | ~$1,260 |
If you never need payroll or in-app payment processing, Wave and Stintly both cost you nothing. The real difference is not the price tag — it is what you get and how the tool behaves, which we cover below.
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Features
This is where the two tools diverge most, because they were built with different users in mind.
Wave is a real accounting platform. It does proper double-entry bookkeeping, connects to your bank for automatic transaction imports, generates financial reports, tracks sales tax, and handles unlimited invoices and customers. If you need to hand a clean set of books to an accountant at tax time, or you have grown past the shoebox-of-receipts stage, Wave gives you genuine accounting structure for free. That is a strong offer, and for a small business with a handful of clients and recurring bookkeeping needs, it is hard to beat on paper.
Stintly takes the opposite approach: do the core jobs of a solo operator and do them fast, without the overhead of a full accounting system. That means quick time tracking for billable hours, clean invoice creation you can send from your phone, and simple expense logging. There is no bank sync to configure, no chart of accounts to learn, no setup wizard. You open the app and start working. For a freelancer or trades operator who bills by the hour or by the job, that speed is the whole point.
The trade-off is real and worth stating: Stintly will not produce a formal balance sheet or run your payroll. If those are non-negotiable for you, Wave wins this section outright. Many solo operators in service trades simply do not need that depth — they need to log hours on a job site and invoice the client before they forget. This is also where app focus matters: tools built around a specific kind of work tend to fit better than general accounting suites. A lawn care crew might pair time tracking with operations software like LawnBook, a cleaning business might lean on ShineBook for managing residential and commercial jobs, a landlord could run rentals through KeyLoft, and a contractor handling job costing might use TrestleBook alongside their billing. The right stack depends on the actual work, not on which app has the longest feature list.
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Offline & Privacy
This is Stintly's clearest structural advantage, and it comes from a basic design decision: Stintly runs on your device, not in the cloud.
Wave is web-based. To log a transaction, send an invoice, or check a report, you need an internet connection and you need to be signed into your Wave account. That is fine at a desk with reliable WiFi. It is a problem in a client's basement, on a job site with no signal, on a plane, or anywhere your connection drops. Wave's mobile presence has also been scaled back over the years, so the "just use the app" answer is weaker than it used to be.
Stintly works 100% offline. You can track time, build an invoice, and log an expense with your phone in airplane mode, and nothing breaks. There is no spinner waiting on a server. For people who do their actual work away from a desk — in the field, in someone's home, on the road — this is not a nice-to-have, it is the difference between recording something now versus trying to remember it later.
Privacy follows from the same design. Because Stintly keeps your data on your device, your client names, rates, and earnings are not sitting on a third party's servers. You do not create an account, so there is no email to harvest, no profile to build, and no login to get breached. Wave, by contrast, stores your financial data in its cloud — necessary for bank sync and multi-device access, but it does mean you are trusting a company (now under H&R Block) with sensitive numbers. Neither approach is wrong; they are different bargains. If you value your data never leaving your phone, Stintly's model is built for you.
If your work happens away from reliable internet, "web-based and free" can quietly cost you more than a paid app that actually works where you are standing.
Who Should Use Wave
Wave is the better choice for a specific and common profile, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. Pick Wave if:
- You need real double-entry accounting and formal financial reports for your business.
- You want automatic bank feeds so transactions import themselves instead of being entered by hand.
- You run payroll or want to accept card payments directly through your invoices.
- You work primarily at a desk with steady internet and are comfortable in a browser.
- You hand books to an accountant and want them in a standard, recognizable format.
For an established small business with employees and recurring bookkeeping, Wave's free accounting core is a legitimately strong deal. There is no shame in choosing the tool that matches that reality.
Who Should Use Stintly
Stintly is built for the solo operator who values speed, independence from the internet, and keeping things simple. Pick Stintly if:
- You are a freelancer, contractor, or one-person business who bills by hours or by the job.
- You work in the field or on the move and need tools that function without a signal.
- You want to skip account creation entirely — no email, no password, no profile.
- You care about privacy and want your financial data to stay on your own device.
- You find full accounting suites overkill and just want to track time, invoice, and log expenses without a learning curve.
- You want a tool that is genuinely free forever with no upsell path looming.
If you opened Wave, felt the weight of a full accounting system, and thought "I just want to bill this client," Stintly is the lighter tool you were looking for.
The Bottom Line
Wave and Stintly both deliver on the "free" promise, but they serve different people. Wave is a full, free accounting platform — best for desk-based small businesses that need real books, bank sync, payroll, and accountant-ready reports, and that do not mind storing data in the cloud or seeing the occasional upsell.
Stintly is the better pick for the mobile, privacy-minded solo operator. It is 100% free with no paid tiers, works completely offline, requires no account, and keeps your data on your device. It trades accounting depth for speed and independence — and for a lot of freelancers and trades workers, that is exactly the right trade.
The honest recommendation: if you need formal books and payroll, use Wave. If you bill clients on the move and want a fast, private, truly free tool with zero setup, use Stintly. And since Stintly costs nothing and takes seconds to start, there is little risk in trying it before you commit either way.
Ready to switch? Download Stintly for Free — it takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.