Dext vs Wave: Which is Better for Your Business in 2025?

Are you trying to pick the right money-managing tool for your business?

It can feel like a big puzzle!

Two names you might have heard are Dext and Wave. 

In this article, we’ll look closely at Dext vs Wave.

We’ll break down what they do and how they can help your business shine.

Let’s get started!

Overview

We took both Dext and Wave for a spin, just like you might.

We tried out their main features.

We looked at how easy they were to use. 

This helps us show you how they stack up against each other.

What is Dext?

Okay, so what is Dext?

Think of it like a super smart helper for your papers.

It mostly takes care of things like bills and receipts.

You just snap a picture, and Dext gets all the important info.

Pretty neat, huh?

Also, explore our favorite Dext alternatives…

What is Wave?

Okay, let’s talk about Wave.

Think of it like a helpful friend for your business money.

It lets you do things like send invoices and track what money comes in and goes out.

It can help you see the big picture of your business finances.

Also, explore our favorite Wave alternatives…

Feature Comparison

This is where we go in-depth on the features.

We looked at what both Dext and Wave can do to help you decide.

This simple side-by-side comparison will show you the key differences.

1. Accounting and Bookkeeping Workflows

• Wave Accounting is a full small business accounting software. It is built for complete bookkeeping workflows. This includes the general ledger, invoicing, and basic reporting. You can do everything from one free platform.
• Dext is mainly a tool for automating data entry to streamline bookkeeping workflows. Its job is to efficiently get financial data like receipts and invoices into your existing accounting system, like QuickBooks Online.

2. Manual Data Entry Reduction

• Dext excels at minimizing manual data entry. It uses powerful OCR technology (optical character recognition) to extract data from financial documents like receipts invoices and bills. This greatly reduces the manual entry of cost and sales data.
• Wave Accounting also offers digital receipt capture but it’s more of a built-in feature of the accounting suite. While it uses OCR, the main function is the full accounting and bookkeeping workflows, not just the data extraction process.

3. Receipt Capture and Submission

• Dext offers multiple ways to submit receipts and invoices. You can use the dext mobile app for mobile scanning, forward them via email submission, or use its fetching invoices feature. This makes data collection quick and easy in just a few minutes.
• Wave also provides a mobile app for receipt capture, allowing small business owners to snap and store receipts. However, Dext’s focus on this area means it usually has more advanced receipt bank and expense management features.

4. Direct Integrations with Accounting Software

• Dext is designed for a deep integration with popular accounting systems like QuickBooks Online and Xero. The data it extract data from documents flows directly into your chosen platform, where you handle the rest of your accounting and bookkeeping workflows.
• Wave is an all-in-one system, so it has fewer direct integrations with other major accounting platforms. It does, however, wave integrates with various payment and payroll services.

5. Auto Import Bank Transactions

• Wave offers bank feeds and can auto import bank transactions from your bank accounts and credit card transaction history. This is a core part of its free accounting features to help you reconcile and track expenses automatically.
• Dext focuses on document data. While it can handle bank statement extraction (dext prepare), its primary role isn’t managing daily bank transactions like a dedicated accounting system.

6. Invoicing Features and Payments

• Wave provides strong invoicing software as part of its free platform. You get unlimited invoices, and can accept online payments (with fees), and set up automated payment reminders and recurring invoices.
• Dext‘s focus is on capturing bills and purchase orders (money going out). While it can handle sales data capture from sales platforms, it does not create or manage customer invoices directly.

7. Free Trial and Cost

• Wave is famous for its free starter plan and free accounting software, making it a fantastic free platform for many small business owners. There is no free trial needed for the core accounting features, just a paid pro plan for add-ons.
• Dext is a paid subscription level service but does often dext offers multiple ways to try dext with a free trial. The cost is generally based on the number of documents you process, as it dext saves you time on manual data entry.

8. Multi-Company Management

• Wave allows small business owners to manage multiple companies and separate bookkeeping records within a single free platform, which is a huge benefit for freelancers or those with side projects.
• Dext is built to serve clients who are usually linked to an accountant or bookkeeper. It makes it very easy for that accountant to manage the expense claims and financial documents for multiple companies under one practice account.

9. Expense Management Features

• Dext is essentially a specialist expense management tool. It lets users set up supplier rules and tracking categories to automate document sorting and coding. This capability goes in-depth for expense management.
• Wave lets you track expenses within its general ledger. It uses categorization and bank feed rules, but it lacks the advanced document-specific automating data entry and workflow tools that Dext offers.

10. System Dependability and Security Service

• Both platforms offer robust security. Wave uses features like multi factor authentication for a good security solution.
• Dext emphasizes secure data flow, hosting data with AWS with industry-standard encryption. If you encounter a connection error, you might see a Cloudflare Ray ID message, which is a common security service identifier for troubleshooting web issues. The cloudflare ray or cloudflare ray id found is not an actual feature, but a security service note.

11. Business Scalability and Advanced Features

• Wave is perfect for starting out but may lack advanced features for fast-growing or complex businesses, such as deep inventory tracking or comprehensive class tracking, which may require a paid pro plan or an alternative.
• Dext scales well because its function remains the same no matter how big you are: simplifying data extraction. As your business grows, you just process more documents, and dext saves you even more time by removing hassle.

What to Look for When Choosing an Accounting Software?

When you are ready to choose your software, look at these points:

• Your Main Goal: Do you need a full, often free version for basic accounting and payroll (wave accounting review)? Or do you need a tool like a dext account that focuses on helping you capture receipts and save time on data entry?
• User Needs: Consider if you need to support multiple users or unlimited users. Wave is designed for independent contractor paid or active employee payroll using wave payroll and direct deposit (for an additional costs).
• Core Features: Check the key features. Does the software help you with money management features and your daily cash flow? Wave makes it simple with two plans and a free version.
• Transaction Handling: See how the platform deals with your money. Can it process credit card and bank payments? Wave financial lets you accept online payments including apple pay and offers recurring billing.
• Expense and Data Management: Look for how easy it is to manage expenses. Can you collect receipts quickly and accurately? Look for high use and system dependability to avoid issues like malformed data or errors.
• Reporting and Tax: Does it give you clear financial reports over a chosen date range? Does it help with your tax filing? Wave’s paid features assist with tax details for your independent contractor.
• Support and Trust: Look at the customer help center and what people in a wave review say. Good support offers giving peace of mind and can help when a sql command fails or in case of online attacks.
• Pricing and Value: Review the different pricing plans and any additional costs. See if a paid plan offers enough value or if you should try dext with a free trial today to see if it meets your needs at a discounted rate.

Final Verdict

If your main need is a free platform to handle full business accounting, recommend wave.

Wave is the better choice for small business owners.

It gives you a lot of core features, like invoicing and basic payment processing, without immediate cost.

It handles your transactions automatically and manages things like credit card payments and payroll processing add-ons.

However, if you already have an accountant and simply need to save time and stop all the manual data entry from receipts and invoices,

Dext is your winner. It performed triggered data extraction better.

We’ve taken several actions to test both fully.

As the site owner, we recommend you choose based on whether you need a full accounting system or a data automation tool.

More of Dext

More of Wave

• Wave vs Puzzle IO: This software focuses on AI-powered financial planning for startups. Its counterpart is for personal finance.
• Wave vs Dext: This is a business tool for capturing receipts and invoices. The other tool tracks personal expenses.
• Wave vs Xero: This is popular online accounting software for small businesses. Its competitor is for personal use.
• Wave vs Synder: This tool syncs e-commerce data with accounting software. Its alternative focuses on personal finance.
• Wave vs Easy Month End: This is a business tool to streamline month-end tasks. Its competitor is for managing personal finances.
• Wave vs Docyt: This uses AI for business bookkeeping and automation. The other uses AI as a personal finance assistant.
• Wave vs Sage: This is a comprehensive business accounting suite. Its competitor is an easier-to-use tool for personal finance.
• Wave vs Zoho Books: This is an online accounting tool for small businesses. Its competitor is for personal use.
• Wave vs Quicken: Both are personal finance tools, but this one offers more in-depth investment tracking. The other is simpler.
• Wave vs Hubdoc: This specializes in document capture for bookkeeping. Its competitor is a personal finance tool.
• Wave vs Expensify: This is a business expense management tool. The other is for personal expense tracking and budgeting.
• Wave vs QuickBooks: This is well-known accounting software for businesses. Its alternative is built for personal finance.
• Wave vs AutoEntry: This is designed to automate data entry for business accounting. Its alternative is a personal finance tool.
• Wave vs FreshBooks: This is accounting software for freelancers and small businesses. Its alternative is for personal finance.
• Wave vs NetSuite: This is a powerful business management suite for large companies. Its competitor is a simple personal finance app.

Frequently Asked Questions