Wave alternative
Invoices that start from the work you did.
Bill a project's hours or a finished job in one click, let clients pay by card from the email, and chase late ones by themselves. Next to your CRM and deals, with QuickBooks Online or Xero keeping the books.
Free plan, no card. Paste your client list into Ask Sam and send your first invoice today.
Wave and Alori, side by side.
WaveAloriFrom tracked hours to money in the bank.
Track time on the project, bill it in one click, and let the client pay by card. Late ones get chased for you.
- 1Hours on the project
- 2Bill hours, one click
- 3A late invoice gets a reminder
What changes on Monday.
- 01
BeforeCopying the quote and the hours into a Wave invoice
With AloriBill hours or the finished job in one click
- 02
BeforeWave knows who owes you, not what they said last week
With AloriInvoices, emails, calls and the deal on one client record
- 03
BeforeRemembering who to chase
With AloriUp to 3 reminders by email, text or both, and a task for each late invoice
Card payments with no setup.
Every invoice you email or text has a Pay by card link. You don't open a Stripe account: click Payments, then Add my bank, and the money goes to your bank every day.
- The invoice turns Paid by itself.
- Paid by cheque or transfer? Record it, in one payment or several.
- Stripe's card fee plus 0.5% a payment.
Your books stay where your accountant works.
Alori doesn't keep the books. Connect QuickBooks Online or Xero, and customers and invoices you add in either place show up in the other.
- With Xero, the paid status comes from Xero, so money is recorded once.
- Ask Sam "how much is overdue?" for the exact total.
- No sync with Wave: past invoices stay there.
Change it by asking.
Your app isn’t frozen on day one. Write what you need, the way you’d text it. Alori makes the change and shows you before anything goes live.
- Bill this month's hours on the Orbit Labs project
- Who owes us money?
- Remind late invoices every 5 days by email
- How much did we get paid this month?
The full guide
Everything above, in detail: how it works, what it replaces and what it does not.
Short answer: Alori is a Wave alternative for small agencies and software companies that want their invoicing next to their clients, deals, quotes and tracked hours, with unlimited users. Invoices are made from a finished job at its quote's price or from a project's billable hours, clients pay by card from the email, and late ones get reminders. Alori doesn't keep your books: if you use Wave for bookkeeping, keep it for that, or move the books to QuickBooks Online or Xero, which Alori syncs with.
Why teams leave Wave
Wave is a good, low-cost invoicing and accounting app for very small businesses. Agencies and software companies leave it as they grow:
- The deal, the quote and the hours are in other tools, and someone copies them into each invoice.
- Wave has no CRM. It knows who owes you, but nothing about the conversation, the deal or the next renewal.
- Sales, project leads and the founder each check a different app to see where a client stands.
What you pay
Wave, as listed on its pricing page and payments page in November 2026:
| Team of 5 | Wave | Alori |
|---|---|---|
| The plan | Starter free; Pro $19 a month per business | Free to start, Solo from $99 a month, Business from $249, unlimited users |
| Card payments | 2.9% + $0.60 a payment on Starter | Stripe's card fee plus 0.5% |
| Bookkeeping and reports | Included | Not in Alori; syncs with QuickBooks Online and Xero |
| CRM, deals, quotes signed online, time tracking | Not included | Included |
If all you need is to send invoices and keep the books, Wave costs less. See Alori's pricing.
What Alori replaces
- Invoices from the work: bill a finished job at its signed quote's price, bill a project's tracked hours in one click with Bill hours, or make an invoice on its own.
- Every invoice you email or text has a Pay by card link. You don't need a Stripe account, the invoice turns Paid by itself, and the money goes to your bank every day.
- Late invoices get a reminder by email, text or both, every few days, 3 times at most, and a task until they're paid.
- Record cash, cheque or transfer, in one payment or several. The invoice turns paid once they cover the total.
- Quotes clients sign online, with monthly or yearly lines for retainers and plans.
- Time on projects: timers or typed hours, rates per task, person or project. See billable time to invoice.
- Team expenses with a photo of the receipt, approved by you.
- Connect QuickBooks Online or Xero and customers and invoices sync both ways. See invoicing and payments.
What Alori doesn't do yet
Alori is not accounting software. It has no bookkeeping, bank connections, profit and loss or tax reports, no payroll and no bills to pay. It has no recurring invoices or deposits, card payments are in Canadian dollars only, and a client pays the whole invoice by card at once. There's no sync with Wave. If you need those, keep Wave, or use QuickBooks Online or Xero for the books with Alori's sync.
How to switch
- Start free. Describe your business. Alori builds your app with customers, quotes and invoices.
- Bring your clients. Copy your customer list out of Wave and paste it into Ask Sam ("Add these customers:"). Alori adds them, with an Undo button.
- Add your prices and rates. Put your products and services in Settings › Prices, and your hourly rates on your projects.
- Send your next invoice from Alori. Let the invoices already out in Wave get paid there. For the books, keep Wave or connect QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Questions
Another question? Ask it when you start.
For invoicing next to your CRM, quotes and billable hours, yes. For bookkeeping, no: keep Wave, or use QuickBooks Online or Xero with Alori's sync.
Alori has a free plan with no card needed. You can add your clients and send quotes and invoices with a Pay by card link, then pick a plan when you need more.
No. Alori sends invoices and takes card payments. QuickBooks Online and Xero keep the books, and customers and invoices sync both ways.
There's no Wave import or sync. Paste your customer list into Ask Sam and add your prices in Settings › Prices. Your past invoices stay in Wave.
Small agencies and software companies, usually under 50 people.