Why Wave Isn't Built for How UK Tradespeople Actually Get Paid
Last month, a plumber messaged me about his card processing fees. Over a year, he'd paid £1,500 in Stripe cuts on invoices that averaged £400 each. He was using Wave. It's a good app, popular, free in most markets. But it wasn't designed for the way money actually moves between tradespeople and their clients here.
The card processor tax nobody talks about
Wave integrates Stripe. That's fine if you're a consultant in Toronto or a freelancer in New York. But in the UK, a lot of your clients just want to transfer money straight from their bank account to yours. They don't want to enter card details. They don't want the friction.
When you use Stripe through Wave, you're paying between 2.2% and 2.9% plus 20p per transaction. On a £500 invoice, that's roughly £12.50. Our plumber was doing ten invoices a month. Do the maths. That's £1,500 a year in processor fees for someone earning maybe £30,000.
Invoicr works differently. We let clients pay you bank-to-bank via UK open banking. Same security, same speed, but you pay us a flat fee. On that same £500 invoice, it costs around £4. The maths changes everything.
Mobile first actually means something when you're on site
Wave's app exists, but it feels like it was designed for a desktop and shrunk down. I spent time with electricians and decorators when we built Invoicr, and they made one thing very clear: they don't have a desk. They're in a loft space, in a customer's kitchen, sitting in a van.
When a job finishes at 4 p.m. and you want to invoice before you drive home, you need speed. You need to raise an invoice in sixty seconds, send it via WhatsApp, and move on. That's not a nice-to-have. That's the difference between getting paid this week or next month.
Invoicr is built for that. Everything works from your phone. Raise an invoice, snap a photo of the work, add it to the estimate, and send. On the Pro plan, WhatsApp delivery is built in. Your client gets it in their messaging app. They see it, approve it, and pay you straight from their banking app. No login to a portal they'll forget about.
UK tax rules, not US defaults
Wave is built in Canada. It works pretty well across a lot of countries, but it's still built on North American assumptions about tax, invoicing, and how businesses operate. That means you end up fighting it a little when you're trying to do VAT returns or handle CIS deductions.
When we launched Invoicr, we made a deliberate choice to only operate in the UK. That sounds like a limitation. It's actually the opposite. We built VAT compliance into the Business tier from day one. Your invoices know about VAT. Your records know about CIS. When it comes time to file, we export everything your accountant actually needs. Not a generic CSV that looks like it was designed for someone in Philadelphia.
If you're a sole trader, the Free tier handles basic invoicing. If you're growing and need to manage VAT or chase deductions, the Business plan gives you team seats and proper accountant export. You're not paying for US-market features you'll never use.
The conversation that changed how we thought about payment
A gardener rang us about a week after we launched. He said Wave had been fine, but he'd switched his clients to paying via bank transfer because they kept complaining about Stripe. Some of his regulars were in their seventies. They didn't want to faff about with card readers or online payment portals. They just wanted to send money the way they always had.
He was manually chasing payments because Wave's payment reminders didn't really work for bank transfers. So we built proper automated reminders into Invoicr. Your client gets a message when payment is due, another if it goes overdue. You set the timing. It's not aggressive; it's just reliable.
That conversation stuck with me because it showed that Wave, and apps like it, solve a problem that doesn't exist for a lot of UK tradespeople. The problem they're solving is how to get paid via card when your customer lives three time zones away. The problem UK plumbers and electricians actually have is tracking who owes them money and sending a nudge.
The money actually lands faster
Bank transfers in the UK take between one and three working days. Card processing through Stripe takes about the same. But there's a psychological difference. When a client pays you via open banking, they see it as a transfer from their account. It's instant on their end. It feels real.
More importantly, there's no dispute window, no chargeback risk, no frozen account because of a suspicious transaction. Your client initiates it from their banking app, confirms it with biometrics, and it's done. For tradespeople, that matters. You're usually on the phone with them five minutes after they've seen the invoice. You want to know it's paid, not pending.
On top of that, because our fees are so much lower, more of the money stays with you. That's not abstract. It's the difference between making £245 or £237.50 on a £250 job.
Starting free, scaling simple
Wave's free tier is generous. You can raise unlimited invoices. That sounds great until you're a new trader with three customers and you're overwhelmed by options you don't need yet.
Our Free tier covers five invoices a month and three customers. It's designed to feel like enough without feeling like bloat. When you outgrow it, the Pro plan is £9.99 a month. You get unlimited invoices, payment reminders, WhatsApp delivery, and quotes. You're not suddenly paying £30 a month for features a solo plumber doesn't need.
If you're managing a small team, VAT returns, or CIS deductions, the Business plan is £19.99 a month. It includes five team seats, proper VAT and CIS compliance, and accountant export. That's the full toolkit, built for the UK.
Wave is solid, and it works in dozens of countries. But does it work the way money actually moves between you and your clients here? Or are you paying card-processor fees to solve a problem you don't have?