DeelHire, pay, and manage teams in 150+ countries with Deel.
vs
WaveClear books. Confident decisions.
Comparison · Payroll · weekly run Nov 3
Deel vs Wave
Which one do AI engines recommend, and how do they differ on price, fit and features?
The short answer
Deel is the stronger AI pick in Payroll: it has a visibility score of 16.7 versus 2.3 for Wave, and ranks ahead in 0% of the answers that name both.
Choose Deel if…
- You want the brand AI engines rank higher (16.7 vs 2.3)
- You want a lower entry price ($14 vs $19)
- AI answers describe it more positively (52% vs 38% positive)
- You need SOC 1 or SOC 2 or SOC 3 or ISO 27001 or GDPR coverage
Choose Wave if…
- You want a free plan to start
- Flat tiers pricing suits your budget better than per seat
- Free accounting and invoicing for micro-businesses
- Well suited to freelancers and very small businesses
AI visibility side by side
Latest weekly run · Nov 3
| Metric | Deel | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Visibility score | 16.7% | 2.3% |
| Change vs last week | New | New |
| Rank in Payroll | #8 | #23 |
| Share of voice | 6.2% | 0.9% |
| Mentions this run | 28 | 4 |
| Positive in AI answers | 52% | 38% |
The stronger value in each row is marked with a ✓.
Visibility score trend
Weekly runs over the last 60 days
Deel 0pp · Wave 0pp over 0 weekly runs.
Engine by engine
Deel leads on 3 of 3 engines
ChatGPT
AI Mode
Perplexity
DeelWave
Head to head in AI answers
1 engine answers name both brands
0Deel ranked higher
1Wave ranked higher
| Prompt | Engine | Deel | Wave |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alternatives to the most popular payroll platform | Perplexity | #11 | #10 |
Features, pricing & fit
| Dimension | Deel | Wave |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per seat | Flat tiers |
| Entry price | $14 per seat / mo | Free; paid from $19 / mo |
| Free plan | No | Yes |
| Deployment | Cloud, hosted on AWS | Cloud-based web application with a mobile app |
| Compliance | SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, GDPR | — |
| Support | — | Live chat and email support, Monday to Friday 9 AM to 4:45 PM Eastern, Wave Advisors bookkeeping and coaching (paid add-on) |
| Founded | 2019 | 2009 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, CA, United States | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Employees | 5,000+ | 201–500 |
| Funding | Series E · $650M raised | Series D |
| Best for | Companies that want to hire and pay people in many countries without opening a local entity in each one. | Freelancers, solopreneurs, contractors and consultants who run small businesses and want simple books and invoicing without accounting expertise |
Plans side by side
Deel
Hire (Recruiting)$14per worker per month
Hire Contractors$49per contractor per month
Contractor of Record$325per contractor of record per month
US PEO Employee$125per US PEO employee per month
Employer of Record (EOR)$599per EOR employee per month
Wave
Starter$0month
Pro$19month per business (billed monthly); $190/year billed annually
Wave Advisors$149month (starting at)
Pros and cons
Themes from the AI answers that mention each brand
Deel
- International compliance, contractor management, and localized payroll across 50+ countries
- Best for global and remote teams
- Top-rated for international contractor and global payroll transparency
- Strong fit for international hiring and EOR needs
- Highly rated on Capterra for international employees and contractors
Wave
- Free accounting and invoicing for micro-businesses
- Well suited to freelancers and very small businesses
- Ongoing free plan rather than a time-limited trial
- Affordable and reliable for small businesses
- Clear public pricing
- Free plan mainly suits a single user, not teams
- Free products offer fewer controls and growth features
Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 100%·next run
Cite as: SlateIndex, “Deel vs Wave”, https://slateindex.ai/compare/deel-vs-wave, data of Nov 3, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.