Wave Connect review (2026): is the free plan enough?
Digital business cards with AI badge scanning on prepaid credits
Wave Connect report card
Very good · out of 4.0 · graded Oct 24, 2026
Best for small teams scanning event badges into a CRM
Wave Connect gives you a free card and email signature, and Teams adds CRM sync from $5 a user with three users at least. Badge scanning runs on credits bought on top, $250 for 115 that last a year, and at 4 credits a badge that's about 28 badges, so the scanning bill sits apart from the plan.
Who Wave Connect is for
- Fits if you staff a booth and want badge scans sent to a CRM without renting the show's scanner
- Works for a team of three or more that wants cards and CRM sync on one plan
Who Wave Connect is not for
- Pricey if you scan a lot: credits cost $250 for 115, a badge takes 4 and they expire after 12 months
- Tight if you want CRM sync alone or as a pair, since it starts on Teams, which bills three users at least
- Watch out: removing Wave branding and a branded QR code need Pro, at $7 a month yearly or $9 monthly
- Not for you if you need SSO, SCIM or unlimited lead-capture users without a quote, as those are Enterprise only
Why Wave Connect gets a 3.0
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyPro is $7 a month on yearly billing ($9 monthly in the iOS app), near this category's dearer quarter at $7.50. Teams is $5 a user, the middle, with three users at least. Scanning credits cost extra: $250 for 115.
- BFree plan and trialThe free card comes with a personal email signature, unlimited sharing and contacts, wallet passes, a lead form and personal analytics, with no end date. The 10 AI scanning credits are a one-off taste.
- BFeaturesCards with galleries, video and booking, a scanner that reads badges, paper cards and LinkedIn QR codes offline, waterfall enrichment, signatures for Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail, team templates and native CRM sync. That covers the whole job.
- AEase of useWave Connect rates 4.8 on the US App Store from 1,604 ratings, the top of our ease ladder.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, iPhone and Android, with native sync to HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Zoho, Pipedrive and HighLevel, and Zapier to 5,000+ apps. No desktop app.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Wave Connect's own pages on 24 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Wave Connect? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/wave-connect#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/wave-connect.svg" alt="Wave Connect: 3.0 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Wave Connect stands among digital business cards
Wave Connect's GPA of 3.0 is higher than 7 of the 10 other digital business cards we grade, and level with 3.
It stands best on ease of use (A, above 7 of 10) and worst on value for money (C, above 1).
Its paid plans start at $5 a month for each person, against a middle price of $5 for the category: 3 of the 8 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 3.3 out of 4. Nothing scores higher for less, though at least one tool matches that score at a lower price.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 11 digital business cards we grade, cut by the letter each got. Wave Connect’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 1 of 10, level with 5
- BFree plan and trialAbove 4 of 10, level with 5
- BFeaturesAbove 7 of 10, level with 3
- AEase of useAbove 7 of 10, level with 3
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 1 of 10, level with 9
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 9 digital business cards. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Keep Wave Connect, or make your own?
Keep it
The plain part of Wave Connect you could make: digital business card and email signature. What surrounds it you could not. The 6 things listed below take a company, not a weekend.
It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 3.0 is higher than 7 of the 10 other digital business cards we grade. It costs $60 a year.
What you could make
- Digital business card and email signature: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team.
- It plugs into other products, HubSpot, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 among them.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- Hooks into the device itself: widgets.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Wave Connect’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Wave Connect?
Wave Connect makes digital business cards shared by QR code, link, NFC or phone wallet, along with branded email signatures. Its event lead capture reads badges and paper cards, looks up each contact's email, phone and LinkedIn, and on the Teams plan syncs the leads to a CRM. Scanning runs on prepaid credits that are bought separately from the plans.
Worth knowing
- AI scanning uses credits: 4 per event badge and 1 per paper card, LinkedIn QR or lead form; 100 credits plus 15 free cost $250 and last 12 months.
- Teams needs at least 3 users, and CRM sync, templates and locked fields start there.
- Enforced SSO, SCIM provisioning and unlimited lead-capture users need Enterprise, which is quoted.
- Removing Wave Connect branding and using a branded QR code need Pro or higher.
Key features
- Digital card and sharing
- Contact details, photo gallery, video and files, calendar bookings and a link in bio, shared by QR code, text, email, wallet pass, phone widget or offline.
- AI badge and card scanner
- Snap an event badge with only a name and company and Wave finds the rest; it also reads paper cards and LinkedIn QR codes, and keeps scanning offline.
- Waterfall enrichment
- Several data sources plus AI search look for each contact's email, phone and LinkedIn. Failed lookups and duplicate scans are not charged.
- CRM sync
- Teams syncs leads natively to HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, Zoho, Pipedrive and HighLevel with custom field mapping, or to 5,000+ apps through Zapier.
- Email signatures
- Branded signatures for Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail; Teams admins set signatures for the whole team.
- Team admin
- Templates, bulk import from a spreadsheet, bulk edits and locked fields, admin, manager and viewer roles, and a shared lead dashboard.
Wave Connect pricing
As of Oct 24, 2026, Wave Connect has a free plan, and paid plans start at $5 per user / month, billed annually (Teams, three-user minimum).
- Starts at
- $5 per user / month, billed annually (Teams, three-user minimum)
- Free plan
- a digital card, a personal email signature, unlimited sharing and contacts, Apple and Google Wallet, a lead capture form, personal analytics and 10 trial credits for AI scanning.
- Free trial
- 7-day free trial of Pro; 14-day free trial of Teams
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | A digital card and personal email signature, unlimited sharing and contacts, wallet passes and a lead form. |
| Pro | $7per month, billed annually ($9 billed monthly in the iOS app) | Branded QR code and profile, custom colors and fonts, no Wave branding, AI lead capture with enrichment and offline mode. |
| Teams | $5per user / month, billed annually (3-user minimum) | Admin platform, templates and locked fields, team lead capture with qualifiers and voice notes, CRM sync and a shared credit pool. |
| Enterprise | Custom | Enforced SSO, SCIM, unlimited lead-capture users on an annual credit package, CRM setup and a dedicated account manager. |
| Wave NFC Business Card | $23one-time, per card | NFC card linked to your Wave profile. Custom printed $42, metal $53, phone tap or bracelet $23. |
Read from wavecnct.com on Oct 24, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Wave Connect before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Annual discountSave about 22% with yearly Pro
The US App Store lists Pro at $84 a year against $9 a month, and Wave's pricing page shows Pro at $7 a month billed annually.
Stated on apps.apple.com - Other savingsBonus credits on larger lead capture packs
Wave adds free credits to bigger packs: 5 extra with 50, 15 with 100, 35 with 200 and 70 with 400 credits.
Stated on wavecnct.com
How people rate the Wave Connect app
4.8
out of 5 for the iPhone and iPad app
1,604 ratings on the App Store in the United States, read Oct 24, 2026. It rates the app, not everything the product does. See the listing
Works with
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Common questions
Does Wave Connect have a Windows app?
No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 24, 2026. Wave Connect is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Does Wave Connect have a macOS app?
No macOS app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 24, 2026. Wave Connect is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Is Wave Connect open source?
Wave Connect is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 24, 2026.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 24, 2026. What people say is linked where it appears.