Compare Accounting Software in the United Kingdom

How we compare accounting software

We list 10 accounting tools sold to UK businesses. Every figure comes from the vendor's own pricing page, on the basis the vendor uses, which for UK software is normally before VAT. Some headline prices are a true monthly rate and some are the monthly equivalent of an annual commitment, so read the billing basis with the number.

The calculator asks for invoices a month, employees, users and whether you are VAT registered. For each vendor it picks the cheapest published plan that covers those inputs and costs it, then sorts the table by that figure. The VAT toggle matters: Xero sells its lowest plan only to businesses that do not file VAT, so ticking the box removes it. Commission does not change the order.

Making Tax Digital: what accounting software has to file

Making Tax Digital is the main reason a UK business shops in this category. For VAT the obligation is already live: a VAT registered business keeps digital records and submits its return through software HMRC recognises. For Income Tax, the same digital records and quarterly updates are being phased in for sole traders and landlords by income band.

Every row in the VAT returns column reads yes. Where a plan name sits beside it, filing needs that plan. Income Tax and Self Assessment are where the table splits:

Filing the return is not the same as being ready to file it. If you are a sole trader who does the return yourself in January, these two columns decide the purchase. If you run a company with an accountant, they matter far less, because Corporation Tax and Companies House are the deadlines that bite.

Free accounting software, and where the free plan stops

The UK has a genuinely free end to this market. It is worth knowing where it stops rather than assuming it is a trial.

Read the brackets, because each free plan is limited in a different way: some are capped on how much business you do, FreeAgent's is tied to a bank account, Crunch's carries ads. Some also stop short of the filing: Pandle files VAT at Yes (Pro) and Crunch at Yes (Plus). If you are VAT registered, the free plan is often not the plan you will end up on. Support is the other trade: a forum or in-app chat is a fair swap at nothing a month, and a poor one on the day a VAT return will not submit.

Your bank can set what accounting software costs

This is an unusual mechanism, and it can take a paid licence all the way to nothing.

FreeAgent lists its free plan as Yes (with NatWest/RBS/Mettle). That is a full licence, not a trial, for qualifying business banking customers of the banks named in that row. Everyone else pays the rate card, which starts at £19/mo (Sole Trader). Same software. The difference is which bank you opened an account with.

ANNA Money comes at the same idea from the other direction. The business account is the product and the bookkeeping sits inside it: its entry plan is Free (Pay As You Go) and its bank feeds row reads Native account.

Two things to weigh. A bundled licence is tied to the account, so if the banking relationship ends you are on the rate card with years of records inside. And free is not the same as suitable: the bundled option still has to handle your VAT scheme, your legal structure and your payroll. Bank feeds are a smaller version of the same trap. Most rows include them, but QuickFile lists Add-on (£15/yr) and Crunch lists Yes (Plus).

Payroll inside accounting software

Payroll is a common reason a UK accounting bill turns out larger than the price column suggested.

Read the costs as shapes. An included module does not move with headcount. A per-employee charge grows with every hire. A flat fee plus a per-employee charge starts higher and then climbs with every hire. Enter your real headcount in the calculator rather than reading the entry price, because headcount is where the difference lives.

Where the row reads no, the product does bookkeeping and VAT and leaves PAYE to separate software. That is a normal way to run a UK business. It just means the comparison has to be like for like: if payroll is not in this bill it is in a second one, and our payroll comparison covers that.

CIS, multi-currency and stock in accounting software

Three jobs cut this table down faster than price does.

If you are a contractor or subcontractor, the Construction Industry Scheme column decides most of this page for you: deductions are either built in or manual work every month. Item tracking in a ledger is not stock control, so if you count things across locations you are shopping in a different category.

No row excludes multi-currency outright, but several gate it to a named plan and others list it as limited. Read the Multi-currency row in the table above before you assume the entry plan can raise an invoice in euros. Your accountant is the seat people forget to count too: FreeAgent lists accountant access as Yes (free) and Crunch lists Add-on (£25+VAT). If you already have an accountant, ask which of these they work in daily. The tool they know can save more in their time than the difference in subscription.