This is the decision that determines every other one, and most people make it by accident. Buying software when you wanted a service is the common and expensive mistake.
Before comparing any two products in this category, answer one question: are you buying software, or are you buying a service?
Almost everything else follows, and the mistake people make is not choosing wrong. It is not noticing there was a choice.
If what you want back is hours, software is the answer. The hours went into categorising transactions, hunting receipts, and unpicking a bad automated match, and that is exactly the work automation removes.
If what you want back is responsibility — the feeling that this is now someone else’s problem — software cannot give you that. The obligation stays with you regardless of how good the automation is, because the entity filing the return is yours.
People who wanted responsibility and bought software end up doing the work anyway, resentfully, and then buying a service six months later having paid for both.
Software on this list runs from free to about $100 a month. Services run from $99 to $494 a month before tax and payroll, and the fuller ones add a four-figure onboarding project.
That gap is not margin. It is somebody’s time, priced at what time costs. Zeni charges a pre-revenue company $494 a month because a controller, a bookkeeping manager, and an analyst cost that whether or not you have revenue.
A bookkeeper notices that a vendor name looks off, or that rent got paid twice, because they have context.
Software notices that a number does not reconcile, because it is checking arithmetic rather than plausibility.
Neither catches everything. And a person working from a monthly batch is examining decisions that were made weeks ago, which is why service tiers compete on how many business days after month-end you find out.
The framing above is the traditional one, and it assumes doing it yourself means doing it by hand. That is the assumption that has actually changed.
Entries can be drafted with the evidence already attached, leaving a person to confirm rather than to compile. That takes minutes, not evenings, and it keeps the responsibility where it legally sits without the cost of buying somebody’s calendar.
It still asks something of you. If the honest answer is that nobody at your company will ever open the books, buy the service — and buy a good one.
Best for: The fullest version of a service. A dedicated controller, bookkeeping manager, and analyst from the first tier, plus banking and bill pay.
Watch out: $494 a month billed annually at the pre-revenue tier, and the bundled bank account makes leaving two projects rather than one.
Best for: A dedicated team plus payroll, sales tax, and the return from one firm. Weekly reporting from $599 a month.
Watch out: Every published price is "starting at", and onboarding with prior-period cleanup starts at $1,000 as a separate project.
Best for: A middle path. Software with no human at $99 a month, or a US-based bookkeeper from the Core plan with a tenth-business-day SLA.
Watch out: The $99 tier is cash-basis only, which is not the basis a subscription business should be on.
Best for: Buying the least service that still counts as one. $950 a year for an annual close, aimed at pre-seed companies.
Watch out: An annual close means no usable numbers for eleven months. Moving to monthly is roughly a fivefold repricing plus catch-up work.
Best for: The software answer at the low end. Free below 250 transactions a year, $40 a month unlimited, with real categorisation automation.
Watch out: Accrual is on the $100 plan, and no tier files anything for you.
Best for: Software that does the drafting and a CPA who reviews the year-end — without a monthly service relationship in between.
Watch out: Ours, and somebody at your company has to confirm entries. That is a real ongoing ask, small but not zero.
Ask what you are trying to buy back. If it is hours, software works — the hours were spent on categorisation and receipt-hunting, and that is what automation removes. If it is responsibility, software does not work, because the obligation stays with you no matter how good the automation is.
Roughly ten to fifty times. Software runs $0 to $100 a month across this list. Services run $99 to $494 a month before tax and payroll are added, and the fuller ones add a $1,000-plus onboarding project. The gap is a person's time and it is priced accordingly.
They catch different things. A person notices that a vendor name looks wrong or that last month had two rent payments. Software notices that a number does not reconcile. Neither catches everything, and a person working from a monthly batch is looking at decisions made weeks earlier.
Almost nobody bundles it. Pilot, Fondo, Zeni, and Bookkeeper360 all price tax as a separate annual line — $1,000 to $3,899 depending on entity and provider. Kick does not offer it at all. Budget for it separately whichever way you go.
Claims about other products last verified August 25, 2026