Pilot sells bookkeeping as a service with a reporting SLA. Replacing it means deciding whether you want a different service, or whether you want to stop buying a service at all.
Everything on this list divides on one question, and it is worth answering before comparing prices.
Do you want a different bookkeeping service, or do you want to stop buying one?
The differences are cadence, price, and how much else comes bundled.
Bookkeeper360 is the fastest — weekly reporting from $599 a month — and will also take payroll, sales tax, and the return. Fondo is the cheapest by a wide margin if you can live with a quarterly or annual close, at $1,198 a quarter or $950 a year. Zeni is the most expensive and the most complete, giving a pre-revenue company a named controller for $494 a month.
All three, like Pilot, deliver on a schedule. The number you are really shopping for is how many days after month-end you find out.
The reason people buy a service is that doing it yourself used to mean doing it by hand. That assumption is what has changed, and it is the honest argument for looking at software instead.
Kick will categorise automatically and is free below 250 transactions a year. We propose the entries with the evidence attached and ask an operator to confirm them, which takes minutes rather than the evenings it used to.
Neither removes you from the loop. If being removed from the loop was the entire point of Pilot, buy another service — and Bookkeeper360 or Zeni are the serious versions of that.
Pilot’s tax plans are US federal, state, and Delaware. Fondo’s are Delaware C-corps. Bookkeeper360’s support and filings are US.
If you file a T2, most of this list is answering a different question than the one you asked, and no amount of feature comparison fixes it.
Best for: Wanting the same thing, faster. A weekly reporting cadence from $599 a month, plus payroll, sales tax, and the return from one firm.
Watch out: Every published price is "starting at", and onboarding with prior-period cleanup starts at $1,000 as a separate project.
Best for: Early-stage companies that do not need a monthly close. $950 a year for an annual close, $1,198 a quarter for quarterly.
Watch out: Tax is separate at $1,450 a year and scoped to Delaware C-corps. Moving up to a monthly close is roughly a fivefold repricing.
Best for: Venture-backed companies that want a finance function rather than books — a dedicated controller and analyst from the first tier.
Watch out: $494 a month billed annually at the pre-revenue tier, and the bundled bank account makes leaving a banking change as well as a migration.
Best for: Anyone who wants a person who knows the business and can be asked a question directly, rather than a service tier.
Watch out: You become the source of every receipt and clarification. The coordination work moves to your desk either way.
Best for: Stopping paying for a service entirely. Free to 250 transactions a year, $40 a month unlimited, with real categorisation automation.
Watch out: Accrual is on the $100 plan and no tier files your return — they tell you to find a local accountant.
Best for: Companies that want current books rather than a report on the tenth business day, and a CPA-reviewed return without arranging one.
Watch out: Ours, and somebody at your company has to confirm the entries. If the point of Pilot was never touching the books, we are the wrong shape.
The Essentials plan is $99 a month, explicitly AI software with no human staff and cash-basis books only. Core adds a US-based bookkeeper and accrual, with reports on the tenth business day. Custom is a dedicated team with reports on the sixth. Tax is separate — $1,000 a year for a single-member LLC up to $2,450 for a C-corp.
Bookkeeper360 sells weekly reporting from $599 a month, which is the fastest cadence any service in this comparison offers. It is still a batch — a person sitting down with your transactions more often — rather than books that are current continuously.
Most of this list is not for you. Pilot's tax plans are US federal, state, and Delaware with 1099-NEC counts, and its bookkeepers are US-based. Fondo is scoped to Delaware C-corps. Bookkeeper360's filings are US. If you file a T2, the service options here mostly do not apply.
Claims about other products last verified August 25, 2026