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This is the hub for everything we have priced. Four platforms, entry plans, ex VAT, carried out to month twenty-four so the six-month new-customer discount stops flattering the number: QuickBooks £186, Xero £307.20, Sage Accounting Start £378, FreeAgent £399. Two of them can be £0, and we earn nothing from either of those routes.
Last verified 31 July 2026. Promotions change roughly monthly — confirm before you subscribe.
Over 24 months on entry plans, ex VAT, QuickBooks is the cheapest paid option at £186, ahead of Xero at £307.20, Sage Accounting Start at £378 and FreeAgent at £399 — but the cheapest number on this page is £0, twice over, and neither of those routes pays us anything.
QuickBooks wins on price with a caveat that matters: its £10 Sole Trader plan cannot file a VAT return. Once you register for VAT you move to Simple Start at £16, the price gap to Xero shrinks to £9.60 across two years, and the decision stops being about money. That is the honest shape of this market, and the rest of this page is the detail behind it.
Entry plan for each vendor, ex VAT, on the new-customer promotion running on 31 July 2026 followed by full list price. Year one is shown beside the 24-month total so you can see how much of the saving is front-loaded.
| Platform & entry plan | Advertised | List price | Year one | 24 months | Files VAT? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QuickBooks Sole Trader Cheapest paid | £1 × 6 | £10/mo | £66 | £186 | No |
| QuickBooks Simple Start | £1.60 × 6 | £16/mo | £105.60 | £297.60 | Yes |
| Xero Ignite | £3.20 × 6 | £16/mo | £115.20 | £307.20 | Yes |
| Sage Accounting Start +VAT quoted | 3 months free | £18+VAT/mo | £162 | £378 | Yes |
| FreeAgent Sole Trader | £9.50 × 6 | £19/mo | £171 | £399 | Yes |
| FreeAgent via NatWest / RBS / Ulster / Mettle £0 | — | £0 | £0 | £0 | Yes |
| Sage Sole Trader Free £0 | — | £0 | £0 | £0 | No |
All figures ex VAT. Sage quotes +VAT: Sage Accounting Start is £453.60 inc VAT over 24 months, Sage Sole Trader (£7+VAT) is £176.40 inc VAT. Sage’s promotion is three months free, so you pay for 21 of the 24 months. Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent discounts run for six months, so you pay full list for 18 of the 24. Arithmetic: QuickBooks Sole Trader = (6 × £1) + (18 × £10) = £186. Xero Ignite = (6 × £3.20) + (18 × £16) = £307.20. Sage Accounting Start = 21 × £18 = £378. FreeAgent Sole Trader = (6 × £9.50) + (18 × £19) = £399.
Every accounting software comparison you have read prices month one, when three of the four vendors are running a heavy new-customer discount — and month one is the only month that price exists.
Xero advertises £3.20 a month. That is 80% off Ignite’s £16 list price, for six months. QuickBooks advertises £1, which is 90% off £10, again for six months. FreeAgent halves its £19 Sole Trader plan to £9.50 for six months. Sage gives you three months free and then charges £18+VAT. On your seventh bill — your fourth, at Sage — the real number arrives, and by then your bank feeds, your invoice templates and two quarters of records live in that product.
So we model 24 months. Long enough that the introductory rate is a rounding error, short enough to be a real planning horizon. It changes the ranking. On month-one pricing QuickBooks looks 69% cheaper than Xero. Over 24 months it is 39% cheaper — still a win, but a different sized one, and one you can actually budget against.
Two things we do not do: we do not model price rises, because we cannot know them; and we do not model annual-billing discounts, because they vary by promotion. Every figure on this site is monthly billing at the rate published on 31 July 2026. Our full method is at how we research.
We are funded by affiliate commission. These three are the clearest cases where the honest answer is worse for our revenue than the alternative, so they go at the top rather than in a footnote.
If a cheaper or better-fitting product exists for the reader in front of us, we name it in the first screen of the page — including when we earn nothing from it. That is the test we hold ourselves to, and it is why the three statements above are here rather than buried. Our methodology.
The cheapest plan in the table above is the wrong plan for most people reading it. Pick the description that fits and you get the verdict for that case, priced over 24 months, ex VAT.
What best describes you?
Sole trader, not VAT-registered — start at £0, then £147. You do not need VAT filing, so the plans built around it are wasted money. Sage Sole Trader Free is £0 permanently if you send five invoices a month or fewer. Past that cap, Sage Sole Trader at £7+VAT is £147 over 24 months ex VAT (£176.40 inc VAT) and QuickBooks Sole Trader is £186 for a fuller product. Xero Ignite at £307.20 is £121.20 more than QuickBooks for a capability you are not using yet. Detail: best software for sole traders.
Sole trader, VAT-registered — £297.60 or £307.20, and the gap is £9.60. VAT rules out QuickBooks Sole Trader and both Sage Sole Trader tiers, none of which file a VAT return. That leaves QuickBooks Simple Start at £297.60 and Xero Ignite at £307.20 over 24 months. Nine pounds sixty across two years is not a reason to choose either, so choose on fit: Xero Ignite caps you at 20 invoices a month but allows unlimited users; Simple Start has no invoice cap but one user. Detail: Xero vs QuickBooks.
Landlord — FreeAgent Landlord at £210. FreeAgent’s Landlord plan is £10 a month, £210 over 24 months against £307.20 for Xero Ignite — £97.20 in FreeAgent’s favour, on a plan built for property income rather than adapted to it. If you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle the number is £0. Detail: best software for landlords and Xero vs FreeAgent.
Limited company — it turns on payroll. FreeAgent Limited Company includes payroll at £33 a month — £693 over 24 months. The nearest Xero plan with payroll is Comprehensive at £50, which is £960, so FreeAgent saves £267 for that job. Without payroll, Xero Grow is £710.40 and gives unlimited users and the deeper app ecosystem, while QuickBooks Essentials is £613.80. Detail: Xero vs FreeAgent.
NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle customer — £0, stop comparing. Those accounts include FreeAgent at £0 for as long as you hold the account. Not a trial, not an introductory rate, and not cut down — Mettle just asks for one transaction a month. Against £399 to buy FreeAgent directly and £307.20 for Xero Ignite. We earn nothing from this and it is still the right answer for almost everyone it applies to. Detail: genuinely free accounting software.
All figures ex VAT, entry plans, 24 months, on the promotions running 31 July 2026. Sage figures are normalised from Sage’s +VAT quoting. This is general information, not tax advice — confirm your own position with HMRC or an accountant.
The cheapest accounting software in the UK is £0, and there are two separate ways to get there — neither of which earns us a penny.
If you bank with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle, FreeAgent is included at no cost for as long as the account is open. That is the full FreeAgent product: VAT, Self Assessment, the lot. If you do not, and you are a sole trader below the VAT threshold sending five invoices a month or fewer, Sage Sole Trader Free is £0 permanently.
Below those, the ranking on paid plans is Sage Sole Trader £147, QuickBooks Sole Trader £186, FreeAgent Landlord £210 (landlords only), QuickBooks Simple Start £297.60, Xero Ignite £307.20, Sage Accounting Start £378, FreeAgent Sole Trader £399. The first three cannot file a VAT return, which is the single most common reason the cheapest option is the wrong one.
Each comparison prices both products across four scenarios and states plainly where the one we would earn from loses.
Comparison 01
Xero £307.20 · QuickBooks £186
QuickBooks is £121.20 cheaper over 24 months on entry plans. The catch is VAT: its £10 Sole Trader plan cannot file one. Move up to Simple Start and the gap is £9.60.
Read the full comparison →
Comparison 02
Xero £307.20 · FreeAgent £399 · or £0
Xero is £91.80 cheaper on entry plans — unless you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle, in which case FreeAgent is free for good. It also flips for landlords (£210) and for companies needing payroll (£693 against £960).
Read the full comparison →
Comparison 03
Xero £307.20 · Sage £378 · or £0
Sage has a genuinely free tier — and quotes its paid prices +VAT, which understates them by 20%. Normalised ex VAT, Xero Ignite beats Accounting Start by £70.80, until you pass 20 invoices a month.
Read the full comparison →
One product at a time: what the plan ladder actually costs, who it fits, and the specific thing that will annoy you about it.
Review
Ignite £16 · £307.20 / 24 months
The deepest app ecosystem and unlimited users on every plan. Ignite caps invoices at 20 a month, and Xero does not file a complete Self Assessment return.
Read the review →
Review
Sole Trader £10 · £186 / 24 months
The cheapest credible paid route into MTD, with the loudest discount in the market at 90% off six months. The Sole Trader plan cannot file VAT — check that first.
Read the review →
Review
£19 · £399 / 24 months · or £0
The most expensive on list price and the cheapest in practice, because four UK banks include it free. It also files a complete Self Assessment return, which Xero does not.
Read the review →
Review
Free · Start £18+VAT · £378 / 24 months
The only one of the four with a permanently free tier, and the only one that quotes +VAT. Read every Sage price with 20% added unless you can reclaim it.
Read the review →
Making Tax Digital compatibility is not a reason to pick one of these four over another — all of them are on HMRC’s recognised list, and so are the free options. It is table stakes in 2026, not a differentiator.
What matters is whether you are in scope, and when. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax has been live since 6 April 2026 for qualifying income over £50,000. The live deadline now is 6 April 2027 for qualifying income over £30,000, measured on the 2025/26 tax year — a year that has already ended, so your figure is fixed and you can go and look it up. A £20,000 threshold is planned for April 2028.
Qualifying income is gross self-employment income plus gross property income — turnover, not profit. If that combined figure is £20,000 or less you are outside MTD entirely and none of this is urgent.
None of this is tax advice. Confirm your own position with HMRC or a qualified accountant before you act on it.
Every number above is reproducible from the vendors’ own published UK pricing. Here are the rules we applied.
Short answers. Each one links to the page that shows the working.
There is no single best one, and any site that gives you one name is guessing at your circumstances. On raw 24-month price it is QuickBooks Sole Trader at £186, but that plan cannot file VAT. If you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle, FreeAgent is £0 and nothing beats it. For a VAT-registered sole trader it is QuickBooks Simple Start £297.60 or Xero Ignite £307.20 — £9.60 apart. See the sole trader breakdown.
Because the advertised monthly price is a new-customer promotion that expires. Xero’s £3.20 and QuickBooks’ £1 both last six months, then become £16 and £10. Twenty-four months is long enough for that to wash out and short enough to be a realistic planning horizon. See the discount cliff plotted month by month.
Yes, two routes. FreeAgent is free for as long as you hold a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account — the full product, though Mettle wants one transaction a month. Sage Sole Trader Free is £0 permanently, capped at five invoices a month and no VAT. Free trials are a different and lesser thing. The full free guide.
You need software HMRC recognises, but that is not a reason to pay more. All four platforms here are on HMRC’s recognised list, and so are the free options. MTD compatibility is table stakes in 2026. Read the MTD pillar.
Sage quotes +VAT while everyone else quotes ex VAT. We normalise to ex VAT. Sage Accounting Start is £18+VAT a month: £378 over 24 months ex VAT, £453.60 inc VAT. If you are not VAT-registered you cannot reclaim that VAT, so the inc-VAT figure is the one that leaves your account. Xero vs Sage, normalised.
Ignoring the £0 routes, Sage Sole Trader at £147 ex VAT is the cheapest paid plan, then QuickBooks Sole Trader at £186. Neither files VAT. Among plans that do, QuickBooks Simple Start at £297.60 is cheapest. The full ranking.
Four pages under this pillar, plus the problem silo that explains why you are shopping at all.
Guide 01
The answer forks entirely on VAT status. Below the threshold, £186. Above it, £297.60 or £307.20 and a £9.60 gap.
Guide 02
Every entry plan ranked on true two-year cost, with a calculator that plots your cumulative spend and marks the discount cliff.
Guide 03
Two real £0 routes, why trials are not the same thing, and a blunt section on when free stops being enough.
Guide 04
FreeAgent Landlord at £10 a month is £210 over 24 months, £97.20 below Xero Ignite — or £0 with the right bank.
Context
The reason most people land here. Who is in scope, the 6 April 2027 deadline, and what qualifying income actually means.
Our workings
The pricing rules, the sources, the conflicts of interest, and what would make us change a verdict.