Genuinely free UK accounting software
Two products are free permanently rather than free for a trial period: FreeAgent, included with a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account, and Sage Sole Trader Free at £0 with a five-invoice monthly cap. We are funded by affiliate commission and we are paid nothing for either recommendation. That is the whole point of the page — and it is why the last section is about when free stops being enough.
Last verified 31 July 2026. Bank offers and free tiers change — confirm before you rely on one.
The short answer
If you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle, use FreeAgent: it is the full paid product at £0, and nothing else in this market beats it. If you do not, and you are a non-VAT sole trader sending five invoices a month or fewer, use Sage Sole Trader Free.
Everything else marketed as “free” in UK accounting software is a trial. Trials are useful and we list them below, but they reduce year one and change nothing about year two — which is why we price every product over 24 months. A permanently free product has no cliff at all.
Our commercial position, plainly. Fizoral is funded by affiliate commission and is not currently a member of any vendor’s affiliate programme, so today every outbound link on this site earns us nothing. Even when that changes, neither free route on this page will pay us anything — there is no commission on a product nobody is charged for. We publish this page because it is the correct answer for a large share of our readers, and a site that hid it would not be worth reading. Our full affiliate disclosure.
FreeAgent, free with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle
FreeAgent is included at £0 with a business account at NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle, for as long as you hold that account — and it is the full product, not a reduced tier.
This is the single best-value route in UK accounting software and it is almost never at the top of a comparison page, because nobody gets paid for it. Bought directly, FreeAgent Sole Trader is £19 a month — £399 over 24 months, the most expensive entry plan we track. Through one of those four banks it is zero.
What you actually get
- VAT filing. Fully MTD-capable, unlike Sage’s free tier and QuickBooks’ £10 Sole Trader plan.
- A complete Self Assessment return filed to HMRC for sole traders — something Xero does not do at any price.
- No invoice cap. Unlike Sage Sole Trader Free’s five a month.
- The plan that matches your structure — sole trader, landlord, partnership or limited company — rather than a single cut-down tier.
The conditions, stated honestly
- Mettle requires at least one transaction a month to keep the FreeAgent subscription active. That is a low bar for a trading business and a real one for a dormant company.
- It is tied to the bank account. Close the account or switch banks and you lose the free subscription — at which point FreeAgent costs £19 a month, or £10 on the Landlord plan.
- Banks change terms. This offer has run for years, but confirm it directly with your bank before you make it the basis of a decision. We verified it on 31 July 2026 and nothing more than that.
- It is not a reason to switch banks on its own. Compare the business account on its own merits first. Saving £399 over two years is not worth a worse account.
Sage Sole Trader Free, £0 permanently
Sage Sole Trader Free is a real product at £0 with no card required and no expiry date — capped at five invoices a month and unable to handle VAT.
Those two limits define exactly who it suits: a non-VAT sole trader with a handful of customers. For that person it is genuinely free accounting software from a company that has been doing UK books since before most of its competitors existed, and it is £0 against £186 for the nearest paid equivalent, QuickBooks Sole Trader.
The five-invoice cap is monthly, not averaged
This is the detail that catches people. A gardener who sends four invoices in February and eleven in June is not a five-invoice business, even though the average says otherwise. Check your busiest month before you build a workflow on this tier.
When you outgrow it
The next step up is Sage Sole Trader at £7+VAT a month — £147 over 24 months ex VAT, £176.40 inc VAT after three free months and 21 paid ones. It lifts the invoice cap but still cannot file VAT. If VAT is on the horizon, skip it: the cheapest VAT-capable plan is QuickBooks Simple Start at £297.60 over 24 months, then Xero Ignite at £307.20.
A note on Sage’s prices generally: Sage quotes +VAT while everyone else quotes ex VAT. We normalise Sage to ex VAT so the comparison is fair, and print the inc-VAT figure alongside. If you are not VAT-registered you cannot reclaim that 20%, so inc VAT is the number that leaves your account.
The two free options compared
Same price. Very different products.
| FreeAgent via NatWest / RBS / Ulster / Mettle | Sage Sole Trader Free | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost over 24 months | £0 | £0 |
| How you qualify | Hold a business account with one of the four banks | Anyone. No card required |
| Files VAT (MTD) | Yes | No |
| Files Self Assessment | Yes — a complete return | No |
| Invoice cap | None | 5 per month |
| Payroll | Not on the sole trader plan | No |
| Ongoing condition | Account must stay open. Mettle needs 1 transaction a month | None |
| Equivalent paid price | £399 / 24 months | £147 / 24 months ex VAT (Sage Sole Trader) |
| Do we earn anything? | No | No |
All figures ex VAT. Sage Sole Trader at £7+VAT is £176.40 inc VAT over 24 months. “Files Self Assessment” means the software submits a complete return to HMRC, not merely that it produces the figures.
Free trials are a different thing, and a lesser one
A free trial is a discount on year one, not a free product — and every trial on this list ends with you paying full list price for eighteen of your first twenty-four months.
They are still worth using. Two or three weeks inside a product tells you more than any comparison page, including this one. Just do not confuse them with free.
- Xero: 30-day trial plus a month free. Ignite then costs £16 a month — £307.20 over 24 months including its six discounted months at £3.20.
- QuickBooks: 30-day trial. Sole Trader then £10 a month — £186 over 24 months, including six months at £1. Note that this plan cannot file VAT.
- Sage: three months free on its paid tiers. Accounting Start then £18+VAT — £378 over 24 months ex VAT, £453.60 inc VAT.
- FreeAgent: half price for six months at £9.50, then £19 — £399 over 24 months. Or £0, permanently, with the right bank account.
Two rules if you take a trial. Put the end date in your calendar the day you start, because the charge lands quietly. And do not enter a full year of historical data during a trial you have not decided to keep — migrating that data out again is the expensive part.
When free is not enough
A page that only tells you what is free is a page that will waste your time in about eight months. Here are the three things that end it.
1. VAT registration
- Sage Sole Trader Free cannot file a VAT return. Registering ends it immediately, and Sage Sole Trader at £7+VAT does not fix it either.
- The cheapest VAT-capable plan is QuickBooks Simple Start at £297.60 over 24 months, then Xero Ignite at £307.20 — £9.60 apart.
- FreeAgent through a qualifying bank account handles VAT at £0, so this trigger does not apply to that route at all.
2. Invoice volume
- Sage’s free tier stops at five invoices a month, measured monthly, not averaged.
- Watch Xero Ignite’s 20-invoice monthly cap too if you are pricing an upgrade — crossing it means Grow at £710.40.
- No invoice cap: FreeAgent (free or paid), QuickBooks Simple Start (£297.60), Sage Accounting Start (£378 ex VAT).
3. Payroll
- Neither free option includes payroll. The moment you pay yourself through PAYE or take on staff, free is over.
- Cheapest route with payroll included: FreeAgent Limited Company at £33 a month — £693 over 24 months.
- The nearest Xero equivalent is Comprehensive at £50 — £960, or £267 more for the same job.
A fourth, quieter trigger: your accountant. If they work exclusively in one platform, their time is worth more than your subscription and you should ask them before you commit. And none of this is tax advice — confirm your own position with HMRC or a qualified accountant.
What to buy when you outgrow free
The cheapest paid step depends on which limit you hit: VAT pushes you to QuickBooks Simple Start at £297.60, invoice volume alone to QuickBooks Sole Trader at £186, and payroll to FreeAgent Limited Company at £693.
- You passed five invoices a month but still are not VAT-registered. Sage Sole Trader at £147 ex VAT over 24 months is the cheapest, or QuickBooks Sole Trader at £186 for a fuller product. Neither files VAT.
- You registered for VAT. QuickBooks Simple Start £297.60 or Xero Ignite £307.20 — 40p a month apart, so decide on invoice cap and user count. The sole trader breakdown.
- You incorporated and need payroll. FreeAgent Limited Company £693 over 24 months against Xero Comprehensive at £960.
- You are a landlord. FreeAgent Landlord is £10 a month, £210 over 24 months — or £0 with a qualifying bank account. Landlord guide.
Before any of that, check the free routes one more time. A NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account turns most of the list above into £0.
Is free software MTD-compatible?
Yes. FreeAgent and Sage are both on HMRC’s recognised list for Making Tax Digital, and the free routes run the same software as the paid ones — so Making Tax Digital is not a reason to pay for anything.
The one caveat is capability rather than compatibility: Sage Sole Trader Free cannot handle VAT, so it cannot be your MTD for VAT software. For MTD for Income Tax, which is the deadline most sole traders and landlords are facing now, both free options record digital records and the FreeAgent route files quarterly updates like any paid plan.
Whether you are in scope at all is the more useful question. MTD for Income Tax has applied since 6 April 2026 to qualifying income over £50,000 and applies from 6 April 2027 to qualifying income over £30,000, measured on the 2025/26 tax year. A £20,000 threshold is planned for April 2028. Qualifying income is gross self-employment plus gross property income — turnover, not profit — and £20,000 or less puts you outside MTD entirely.
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, explained
- Am I affected, and from when?
- Can I keep using a spreadsheet?
General information, not tax advice. Confirm your position with HMRC or a qualified accountant.
Questions about free software
Short answers, with the detail linked.
Is there genuinely free accounting software in the UK?
Yes, two. FreeAgent is free for as long as you hold a NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account — the full product, with Mettle needing one transaction a month. Sage Sole Trader Free is £0 permanently, capped at five invoices a month and unable to handle VAT.
Is FreeAgent really free with NatWest?
Yes — NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank and Mettle all include it with a business account. Not a trial, not reduced. Against £399 to buy it directly over 24 months. Confirm with your bank, because banks change terms. FreeAgent review.
What are the limits of Sage Sole Trader Free?
Five invoices a month, measured monthly rather than averaged, and no VAT. Outgrow it and Sage Sole Trader is £7+VAT — £147 over 24 months ex VAT, £176.40 inc VAT — which still cannot file VAT. Sage review.
Do free trials count?
No. Xero offers 30 days plus a month free, QuickBooks 30 days, Sage three months free on paid tiers. A trial cuts year one and does nothing for year two. See the 24-month arithmetic.
When is free not enough?
VAT registration, more than five invoices a month, or payroll. The first two only end Sage’s free tier; the FreeAgent bank route handles both. Payroll ends both — the cheapest route with it is FreeAgent Limited Company at £693 over 24 months.
Is free software MTD-compatible?
Yes, both are on HMRC’s recognised list. MTD compatibility is table stakes in 2026 and should not cost you anything. The MTD pillar.
Keep reading
Up to the pillar, across to the siblings, or into the reviews and comparisons.
Pillar
Best UK accounting software
The hub: four platforms over 24 months and a router that gives a verdict by business type.
Sibling
Cheapest over 24 months
Every plan ranked on true two-year cost, with a calculator that marks the discount cliff.
Sibling
Best for sole traders
Split by VAT status, because that is the fork that actually decides it.
Head to head
Xero vs FreeAgent
What the free FreeAgent route costs Xero, and the two scenarios where FreeAgent wins on paid price too.
Head to head
Xero vs Sage
Sage’s free tier and its +VAT quoting, normalised so the two are genuinely comparable.
Our workings
How we research
Why we publish a page we earn nothing from, and what would make us change a verdict.
The three facts that cost us money. QuickBooks is £121.20 cheaper than Xero over 24 months on entry plans. FreeAgent is free forever with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle. Sage has a genuinely free tier for sole traders. Two of the three are the entire subject of this page.