FreeAgent review: £0 if you bank with the right bank
If you hold a business account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle, FreeAgent is free — permanently, the full product, not a trial and not a cut-down tier. We are not in FreeAgent’s affiliate programme, or anyone else’s, and we earn absolutely nothing by telling you this. If you do not bank with one of those four, FreeAgent is £399 over 24 months, the dearest entry plan we price.
Last verified 31 July 2026. Promotions change roughly monthly — confirm before you subscribe.
Should you buy FreeAgent?
If you bank with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle, do not buy FreeAgent — get it free, because it is included with the account and there is nothing on this site that beats £0. If you bank anywhere else, FreeAgent is £399 over 24 months, the most expensive entry plan of the four platforms we price, and you need a specific reason to pay £213 more than QuickBooks for it.
Stated plainly
We earn nothing from the free route. Fizoral is not a member of FreeAgent’s affiliate programme, or NatWest’s, or anyone else’s. Telling you to get accounting software for £0 instead of paying £307.20 for Xero costs us money in every possible future where we are accepted into a programme. It is still the right answer, so it is the first thing on this page.
That link goes to FreeAgent’s own UK pricing page and earns us nothing — we are not in their affiliate programme, or anyone else’s. Check the price yourself; promotions change roughly monthly.
Who FreeAgent is for
- Anyone with a NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account. £0, the full product, VAT filing included. Mettle asks for at least one transaction a month to keep it active.
- Landlords. The Landlord plan is £10 a month — £210 over 24 months, £97.20 below Xero Ignite — on a plan built for property income rather than adapted to it.
- Owner-managed limited companies needing payroll. Payroll is included at £33 — £693 against £960 for Xero Comprehensive.
- People who want to be told which plan to buy. Plans are named by business type, not by feature tier.
Who FreeAgent is not for
- Non-VAT sole traders banking elsewhere. QuickBooks Sole Trader is £186 — £213 less than FreeAgent’s £399.
- VAT-registered sole traders banking elsewhere. QuickBooks Simple Start is £297.60, £101.40 less, for the same core job.
- Anyone unwilling to tie their software to their bank. The free route is a bank offer, not a FreeAgent guarantee. Change bank, lose it.
- Businesses with a deep third-party stack. Xero is the platform built to be extended, and it is £91.80 cheaper than paying for FreeAgent.
What every FreeAgent plan costs over 24 months
FreeAgent’s UK prices are ex VAT. The introductory rate is 50% off for six months, after which you pay list price. The first row is the one most readers should be looking at.
| FreeAgent plan | Intro price (6 months) | List price | Year one | 24 months | Files VAT? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free via NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | Yes |
| Landlord | £5 × 6 | £10/mo | £90 | £210 | Yes |
| Sole Trader Entry plan | £9.50 × 6 | £19/mo | £171 | £399 | Yes |
| Partnership | £13.50 × 6 | £27/mo | £243 | £567 | Yes |
| Limited Company Payroll included | £16.50 × 6 | £33/mo | £297 | £693 | Yes |
All figures ex VAT, monthly billing, no annual prepayment discount applied. The 50% six-month discount is verified on the plans above. The free route is tied to holding a qualifying business account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle — confirm eligibility with your bank, because it is the bank’s offer to withdraw, not FreeAgent’s.
Plan limits change more often than prices. We warrant the money on this page, verified 31 July 2026. Feature limits — user counts, invoice caps, what each tier includes — should be confirmed on the vendor’s own plan comparison before you subscribe, because vendors revise them quietly.
The price you will actually pay
If you are paying for FreeAgent Sole Trader, you pay £9.50 a month for six months and £19 a month for the next eighteen. If you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle, none of this chart applies to you and the number is £0.
£9.50 — promotional months 1–6£19 — list price, months 7–24
The three numbers that matter
- (£9.50 × 6) + (£19 × 18) = £399. FreeAgent Sole Trader over two years, ex VAT. The dearest entry plan of the four platforms we price.
- £57 against £342. The six discounted months against the eighteen that follow. At 14% of the total, FreeAgent’s discount is the least misleading headline in this market — a 50% offer that behaves like one, rather than a 90% offer that moves the two-year bill by £54.
- £399 − £0 = £399. What paying for FreeAgent costs somebody who could have had it free by opening a qualifying bank account. Check this before you enter a card number.
Why this section exists. FreeAgent is the one product on this site where the discount cliff is the second most important thing about the price. The most important thing is whether you are eligible for £0, and that question is answered by your bank, not by FreeAgent’s pricing page. See the same cliff plotted for all four platforms on the cheapest-over-24-months guide.
What FreeAgent does well
Four genuine strengths. The first one is the reason this page exists.
FreeAgent’s strengths are a free route that is a real product rather than a stripped tier, a landlord plan priced for landlords, payroll included at a price Xero charges £50 for, and plans you can choose without a comparison chart.
The free route is the whole product
This is not a limited tier, a trial, or a promotional rate that expires. Hold a business account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle and you get FreeAgent for as long as you hold the account, VAT filing included, with Mettle asking for at least one transaction a month to keep it active. Against Xero Ignite at £307.20 and QuickBooks Sole Trader at £186 — which cannot file VAT at all — that is not a close comparison. It is the single best value in UK accounting software and we earn nothing for saying so.
The Landlord plan is priced for landlords
£10 a month, £210 over 24 months, against £307.20 for Xero Ignite. That is £97.20 in FreeAgent’s favour on a plan designed around property income rather than a general ledger with property bolted on — which matters more from April 2027, when Making Tax Digital for Income Tax reaches qualifying income over £30,000 and property income has to be tracked alongside trading income.
Payroll is included at £33, not £50
For an owner-managed limited company paying one or two people, FreeAgent Limited Company at £33 a month is £693 over 24 months. The nearest Xero plan with payroll is Comprehensive at £50, which is £960. FreeAgent is £267 cheaper for that specific job, and it is the clearest paid-for win FreeAgent has.
Plans are named after you, not after feature tiers
Sole Trader, Landlord, Partnership, Limited Company. You do not have to work out whether you are a “Simple Start” or an “Ignite”. It is a small thing that saves a genuinely irritating half hour, and it removes a decision you can get wrong: with FreeAgent the plan name states the legal structure it is for, so there is less room to buy the wrong one in the first place. That is an argument from how the plans are named, not a measurement of what buyers do.
What is wrong with FreeAgent
Longer than the section above. Free is a spectacular deal; paying full price is not.
FreeAgent has two prices, £0 and expensive, and almost nothing in between makes sense. If you are not eligible for the free route, the case for FreeAgent gets thin quickly.
- £399 is the most expensive entry plan of the four platforms we price. That is £213 more than QuickBooks Sole Trader at £186 and £91.80 more than Xero Ignite at £307.20. If you are paying full price, you are paying a premium and you should be able to name what it buys you. Read the QuickBooks review →
- £19 a month is the highest sole trader list price here. Xero and QuickBooks both charge £16 for a VAT-capable plan; Sage charges £18+VAT. FreeAgent asks £3 a month more than the platform with the deepest app ecosystem.
- The free route is not FreeAgent’s to guarantee. It is a banking offer. If NatWest Group changes the terms, or you move your business account for a better rate, overdraft or service, your accounting software goes with it — or starts costing £19 a month. You are letting a banking decision determine a bookkeeping decision, and those two things should be free to change independently.
- Mettle requires at least one transaction a month. A condition you have to actively maintain to keep something described as free. Dormant month, dormant account, and the terms of your £0 are no longer being met. Confirm the current condition with Mettle rather than with us.
- FreeAgent is owned by NatWest Group. The free offer exists to sell bank accounts, which means its longevity is a commercial decision made by a bank about customer acquisition, not a pricing decision made by a software company. That does not make it a bad deal today — it is the best deal on this site — but do not plan five years around it. Verify the ownership position yourself if it matters to your decision; we state it because it explains the offer, not because it changes today’s price.
- If you bank elsewhere, there is no price argument for FreeAgent at all. Not one. Every other platform here is cheaper on the entry plan, and the plan-named-after-your-business-type convenience is worth a lot less than £213.
- Partnership at £27 is £567 over 24 months. For two people splitting a small business, that is a substantial line item, and it is £269.40 more than QuickBooks Simple Start.
- Changing business structure means changing plan, not just tier. Incorporate from sole trader and you move from £19 to £33 — from £399 to £693 across two years. The naming convention that makes buying easy makes growing more expensive.
Who should buy FreeAgent, and who should buy something else
The honest split here is not really about FreeAgent. It is about who you bank with.
Get FreeAgent free if you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle, and consider paying for it only if you are a landlord or a limited company needing payroll. In every other case something else is cheaper — and we earn nothing either way, because we are not in any vendor’s affiliate programme.
Get or buy FreeAgent if…
- You hold a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account. It is £0 and the comparison is over. Confirm eligibility with your bank.
- You are a landlord. £210 over 24 months against £307.20 for Xero Ignite, on a plan built for property income. See the landlord guide.
- You run an owner-managed limited company that needs payroll. £693 with payroll included against £960 for Xero Comprehensive.
Buy something else if…
- You are a non-VAT sole trader banking elsewhere. QuickBooks Sole Trader is £186 — £213 less than FreeAgent’s £399. Note it cannot file VAT, which FreeAgent can.
- You are a VAT-registered sole trader banking elsewhere. QuickBooks Simple Start is £297.60, £101.40 less, and Xero Ignite is £307.20, £91.80 less.
- You send five invoices a month or fewer and are not VAT-registered. Sage Sole Trader Free is £0 without changing bank — though it caps invoices where FreeAgent’s free route does not.
- You need a deep third-party integration stack. Xero is built to be extended and costs £91.80 less than paying for FreeAgent.
- Several people need logins and you are paying full price. Compare Xero and FreeAgent directly — Xero allows unlimited users on every plan.
Go and check the prices yourself
Every link below is the vendor’s own plain UK pricing page. None of them earns us a commission, because Fizoral is not a member of any accounting software affiliate programme — including FreeAgent’s. We would rather you verified our arithmetic against the source than took our word for it.
Does FreeAgent handle Making Tax Digital?
Yes, including on the free route — which is the detail that makes the free route genuinely remarkable rather than merely cheap.
FreeAgent is on HMRC’s recognised list for Making Tax Digital, and so are Xero, QuickBooks and Sage. MTD compatibility is table stakes in 2026, not a differentiator. What is worth noticing is that the £0 bank-account route gets you an MTD-recognised product with VAT filing, which QuickBooks’ £10 Sole Trader plan cannot do at all.
Making Tax Digital 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. Qualifying income is gross self-employment plus gross property income — turnover, not profit — which is why it catches so many landlords who assumed their rent was below any threshold.
Read the Making Tax Digital pillar, the landlord specifics, or check whether you are in scope. Confirm your own position with HMRC or an accountant — this page is not tax advice.
The rest of our working
The other three reviews, every head-to-head that features FreeAgent, and the pillar that prices all four side by side.
Pillar
Best UK accounting software, priced over 24 months
All four platforms in one table: QuickBooks £186, Xero £307.20, Sage Accounting Start £378, FreeAgent £399 — or £0, two different ways.
Review
Xero review
£307.20 over 24 months with unlimited users on every plan — and £91.80 less than paying for FreeAgent.
Review
QuickBooks review
£186 over 24 months, the cheapest well-known plan — but it cannot file a VAT return, and the £1 becomes £10.
Review
Sage review
A genuinely free tier capped at five invoices a month, and the only vendor here that quotes +VAT: £18 bills at £21.60.
Our workings
How we research
The pricing rules, the sources, the conflicts of interest, and what would make us change a verdict.
How this review was researched
Our method · verified 31 July 2026
Every price on this page was read off FreeAgent’s own UK pricing pages — not a press release, not a review-site database, not another comparison article. Figures are ex VAT, cover the plans named in the table above, and were verified on 31 July 2026. The free-with-bank route is a banking offer and should be confirmed with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle directly, because the bank sets and can withdraw the terms.
The 24-month totals are arithmetic rather than opinion: six promotional months at the promotional rate, then full list price through to month twenty-four, with the multiplication printed beside each total so you can redo it on your phone.
We publish no scores and no star ratings, and we are not a member of FreeAgent’s affiliate programme or anyone else’s. The headline recommendation on this page is that a large number of readers should pay £0 rather than the £307.20 they might otherwise have spent on a competitor. That recommendation earns us nothing, today or in any future where we are accepted into a programme. We are telling you anyway, and that is the whole point of the site.
We publish our method instead of a byline. A named author is easy to invent and impossible for you to check; a named source, a stated date and printed arithmetic are not. This review is written and maintained by Fizoral as a publication. Read how we research, or tell us about a figure that looks wrong.
Questions people actually ask about FreeAgent
Short answers, with the arithmetic where money is involved.
Is FreeAgent really free with NatWest?
Yes. FreeAgent is free for as long as you hold a business account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle — the full product with VAT filing, not a trial and not a cut-down tier. Mettle asks for at least one transaction a month to keep it active. Over 24 months that is £0 against £399 to buy FreeAgent directly, £307.20 for Xero Ignite and £186 for QuickBooks Sole Trader. Confirm eligibility with your bank, because the offer belongs to the bank and banks change terms. The genuinely free options.
Do you earn commission if I get FreeAgent free?
No, and we would not earn commission if you paid for it either. Fizoral is not a member of FreeAgent’s affiliate programme, or NatWest’s, or any other accounting software programme. Every vendor link on this site is that vendor’s ordinary public URL and earns us nothing today. Recommending a £0 route over a £307.20 competitor is the most expensive editorial decision on this site in every future where we are accepted into a programme, and it is still the right answer. Read the full affiliate disclosure.
How much does FreeAgent cost if I do not bank with NatWest?
£19 a month for the Sole Trader plan, ex VAT, after a 50% discount for the first six months. That is (£9.50 × 6) + (£19 × 18) = £399 over 24 months — the most expensive entry plan of the four platforms we price, £213 more than QuickBooks Sole Trader and £91.80 more than Xero Ignite. The Landlord plan is £210, Partnership £567 and Limited Company £693 on the same basis. See all four platforms priced side by side.
Is FreeAgent worth paying for?
In two cases, yes. The Landlord plan at £210 over 24 months is £97.20 below Xero Ignite on a plan built for property income, and Limited Company at £693 includes payroll, against £960 for Xero Comprehensive, which is the cheapest Xero plan with payroll. Outside those two cases, paying full price for FreeAgent is hard to justify: at £399 it is the dearest entry plan here and every competitor is cheaper. Read the Xero review.
What happens to FreeAgent if I change bank?
You lose the free access or start paying for it. The £0 price is a benefit of holding a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account, so it ends when the account does. This is the real risk of the free route: it ties your accounting software to your banking decision, and those are two things that should be free to change independently. Ask your bank what happens to your data and your subscription if you close the account, before you commit your bookkeeping to it. Compare Xero and FreeAgent directly.
Is FreeAgent good for landlords?
It is the cheapest purpose-built option we price. FreeAgent Landlord is £10 a month — £210 over 24 months — against £307.20 for Xero Ignite, a saving of £97.20 on a plan designed around property income rather than a general ledger with property added. That matters more from 6 April 2027, when Making Tax Digital for Income Tax reaches qualifying income over £30,000 and gross rent counts towards that threshold alongside gross self-employment income. And if you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle it is £0. See the landlord guide.
Is FreeAgent compatible with Making Tax Digital?
Yes, including on the free bank-account route. FreeAgent, Xero, QuickBooks and Sage are all on HMRC’s recognised list, so MTD compatibility is table stakes in 2026 rather than a reason to choose one platform. The FreeAgent-specific point worth noting is that its £0 route includes VAT filing, which QuickBooks’ £10 Sole Trader plan cannot do at any price. Check whether you are affected by MTD.