The Best Self-Employed Accounting Software UK: Top 10 Tools Compared

• Tracking: QuickBooks lets you track your income and expenses in real time to monitor outstanding payments and bills.
• MTD compatibility: Submit VAT returns based on the information on the platform.
• Invoice Management: Send invoices to customers automatically and monitor and manage them.
• Late Payment Reminders: Manage late payments by automating customer notifications.
• Connect Bank Accounts: You can connect to numerous bank accounts, so all your bank transactions and expenses are in one place.
• Payroll: Run and automate payroll to save time when calculating taxes and making bank transfers.

QuickBooks offers five price plans to support different business needs. New users can use the software freely for the first month or pay £1/month for 6 months for all price packages.

Self-Employed – Tax estimation, free onboarding sessions, phone support, income and expense tracking, unlimited invoices, bank connections, mileage tracking, and customized reports.

Simple Start – This plan is also for solopreneurs managing VAT and Income tax and preparing self-assessments.

Essentials – This plan is suitable for small businesses and adds multi-currency support, employee time tracking, and bill management.

Plus – Stock management, profitability tracking, and budget management. It’s ideal for small businesses working with suppliers.

Advanced – Advanced reporting, data restoration, workflow automation, employee expense management, and more. This package is ideal for businesses needing automatic data backup, custom permissions, bespoke reporting, and insights.

QuickBooks accounting software is a strong choice for self-employed individuals in the United Kingdom who need a reliable and easy-to-use accounting solution for their business financial management.

• Invoicing: Invoie using the mobile app and link invoices to external payment apps such as PayPal and Square for easy processing.
• Tracking Inventory: Generate an invoice depending on your inventory status, whether buying or selling. It can monitor all stock levels and inform you of overstocking and supply shortages.
• Smart Reconciliation: Xero guarantees that all necessary financial data is automatically retrieved from your bank to keep your financials current.
• Report Creation: Track your finances and present the gathered information with intuitive visualization to make you understand your business’s financial health and make an informed decision. Xero can generate various reports, such as profit, loss, and general ledgers.
• Multicurrency Support: Send and receive money in over 160 currencies. This way, you may simplify international business accounting for your UK company with up-to-date exchange rates and rapid currency conversions.

Xero accounting software’s UK pricing plan has four tiers. It’s feature-based rather than user-based, allowing you to access limitless users across all tiers.

Starter – Basic invoicing (send quotes and 20 invoices), five bills, expense tracking, automatic CIS calculations and reports, VAT submission to HMRC, short-term cash flow, and bank reconciliation.

Standard – Suitable for growing UK small businesses. It features everything in the Starter plan, including bulk bank transaction reconciliation and unlimited invoices and bills.

Premium – Caters to established businesses of all sizes. It features everything in the Standard plan and multi-currency support.

Ultimate – Ideal for employing businesses and those with more advanced needs. It features everything in the Premium plan with Analytics plus support.

Xero pricing uses a monthly pay-as-you-use technique that allows cancellation at any time. With all of Xero’s price plans, you access 24/7 customer support, safe and secure transactions, and Ready for Making Tax Digital.

If you need more Xero services, you may pay for add-ons such as payroll, expense claiming, project tracking, analytics plus, and submitting CIS returns.

Xero is ideal for the self-employed in the UK who require accounting software that can be integrated with another business management application.

• Multiple Features: Sage business cloud accounting software offers a variety of user-friendly features, including bookkeeping tools for managing accounts, inventories, expenses, and payments.
• Stock Management: Set up and define stock re-order levels and amounts, view out-of-stock warnings, manage stock and pricing, and manage inventory reports.
• Intuitive Mobile Application: Sage’s mobile app is compatible with Android and iOS, giving you easy access to your financial information whenever and wherever you need it.
• Automatic Entry: Speed and accuracy are essential in business, especially when you are a solopreneur. Sage saves you hours of administrative work by capturing and entering data into the software, reducing manual work and error.
• Tax Management: As a self-employed individual in the United Kingdom, you need accounting software that can handle all of your financial demands, including taxation, budgeting, forecasting, and more. Sage provides everything you need to comply with MTD laws, prepare for tax, manage your cash flow, and meet HMRC requirements, including Self-Assessment.

Sage offers three packages for subscribers to choose from, depending on the level of your business.

Accounting Start – This plan is ideal for sole traders and starting out micro-businesses. It features unlimited sales invoice creation, simple bank reconciliation, VAT submission, and Be Making Tax Digital Ready for VAT.

Accounting Standard – The Accounting Standard is ideal for small businesses working with suppliers, CIS, or accrual accounting. It offers everything Accounting Start provides, plus more advanced features like advanced reporting, CIS management, cash flow forecast, and receipt capturing automation.

Accounting Plus – Accounting Plus offers all Standard features plus support for multiple currencies, automatic exchange rate updates, and inventory management.

Sage is ideal for solo traders who need accounting software with comprehensive functionality to help with product management on their sales platform.

• Document Importation: TurboTax eliminates manual data entry procedures to ensure correct data transfer into its database. With its automation, you may automatically import documents such as W-9s, P60s, etc.
• Cryptocurrency Support: You may use TurboTax integrated with CoinLedger to file your crypto taxes by uploading up to 20,000 transactions simultaneously.
• App Integrations: Some excellent app integrations include ItsDeductible, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and many more.
• Compatibility: TurboTax offers different ways to access your account, including desktop, phone, and tablet.
• Maximum Deduction with the Deduction Finder: Compare over 350 tax deductions and credits to find the best tax refund for you.

TurboTax’s plans include a free version for simple returns, an assisted plan for maximizing deductions, and a full-service plan for more complex situations like investment income. Additionally, live expert assistance is available for personalized guidance.

TurboTax only lists their pricing in USD; to aid in comparison, we’ve included what this would be in GBP.

Do your own taxes – This plan is designed for solo businesses with the confidence to do their taxes. This plan offers 100% accurate calculations by the system, a minimum refund guarantee, and easy scan and upload.

Assisted – Unlimited help from real tax experts, specialist review, and support. It’s suitable for small businesses needing expert assistance in accurately filing their taxes.

Full Service – This full expert service plan takes your hands off the taxing processes. It is for businesses that prefer a dedicated expert to manage their tax filing.

This pricing may be steep for a small business because the listed price is subject to change. The final price is determined by your actual tax situation and the forms utilized, so you may spend more than you expected.

TurboTax offers three options: have an expert handle your taxes, collaborate with an expert on your tax return, or complete the tax return yourself. This service would likely benefit many sole traders and small business owners who need self-employed tax returns.

• Payment Schedule: You can set up automatic payments to domestic and international accounts.
• Payment Approval Workflows: Invite users or accountants to the platform and assign them responsibilities based on their permissions to determine their functions.
• Accounting Tools Integrations: Melio integrates seamlessly with other accounting software packages like Xero and QuickBooks to help you access your business finance documents, like invoices, in one place.
• Mobile Payment Support: Melio is accessible on mobile devices like Android and iPhones to help small businesses track payments anywhere.
• Secure Payment: Multi-factor authentication, secure check, and industry-standard security measures. Melio uses a third-party card processor, a certified Level 1 PCI Compliant.

Melio is a free tool with no subscription fees. Sending or receiving bank transfers is free, but you’ll have to pay transaction fees.

However, the transaction fees are based on usage, ensuring that you only pay when there is a transaction.

Below is a list of Melio transaction fees:

• ACH bank transfer — Free
• Mail check — $1.50 (first two are free)
• Pay by card — $2.9%
• Instant transfer — 1% (up to $50)
• Fast ACH bank transfer — $1% (up to $30)
• Fast check — $20
• International payments — $20 (flat fee)

Melio’s no monthly plan implies that you can register for the service and expect to be charged a rate only when there is a transaction.

Melio is a great choice for small business owners in the UK who need payment solutions. Its free software and transparent transaction rates make it a good fit for self-employed professionals who want to monitor their finances and cut budgets.

• Detailed Profit & Loss Reporting: Capture accurate, real-time accounting data for business analytics and prepare monthly and weekly management reports.
• Intuitive Features: Create and send invoices, and the time tracking tool can automatically generate them to ensure accurate billing.
• Business Account: Manage your business’s finances and expenses to automate the budget while you focus on other business needs.
• Form Builder: Collect and organize client data with Bonsai’s easy form builder, from intake forms to end-of-project surveys.
• Robust Time Tracking: Quickly track your team’s hours, create precise timesheets, and receive instant reports. Monitoring employee time in real-time simplifies billing, project management, and invoicing.

Bonsai offers three plans depending on your needs – Starter, Professional, and Business. You can invite collaborators on any of these plans without charge.

Starter – This plan is suitable for freelancers, solopreneurs, and contractors. Its features include expense tracking, questionnaires, proposals, client CRM, forms, contract management, unlimited client invoices, online signatures, and project management tools.

Professional – The Professional plan is ideal for established businesses. This plan features everything in the Starter plan, plus custom branding, workflow automation, payment processing functionalities, integration with Calendly, a branded client portal, and unlimited events scheduling.

Business – This plan is a perfect package for growing businesses and agencies. It features everything in the Professional plan plus premium customer support, resource planning, subcontractor management, capacity, and productivity reporting.

Bonsai offers a free two-month trial of its software when you choose a yearly plan. You can also use the 7-day free trial to test the software before making a monetary commitment.

Bonsai is ideal for small enterprises that need comprehensive business management software that can handle finance, customer, and project administration all in one place.

• Self-Assessment Assistance: Tide makes self-assessment stress-free for solopreneurs and small businesses looking forward to tax filing. Tide removes all the stress by easily tracking your expenses with automation.
• Bills Management: Free invoicing and bill management, which are accessible on mobile devices. You can create and send personalized invoices to your clients on your phone.
• Accounting Integrations: Connect your accounting software seamlessly to Tide to avoid manual data upload. Tide integrates with many accounting software such as Xero, Sage, Quickbooks, etc.
• Tax Automation: Tide assists with tax administration using its built-in tax functionality or integrated accounting software.
• Business Financial Support: Start your business or fund its growth with tailored borrowing from Tide’s trusted credit partners.

Tide offers a free forever plan and three paid plans, starting from £9.99 + VAT per month.

Free Plan – This free plan features a free Tide card, scheduled business payment, accounting integrations, up to 5 business accounts, a 24/7 fraud helpline, and free invoice creation.

Plus – Everything in the Free plan plus phone support, app support, exclusive member perks, and 20 free monthly transfers.

Pro – This plan offers everything in the Plus plan, including unlimited transfers in and out and two free expense cards.

Cashback – This is the highest offer and is only a bit more than the Pro package with its three free expense cards.

Businesses can choose the free or paid plan depending on their needs. However, during transactions, Tide charges a fee of 20p for transfers in and out, £1 for ATM cash withdrawals, and 3% of the total transaction value for cash deposits (through Paypoint).

Tide is a great business accounting software for freelancers in the UK who only need a place to open a business account number and access accounting integrations for easy business finance management.

• Unlimited Invoicing and Billing: You can create invoices quickly and save client details for future use. From the same invoicing interface, you can customize your invoices with your brand colours and logo.
• Time Tracking: Track time on different projects and generate invoices to bill clients for your services.
• Accounting Options: FreshBooks is HMRC and MTD (Making Tax Digital) compliant and offers features to streamline bookkeeping operations, including a balance sheet, ledgers, VAT returns, and a chart of accounts.
• Project Profitability: Summarize your service performance to see which one is earning more profit or losing more. You can also easily track project success and team performance.
• Intelligent Financial Reports: Present business finance reports that are easy to understand and use. Financial reports allow you to make smarter business decisions and work efficiently with your accountant.

FreshBooks offers subscribers four packages, allowing business owners to choose based on their needs.

Lite – Suits startups that want to start with a basic accounting solution. It features unlimited invoicing and expense tracking, unlimited invoices to 5 clients, and submission of MTD-compliant VAT returns directly to HMRC.

Plus – The Plus plan takes the Lite plan further, with automatic expense tracking, recurring billing, accountant invitations, financial reports, and unlimited invoices to up to 50 clients.

Premium – The Premium plan adds project profitability tracking, customizable email templates, and unlimited invoices to many clients.

Custom – For bigger small businesses with many users or specific needs that the Premium plan may not serve. The custom plan features dedicated account management, data migration simplification, access to lower credit card transaction fees, and 2 team members’ accounts.

FreshBooks offers add-ons that allow you to access more features. For example, adding new team members costs £8 per user per month, with advanced payments costing £15 per month.

A 30-day free trial allows you to test the service before making a financial commitment. You can save an additional 10% when selecting FreshBooks’ yearly plan.

FreshBooks is the best accounting software for small businesses in the UK that need simple accounting software to support their business finance needs.

• Multi-Currency Support: This allows you to manage transactions from many consumers worldwide without wasting time calculating and converting to your local currency.
• Team Collaboration: You can work with your team members in real-time with Zoho. Assign roles and permissions to restrict members’ interaction to a certain extent.
• Multiple Device Support: Flexibility across platforms enables you to send quotations quickly after meetings, track business spending, log time, check reports, and more while on the go.
• Inventory Management: Track your inventory levels to identify and stock up on high-demand items. Organize your inventory with important information such as SKUs, product photos, vendor data, costs, and stock-on-hand.
• Automation: Automate business procedures so you can focus on growing your business. One method of automation is to eliminate repeated work by setting a recurring profile and allowing Zoho Books to send transactions for you automatically.

Zoho’s price plans range from Free, appropriate for small enterprises, to Elite and Ultimate, designed for larger businesses.

Free – This plan requires no fees, and it’s suitable for small businesses with annual revenue < GBP 35k in need of a free accounting solution for businesses. The free plan offers mileage tracking, acceptance of online payments, payment reminder automation, bank reconciliation, recurring fee setup, tax management, and tax summary reports.

Standard – The Standard plan is ideal for organizations that want to efficiently organize their transactions, accounts, reports, and books. This plan offers features such as everything in the free plan plus the management of up to 5,000 invoices, an opportunity to add three users, reporting tags, transaction locking, journal templates, email support, custom reports, and predefined user roles.

Professional – This plan is for solopreneurs who want to collaborate with their team efficiently and confidently to take on projects. The professional plan includes everything in the standard plan, including project expenses and invoice tracking, project-specific task creation, automatic exchange rate, inventory management, internal finance control, and reporting.

Premium – This plan offers enhanced customization and automation to streamline business processes. It features everything in the Professional plan, along with a custom domain, 50 custom reports, cash flow forecasting reports, and integrations with services like Twilio and Zoho Sign.

Elite – This is an advanced accounting solution bundled with full-fledged inventory management, allowing batch tracking, shipment tracking, sales channels connection, and warehouse management.

Ultimate – This plan helps businesses to gain deeper insights with advanced business intelligence capabilities. It allows 15 users, supports embedding reports in websites/applications, analyzes Zoho Books data and other sources, creates custom dashboards with charts and widgets, and features over 50 pre-built data visualizations.

You can get add-ons such as additional user slots, starting at £2.5 per user per month, £8 per branch per month, and £68 per month for advanced autoscans, all invoiced annually.

Zoho Books is ideal for soletraders in the UK who want to enjoy automation alongside their accounting software. It’s a good choice for solopreneurs managing small businesses and needs plenty of features and functions.

• Financial Insights: Business intelligence overview where companies can get an overview of their business performance.
• Managing Domestic and International Taxes: Manage taxes and expenses and automatically calculate taxes for every transaction.
• Automating Payroll Activities: Payroll activities like calculating employee taxes, creating payroll documentation, and scheduling employee payments can all be automated to save time.
• Built-in Reporting Features: Save time by creating reports from NetSuite’s reporting templates.
• Scalability: NetSuite is a cloud-based ERP solution that scales with business needs. Its modular structure can accommodate the needs of businesses of all sizes and types.

NetSuite doesn’t disclose its pricing information but will provide a custom quote tailored to your needs and user base once you reach out to the sales team.

However, you can request a live demo or access a product tour on the website to see a real-life use case of the service.

Larger businesses will get the most value from NetSuite’s wide range of features. However, solopreneurs can also leverage NetSuite’s scalability and continue using it as their business grows.

Adherence to Tax Compliance: Most bookkeeping software designed for UK users usually integrates with HMRC to ensure users’ compliance with UK tax regulations.

Understanding Business Financial Health: Bookkeeping software provides useful business insights that help you understand your business’s financial health, helping you plan ahead and make informed decisions.

Cost-effectiveness: Most accounting software designed for self-employed individuals does come with multiple features, even at a reduced rate. This is to support solopreneurs as they manage their business.

Finance Organization: The best accounting software helps you to centralize all your business financial data in one place, making it easier to track expenses and income without losing sight of any information.