Countingup vs Soldo
Side-by-side comparison — pricing, features, ratings, use cases. Find which Business Banking fits you best.
🔍 Independently researched ·
📊 Data-driven
29/100
Free tier
UK sole traders, freelancers, and small service-based businesses that want simple accounting built right into their busi
💰 Pricing
🆓 Free tier available
All core features are free, but additional services like in-app accountant support or advanced features may incur costs.
Starting at 5 € (freemium)
Fee notes:
- No monthly account fee.
- Card payments: no fee for UK card transactions.
- Cash deposits: £1.50 per cash deposit (up to £3,000 per deposit) via Post Office.
- International payments: 2.5% FX markup on exchange rate, plus £2.00 per transaction.
- Overseas card spend: 2.5% FX fee.
⚠ Watch for:
- Cash deposits not free; £1.50 per deposit at Post Office.
- International transactions have 2.5% FX markup and possible fixed fees.
- Accountant sharing via Pro plan costs extra (£X/month).
- Card replacement may incur a fee if lost or damaged.
🔧 Features
✓ Built In Accounting✓ Tax Estimates✓ Accountant Sharing✓ Uk Only✓ Fca Registered✓ Free Tier
📋 Assessment
💪 Strengths
- All-in-one integration: Countingup eliminates the need for separate bookkeeping software by integrating accounting directly into the bank account. Every transaction is automatically categorised using a combination of rules and artificial intelligence. This saves hours of manual entry and ensures your records are always up to date, which is especially valuable for freelancers and sole traders who lack the time or inclination for bookkeeping.
- Real-time tax estimates: The app calculates your estimated tax liability continuously, based on your income and expenses. This feature allows you to set aside the right amount of money as you go, avoiding the stress of a huge tax bill in January. The estimates are visible at a glance on the dashboard, making it easy to plan your cash flow throughout the year.
- Accountant access: With the paid plans, you can grant your accountant or bookkeeper read-only access to your transactions and reports. They can also enter journal entries and reconcile your books without needing physical paperwork. This collaboration is seamless and reduces back-and-forth emails, making the year-end much smoother.
- Invoicing and expense tracking on the go: You can create and send invoices directly from the mobile app, which also allows you to attach receipts to expenses via photo capture. The app remembers your bank card details for fast payments, and you can track when invoices are viewed and paid. This is ideal for businesses that need to manage cash flow while on the move.
- Business loan options: Countingup uses your transaction history to offer pre-approved business loans, with applications that take just minutes. This can be a useful source of quick funding for small businesses that might struggle to get credit from traditional banks due to limited credit history.
⚠ Watch out for
- Not FSCS protected: As an e-money institution, Countingup is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This means that if Countingup were to fail, your money is not protected by the UK government's £85,000 compensation limit. While client funds are segregated, they are not legally owned by you once deposited, which is a risk to consider.
- UK-only and no multi-currency: Countingup is strictly for UK businesses and only operates in pounds sterling. There are no multi-currency accounts, and you cannot send or receive international payments. If your business deals with foreign clients or suppliers, you'll need to use a separate solution, which negates some of the convenience of having everything in one place.
- Free plan has significant limitations: The free tier only includes basic transaction categories and does not offer features like accountant access, invoice creation, or receipt capture. The ability to share data with your accountant is locked behind the £5/month plan, which may be a dealbreaker for businesses that rely on professional advice.
- Annual billing for paid plans: To get the advertised monthly price, you have to pay annually in advance. If you choose to pay monthly, the cost is higher, which might be an unexpected expense for those who prefer flexible billing. This is a common but still annoying practice.
- Occasional transaction import issues: Some users have reported that transactions sometimes fail to import or miscategorise, requiring manual correction. While the AI improves over time, it's not perfect, and tech-savvy users may find themselves spending time fixing categories rather than trusting the automation blindly.
🎯 Best for
UK sole traders, freelancers, and small service-based businesses that want simple accounting built right into their business current account.
🚫 Who should skip
Businesses with complex accounting needs, payroll, heavy cash handling, international operations, or those requiring FSCS-protected banking.
📚 Learning curve
Minimal — the app is designed for non-accountants, with automated categories and straightforward navigation.
🧑⚖️ Verdict
Countingup is ideal for UK freelancers, sole traders, and small businesses that want a bank account with built-in bookkeeping, especially if they're just starting out and want to minimize cost and complexity. However, if you need FSCS protection, international banking, or already use a separate acco
69/100
Free tier
Small and mid-sized UK/European companies that want to control employee spending with prepaid cards and automate expense
★ Best
💰 Pricing
🆓 Free tier available
Free plan (Starter) allows up to 3 users and 3 cards; includes 1% transaction fee on card payments, 0.2% for SEPA direct debit; 1.5% FX on non-EUR currencies; no monthly fee.
Starting at 5 € (hybrid)
Fee notes:
- Transaction fee: 1% per card payment on Starter, 0.5% on Business (reduces with higher plans).
- FX markup: 1.5% for non-EUR transactions on Starter, 0.5% on Business.
- SEPA direct debit fees: 0.2% on Starter, 0.1% on Business.
- Cash deposit fee: 1% of deposited amount.
- Card replacement fee: €5 per card.
⚠ Watch for:
- Transaction fees on card payments: can add up on high-volume spend.
- FX markup on non-EUR transactions: 1.5% on Starter, 0.5% on Business.
- Cash deposit fee of 1% may be charged for ATM or bank deposits.
- Card replacement fee of €5 per card.
🔧 Features
✓ Spend Management✓ Prepaid Cards✓ Spend Controls✓ Receipt Capture✓ Uk Europe✓ Free Tier
📋 Assessment
💪 Strengths
- Real-time card-level controls are the crown jewel. Admins can instantly set spending limits, restrict merchant categories (e.g., block all gambling or alcohol), whitelist specific vendors, disable ATM withdrawals, and even freeze a card with a single tap. This granularity is invaluable for enforcing policy without constant oversight. For example, you can give a sales rep a card that only works at approved restaurants and hotels, or allow a remote engineer a $500 monthly limit on SaaS tools. The controls take effect immediately, so there's no lag between policy change and enforcement.
- The automatic receipt capture is a time-saver that actually works. Employees snap a photo of a paper receipt, and Soldo's OCR extracts the amount, date, and merchant, then automatically attaches it to the matching transaction. This eliminates the classic 'I lost the receipt' excuse and makes VAT reconciliation a breeze. The matching is generally reliable, and if a receipt doesn't auto-match, manual attachment is straightforward. For finance teams, this transforms the monthly expense close from a multi-day chore into a half-hour sanity check.
- Accounting integrations are deep and practical. Soldo syncs transactions directly to Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, NetSuite, and SAP Concur, including custom categorization and VAT codes. This isn't just a CSV export—it's a two-way sync that pushes fully categorized transactions with attached receipts into your ledger. For example, you can set up rules to auto-code Starbucks purchases as 'Client Meetings' and map them to the right expense account. For companies already using these platforms, this saves hours of manual entry and reduces human error.
- The mobile app for employees is clean and user-friendly. Employees can view their available balance, check transaction history, snap receipts, and even report a card lost/stolen instantly. The push notifications for every transaction keep a running audit trail, and the user experience is far better than the clunky expense apps from traditional banks. This reduces friction and increases adoption—employees don't need to be trained on a complex system, just download and go.
- Soldo offers a multi-currency wallet (EUR, GBP, USD) and competitive FX rates for businesses operating across borders. You can top up the wallet in one currency and spend in another, with interbank rates plus a small margin. This is particularly useful for European companies with remote teams or contractors in different countries. The platform also issues both physical and virtual cards, so you can generate a virtual card instantly for a single online purchase—a huge plus for security.
⚠ Watch out for
- The biggest limitation: Soldo is not a bank account. You cannot receive payments from customers, earn interest on balances, or run payroll directly from the wallet. The money you hold is e-money, not bank deposits (so it's not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the UK—though it is safeguarded in an FCA-approved manner). This means companies need a separate business current account for their main banking operations. Soldo is a spending layer, not a banking replacement.
- Pricing is quote-based and can escalate quickly. The $5/mo starting price typically applies per active card, and additional features like advanced integration, invoice capture, or multiple users may incur extra costs. For a company with 100 employees, that's $500/mo just for cards—and if you have many cards that are rarely used, you'll still pay. There's no transparent public pricing, so you have to go through a sales call to get a quote. This lack of transparency can be a turn-off for SMBs that prefer self-serve.
- Prepaid cards can be declined by certain merchants, particularly car rental companies, hotels, and sometimes gas stations. These merchants often place a temporary hold (pre-authorization) that exceeds the purchase amount, and prepaid cards without sufficient backup funds can fail. This can be embarrassing in business settings. While Soldo offers a 'hold' feature to reserve funds, it requires the employee to do it manually, which many may not realize—so friction exists.
- The pooling mechanism can be rigid. Funds are held in a single master wallet, and you allocate budgets to individual cards or groups. If you want to give a department a monthly budget that resets, you need to manually set that up or rely on rules. There's no built-in 'automatic top-up from bank' feature unless you set up a standing order, so someone needs to actively manage the wallet to avoid running out of funds.
- Customer support is decent but not 24/7. Live chat and email support are available during business hours (UK/Europe time), and response times are generally within hours. However, there's no phone support, which can be frustrating for urgent issues. The knowledge base is solid, but the lack of immediate human help is a downside for a platform that handles money.
🎯 Best for
Small and mid-sized UK/European companies that want to control employee spending with prepaid cards and automate expense reconciliation.
🚫 Who should skip
Companies that need a full business bank account, want a credit card with revolving credit, or have significant non-UK/EU operations should skip Soldo.
📚 Learning curve
Minimal — most employees need only the mobile app, and a finance admin can set up card rules and accounting syncs in a few hours; configuring complex approval workflows takes a bit more time.
🧑⚖️ Verdict
Soldo is an excellent choice for European SMBs that need to give employees controlled spending power and have a strong finance automation need. It shines with real-time controls, receipt capture, and deep accounting integrations. However, if you need a full bank account or have simple expense needs
📊 Use Case Suitability
Higher score = better fit. Scores from editorial review.
Use CaseCountingupSoldo
Freelancer Self-Assessment Tax Returns95—
Built-in tax estimates and expense categorisation make it easy to track taxable
Paying Business Expenses on the Go90—
App-based account with instant notifications and auto-categorisation helps small
Sharing Financials with an Accountant92—
Accountant access feature lets professionals view live data and eliminates manua
Managing Simple Invoice Payments80—
Offers invoicing and automatic chase reminders, though it's not as full-featured
Handling Complex Inventory or Payroll30—
Lacks advanced inventory management and payroll tools; better suited to service-
Employee Expense Management—94
Soldo gives each employee a reloadable prepaid card with real-time limits and au
Department Budget Controls—90
Cards can be grouped by team or cost centre with separate budgets and approval r
Remote Team Payments—85
Virtual cards can be issued instantly to remote employees across the UK/Europe,
🧭 Which One Should You Pick?
Choose Countingup if...
- You are: UK sole traders, freelancers, and small service-based businesses that want simple accounting built right into their busi
- 👍 All-in-one business current account and bookkeeping software, eliminating the need for separate acco
- 👍 Automatic expense categorisation and tax estimates updated in real time.
- 👍 FCA-registered e-money institution with segregated client funds for safety.
- 💰 From $5/mo
- ⚠ Trade-off: Not a licensed bank; deposits aren't covered by the FSCS.
Choose Soldo if...
- You are: Small and mid-sized UK/European companies that want to control employee spending with prepaid cards and automate expense
- 👍 Real-time transaction controls at the card level — restrict merchant categories, individual merchant
- 👍 Automatic receipt capture via the companion mobile app: employees photograph receipts, and Soldo mat
- 👍 Deep accounting integrations with Xero, Sage, QuickBooks, NetSuite, and SAP Concur reduce manual dat
- 💰 From $5/mo
- ⚠ Trade-off: Not a bank account — you can't receive customer payments, earn interest, or run
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Countingup cost?
Countingup offers a free plan and paid plans starting at around £4.95/month for additional features like accountant sharing and invoicing. Exact pricing varies, so check the website for the latest fees.
Is Countingup a bank?
No, it's an FCA-registered e-money institution, not a licensed bank. Your money is safeguarded in segregated accounts, but it doesn't have FSCS deposit protection like a bank.
Can I use Countingup with my accountant?
Yes, the paid plan gives your accountant real-time access to your transactions, categories, and tax estimates. This can save time during year-end and reduces back-and-forth.
Does Countingup work for limited companies?
Yes, it offers business current accounts for both sole traders and limited companies, including features like invoicing and tax calculations. However, complex corporation tax filing may still require an accountant.
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