FreeAgent vs Koinly
Side-by-side comparison — pricing, features, ratings, use cases. Find which Tax Software fits you best.
🔍 Independently researched ·
📊 Data-driven
42/100
35 € starting
Freelancers, contractors, and micro-businesses in the UK who want an all-in-one, HMRC-integrated accounting tool and pre
💰 Pricing
Starting at 35 € (subscription)
Fee notes:
- Pricing in GBP; 20% VAT charged on subscriptions in UK.
- Annual billing offers no discount (flat annual fee)
- No per-filing costs for Self Assessment, VAT, or Corporation Tax (included in plan)
- Payroll (RTI) is included at no extra cost
- Some bank partners offer free access for first year; e.g., NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank, and others.
⚠ Watch for:
- VAT tax charged on subscriptions
- No free trial unless via partner bank
- Limited company plan requires a registered company; no option for partnerships or LLPs
- Upgrade fees may apply when switching plans (e.g., from Self-employed to Limited Company)
🔧 Features
✓ Uk Focus✓ Self Assessment✓ Vat Filing✓ Natwest Owned✓ Payroll
📋 Assessment
💪 Strengths
- Direct HMRC filing: FreeAgent is one of the few platforms that lets you file Self Assessment, VAT (under MTD), and RTI payroll reports directly from the app. This eliminates the need to manually re-enter figures into government portals, saving time and reducing errors. For someone with a small business, this integration is the core value—it automates the most tedious compliance tasks.
- Free with certain bank accounts: If you have a business account with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank, or M&S Bank, you get FreeAgent free. That's a substantial saving—up to £240 per year—which makes it a no-brainer for those eligible. Even if you're not, the pricing is reasonable, but the free tier is a major draw.
- User-friendly for non-accountants: The dashboard is clean and intuitive, with a timeline that shows upcoming tax deadlines. The system explains accounting concepts in plain English, so you don't need to be a bookkeeper to understand your profit and loss. The contextual help and the quarterly tax summary are particularly helpful for freelancers who want to avoid surprises.
- App for capturing expenses: While many accounting apps have mobile expense tracking, FreeAgent's app is particularly well-designed. You can snap a photo of a receipt, and it will automatically extract the details and categorize it. This saves time and ensures you capture every deductible expense, which is critical for reducing your tax bill.
- Strong bank feed integration: FreeAgent automatically pulls in bank transactions and categorizes them. It learns your patterns over time, making reconciliation faster. For micro-businesses that rely on a simple bank feed, this is a reliable timesaver.
⚠ Watch out for
- Limited to one company and one currency: FreeAgent's standard plan covers only a single business and only British pounds. If you have multiple ventures or work with clients abroad, you'll quickly hit a wall. You'd need to pay for multiple subscriptions or use separate tools—neither is ideal. This makes it unsuitable for international freelancers or growing businesses with overseas operations.
- Reporting is inflexible: While FreeAgent covers standard reports like profit and loss and balance sheet, you can't customize them to the same degree as Xero or QuickBooks. If you need bespoke dashboards or complex financial analysis, you'll feel constrained. For most micro-businesses, the built-in reports are sufficient, but it's a limitation to note.
- No free plan (unless banked with NatWest): Unlike some competitors that offer a free tier for small turnovers, FreeAgent requires a paid subscription unless you hold one of the eligible bank accounts. For a freelancer just starting out, the £12/month fee might feel like a burden, especially when free alternatives exist (though they may lack the same HMRC integrations).
- Payroll is basic: FreeAgent's RTI payroll works for a few employees, but it lacks advanced features like auto-enrolment pension management or detailed payroll reporting. If you have more than a handful of staff, you'll likely outgrow it. It's fine for a sole trader with a couple of part-time workers, but not for a growing business.
- No live support on weekends: Customer support is available via email and live chat during weekdays, but phone support is limited. Response times can be slow during peak periods, which is frustrating when you hit a tax deadline issue. The knowledge base is helpful, but it's not a substitute for immediate help.
🎯 Best for
Freelancers, contractors, and micro-businesses in the UK who want an all-in-one, HMRC-integrated accounting tool and preferably are eligible for the free NatWest/RBS offer.
🚫 Who should skip
UK businesses that need multi-currency support, advanced inventory, multiple companies in one portal, or a deep ecosystem of integrations — those are served better by Xero or QuickBooks.
📚 Learning curve
Minimal — setup takes less than a day and most tasks are guided; novice owners can file their first tax return without an accountant.
🧑⚖️ Verdict
FreeAgent is an excellent choice for UK sole traders and micro-businesses that want an all-in-one accounting and tax filing solution. If you bank with NatWest Group, it's a no-brainer given the free subscription. However, if you need multi-currency, complex reporting, or multi-company support, look
59/100
Free tier
Crypto traders and investors in supported countries who need reliable, automated capital gains and income tax reports an
★ Best
💰 Pricing
🆓 Free tier available
Free plan includes up to 10,000 transactions with unlimited tax reports, but only for hobby users with limited support.
Starting at 91 € (tiered_fee)
Fee notes:
- Paid plans are annual only, but charged in a single payment for the year.
- Discounted packages available for professional use (e.g., accountants).
- Additional fee for multi-user or CPA-specific features.
- Some countries have tax-specific add-ons (e.g., UK property income) at extra cost.
⚠ Watch for:
- No hidden fees, but pricing is per tax year, not subscription monthly; you must pay full annual fee even if you sign up midway.
- If you exceed transaction limits, you must upgrade to a higher tier or pay for additional transaction packs (cost varies).
- International payment fees may apply depending on your bank or card.
🔧 Features
✓ Crypto Focus✓ 400 Exchanges✓ 20 Countries✓ Capital Gains✓ Tax Reports✓ Free Tier
📋 Assessment
💪 Strengths
- Auto-import from 400+ exchanges and wallets: Koinly's ability to automatically pull transaction data from a vast array of sources is its standout feature. This includes major exchanges like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken, as well as hardware wallets like Ledger and software wallets like MetaMask. For users with a long trading history across multiple platforms, this saves dozens of hours of manual CSV export and formatting, making the initial setup significantly faster and less error-prone.
- Country-specific tax reports: Koinly generates tax reports tailored to the tax authorities of over 20 countries, including the US (IRS Form 8949/Schedule D), UK (SA108), Germany, and Australia (ATO). This is a major advantage for international users who need accurate, locally compliant reports. The software automatically applies correct cost basis methods (FIFO, LIFO, etc.) based on the country's regulations, reducing the risk of underreporting or penalties.
- Accurate handling of complex transaction types: Koinly correctly categorizes and calculates tax for various crypto events beyond simple trades, such as airdrops, hard forks, staking rewards, and mining income. This is crucial in a landscape where such activities are common and often overlooked by manual calculation. The platform also handles loans and margin trading, classifying them appropriately as income or capital gains, which is a nuanced area many competitors oversimplify.
- Tax-loss harvesting support: Koinly includes a tax-loss harvesting feature that identifies losing trades to offset capital gains, potentially reducing your tax liability. This is a valuable planning tool that sets it apart from some basic calculators, allowing users to minimize taxes legally. It also provides a clear overview of unrealized and realized gains, making it easier to strategize during the year.
- Free plan for tracking: While the free plan doesn't allow you to download tax reports, it does let you sync your transactions and view your portfolio's estimated gains and losses. This is useful for getting a high-level view of your tax situation without paying, and it can help you decide if the platform is right for you before committing to a paid plan.
⚠ Watch out for
- Cost escalates with transaction count: Koinly's pricing is based on the number of transactions, with the paid plans starting at $49/year for up to 1,000 transactions. For active traders with thousands of trades, the cost can quickly rise to $99/year (up to 10,000 transactions) or $199/year (up to 25,000 transactions). High-volume traders may find this pricing model expensive compared to some competitors that offer flat-rate subscriptions, though the automation often justifies the cost in saved time.
- Free plan lacks downloadable reports: The free plan only provides a summary of your portfolio performance; you cannot download the actual tax report forms needed for filing. This means you must upgrade to a paid plan to get your tax documents, which can be a disappointment for users who just want to estimate their taxes or have a small number of transactions.
- Manual adjustments for complex DeFi: While Koinly supports many DeFi protocols, some complex smart contract interactions—such as yield farming, liquidity provision, or multi-step swaps—may not be automatically recognized and could lead to incorrect calculations. Users may need to manually edit or categorize these transactions, which requires a learning curve and can be time-consuming. In some edge cases, the auto-import might even classify a transaction incorrectly, leading to a need for careful review.
- Limited customer support on lower tiers: Koinly's customer support is primarily via email and live chat, but live chat is only available on higher-tier plans. Free users and those on the Hobby plan may have to wait longer for email responses, and some users report slow resolution times for complex queries. The knowledge base is extensive, but if you're stuck, the premium support might feel like an additional cost to consider.
🎯 Best for
Crypto traders and investors in supported countries who need reliable, automated capital gains and income tax reports and want to import data from many exchanges without manual entry.
🚫 Who should skip
Users who only trade on centralized exchanges with simple buy/sell activity and want a completely free tax report, or those needing tax-loss harvesting optimization and investment advice.
📚 Learning curve
Minimal — import data, review flagged transactions, and generate reports; the interface is straightforward, though understanding tax rules and fixing every invalid transaction may take time.
🧑⚖️ Verdict
Koinly is a robust, user-friendly crypto tax calculator that excels at automation and international tax compliance. It's ideal for traders with multiple exchanges who want to save time and are willing to pay for ready-to-file reports. However, if you're a high-volume DeFi user or on a tight budget,
📊 Use Case Suitability
Higher score = better fit. Scores from editorial review.
Use CaseFreeAgentKoinly
Filing Self Assessment tax returns for sole traders95—
FreeAgent's entire workflow is built around UK tax returns, pulling data from ba
VAT return preparation and filing under MTD95—
Supports the main VAT schemes and files digitally with HMRC, making Making Tax D
Running payroll for a micro business with a few employees90—
RTI payroll, pension auto-enrolment, and payslips are included with no per-emplo
Invoice and estimates management for freelancers92—
Invoicing with payment reminders, recurring invoices, and time tracking is intui
Cash flow monitoring for a small UK company85—
Real-time bank feeds and a cash flow dashboard make it easy to see upcoming tax
US Tax Filing (IRS)—95
Koinly supports US tax laws, generates IRS-compatible reports, and integrates wi
UK Tax Reporting (HMRC)—92
Koinly provides HMRC-compatible capital gains and income tax reports, including
High-Volume Exchange Auto-Import—90
With 400+ exchange integrations and API auto-import, Koinly reduces manual data
🧭 Which One Should You Pick?
Choose FreeAgent if...
- You are: Freelancers, contractors, and micro-businesses in the UK who want an all-in-one, HMRC-integrated accounting tool and pre
- 👍 Free subscription for NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank, and M&S Bank business account ho
- 👍 Native HMRC integrations: Self Assessment, MTD VAT, and RTI payroll all file from within the app wit
- 👍 Very user-friendly for non-accountants: clean dashboard, plain-English tax explanations, and context
- 💰 From $38/mo
- ⚠ Trade-off: Limited to one company per standard subscription; multi-business owners must buy
Choose Koinly if...
- You are: Crypto traders and investors in supported countries who need reliable, automated capital gains and income tax reports an
- 👍 Auto-imports transactions from 400+ exchanges and wallets, saving hours of manual CSV work.
- 👍 Supports tax reporting for 20+ countries with country-specific forms and calculations.
- 👍 Accurately handles capital gains, income tax, and various transaction types including forks, airdrop
- 💰 From $99/mo
- ⚠ Trade-off: The free plan does not include downloadable tax reports, so you must pay to actu
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Is FreeAgent really free with NatWest?
Yes, if you have a business account with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank, or M&S Bank, you can get FreeAgent at no cost. For everyone else it costs around £20 per month, but there is a 30-day free trial.
Does FreeAgent file my Self Assessment tax return automatically?
Yes, once your bank account is connected, FreeAgent categorises your income and expenses, calculates the tax you owe, and submits the return directly to HMRC. It is HMRC-recognised and remembers previous year figures for faster filing.
Can FreeAgent handle VAT for Making Tax Digital?
Yes, FreeAgent is MTD-ready. It supports flat-rate, cash accounting, and annual accounting VAT schemes, then files your VAT returns digitally with HMRC.
Is payroll free with FreeAgent?
Yes, FreeAgent includes RTI payroll as part of the core subscription at no extra cost. You can run payroll, produce payslips, and send HMRC Full Payment Submissions, including pension auto-enrolment.
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