FreeAgent vs Quaderno
Side-by-side comparison — pricing, features, ratings, use cases. Find which Tax Software fits you best.
🔍 Independently researched ·
📊 Data-driven
42/100
$38 starting
Freelancers, contractors, and micro-businesses in the UK who want an all-in-one, HMRC-integrated accounting tool and pre
💰 Pricing
Starting at $38 (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
71/100
Free tier
Digital-first businesses (SaaS, e-books, online courses) that sell globally and need automated VAT/sales tax compliance
★ Best
💰 Pricing
🆓 Free tier available
Up to 50 transactions per month, 1 user, no API access, no custom reports, limited to basic EU VAT/US sales tax calculations.
Starting at $29 (tiered_subscription)
Fee notes:
- Annual billing saves ~20% vs monthly (e.g., Starter is $29/month monthly or $24/month billed annually, total $288/year).
- Overage fees: Starter/Business charge $0.05 per extra transaction beyond plan limit, capped at $10/month (Starter) or $30/month (Business). Enterprise overages are custom.
- No per-filing fees for tax reports; EU VAT OSS filing is an add-on available on Business and Enterprise plans, priced from $15 per filing per country.
- Quaderno does not differentiate pricing by self-employed vs limited company; all plans are based on transaction volume.
- Payroll, corporation tax, and Canadian GST registration are not included. US sales tax and EU VAT calculations are included in all plans.
⚠ Watch for:
- Automatic overage charges are triggered if you exceed your transaction limit without upgrading.
- Annual plans are billed upfront; cancelling mid-cycle may not be prorated unless agreed otherwise.
- EU VAT filing add-on fees apply per country and per filing period — can add up quickly for multi-country sellers.
- Enterprise plan requires annual commitment; monthly billing is not available for Enterprise.
🔧 Features
✓ Digital Business✓ Instant Receipts✓ Eu Vat✓ Us Sales Tax✓ Spanish Origin✓ Free Tier
📋 Assessment
💪 Strengths
- Quaderno automatically calculates EU VAT, US sales tax, and Canadian GST/HST based on the buyer's location and your nexus thresholds. This is a major time-saver for businesses selling globally. For example, if you sell a $100 subscription to a customer in Germany, Quaderno applies the correct German VAT rate (19%) without you having to look it up. It also monitors your economic nexus in each US state, so you know when you're legally required to collect sales tax in a new state—a huge relief for growing SaaS companies.
- It generates tax-compliant receipts and invoices instantly after each transaction. These receipts are not only legally compliant (showing the correct tax breakdown and your VAT number), but they also look professional and polished. This improves the customer experience—especially in B2B where clients need proper invoices for their own accounting—and reduces chargeback risks by providing clear proof of purchase. You can also brand the receipts with your logo and colors.
- Quaderno integrates natively with Stripe, PayPal, and Braintree, which means it automatically pulls all your transaction data. No manual CSV uploads or API debugging required. This integration is a core strength because it eliminates the pain of exporting transaction data and importing it into a tax tool. Once connected, Quaderno syncs every payment, cancellation, and refund in real time, so your tax records are always up to date.
- The dashboard provides real-time insights into your tax liability and sales activity. You can see at a glance which countries you're selling to, your tax due by jurisdiction, and which states you've crossed nexus thresholds in. This granular view helps you plan your expansion—if you see a spike in sales from Australia, you know to start planning for Australian GST compliance.
- Quaderno offers a robust API and webhooks for businesses that need custom integrations. While the native integrations cover most users, developers can use the API to connect Quaderno to custom platforms or ERPs. This flexibility is a safety net for companies that outgrow the out-of-the-box integrations.
⚠ Watch out for
- Pricing is based on transaction volume, so if your business scales up and you're processing thousands of transactions a month, the monthly cost can become steep. For example, a business with 10,000 transactions per month would pay well over $200/month. This is significantly higher than flat-rate alternatives like Avalara or TaxJar, which may offer unlimited transactions for a fixed fee, depending on the plan. For budget-conscious startups, this can be a dealbreaker.
- Quaderno is not designed for physical goods. If you sell products that require shipping, customs, or import duties, you'll quickly hit its limitations. The platform is built around digital products and services, so it doesn't handle complex scenarios like varying tax rates for different product categories, exemptions for certain types of goods (e.g., food or medical supplies in some jurisdictions), or cross-border shipping complexities. This makes it a poor fit for e-commerce stores selling physical items.
- Integrations are mainly limited to payment platforms and e-commerce tools like Stripe, PayPal, Braintree, Shopify, and WooCommerce. If you use an advanced ERP system like SAP or NetSuite, you'll need to rely on the API, which requires technical expertise. The lower-tier plans may not include API access (the API is only available on the highest two plans), so you may need to upgrade just to get the custom integration you need.
- The user interface, while clean, can be overwhelming for beginners who aren't familiar with tax jargon. Terms like "economic nexus" and "OSS VAT scheme" are used prominently, and while Quaderno does provide explanations, the learning curve is steeper than some competitors that offer more guided onboarding. A small business owner with no tax background may find the dashboard confusing at first.
🎯 Best for
Digital-first businesses (SaaS, e-books, online courses) that sell globally and need automated VAT/sales tax compliance plus tax filing without manual effort.
🚫 Who should skip
Small businesses selling only physical goods in one jurisdiction (e.g., local craft sellers) or those with very low transaction volume who can use simpler flat-rate tax tools or payment-provider built-in tax services.
📚 Learning curve
Moderate — the interface is clean and integrations simplify setup, but understanding how nexus and OSS rules affect your business requires some tax knowledge.
🧑⚖️ Verdict
Quaderno is an excellent choice for digital businesses and SaaS companies selling globally, especially those using Stripe, PayPal, or Braintree, because it automates the tedious tax calculations and generates compliant receipts. However, if you sell physical goods, have very high transaction volume,
📊 Use Case Suitability
Higher score = better fit. Scores from editorial review.
Use CaseFreeAgentQuaderno
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
Selling digital products globally—95
Quaderno automatically applies the correct VAT/sales tax based on buyer location
Subscription-based SaaS businesses—92
It handles recurring billing transactions, integrates with Stripe/PayPal, and se
Online courses and digital downloads—88
Course creators using multiple payment gateways (e.g., Stripe plus PayPal) can c
🧭 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 Quaderno if...
- You are: Digital-first businesses (SaaS, e-books, online courses) that sell globally and need automated VAT/sales tax compliance
- 👍 Automatically calculates and applies EU VAT, US sales tax, and Canadian GST/HST based on buyer locat
- 👍 Generates beautiful, tax-compliant receipts and invoices instantly after each transaction, which imp
- 👍 Native integrations with Stripe, PayPal, and Braintree pull transaction data automatically, eliminat
- 💰 From $29/mo
- ⚠ Trade-off: Pricing is based on transaction volume, so businesses with high sales volume may
❓ 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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