Pilot vs Xolo (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Pilot if

• Fits if you're a small company that wants someone else to do the books and file the tax
• Makes sense if you run on Stripe, Shopify or Mercury

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if your spending grows: Core rises with monthly expenses, $499 a month at $30,000
• Not for you if you want to keep your own books, as it's a service
• Skip it if you want accrual books on the cheapest plan, as Essentials is cash-basis
• Watch out: tax filing starts at $1,000 or more a year for a single-member LLC and must be bought with bookkeeping
• Watch out: companies above $200,000 a month in expenses get a custom plan

Pick Xolo if

• Fits if you freelance abroad and want an Estonian company run for you
• Works for sellers who want invoices without registering a company

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you invoice a lot through Go, since 5.9% of everything adds up
• Skip it if you're not using Estonia, as Leap is built around its tax reporting
• Watch out: Leap starts at €59 a month excluding VAT and rises to €259 and up
• Watch out: early annual reports and late documents cost €200 each
• Not for you if you sell to consumers, because Go is for B2B services only

Pilot

• It is a service, not self-serve software: you hand the books to Pilot instead of keeping them yourself.
• Tax filing starts at $1,000+ a year for a single-member LLC and must be bought with Pilot bookkeeping.
• Core pricing climbs with monthly expenses, and companies above $200,000 a month get a custom plan.
• The pricing page does not say how long the free trial offered in the site header lasts.

Xolo

• Prices are in euros and exclude VAT; Premium and the e-commerce add-on (€59 a month) vary with complexity.
• Leap is built around Estonian companies and Estonian tax reporting; Xolo also runs Spain and Italy products with separate pricing.
• Xolo Go serves B2B services only, and its 5.9% fee applies to what you invoice.
• Early annual report delivery and late documents cost €200 each, and the Pro promotion needs a minimum of 6 months.

Pilot

AI-assisted bookkeeping

Transactions from bank and credit card feeds are categorized by AI, reconciled and closed each month; Core adds a human bookkeeper.

Tax filing

Federal and state returns for LLCs, partnerships, S-corps and C-corps, sold as a yearly service on top of Pilot bookkeeping.

CFO services

Monthly, bi-weekly or weekly calls with a finance lead, plus a budget and forecast model, from $1,750 a month on the Basic tier.

Reports and dashboards

Financial reports delivered on the 10th business day on Core, or the 6th on Custom, with dashboards and AI answers about past transactions.

Operations services

Bill payments, invoicing and payroll work can be added, priced from an estimate based on monthly volume.

Xolo

Invoicing without a company

Xolo Go issues invoices with a VAT number under a partnership agreement and pays out to a personal bank account.

Company registration

Leap helps register an Estonian company remotely for e-Residency holders, and the site says registration can take one or two days.

Accounting and tax reporting

Accountants prepare monthly bookkeeping, Estonian VAT declarations, annual reports and income and social tax reporting on Leap plans.

Invoices and recurring billing

Invoices are created and sent from the Xolo Self Service portal, with recurring invoices, VAT checks against VIES and multi-currency billing.

Expense handling

Each company gets a unique email address to forward expense documents, which are digitized automatically.

Bank and payment links

Leap plans list integrations with LHV, Wise, Revolut, Wamo, Payoneer, Stripe and PayPal.

Pilot

• Essentials$99

  per month, for up to $100,000 in monthly expenses

  Cash-basis books from bank and card data, monthly close, year-end package for your tax preparer and in-app support.

• Core$299

  per month, up to $15,000 expenses, billed annually ($399 monthly)

  Adds a US-based bookkeeper, accrual or cash basis and a custom chart of accounts. Price rises with expenses: $499 a month at $30,000.

• CustomCustom

  For larger or more complex companies: existing QuickBooks file, AR, AP, payroll administration and CFO advisory. Sold through sales.

Xolo

• Xolo Go€0

  per month, pay-as-you-go

  Invoice without a company for a 5.9% flat-rate fee; B2B freelance and contracting services.

• Leap Starter€59

  per month, excluding VAT

  Estonian company accounting; first 12 months or until revenue of €4,000. 50 sales and 20 purchases a month.

• Leap Standard€99

  per month, excluding VAT

  Same service as Starter without the revenue limit; up to 50 sales and 20 purchases a month.

• Leap Pro€139

  per month, excluding VAT

  Up to 500 sales a month, shareholders, OSS reporting and investment activities. Two months free on offer.

• Leap Premium€259

  per month and up

  For complex companies: 500+ sales a month, 1 hour a month with a senior accountant and priority support.

Pilot

• Other savings

  Discount on Core for pre-revenue startups

  Pilot says startups that are still pre-revenue can contact it for a discount on the Core plan.

Xolo

• Other savings

  Two months free on Leap Pro

  The pricing page offers two months free on Pro, saving €278, if you use Leap for a minimum of 6 months; it then renews at the standard fee.