Clear Books review (2026): is the free plan enough?
UK accounting with Making Tax Digital and free sole trader plans
Black Friday: is there a Clear Books sale?
Clear Books report card
Good · out of 4.0 · graded Nov 12, 2026
Best for UK sole traders filing under Making Tax Digital
Clear Books is UK accounting with a free plan for sole traders who only need Making Tax Digital updates. Invoicing and bank feeds start at £5 a month plus VAT, companies pay £14.40 or more, and payroll and instant bank payments are add-ons. It follows UK tax rules only.
Who Clear Books is for
- Fits if you're a UK sole trader who needs MTD filing and little else
- Works for small UK limited companies that want invoicing, VAT and bank feeds
Who Clear Books is not for
- Tight if you need invoicing or bank feeds on the free plan: it has neither
- Not for you if you're outside the UK, because it's built for UK tax rules
- Watch out: payroll, Instant Bank Payments and Auto Bills are add-ons
- Watch out: prices exclude VAT, and MTD VAT reporting needs Sole Trader Plus at £15 a month
- Pricey if you need projects, multi-currency or fixed assets: that's the Large plan at £39.60 a month
Why Clear Books gets a 2.6
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- BValue for money£5 a month plus VAT for a sole trader with invoicing and bank feeds, £14.40 for a small company. The first is well under the $15 that starts this category's cheaper quarter, the second just over.
- BFree plan and trialSole Trader Free covers MTD Income Tax updates and records with no transaction limits, and paid plans have a 30-day trial. A sole trader who only files can live on it.
- CFeaturesMTD, invoicing, bank feeds, VAT and CIS. Payroll, Instant Bank Payments and Auto Bills are optional add-ons, which is a gap in the core job.
- CEase of useNo store rating on record. You'll connect a bank feed and set up your records before it saves time.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb, iPhone and Android, with Stripe, GoCardless, PayPal, Plaid and Revolut Business. No desktop app.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Clear Books's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
Make Clear Books? Put this grade on your site
Paste this where you want the badge. It links here and follows the grade if it changes. About badges
<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/clearbooks#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/clearbooks.svg" alt="Clear Books: 2.6 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Clear Books stands among accounting and invoicing tools
Clear Books's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 49 of the 65 other accounting and invoicing tools we grade, and level with 6.
It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 50 of 65) and worst on ease of use (C, above 1).
Its paid plans start at about $6.70 a month, against a middle price of $18.09 for the category: 5 of the 54 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 66 accounting and invoicing tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Clear Books’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 48 of 65, level with 9
- BFree plan and trialAbove 50 of 65, level with 10
- CFeaturesAbove 4 of 65, level with 46
- CEase of useAbove 1 of 65, level with 56
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 13 of 65, level with 46
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 58 accounting and invoicing tools. Further left costs less, and higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Point at a dot to see which tool it is.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Keep Clear Books, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Clear Books you would be making live feeds from your bank, which take an agreement with each bank or a service that has them. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.6 is higher than 49 of the 65 other accounting and invoicing tools we grade. It costs $80.39 a year.
What you could make
- Invoicing, expense tracking and reports: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- Live feeds from your bank, which take an agreement with each bank or a service that has them.
- Payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you.
- A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- It plugs into other products, Stripe, GoCardless and PayPal among them, and has an API.
What this rests on. Clear Books’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Clear Books?
Clear Books is UK accounting software for sole traders, landlords, limited companies and accountants. It offers free plans for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax filing, and paid plans add bank feeds, invoicing, VAT and CIS returns, purchase orders and project accounting. Payroll, instant bank payments and automated bill capture are optional add-ons.
Worth knowing
- All prices are in pounds and exclude VAT, and the product is built for UK tax rules.
- Property and Foreign Property plans (free or £5 a month) are not shown in the plan list above.
- Payroll, Instant Bank Payments and Auto Bills (on Small, Medium and Large) are optional add-ons.
- Accountants use a separate partner programme, with unlimited MTD from £50 a month.
Key features
- Making Tax Digital
- Free plans cover MTD Income Tax quarterly updates and year-end filing, and the vendor calls itself HMRC recognised software.
- Invoicing and payments
- Create and email invoices with pay buttons for Stripe and GoCardless; Instant Bank Payments is an optional add-on.
- Bank feeds and reporting
- Paid plans bring in bank feeds with automated matching and a full reporting suite including a balance sheet.
- VAT and CIS
- MTD VAT reporting starts on Sole Trader Plus and Medium, and CIS reporting for construction subcontractors on Medium.
- Auto Bills and receipt capture
- Forwarded supplier bills are read and posted automatically, and receipts can be snapped in the mobile apps.
- Payroll add-on
- Optional payroll with RTI submissions to HMRC, charged for the employees you run, with its own 30-day trial.
Clear Books pricing
As of Nov 12, 2026, Clear Books has a free plan, and paid plans start at £5 per month, plus VAT, billed monthly (Sole Trader).
- Starts at
- £5 per month, plus VAT, billed monthly (Sole Trader)
- Free plan
- Sole Trader Free: MTD Income Tax quarterly updates and year-end filing, income and expense records, no transaction limits.
- Free trial
- 30-day free trial on paid plans
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Sole Trader Free | £0 | Making Tax Digital for Income Tax filing and income and expense records, with no bank feeds or invoicing. |
| Sole Trader | £5per month, plus VAT, billed monthly | For sole traders not registered for VAT: bank feeds, invoicing, receipt scanning, reporting and unlimited users. |
| Sole Trader Plus | £15per month, plus VAT, billed monthly | Adds MTD VAT reporting, the flat-rate scheme and the VAT domestic reverse charge for VAT-registered sole traders. |
| Small | £14.40per month, plus VAT, billed yearly (£16 billed monthly) | Limited companies, partnerships and charities: bank feed matching, invoicing, API, dividends tool; £12.80 billed every 2 years. |
| Medium | £30.60per month, plus VAT, billed yearly (£34 billed monthly) | Adds MTD VAT submissions, purchase orders, CIS returns and unlimited budgets; £27.20 billed every 2 years. |
| Large | £39.60per month, plus VAT, billed yearly (£44 billed monthly) | Adds project accounting, multi-currency, employee expense claims and fixed assets; £35.20 billed every 2 years. |
Read from clearbooks.co.uk on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Clear Books before you buy.
Ways to pay less
- Other savings50% off the first 3 months
New monthly, yearly or two-year subscriptions are 50% off for 3 months when bought within 30 days of registration.
Stated on clearbooks.co.uk - Annual discountSave 10% yearly, 20% every two years
Paying yearly saves 10% and paying every 2 years saves 20% on the Small, Medium and Large plans.
Stated on clearbooks.co.uk
Works with
- Stripe
- GoCardless
- PayPal
- Plaid
- Revolut Business
Clear Books alternatives
- Clear Books vs QuickBooks Online
Free plan · from $38/mo
- Clear Books vs Xero
Free trial · from $27/mo
- Clear Books vs FreeAgent
Free trial · from $27/mo
- Clear Books vs IRIS KashFlow
Free trial · from £13.50/mo
- Clear Books vs QuickFile
Free plan · from £60/yr
Common questions
Does Clear Books have a Windows app?
No Windows app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Clear Books is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Does Clear Books have a macOS app?
No macOS app was listed when its pages were read on Nov 12, 2026. Clear Books is listed for Web, iOS and Android.
Is Clear Books open source?
Clear Books is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Nov 12, 2026.
Does Clear Books have an API?
Yes. Clear Books offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026.