# Clear Books review (2026): is the free plan enough?

> UK accounting with Making Tax Digital and free sole trader plans

Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA.

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.

- **Category:** Accounting & Invoicing
- **Made by:** Clear Books Limited (since 2008)
- **Website:** https://www.clearbooks.co.uk
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Who should skip it:** Tight if you need invoicing or bank feeds on the free plan: it has neither.
- **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026

## 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).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **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 | £5 per month, plus VAT, billed monthly | For sole traders not registered for VAT: bank feeds, invoicing, receipt scanning, reporting and unlimited users. |
| Sole Trader Plus | £15 per 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 | £14.40 per 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 | £30.60 per 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 | £39.60 per 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 https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/pricing/ on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Clear Books before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **50% off the first 3 months** (Other savings): New monthly, yearly or two-year subscriptions are 50% off for 3 months when bought within 30 days of registration. Source: https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/pricing/
- **Save 10% yearly, 20% every two years** (Annual discount): Paying yearly saves 10% and paying every 2 years saves 20% on the Small, Medium and Large plans. Source: https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/pricing/

## 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.

## Good for

- UK sole traders who need a free way to keep Making Tax Digital records
- Landlords who want property income tracked, including overseas property
- Limited companies that need VAT returns and bank feeds

## 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.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. 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.

- **Value for money: B.** £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.
- **Free plan and trial: B.** Sole 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.
- **Features: C.** MTD, 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.
- **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You'll connect a bank feed and set up your records before it saves time.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with Stripe, GoCardless, PayPal, Plaid and Revolut Business. No desktop app.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. 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.

## Where it stands among accounting and invoicing tools

- Clear Books's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 94 of the 127 other accounting and invoicing tools we grade, and level with 14.
- It stands best on free plan and trial (B, above 93 of 127) and worst on ease of use (C, above 6).
- Its paid plans start at about $6.70 a month, against a middle price of $18.09 for the category: 10 of the 90 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 7 tools score higher and cost less.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/accounting

## Keep it, 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 94 of the 127 other accounting and invoicing tools we grade. It costs $80.39 a year.

- You could make: Invoicing, expense tracking and reports: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: Live feeds from your bank, which take an agreement with each bank or a service that has them.
- You could not: Payroll taxes worked out and filed with the government for you.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Stripe, GoCardless and PayPal among them, and has an API.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Stripe, GoCardless, PayPal, Plaid, Revolut Business

**Tags:** Bookkeeping, Invoicing, Expense tracking, Payroll, Reports, Public API

## Alternatives

- [QuickBooks Online](https://toolgpa.com/tools/quickbooks): Cloud accounting from Intuit, from a free plan to 25-user Advanced. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clearbooks-vs-quickbooks)
- [Xero](https://toolgpa.com/tools/xero): Cloud accounting for small businesses, with unlimited users. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clearbooks-vs-xero)
- [FreeAgent](https://toolgpa.com/tools/freeagent): Accounting for freelancers and small firms, built in the UK. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clearbooks-vs-freeagent)
- [IRIS KashFlow](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kashflow): UK online accounting for sole traders and limited companies. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clearbooks-vs-kashflow)
- [QuickFile](https://toolgpa.com/tools/quickfile): UK online accounting, free for smaller ledgers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/clearbooks-vs-quickfile)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026:

- https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/pricing/
- https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/tour/
- https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/clearbooks
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).