# Karbon review (2026): is it worth $59 a month per user, billed yearly? > Practice management software for accounting firms Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Karbon is practice management software for accounting and bookkeeping firms rather than for a business keeping its own books. It combines shared email, workflow templates, client requests, time tracking and billing so a firm can run client work in one place. - **Category:** Accounting & Invoicing - **Made by:** Karbon - **Website:** https://karbonhq.com - **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android - **Who should skip it:** Not for you if you want software for your own books, as it's built for firms. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Karbon is a paid product, starting at $59 per user / month, billed yearly ($79 billed monthly). - **Pricing model:** Paid - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Team | $59 per user / month, billed yearly ($79 billed monthly) | Integrated email, workflow and to-do lists, time tracking and budgets, billing, payments and engagements. Monthly billing needs 4+ users. | | Business | $89 per user / month, billed yearly ($99 billed monthly) | Team features plus automatic client reminders, task automation and industry integrations. Monthly billing needs 4+ users. | | Enterprise | Custom | Adds an enterprise platform, a dedicated Karbon contact, customization and unlimited usage limits. | Read from https://karbonhq.com/pricing on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Karbon before buying. ## Key features - **Shared email triage:** Team members can share, assign and comment on client emails, with comments and @mentions on emails, tasks and notes. - **Workflow templates:** Work is created from templates with statuses and types. Limits rise by plan: 35, 50 or unlimited statuses and 40, 75 or unlimited templates. - **Client requests and portal:** Clients get requests, file uploads and comments through a portal. Automatic client reminders need the Business plan. - **Time, budgets and billing:** Track time against budgets, then bill and collect payment from inside the same workflow. - **Integrations and API:** Connects with Gmail, Google Drive, Ignition and QuickBooks Online Accountant, and has a public API for contacts, work items and timesheets. ## Good for - Accounting and bookkeeping firms that need to track client work - Firms that handle a lot of client email and want it assigned to staff - Teams that want billing and time budgets tied to each job ## Worth knowing - It is a tool for running a firm, not general ledger software for a business's own books. - The pricing page says self-serve free trials are not offered; access starts with a demo request. - Monthly billing is open only to teams of 4 or more users. - Automatic client reminders, task automation and industry integrations are not on the Team plan. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 1.6 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Karbon is practice management for accounting firms, with shared email triage, workflows and client requests, from $59 a user a month on yearly billing. There's no self-serve trial, so you start with a demo request, and client reminders and task automation sit on the dearer plan. - **Value for money: D.** $59 a user a month billed yearly for Team and $89 for Business, where the automation is. That's past the $52 where the dearer quarter starts, and Business is above $75. - **Free plan and trial: F.** No free plan, and the pricing page says self-serve free trials aren't offered, so access starts with a demo request. - **Features: C.** Shared email, workflow templates, a client portal, time, budgets and billing. It runs a firm and doesn't keep a business's books, and automation isn't on Team. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record. You set up templates and client requests, and access starts with a demo. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Ignition and QuickBooks Online Accountant, plus an API. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Karbon'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 - Karbon's GPA of 1.6 is higher than 1 of the 65 other accounting and invoicing tools we grade, and level with 5. - It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 13 of 65) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $59 a month for each person, against a middle price of $18.09 for the category: 47 of the 54 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 15 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 Karbon you would be making connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 59 of the 65 other accounting and invoicing tools grade higher. It costs $708 a year. - You could make: Time tracking, invoicing and tasks: an app builder makes these well. - You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. - You could not: One mailbox that several people work at once. - You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page. - You could not: It is priced for each person, which means accounts and billing for a team. - You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Ignition, QuickBooks Online Accountant, Microsoft Entra ID **Tags:** Workflow automation, Shared inbox, Time tracking, Invoicing, Tasks, AI features, Public API ## Alternatives - [TaxDome](https://toolgpa.com/tools/taxdome): Practice management and client portal for tax and accounting firms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/karbon-vs-taxdome) - [Canopy](https://toolgpa.com/tools/canopy): Practice management software for accounting and tax firms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/canopy-vs-karbon) - [Jetpack Workflow](https://toolgpa.com/tools/jetpack-workflow): Workflow and project management built for accounting firms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/jetpack-workflow-vs-karbon) - [Dext](https://toolgpa.com/tools/dext): Receipt and invoice capture that codes documents for your ledger. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/dext-vs-karbon) - [Botkeeper](https://toolgpa.com/tools/botkeeper): Automated bookkeeping platform sold to accounting firms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/botkeeper-vs-karbon) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://karbonhq.com/pricing - https://karbonhq.com/integrations Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/karbon Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).