QuickFile

QuickFile is the quiet outlier in the UK accounting market. It is built and run by a British company, it charges nothing until your bookkeeping passes a thousand ledger entries in a rolling year, and after that it charges £60 plus VAT annually. Not per month. Per year. For a micro business that pricing is close to unbeatable and it deserves to be far better known than it is.

What it does well

The free tier is real accounting software rather than a trial or a cut down invoicing tool. MTD compatible VAT returns, purchase and receipt management, multi currency, estimates, a branded client area and full reporting are all included at zero cost for accounts under a thousand entries. Unlimited users are included on every tier, which even the paid products rarely offer.

The pricing model is honest in a way that is unusual here. You are charged on the volume of bookkeeping you actually do, not on how many people need access or which features you want unlocked. A landlord with two properties or a consultant billing a handful of clients will very likely never pay anything.

There are over 400 integrations, an API on every plan, and two factor authentication as standard. The community forum is active and the developers answer on it directly, which for a product at this price is remarkable.

Where it falls short

The interface shows its age. It is functional and dense rather than polished, and anyone moving from Xero will find it a step backwards in feel even where the capability is comparable. If software that is pleasant to use matters to you, trial it honestly before switching.

Bank feeds are a paid extra at £15 plus VAT a year. That is still trivially cheap, but it is not included, and automatic bank feeds are the feature most people assume is standard.

The Power User features, which include MTD for Income Tax readiness and advanced customisation, are bundled into the larger plans or bought as a separate subscription. Check which side of that line your requirements fall on.

There is also no payroll. You will be running payroll elsewhere and posting a journal, which is the trade for the price.

The UK detail that matters

QuickFile Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 7109543, so your accounting data sits with a UK company under UK law. VAT returns are MTD compatible, there is MTD VAT bridging for spreadsheet users, and the product is MTD for Income Tax ready. Accounts above 40,000 nominal entries in a rolling year move to an enterprise quotation.

Who should buy it

UK micro businesses, landlords, contractors and anyone whose transaction volume is genuinely low and who would rather spend nothing. Also worth a serious look for anyone paying £30 a month for features they do not use. Businesses wanting payroll in the same system or a modern interface should look elsewhere.