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Comparison · Last updated 2026-07-28

HelloBooks vs ANNA Money: Accounting software you connect a bank to vs a business account with filing attached

ANNA Money is a UK business account with automated bookkeeping and tax filing on top. It is not a bank — the account is issued by PayrNet Limited, an FCA-authorised Electronic Money Institution, and funds in the main ANNA account are safeguarded rather than covered by the FSCS. ANNA Savings, provided by Griffin Bank, is FSCS-protected up to £120,000.

ANNA got HMRC recognition for MTD Income Tax in March 2026 and offers Auto Accountant free for MTD Self Assessment, including quarterly and year-end filings for 2026/27. That is a strong offer and HelloBooks does not match it — we are MTD-ready for VAT and do not claim ITSA filing.

HelloBooks is the accounting platform rather than the bank: free forever to start, £7.99/month on Pro with unlimited users, full double-entry with balance sheet and trial balance, AI categorization, inventory, multi-entity and multi-country tax. ANNA is a business account with bookkeeping attached, not a general ledger.

Researched & written by the HelloBooks editorial team. Checked against ANNA Money's public pricing and docs on 2026-07-28 · how we compare.

Scorecard: how they stack up

An at-a-glance rating on the criteria that decide an accounting-software purchase. Ratings reflect verifiable facts — not an invented score. See how we compare.

HelloBooks rates strong on 6 of 9 buyer criteria

HelloBooks vs ANNA Money — criteria scorecard
CriterionHelloBooksANNA Money
MTD for Income TaxNot verifiedStrong
MTD for VAT at entry priceStrongLimited
Double-entry general ledgerStrongNot offered
Deposit protectionNot verifiedLimited
AI shipped and generally availableStrongStrong
Integrated business bankingNot offeredStrong
Inventory & operationsStrongNot offered
Multi-currencyStrongPartial
Data portabilityStrongNot verified

Side-by-side feature comparison

Where a value is shown as “—”, the feature was not verified at review time. See ANNA Money's site for the latest specifics. No paid placements — how we compare.

HelloBooks vs ANNA Money— feature-by-feature comparison
FeatureHelloBooksANNA Money
What the product actually isAn AI-native accounting platform. You connect your existing bank; HelloBooks never holds or moves your moneyA UK business account with automated bookkeeping and tax filing on top — the account is the anchor
Is it a bank?Not applicable. Bank connections are read-onlyNo. The account is issued by PayrNet Limited, an FCA-authorised Electronic Money Institution, FRN 900594
Deposit protectionNot applicable — your money stays with your own bankFunds in the main account are safeguarded under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 and are NOT FSCS protected. ANNA Savings, provided by Griffin Bank, is FSCS-protected up to £120,000
OwnershipIndependent. Built by Meru Fin Tech; founders are practising chartered accountantsFounder-owned since the 2022 buyout. Raised a £10m growth debt facility from Flashpoint in December 2025, reporting 100,000+ UK SMEs and around £30m ARR
PricingFree forever; Pro £7.99/mo or £79.99/yr; Business £31.99/mo or £319.99/yr — unlimited users on paid plansPay As You Go £0 with 0.95% commission on incoming payments; Business £22.90/mo plus VAT; Big Business £59.90/mo plus VAT; +Taxes add-on £29.00/mo plus VAT
MTD for Income TaxNot claimed as shipped. UK VAT is live; confirm ITSA scope with sales before relying on itA genuine strength — HMRC approved in March 2026, and Auto Accountant is free for MTD Self Assessment including quarterly and year-end filings for 2026/27
MTD for VATMTD-ready VAT for HMRC Making Tax Digital, included from Pro at £7.99/moYes, through +Taxes / Auto Accountant. +Taxes is £29/mo plus VAT and is limited companies only
Company taxesStatutory reporting for your accountant to file from; HelloBooks does not file UK company returnsCorporation tax filing and VAT filing sit in +Taxes at £29/mo plus VAT, explicitly for limited companies only
Double-entry general ledgerYes — chart of accounts, journals, trial balance, IFRS and GAAP compliant reportsNo. It produces monthly balance sheets, P&L and accruals accounts, but no user-accessible journals, chart of accounts or manual double-entry adjustments are documented
AI capabilityAI categorization at 95%+ accuracy, OCR line extraction, Munimji assistant with 60+ tools, AI payables, AI calling for AR, CFO agent, smart error detection, AI analysis on every report, public MCP serverAuto Accountant is genuinely shipped — it categorises transactions, keeps digital records and files quarterly and year-end MTD submissions. Reported operational in December 2025 with one accountant overseeing up to 12,000 businesses
Multi-currencyIncluded on all plans with automatic FX gain and lossPartial — payments in a range of currencies with an IBAN for inbound, but it cannot hold foreign-currency balances, so cross-border flows incur repeated conversion
PayrollNot shipped for the UK. India payroll runs through HelloTime, a sibling productIncluded in +Taxes at £29/mo plus VAT for 1 director or employee, with PAYE management and RTI submissions. Pricing for additional employees is not published
Inventory & purchase ordersItem master, BOM, FIFO/LIFO/weighted-average valuation, GRN, multi-warehouse, POS and manufacturing; unlimited POs on every planNeither is offered
IntegrationsPlaid, Stripe, Razorpay, PayPal, PineLabs, Tally 6.2, API from Pro, BI connector, public read-only MCP servereBay is the only verified integration — ANNA states it is the first UK business account offering eBay integration. Xero, QuickBooks, Zapier and a public API were not found
Reported reliability issues99.9% uptime on AWS with daily encrypted backups; read-only bank access means the software cannot freeze or move fundsAccount freezes are the dominant recent complaint — a February 2026 review describes an account effectively closed for almost two months with company funds inaccessible and no transparency
Getting your data outCSV and Excel import/export throughout, plus a migration path with dry-run preview and one-click rollbackNo documented bookkeeping or ledger export path found
Independent ratingsNewer product with a smaller review base — judge us on the free plan rather than review volumeTrustpilot 4.5/5 from 4,400+ (second-hand); Smart Money People 4.55/5 from 461 as of June 2026

When to choose HelloBooks

  • You want to keep your existing business bank and have accounting software read it, rather than move your money to an e-money account.
  • FSCS protection matters to you — funds in the main ANNA account are safeguarded, not FSCS-covered.
  • You need a real general ledger with journals, a chart of accounts and a trial balance your accountant can work from.
  • You are VAT-registered and not a limited company — +Taxes at £29 plus VAT is limited companies only.
  • You carry stock, raise purchase orders, or need multi-entity consolidation.
  • You need to hold foreign-currency balances rather than convert on every transaction.

When to choose ANNA Money

  • MTD for Income Tax is your requirement for 2026/27 — ANNA files quarterly and year-end for free and HelloBooks does not.
  • You want banking, invoicing, bookkeeping and filing in one app and are comfortable with an e-money account.
  • You are a limited company where +Taxes covers corporation tax, VAT and single-director payroll in one £29 add-on.
  • You sell on eBay — ANNA is the only UK business account with a documented eBay integration.
  • You want a product with a 4.5 Trustpilot score across more than 4,000 reviews.
  • You would rather have an AI accountant file for you than hand statements to a human one.

Frequently asked questions

Is ANNA Money a bank?

No. ANNA is operated by Absolutely No Nonsense Admin Ltd, and the business account is issued by PayrNet Limited, which is authorised as an Electronic Money Institution by the FCA under firm reference number 900594. ANNA states plainly that funds in your main ANNA account are safeguarded under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 and are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. The exception is ANNA Savings, which is provided by Griffin Bank, a PRA-authorised bank, and is FSCS-protected up to £120,000 per depositor.

Does ANNA file MTD for Income Tax?

Yes, and this is its strongest claim. ANNA was officially recognised by HMRC for Making Tax Digital in March 2026, and states that Auto Accountant is available free for MTD Self Assessment, including both quarterly and year-end filings for the 2026/27 tax year. Some existing customers were also offered the 2025/26 Self Assessment free as a limited-time offer. If ITSA filing is the problem you are solving, ANNA solves it and does not charge for it.

Does HelloBooks file MTD for Income Tax?

No. HelloBooks is MTD-ready for VAT. MTD for Income Tax quarterly submission is not a shipped feature and we will not claim it on a comparison page. ITSA became mandatory from 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords above the threshold. If that is you, ANNA, Clear Books and Pandle all file it and we do not.

What does ANNA cost in 2026?

From anna.money/pricing on 29 July 2026: Pay As You Go at £0 with 0.95% commission on all payments into your account; Business at £22.90 a month plus VAT with 60 free transfers a month then 20p each, and 3 free ATM withdrawals; Big Business at £59.90 a month plus VAT with unlimited free transfers and ATM withdrawals. The +Taxes add-on is £29.00 a month plus VAT, is limited companies only, and covers tax calculation and filing, VAT, corporation tax and payroll for one director or employee. Note that a third-party 2026 review lists £19.90 and £49.90 — ANNA's own page shows the higher figures, so it appears to have raised prices.

What does HelloBooks cost in the UK?

Free forever with 2,500 AI credits a month and up to two users. Pro is £7.99/month or £79.99/year against a list price of £15.99, with unlimited users, unlimited bank connections, MTD-ready VAT, multi-entity, API access, inventory, three-way matching and multi-currency with automatic FX. Business is £31.99/month or £319.99/year.

Is ANNA a real accounting system?

Not in the general-ledger sense. It produces monthly balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and accruals accounts, and it categorises transactions and calculates VAT — but we found no evidence of user-accessible journals, an editable chart of accounts, or manual double-entry adjustments. It is a business account with automated bookkeeping on top, and it is not positioned or documented as general-ledger software. If your accountant needs to post adjusting journals, that matters.

Can I keep my own bank and still use HelloBooks?

Yes — that is the model. You connect your existing bank and HelloBooks reads it, never moving money; bank connections are read-only by design. UK bank feeds are supported, Plaid covers 11,000+ US banks and cards, and PDF statement upload with AI reconciliation works as a fallback anywhere. With ANNA the account is the product, so the value depends on you banking through PayrNet.

What is Auto Accountant?

ANNA's AI engine. It automatically categorises transactions, keeps digital records, prepares the required information and files quarterly and year-end MTD submissions. December 2025 press describes it as already operational and says the technology enables one accountant to oversee up to 12,000 businesses. It is the most substantive shipped AI in the UK products we compared. One caveat: an older TechRadar round-up reported no clear MTD functionality in ANNA Self Assessment — that article appears to predate the March 2026 HMRC approval.

What AI does HelloBooks include?

AI auto-categorization at 95%+ accuracy, OCR bill and receipt capture with smart line-item extraction, Munimji — a conversational accounting assistant with 60+ tools — AI payables with approval routing, AI calling for overdue receivables, a CFO agent, Auto-Inbox capture from email and photos, smart error detection, Period Autopilot for automated month-end close, and an AI Analysis tab on every standard report, plus a public read-only MCP server. The difference from Auto Accountant is scope: ours operates on a full ledger with inventory and multi-entity, but does not file your Self Assessment.

What do ANNA users complain about?

Account freezes and withheld funds are the dominant recent theme. A Smart Money People review dated 15 February 2026 describes an account effectively closed for almost two months with company funds inaccessible and no transparency on their return. Beyond that: the 0.95% fee on incoming payments becomes expensive at volume on the free tier; there is no FCA deposit protection on the main account; there are no loans, overdrafts or cash deposits; and it cannot hold foreign-currency balances. Overall scores remain good — 4.5 on Trustpilot across 4,400+ reviews.

Does ANNA integrate with Xero or QuickBooks?

We could not verify any. The only integration we could confirm is eBay, where ANNA states it is the first UK business account offering the integration. Xero, QuickBooks, Zapier, Stripe and a public API were not found. If you need your bank data flowing into an existing accounting stack, check this directly before switching.

Can I get my accounting data out of ANNA?

We found no documented bookkeeping or ledger export path, which is worth resolving before you have a full tax year in there. HelloBooks supports CSV and Excel import and export throughout on every plan including Free, and the migration flow at /migrate includes a dry-run preview and one-click rollback.

Could I use both?

Yes, and for a limited company it can make sense. Keep ANNA for the account and the free MTD Self Assessment filing, and run HelloBooks Free — also free forever, with 2,500 AI credits a month — as the ledger for balance sheet, trial balance, purchase orders and inventory. Neither has a trial clock, so a quarter of parallel running costs you nothing but time.

Is HelloBooks secure?

HelloBooks is SOC 2 Type II certified, with the report available under NDA through the Trust Center; ISO 27001 is on the compliance roadmap and we do not describe it as certified. Data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.2+ in transit, MFA is available, hosting is AWS with 99.9% uptime and daily encrypted backups, and bank connections are read-only — so the class of incident ANNA reviewers describe, funds frozen or inaccessible, is structurally not possible in HelloBooks because we never hold your money.

Migrating from ANNA Money?

HelloBooks supports CSV import for chart of accounts, customers, vendors, items, invoices, and bills. For QuickBooks Online, we offer a built-in two-way sync. For other platforms, our migration team can assist with a structured cutover.

Start freeTalk to migration teamView pricing

Related reading

HelloBooks pricing

Free forever, Pro £7.99/month, Business £31.99/month in the UK.

Bank reconciliation

95%+ auto-match, AI payee detection and one-click bulk reconciliation.

Advanced reporting

Balance sheet, P&L, cash flow and general ledger with AI analysis.

Multi-currency accounting

Hold and report in multiple currencies with automatic FX gain and loss.

Trust Center

SOC 2 Type II, encryption, read-only bank access and GDPR alignment.

Migrate to HelloBooks

Dry-run preview and one-click rollback when you move your books over.

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