Skip to main content
HelloBooks.ai home
Comparison · Last updated 2026-07-28

HelloBooks vs Countingup: Accounting software you connect a bank to vs a business account with bookkeeping inside

Countingup is a UK business current account with bookkeeping built in. It is not a bank — the account is issued by Prepay Technologies Ltd (PPS), an FCA-authorised Electronic Money Institution, FRN 900010, and funds are safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected.

The fact that matters most in 2026: Countingup is HMRC-recognised for MTD VAT, but we found no evidence it supports MTD for Income Tax — it does not appear on GOV.UK's ITSA software guidance or third-party recognised lists updated May 2026, and its own March 2026 article tells readers to choose MTD-compatible software. ITSA became mandatory on 6 April 2026 for exactly its core audience of sole traders above the threshold.

HelloBooks is the accounting platform rather than the account: 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-currency. We are also MTD-ready for VAT only, so neither of us solves ITSA for you.

Researched & written by the HelloBooks editorial team. Checked against Countingup'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 7 of 9 buyer criteria

HelloBooks vs Countingup — criteria scorecard
CriterionHelloBooksCountingup
MTD for VATStrongStrong
MTD for Income TaxNot verifiedNot offered
Entry price & free tierStrongPartial
Double-entry general ledgerStrongLimited
AI shipped and generally availableStrongStrong
Integrated business bankingNot offeredStrong
Works with your existing bankStrongNot offered
Inventory & operationsStrongNot offered
Integrations & APIStrongLimited

Side-by-side feature comparison

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

HelloBooks vs Countingup— feature-by-feature comparison
FeatureHelloBooksCountingup
What the product actually isAn AI-native accounting platform. You connect your existing bank; HelloBooks never holds or moves your moneyA UK business current account with bookkeeping attached — the account is the bookkeeping feed, so there is nothing to reconcile
Is it a bank?Not applicable. Bank connections are read-onlyNo. Countingup Ltd is a registered Agent of Prepay Technologies Ltd (PPS), an FCA-authorised Electronic Money Institution, FRN 900010
Deposit protectionNot applicable — your money stays with your own bankNot FSCS-protected. Funds are safeguarded and kept separate from PPS assets; Countingup notes administrator fees could reduce recovery if PPS failed
Pricing structureFlat by plan: Free forever; Pro £7.99/mo or £79.99/yr; Business £31.99/mo — features do not change with turnoverBanded by monthly deposit volume, not features: £3/mo up to £750, £9/mo to £7,500, £18/mo unlimited. All tiers include all features
Free planFree forever, no credit card — unlimited invoices, bills, quotes and POs, full core reports, mobile app, 2 users, 2,500 AI credits/monthNo permanent free tier. A 3-month free trial is offered
MTD for VATMTD-ready VAT for HMRC Making Tax Digital, included from Pro at £7.99/moYes, and HMRC-recognised — it appears on HMRC's recognised software list for VAT record keeping and submission, included in every tier
MTD for Income TaxNot claimed as shipped. UK VAT is live; confirm ITSA scope with sales before relying on itNo evidence of support. Not named on GOV.UK ITSA software guidance or third-party recognised lists updated May 2026. Its own March 2026 article tells readers to choose MTD-compatible software
Double-entry general ledgerYes — chart of accounts, journals, trial balance, IFRS and GAAP compliant reportsNarrower. It produces profit and loss and balance sheets in the Accountant Hub, but no journals, chart-of-accounts editing or manual double-entry postings 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 serverSmartTax AI, launched May 2025 and generally available — automatic expense categorisation, tax-risk flagging, and real-time VAT, corporation tax and Self Assessment estimates. It produces estimates; it does not file
Bank feedsIncluded on every plan. UK bank feeds; Plaid across 11,000+ US banks; PDF statement upload with AI reconciliation anywhereNone — Countingup only sees its own account. If you bank elsewhere, it cannot read that account
PayrollNot shipped for the UK. India payroll runs through HelloTime, a sibling productAbsent — no payroll feature is documented
Multi-currencyIncluded on all plans with automatic FX gain and lossAbsent — foreign transactions incur a 3% fee on a GBP account; there are no multi-currency accounts
Inventory & purchase ordersItem master, BOM, valuation methods, GRN, multi-warehouse, POS and manufacturing; unlimited POs on every plan with three-way matching from ProNeither is offered
Transaction feesNone charged by HelloBooks — it does not move moneyAccount transfers 30p, direct debits 30p, foreign transactions 3%, ATM withdrawals £1, cash loads 0.5%–3%, replacement card £5
Integrations & APIPlaid, Stripe, Razorpay, PayPal, PineLabs, Tally 6.2, API from Pro, BI connector, public read-only MCP serverThin — a Dojo card-reader partnership and an Accountant Hub for direct accountant access. No Xero, QuickBooks or Sage integration and no public API found
Getting your data outCSV and Excel import/export throughout, plus a migration path with dry-run preview and one-click rollbackPDF statements and raw-data CSV export emailed from the Account screen, though the documenting source dates from 2018. No documented migration path into Xero, QuickBooks or Sage
Independent ratingsNewer product with a smaller review base — judge us on the free plan rather than review volumeSmart Money People 4.69/5 from 3,449 reviews, last reviewed July 2026; Trustpilot around 4.4/5 from 2,342 (second-hand)

When to choose HelloBooks

  • You want to keep your existing business bank rather than move your money to an e-money account.
  • FSCS protection matters to you — Countingup funds are safeguarded, not FSCS-covered.
  • Your accountant needs a real general ledger with journals and a trial balance to work from.
  • You trade in more than one currency; Countingup charges 3% on foreign transactions with no FX accounts.
  • You carry stock, raise purchase orders, or need multi-entity consolidation.
  • You want a free plan with no clock rather than a three-month trial.

When to choose Countingup

  • You want the bank account and the bookkeeping to be literally the same thing, with nothing to reconcile.
  • You are a UK sole trader or freelancer with simple finances and no VAT or ITSA complexity.
  • Real-time tax estimates and automated tax-saving pots are how you want to manage set-aside.
  • A 4.69 rating from 3,449 Smart Money People reviews reassures you more than feature depth.
  • Your deposit volume is low — £3 a month under £750 of monthly deposits is genuinely cheap.
  • You want your accountant to have direct access through a purpose-built Accountant Hub.

Frequently asked questions

Is Countingup a bank?

No. Countingup Ltd is a registered Agent of Prepay Technologies Ltd, trading as PPS, which is authorised and regulated by the FCA under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 with firm reference number 900010. Countingup states that funds are held under safeguarding, kept completely separate from PPS's own assets, and notes that administrator fees could reduce recovery if PPS failed. Your money is not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This is a compliance-sensitive point and worth understanding before you move your float.

Does Countingup support MTD for Income Tax?

We found no evidence that it does, and this is the most decision-relevant fact on this page. Countingup is HMRC-recognised for MTD VAT and appears on HMRC's recognised software list for that. But it is not named on GOV.UK's MTD for Income Tax software guidance, nor on third-party HMRC-recognised ITSA lists updated in May 2026, and its own MTD article dated 24 March 2026 explains ITSA without claiming its software submits quarterly updates — it tells readers to choose MTD-compatible software. MTD ITSA became mandatory on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords above the threshold, which is precisely Countingup's core audience. Verify directly with Countingup before relying on it.

Does HelloBooks support MTD for Income Tax?

No, and we will not imply otherwise. HelloBooks is MTD-ready for VAT; MTD for Income Tax quarterly submission is not a shipped feature. So on ITSA specifically, neither product solves it for you today. If ITSA filing is your requirement, look at Clear Books (free tier includes quarterly and year-end), ANNA (free for 2026/27) or Pandle — we would rather point you there than lose your trust.

How much does Countingup cost?

Uniquely, it is banded by monthly deposit volume rather than by features: £3 a month for £0 to £750 of monthly deposits, £9 a month for £750.01 to £7,500, and £18 a month for unlimited. All tiers include all features, so a comparison matrix implying feature gating would be wrong. There is a three-month free trial and no permanent free tier. Transaction fees sit on top: 30p per account transfer and direct debit, 3% on foreign transactions, £1 per ATM withdrawal, 0.5% to 3% on cash loads, £5 for a replacement card. VAT treatment is not stated on the pricing page.

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. HelloBooks charges nothing per transaction because it never moves money.

Can I use Countingup with my existing bank?

No, and this is the structural trade-off. Countingup only sees its own account — there are no external bank feeds. If you bank with Lloyds or Starling and want the bookkeeping to read that account, Countingup cannot do it; you would have to move your banking. HelloBooks connects to your existing bank read-only, supports UK bank feeds, Plaid across 11,000+ US banks and cards, and PDF statement upload with AI reconciliation as a universal fallback.

What is SmartTax AI?

Countingup's AI layer, launched 26 May 2025 and generally available — no beta labelling. It does automatic expense categorisation, flags tax-risk transactions, and produces real-time estimates for VAT, corporation tax and Self Assessment, with a Tax Tab offering automated tax-saving pots and personalised tax timelines. The important qualification: it produces estimates, it does not file to HMRC. That distinction matters if you were expecting it to handle ITSA.

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 depreciation, and an AI Analysis tab on every standard report, plus a public read-only MCP server. Included from the Free plan with 2,500 credits a month.

Is Countingup real accounting software?

It is narrower than a general ledger. It does automatic transaction categorisation, receipt capture and invoicing, and the Accountant Hub produces profit and loss and balance sheets. What we could not find documented is journals, chart-of-accounts editing or manual double-entry postings — a trial balance screenshot appears on the Accountant Hub page but is not described in text as a feature. Independent reviewers characterise it as having limited accounting features. If your accountant needs to post adjusting journals, that matters.

What do Countingup users complain about?

From a 2026 independent review: no cheque deposits, support limited to email and chat with no phone line, slow payments, and limited accounting features. A one-star review dated 16 April 2026 describes an account cancelled due to sporadic sales from a side hustle, with no lending or overdraft on the account. Structurally, the absence of FSCS protection is the most significant weakness. That said, its overall ratings are strong — 4.69 from 3,449 reviews on Smart Money People, last reviewed July 2026.

Is Countingup still open to new customers?

Yes. As of 29 July 2026 the homepage actively advertises a free three-month trial, apply-in-minutes signup and live iOS and Android download links, with no closure or acquisition notice. We searched specifically for 2025–2026 acquisition, administration or wind-down news and found none — only historical funding, including a £9.1m Series A and a £4m round led by ING, plus a commercial partnership with Dojo for card readers.

Can I get my data out of Countingup?

Partially documented. PDF statements and a raw-data CSV export are emailed from the Account screen, and statement download is covered in the help centre — though the source documenting the CSV export dates from 2018, so current scope is unverified. There is no documented migration path into Xero, QuickBooks or Sage. Export what you can, then import chart of accounts, customers, suppliers, invoices and bills into HelloBooks from CSV with a dry-run preview and one-click rollback.

Could I use both?

Yes, and for a sole trader it can work well. Keep Countingup as the business account with its instant tax estimates, and run HelloBooks Free — free forever with 2,500 AI credits a month — as the ledger for balance sheet, trial balance, purchase orders and inventory. Countingup will not feed HelloBooks automatically, but you can upload statements as PDF and let AI reconciliation handle them.

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. Because HelloBooks never holds your money, questions of safeguarding and FSCS coverage do not arise — your funds stay with your own bank under whatever protection that bank provides.

Migrating from Countingup?

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.

For freelancers

The sole-trader setup, from first invoice to year end.

Trust Center

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

Migrate to HelloBooks

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

More comparisons

HelloBooks vs ANNA MoneyHelloBooks vs PandleHelloBooks vs Clear BooksHelloBooks vs QuickFileAll comparisons →