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

HelloBooks vs Rounded: A full ledger that grows with you vs a sole-trader tool that deliberately does not

Rounded is a well-liked Australian invoicing and expense tool built specifically for sole traders and freelancers. It is deliberately narrow: its own docs list exactly five reports — activity statements, timesheets, expenses, income and profit and loss. There is no balance sheet, no trial balance, no general ledger and no chart of accounts.

Two gates matter. Bank feeds and GST/BAS management are both Professional-only at A$22.95 a month, so a GST-registered sole trader effectively must buy the higher tier. And there is no payroll module at all, which means no STP lodgement — a hard stop the moment you hire anyone.

HelloBooks is a full double-entry ledger from a free plan, A$14.99 a month on Pro with unlimited users, AI categorization and OCR, inventory and multi-entity. Neither product lodges a BAS — both prepare, and you or your agent lodge.

Researched & written by the HelloBooks editorial team. Checked against Rounded'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 Rounded — criteria scorecard
CriterionHelloBooksRounded
Entry price & free tierStrongPartial
Double-entry general ledgerStrongNot offered
Balance sheet & trial balanceStrongNot offered
GST/BAS at entry priceStrongLimited
BAS lodgementNot offeredNot offered
Payroll & STPNot offeredNot offered
AI shipped and generally availableStrongNot offered
Freelancer invoicing & time trackingPartialStrong
Data portabilityStrongLimited

Side-by-side feature comparison

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

HelloBooks vs Rounded— feature-by-feature comparison
FeatureHelloBooksRounded
Who it is built forSole traders through mid-sized businesses, with multi-entity from ProAustralian sole traders and freelancers only — a deliberate single-operator product
PricingFree forever; Pro A$14.99/mo or A$149.99/yr; Business A$59.99/mo or A$599.99/yr — unlimited users on paid plansBasic A$16.95/mo; Professional A$22.95/mo. All prices include GST. Annual billing is offered but the annual amounts are not published on the page
Free planFree forever, no credit card — unlimited invoices, bills, quotes and POs, full core reports, mobile app, 2 users, 2,500 AI credits/monthNone. 14-day free trial, no contracts or commitments. Rounded does state your data remains on its system if you return later
Double-entry general ledgerYes — chart of accounts, journals, trial balance, IFRS and GAAP compliant reportsNo. Its reports documentation lists five reports — activity statements, timesheet, expense, income and profit & loss. No balance sheet, trial balance, general ledger, chart of accounts or journals
Bank feedsIncluded on every plan. Plaid across 11,000+ US banks; PDF statement upload with AI reconciliation anywhereProfessional tier only (A$22.95/mo) — connects to over 100 Australian financial institutions
GST & BAS managementBAS GST preparation and Simpler BAS codes are live on every paid planProfessional tier only. A GST-registered sole trader effectively must buy Professional
BAS lodgementPrepare only — BAS lodgement via SBR or Ozedi is on the roadmap. We do not claim it todayPrepare only. It generates quarterly activity statements to Simple BAS requirements; you lodge with the ATO and then mark the statement complete in Rounded
Payroll & STP Phase 2Not shipped for Australia — STP Phase 2 is on the roadmap. India payroll runs through HelloTimeNo payroll module at all. Payroll and STP are absent from the features page, help centre and pricing — it cannot lodge STP
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 serverNone. No AI feature appears on the homepage, features page, help centre or the April 2026 product update
Bank rules & auto-categorisationAI auto-categorization at 95%+ accuracy with reviewable confidence scores, plus rulesA documented gap — Capterra AU reviewers cite no bank transaction rules for auto-categorisation and limited transaction splitting
Multi-currencyIncluded on all plans with automatic FX gain and lossInvoicing in foreign currencies is supported. Full multi-currency ledger revaluation is not documented
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
Time trackingHelloTime handles time and attendance as a sibling productA genuine strength — time tracking and timesheet reporting are core to the freelancer workflow
Integrations & APIPlaid, Stripe, Razorpay, PayPal, PineLabs, Tally 6.2, API from Pro, BI connector, public read-only MCP serverA closed system with a small fixed set — Stripe and PayPal for payments, Gmail/GSuite for email, and Airtax for tax lodgement. No public API; Zapier is an open roadmap request, not a shipped feature
Getting your data outCSV and Excel import/export throughout, plus a migration path with dry-run preview and one-click rollbackLimited — income and expense reports export as CSV or PDF, the profit and loss as PDF only, and client records and attachments must be requested through in-app support. There is no full-account export
Mobile appFull iOS and Android apps on every plan, including FreeiOS and Android apps with receipt capture on mobile
Independent ratingsNewer product with a smaller review base — judge us on the free plan rather than review volumeCapterra AU 4.9/5 from 7 reviews with a 90% recommendation rate — excellent scores on a very small sample. Features is its weakest sub-score at 4.3

When to choose HelloBooks

  • You have hired someone, or plan to — Rounded has no payroll and cannot lodge STP at all.
  • Your accountant needs a balance sheet or trial balance, neither of which Rounded produces.
  • You have incorporated or run more than one entity; Rounded is a single-operator product by design.
  • You are GST-registered and would rather not be pushed to the higher tier just to get BAS management.
  • You want AI categorisation and bank rules — Rounded users specifically cite the absence of transaction rules.
  • You carry stock or raise purchase orders, which Rounded does not attempt.

When to choose Rounded

  • You are a genuine sole trader or freelancer with no employees and no plans to hire.
  • Time tracking against clients and projects is central to how you bill — Rounded is built around it.
  • You want the simplest possible tool and the 4.9 Capterra AU rating with a 90% recommendation rate reflects real user affection.
  • Your accountant is happy working from income, expense and P&L reports and does not need a ledger.
  • You use Airtax for lodgement and want the integration.
  • You value an Australian product built for exactly your situation rather than a global platform.

Frequently asked questions

Is Rounded real accounting software?

It is real, but narrow, and its own documentation is clear about the boundary. Rounded's reports documentation lists exactly five reports: activity statements, timesheet, expense, income and profit and loss, all derived from the income and expenses sections. There is no balance sheet, no trial balance, no general ledger, no chart of accounts and no journals. It is an income-and-expense tool for sole traders, not a double-entry ledger — and for a lot of freelancers that is genuinely enough.

How much does Rounded cost?

From rounded.com.au/pricing on 28 July 2026, in AUD including GST: Basic at A$16.95 a month with unlimited clients, unlimited invoices and quotes, and expense and time tracking; Professional at A$22.95 a month which adds bank account connection and GST and BAS management. There is a 14-day free trial and no free tier. An annual billing option is offered but the annual dollar amounts render only on toggle and are not published in the page source. Note Capterra AU shows a stale "from A$15/month".

Which Rounded features are gated?

Two that matter, both on Professional: bank feeds, which connect to over 100 Australian financial institutions, and GST and BAS management. That means a GST-registered sole trader effectively cannot use the Basic plan for compliance — the real entry price is A$22.95 a month. In HelloBooks, bank connectivity and BAS GST preparation are on every paid plan from A$14.99.

Does Rounded lodge my BAS?

No, and nor do we. Rounded generates quarterly activity statements in line with ATO reporting requirements for Simple BAS; you lodge with the ATO yourself and then return to Rounded to mark the statement complete. HelloBooks does BAS GST preparation with Simpler BAS codes; lodgement through SBR or Ozedi is on our roadmap. If you want software that actually lodges, look at Thriday, which holds a Registered Tax Agent number, or Saasu and Cashflow Manager for STP specifically.

Can Rounded do payroll or STP?

No — there is no payroll module at all. Payroll and STP are absent from the features page, the help centre and pricing, so it cannot lodge Single Touch Payroll. That is a hard stop the moment you hire your first employee. HelloBooks also does not ship Australian payroll or STP Phase 2 — both are on our roadmap — so if you have employees, neither of us solves it and you will need a dedicated payroll product.

What does HelloBooks cost in Australia?

Free forever with 2,500 AI credits a month and up to two users. Pro is A$14.99/month or A$149.99/year against a list price of A$29.99, with unlimited users, unlimited bank connections, multi-entity, API access, inventory, three-way matching and multi-currency with automatic FX. Business is A$59.99/month or A$599.99/year.

Does Rounded have AI?

No. No AI feature appears on the homepage, features page, help centre, or in the April 2026 product update. Its bank-rule gap reinforces this — Capterra AU reviewers specifically cite the absence of bank transaction rules for auto-categorisation, which is the problem AI categorisation exists to solve.

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. Included from the Free plan with 2,500 credits a month, from one wallet with no per-action pricing.

What do Rounded users complain about?

Given a 4.9 rating from seven Capterra AU reviews, the complaints are mild and specific: it cannot automatically total billable hours per client across a year; there are no bank transaction rules for auto-categorisation; transaction splitting is limited; managing multiple contacts within one client organisation is difficult; and some workflows need extra clicks. Its weakest sub-score is Features at 4.3 against 4.9 for ease of use — exactly what you would expect from a deliberately narrow product. The sample is tiny, so treat the rating accordingly.

Is Rounded still being developed?

Yes, and visibly. It is independent with no acquisition or rebrand found, publishes product updates through April 2026, and maintains a public roadmap at roadmap.rounded.com.au. Zapier integration is an open request on that roadmap rather than a shipped feature, which is worth knowing if you were counting on it.

Can I get my data out of Rounded?

Only partially, and this is the sharpest practical limitation. Income and expense reports export as CSV or PDF, the profit and loss exports as PDF only, and other data including client records and attachments must be requested through in-app support. There is no full-account export. If you are planning to grow beyond a sole trader, factor that into when you switch. Rounded does document inbound migration from Wave and CSV expense import.

How do I migrate to HelloBooks?

Export your income and expense reports as CSV and request client records from Rounded support, then import chart of accounts, customers, items, invoices and bills into HelloBooks. The chart-of-accounts import uses AI to read your existing structure, retain account numbers and map intelligently. The flow at /migrate includes a dry-run preview and one-click rollback, and end of financial year is the cleanest cutover point for an Australian sole trader.

Should a sole trader just stay on Rounded?

If you have no employees, no stock, no second entity and your accountant is happy with income, expense and P&L reports — yes, honestly. It is well built for that job and its users clearly like it. The reasons to move are specific and usually arrive together: you hire someone, you incorporate, you start carrying stock, or your accountant asks for a balance sheet. Our Free plan has no clock, so you can set HelloBooks up in parallel and switch when one of those happens rather than in a rush.

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.

Migrating from Rounded?

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

For freelancers

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

Australia hub

BAS-ready books, GST prep and what is live versus on the roadmap.

HelloBooks pricing

Free forever, Pro A$14.99/month, Business A$59.99/month in Australia.

Advanced reporting

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

AI categorization

Auto-coding at 95%+ accuracy with reviewable confidence scores.

Migrate to HelloBooks

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

More comparisons

HelloBooks vs ThridayHelloBooks vs SaasuHelloBooks vs Cashflow ManagerHelloBooks vs MYOBAll comparisons →