Surf Accounts (now BrightBooks) vs HelloBooks in Ireland

Checked on 22 October 2026. Each row links back to the sources listed at the end of the page.

Bright describes a dedicated compliance team in Dublin and software designed for Irish legislation. For an employer already on BrightPay or Thesaurus, BrightBooks links accounts and payroll inside one family of products, which removes a monthly manual step. Bright also sells accounts production software to practices, so an accountant using Bright tools may favour it.

HelloBooks was built around automation. Every bank line, receipt and supplier bill is read and coded with an account and an Irish VAT rate, and nothing is posted until someone approves it. Owners who do their own books get most of the work done for them, and accountants receive a ledger that needs review rather than rework.

These are BrightBooks’ two clear advantages today. Its payroll links work now, while HelloBooks’ payroll journal import is coming soon. Its bank feeds cover Irish banks, while HelloBooks works from statement uploads as direct Irish connections roll out. Weigh how much time each would save you in a typical month.

Both produce the VAT3 from the books, and Bright supports the cash receipts basis as well as the invoice basis. In HelloBooks the VAT3 boxes are shown with the transactions behind each figure for review, and you enter them in ROS. Confirm with any vendor exactly how its Revenue submission works before relying on it.

If you run BrightPay or Thesaurus and want everything in one Irish family, BrightBooks is a natural choice. If your priority is cutting the hours spent on bookkeeping, start a free HelloBooks account and run one month of your own transactions through it to see the difference.