United Kingdom · FreeAgent alternative
The FreeAgent alternative beyond NatWest bundling
HelloBooks Pro is £14.99/month on any bank — FreeAgent is £19-£29/month unless you bank with NatWest, Mettle, or RBS. Self Assessment figures, IR35, CIS and MTD-ready VAT all included. AI categorisation built in. Multi-currency on Pro.
HelloBooks vs FreeAgent (UK)
| Feature | HelloBooks | FreeAgent |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (GBP) | Free Plan; Pro £14.99/mo, unlimited users | £19/mo sole trader; £29/mo limited company; free for NatWest / RBS / Mettle business banking customers only |
| HMRC MTD VAT submission | Coming soon. VAT returns are prepared from the ledger with digital links preserved end-to-end; direct filing to HMRC from HelloBooks is not live yet | MTD-compliant submission included |
| Self Assessment SA100 / SA103 / SA105 | Self-employment, partnership, and property pages auto-populated from your books; filing to HMRC from HelloBooks is coming soon | Self Assessment SA100 + SA103 supported for sole traders + limited company directors |
| IR35 / off-payroll working | Inside / outside IR35 tagging at contract level; deemed-employment income workflow | IR35 handling for contractor limited companies |
| CIS subcontractor returns | Verification, CIS300 monthly returns, P&L showing CIS suffered separately | CIS workflow limited; many users push CIS into a separate tool |
| PAYE / RTI payroll | Coming soon. UK payroll with RTI submissions to HMRC from HelloBooks is not live yet; keep your current payroll provider for now | Payroll included for limited companies up to small headcount |
| AI categorisation | Built-in AI agent, learns your patterns, 95%+ accuracy on UK bank descriptions | ML transaction categorization GA since June 2020 (18M+ transactions explained) plus Smart Capture ML+OCR; bank rules on top. No conversational AI agent. |
| Multi-currency | Live FX rates, gain / loss postings, included on Pro | Multi-currency limited; bolt-on for some scenarios |
| Bank coverage | 30+ UK banks via Plaid / Yapily — Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, NatWest, Santander, Monzo, Starling, Revolut | Good UK bank coverage; free for NatWest / Mettle / RBS customers |
| Data export at cancellation | Free CSV / IIF / QBO export, 90-day read-only window | Export limited; tied tightly to NatWest banking relationship for free tier |
UK migration runbook (from FreeAgent)
- 1
Export from FreeAgent
Account → Account Settings → Export Data. The CSV bundle includes contacts, invoices, bills, expenses, and the ledger. Self Assessment historical computations stay in FreeAgent — only the underlying ledger crosses over.
- 2
Import into HelloBooks
Settings → Import → FreeAgent. Upload the CSV bundle. The mapping screen lets you align FreeAgent category names (often very plain English) to the HelloBooks chart of accounts before commit.
- 3
Verify trial balance + VAT
Reports → Trial Balance, confirm totals match FreeAgent closing balances. VAT → Submission Preview, confirm the next return period boxes match what FreeAgent was showing. Sanity-check the FRS percentage if you're on the Flat Rate Scheme.
- 4
Connect UK bank feeds
Settings → Bank → Add. Sign in via Plaid / Yapily for any UK bank — including NatWest, so you keep the bank without paying FreeAgent. 24 months of history pulled and run through AI categorisation.
- 5
Keep your current MTD filing route
Filing VAT returns to HMRC from HelloBooks is coming soon. Until then, keep your existing MTD connection in FreeAgent for submission, and use HelloBooks to prepare and check the boxes 1 to 9 figures. Join the waitlist on the UK VAT page to hear when filing is ready.
- 6
Tag IR35 contracts + CIS subcontractors
Contracts get an inside / outside IR35 flag at contract level. Subcontractors marked CIS in FreeAgent come across with verification status; the CIS300 monthly return files direct from HelloBooks.
UK FreeAgent switch — frequently asked
Try the FreeAgent alternative — free
Free Plan, no credit card. Pro at £14.99/month with unlimited users on any UK bank. Self Assessment, IR35, CIS, MTD-ready VAT, AI categorisation included.
Start Free — migrate from FreeAgent