Bonsai does everything we verified about Crunch for $116.56 a month less at 25 clients, $59 against $175.56. It is a price cut rather than an upgrade: on the two features checked against the vendors’ own pricing pages the two are level. The trade: Crunch is built for a free plan you can run on and UK VAT and MTD and Bonsai is not, so this is a swap with a cost.
Why people look for an alternative
The software tiers stop at £10 a month with no projects, inventory, receipt capture or reports listed, and every accountancy price is a 'from' figure that changes with your transaction band and ends in a quote tool.
It runs $175.56 a month at 25 clients with the add-ons it forces on you included. 7 of the 7 alternatives to Crunch cost less than that.
The closest thing to Crunch
Ranked by how much of what we record for Crunch each platform also does. Bonsai is the nearest, and it is $116.56 a month cheaper at 25 clients. Nothing we verified is missing; the only gaps are features Crunch lists and Bonsai does not, which is weaker evidence.
$116.56 a month cheaper$59 at 5
A freelancer or small agency that wants proposals, contracts, time tracking, projects and invoicing in one client-facing tool, and is happy to hand the books to QuickBooks or Xero through the integration.
- Also lists project and time tracking and reports
- Does not list payroll and VAT or sales tax filing
Try Bonsai →
The rest, in order of how close they are
Prices are the real monthly cost at 25 clients with the add-ons each platform forces on you included, from the same engine the shortlist quiz uses.
$150.10 a month cheaper$25.46 at 5
A UK sole trader, partnership or small limited company that wants VAT, MTD, payroll and Self Assessment handled in one place, especially one banking with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle, where it is free.
- Also lists project and time tracking, receipt capture and reports
- Does not list AI features and recurring invoices and subscriptions
Try FreeAgent →$157.56 a month cheaper$18 at 5
A freelancer or small studio that wants a full invoicing, quoting and time-tracking tool for $14 a month or less, and the option to run it on its own server for nothing.
- Also lists inventory, project and time tracking and reports
- Does not list AI features, payroll and VAT or sales tax filing
Try Invoice Ninja →$105.56 a month cheaper$70 at 5
A freelancer or small service business whose job is getting invoices out and paid, with time tracking and projects attached.
- Also lists project and time tracking, receipt capture and reports
- Does not list AI features, an API and integrations, multi-currency and VAT or sales tax filing
Try FreshBooks →$156.56 a month cheaper$19 at 5
A US or Canadian sole trader or very small business that wants to invoice and keep basic books for nothing, paying only when it takes card payments.
- Also lists receipt capture
- Does not list AI features, an API and integrations, multi-currency, recurring invoices and subscriptions and VAT or sales tax filing
Try Wave →$175.56 a month cheaper$0 at 5
A freelancer or very small business that wants to invoice, chase payments and log expenses for nothing, and does not mind two users and 500 invoices a year.
- Also lists project and time tracking and reports
- Does not list AI features, bank feeds, multi-currency, payroll and VAT or sales tax filing
Try Zoho Invoice →$175.56 a month cheaper$0 at 5
A US service business that already takes card payments through Square and wants invoices, estimates and contracts with no monthly fee, paying only when an invoice is paid.
- Also lists inventory, project and time tracking and reports
- Does not list bank feeds, expenses, multi-currency, payroll and VAT or sales tax filing
Try Square Invoices →
What Crunch is still the best answer for
A UK sole trader or one-person limited company that wants free or very cheap bookkeeping software now and a fixed-fee accountant from the same company when the business needs one.
On this site it is the pick for a free plan you can run on, UK VAT and MTD and a one-person business. If that is you, read the savings above and then ignore them.
Questions people ask about Crunch alternatives
What is the closest alternative to Crunch?+
Bonsai. It is $116.56 a month cheaper at the size we compare on and gives up nothing we verify, though you should read why it exists before swapping: no two of these do exactly the same job.
How much does Crunch cost?+
Crunch is $175.56 a month at every size we price, from 5 to 100 clients, read off their own pricing page and re-checked every week.
Why do people look for alternatives to Crunch?+
The software tiers stop at £10 a month with no projects, inventory, receipt capture or reports listed, and every accountancy price is a 'from' figure that changes with your transaction band and ends in a quote tool.
How many alternatives to Crunch are there?+
We compare 7 of them here, every one priced at the same size off its own pricing page, and the whole list of 14 is on the accounting page.
Should yours be on this list? If you make accounting and invoicing platforms and it is not
compared here, ask to be shortlisted. Listings are free and cannot
be bought.
How to read the feature lines
Two features were checked against each vendor's own pricing page: a price that does not move with clients and a free plan. Those are the ones written above as does and does not. The other 14 are read out of each vendor's own pricing page, so an absence there means we did not find it listed, not that the product lacks it, and those lines say lists and does not list instead. How all of this gets checked.
Or let it pick for you
This page compares everything to Crunch. The shortlist asks 7 questions
about what you need the books to do and where you are based, and gives you four picks priced at your own numbers, which is a better
question than “what is like the one I already have”.
Build your shortlist →