Every startup bookkeeping page advertises a number that most of its customers do not pay. That is not a scandal, it is what happens when a service prices on complexity and publishes only the simplest tier. But it makes comparing providers genuinely hard, because you end up putting a published $99 next to an unpublished quote and calling it a comparison.
So here are the actual published prices, read off each vendor's own pricing page on 2026-08-10, including the parts where the page says contact sales. These change without notice. Check them yourself before you sign anything.
The short version
- Pilot publishes $99 a month, cash basis, capped at $100,000 in monthly expenses. Its other two bookkeeping tiers are contact-sales.
- Bench publishes $199, $399 and $599 a month, or $1,910, $3,830 and $5,750 prepaid annually.
- Kruze publishes $650 to $850 a month for Basic and $850 to $1,500 for Founder Timesaver, accrual from the first tier, for companies that have raised at least $500K.
- Median publishes $55 per active financial account per month and $0.60 per posted ledger entry, with no tiers.
- The add-ons routinely cost more than the bookkeeping. Pilot's C-corp tax filing starts at $2,450 a year and its R&D credit fee is 20 percent of the credit.
The published entry prices, side by side
| Provider | Published entry | What that tier is | Ceiling on it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot Essentials | $99 / mo | Cash basis, AI categorization, monthly close, year-end tax package | Up to $100,000 monthly expenses |
| Bench Grow | $199 / mo, or $1,910 / yr | Dedicated experts, monthly books, P&L and balance sheet, 1099s | For businesses under $250,000 annual revenue |
| Kruze Basic | $650 to $850 / mo | Accrual bookkeeping, dedicated accounting manager, monthly calls | No GAAP revenue recognition, no multi-entity, no class tracking |
| Median | $55 per active financial account / mo, plus $0.60 per posted ledger entry | Daily bookkeeping, P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, every seat included | No tier to sit in: the bill tracks active financial accounts and posted entries |
Read the third column, not the second. Pilot's $99 and Kruze's $650 are not the same product at different prices. One is a cash-basis service for a company under $100,000 a month in spend. The other is accrual bookkeeping with a named accounting manager for a venture-backed C-corp. The seven-fold price gap is mostly the difference between those two sentences.
What the tiers above the entry price cost
This is where published pricing stops and the differences get expensive.
Pilot. Core adds a US-based bookkeeper, a custom chart of accounts, cash or accrual, bill management up to 10 items a month, and reports by the 10th business day. Its price is contact sales. Custom adds full AP and AR, payroll administration, QuickBooks retention and 6th business day reporting, also contact sales. So the two tiers that a funded startup would actually buy are both unpublished.
Bench. Core at $399 a month adds unlimited communication. Core plus Tax at $599 a month adds licensed tax professionals and both business and individual filing. There is also a QuickBooks-native option at $55 an hour plus a $1,200 onboarding fee, which is a different shape entirely: you are buying hours, not a monthly service.
Kruze. Founder Timesaver at $850 to $1,500 a month adds GAAP revenue recognition and department or class tracking. Premium is a custom quote and covers multi-entity, crypto and inventory accounting. A one-time onboarding fee applies per entity, with more if prior records need correcting.
Median. There is no next tier. The rate card is $55 per active financial account per month plus $0.60 per posted ledger entry, with seats, reports and data connections at $0, and no base fee. A company with four accounts and 300 entries a month lands at $400. The bill moves with activity rather than stepping at a threshold.
The add-ons are not a rounding error
Founders compare monthly bookkeeping and then discover the rest of the stack.
| Service | Pilot | Bench | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| C-corp tax filing | from $2,450 / yr | in Core + Tax at $5,750 / yr | from $1,499 / yr |
| R&D tax credit | 20% of the credit received | not published | 10% of the credit received |
| Sales tax filing | additional services from $250 to $500 per city or state | not published | from $99 / mo per jurisdiction |
| CFO support | from $1,750 / mo billed annually | not offered | scoped separately |
| Setup or onboarding | COO Starter $750 one-time | $1,200 on the QBO option | no setup fee |
The R&D line is the one worth doing arithmetic on. On a $60,000 credit, a 20 percent fee is $12,000 and a 10 percent fee is $6,000. That single difference is larger than a full year of entry-tier bookkeeping at any provider on this page.
Why the same company gets four different quotes
Three variables drive almost all of the spread, and none of them is quality.
Basis. Cash basis is cheaper to produce because it does not require judgment about when revenue is earned or expenses belong. Accrual costs more everywhere, and you will need it the moment an investor asks for real financials. Pilot's cheapest tier is cash only. Kruze is accrual from the first tier and prices accordingly.
Volume. A company with two bank accounts and forty transactions a month is cheap to keep. A DTC business with three payment processors, two marketplaces and 4,000 monthly transactions is not. Flat tiers handle this with expense bands, which means everyone inside a band subsidizes the busiest company in it. Usage-based pricing charges each company for its own volume.
Who is accountable. A named accountant who knows your business costs more than a rotating pool. That is a real cost and it buys a real thing, which is why Kruze can charge $650 for a tier that includes a dedicated accounting manager while a cheaper service cannot.
Three company shapes, priced end to end
Published monthly prices are the wrong unit of comparison. Here is the same exercise done properly for three real shapes, using only published figures as of 2026-08-10 and marking the unpublished ones as unknown.
Shape one: pre-seed C-corp, two bank accounts, one card, about 50 posted entries a month, $22,000 monthly burn, no revenue, cash basis is fine, no tax filing needed yet because it incorporated in January.
| Bookkeeping | Tax | Total year one | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | $99 / mo = $1,188 | Essentials tier covers the year-end package | $1,188 |
| Bench | $1,910 prepaid | not included | $1,910 |
| Kruze | below its stated $500K raised threshold | not a fit | |
| Median | 3 accounts at $55 plus 50 entries at $0.60 = $195 / mo = $2,340 | from $1,499 if filed | $2,340 |
Pilot wins this one on price and it is not close. A cash-basis company under $100,000 in monthly expenses is exactly who Essentials is built for. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something.
Shape two: seed-stage SaaS, four bank accounts, two cards, Stripe, about 300 posted entries a month, $140,000 monthly expenses, needs accrual for its board, C-corp filing due, expects a $60,000 R&D credit.
| Bookkeeping | Tax | R&D credit fee | Total year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot | Core tier, unpublished | from $2,450 | 20% of $60,000 = $12,000 | unknown + $14,450 |
| Bench | Core + Tax $5,750 | included | not published | $5,750 + unknown |
| Kruze | $650 to $850 / mo = $7,800 to $10,200 | quoted separately | quoted separately | $7,800 to $10,200 + unknown |
| Median | 7 accounts at $55 plus 300 entries at $0.60 = $565 / mo = $6,780 | from $1,499 | 10% of $60,000 = $6,000 | $14,279 |
This is the shape where the comparison gets hard, because the company has crossed both of Pilot's published limits and the price is now a phone call. Note the R&D line: the fee difference alone is $6,000, which is on the order of a full year of bookkeeping at every provider here that publishes one.
Shape three: e-commerce, three processors, two marketplaces, 4,000 monthly transactions, $310,000 monthly expenses, multi-state sales tax.
Nobody publishes a price for this. Every provider quotes it, and the quotes will differ by multiples rather than percentages, because transaction volume is the cost driver and each provider absorbs it differently. Usage-based pricing is at its most expensive here and flat tiers are at their most likely to be repriced at renewal. Get the renewal terms in writing before you sign, because this is the shape where the second-year quote surprises people.
The number nobody publishes
Here is the cost that does not appear on any pricing page: how far behind your books are allowed to get.
A monthly close means your numbers describe a reality that is two to six weeks old. For most of the month you are guessing at cash and burn. That is fine until you make a hiring decision, or price a deal, or answer an investor question with a figure you later have to correct.
Every provider on this page except Median closes monthly. That is the norm and it is not a criticism; monthly close is what the industry has done for a century because doing it more often was not economically possible. It is possible now, and it is the reason Median meters on accounts and volume instead of selling a tier: the work is spread across every business day rather than batched into a few painful ones.
For a wider set of providers including QuickBooks Live, Finta, Kick and Haven, see our comparison of the best startup bookkeeping services.
Frequently asked questions
How much does startup bookkeeping cost per month in 2026? Published entry prices run from $99 to about $650. Pilot's $99 tier is cash basis under $100,000 monthly expenses, Bench starts at $199, Kruze starts at $650 to $850 and is accrual, and Median is usage-based at $55 per active financial account plus $0.60 per posted ledger entry, with no tiers. Verified 2026-08-10.
Why do so many providers say contact sales? They price on complexity, which is easier to assess on a call than to publish. Two of Pilot's three bookkeeping tiers and Kruze's Premium tier are unpublished, so the advertised number is rarely what a funded startup pays.
Is a $99 a month bookkeeping plan real? Yes, and it is cash basis with a $100,000 monthly expense ceiling. Genuine for a pre-revenue company. The moment you need accrual for an investor, you move to a tier whose price is not published.
What is not included in a bookkeeping quote? Usually tax filing, R&D credits and anything CFO-shaped, and those routinely cost more than the bookkeeping itself. Add the whole stack before comparing.
Does usage-based pricing cost more than a flat fee? It depends on whether your books are busy. A quiet company with three accounts pays less than a flat tier priced for the average customer in its band. A high-volume e-commerce business pays more.
How to actually compare these
- Write down your real numbers first: number of bank, card and processor accounts, monthly transaction count, cash or accrual, and whether you need tax filing this year.
- Price the full stack at each provider, not the monthly line. Bookkeeping plus tax plus R&D plus setup.
- Ask every contact-sales provider for a written quote at your actual volume before you compare anything. A published $99 next to an unpublished quote is not a comparison.
- Ask when the books are current through. Not when they close, when they are current through. The answers differ more than the prices do.
Estimate what Median would cost for your accounts and volume with the published rate card, no call required.