Median vs Digits
The clearest choice on this list, because it is not really a feature comparison. Digits sells you software to run your books. Median runs them for you and puts a named accountant behind the result.
| Median | Digits | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI-native firm that keeps its own ledger | AI-native general ledger you run yourself |
| Dedicated accountant | Yes, on every account | None included at any published tier |
| Who reviews the categorizations | Your accountant, before you see them | You, or a firm you hire separately |
| How often books are touched | Updated every business day | Continuous AI bookkeeping and reconciliation |
| Pricing model | Flat fee, banded by annual revenue | Flat tiers by feature set |
| Starting price | $200 / mo under $250K revenue | $65 / mo; $250 Pro tier coming soon |
| Accounting basis | Cash or accrual | Accrual workflows stated |
| Tax filing | Add-on from $1,499 / yr, coordinated with your books | Not included; Digits refers you to partner firms |
| AI assistant access | Read-only MCP server | Developer API and MCP server on every plan |
| Built for | Software and services startups that want the work done | Founders and firms that want to do the work themselves |
Public pricing and terms as of September 2026. Models differ, so figures are not directly comparable. Confirm current details with each provider.
Where Digits wins
Digits builds the best pure software in this comparison, and pretending otherwise would waste your time. If you have someone who can own the books, whether that is a finance-literate founder or a firm you already work with, Digits gives them a genuinely modern system to do it in.
A few places it is straightforwardly ahead of Median, worth naming plainly.
- Price, and the axis. Digits runs $65 or $100 a month for a single business, with a $250 Pro tier listed as coming soon as of September 2026, and what you pay is set by the features you pick rather than by how much revenue you book, so growth never moves you up a band.
- A developer API and an MCP server on every plan, so you can build directly against your own ledger. Median offers read-only MCP access but not a general developer API.
- A partner program for accounting firms, with partner-only plans and volume discounts, which Median does not offer.
- Invoicing and bill pay inside the same product, rather than a separate tool alongside your books.
Where Median wins
Every advantage below comes from the same difference: Median is a firm, so the work and the responsibility for it sit with us rather than with you.
- A dedicated accountant reviews the exceptions and is accountable for the result. With Digits, if the AI miscategorizes something, it stays miscategorized until you catch it.
- Tax filing is an add-on from $1,499 a year, built from books that are already current instead of reconstructed at year end. Digits does not file your return itself; it refers you to partner firms.
- R&D credits at $5,000 flat under a $50,000 estimated credit and 10 percent of the credit at $50,000 and above, plus sales tax filing where you need it.
- You get your time back. As of September 2026 Digits starts at $65 a month. The honest comparison is not $65 against a Median invoice, it is $65 plus your hours, or your bookkeeper's fee, against Median doing the work.
How each one is built
Architecturally these two are closer than any other pair on this site. Both are AI-native, both keep their own general ledger as the system of record rather than touching a QuickBooks file once a month, and both expose the books to an AI assistant over MCP. Neither keeps your books in portable QuickBooks or Xero, so ask both the same export question before you commit.
The difference is what surrounds the ledger. Digits stops at the software and hands you the keys, which is why it runs a partner program for the accounting firms that operate it for clients. Median wraps the same class of technology in a service: software does the high-volume categorization and posting every business day, a dedicated accountant reviews what the software flags and owns the outcome, and tax filing and R&D credits sit alongside the books rather than at another vendor.
Pricing compared
Digits publishes flat monthly tiers for a single business: Essentials at $65 and Core at $100 per month, with Pro at $250 listed as coming soon. Core adds dimensional accounting and automated schedules; Pro adds custom reports, custom dashboards and budget against actuals. Accounting firms join a partner program with partner-only plans and volume discounts, and those prices are not published. Every tier is software only, and Digits points you to partner firms for full-service accounting, CFO work and tax filing. Figures verified on digits.com/pricing on 2026-09-30.
Median publishes a flat monthly fee set by annual revenue: $200 a month under $250K with up to seven financial accounts, and $500 a month from $250K to $1M or at eight or more accounts, with reports, scenarios, daily bookkeeping and every seat included, and no setup fee. Above $1M the price is scoped on a call. Tax filing is an add-on from $1,499 per year and R&D credit work is $5,000 flat under a $50,000 estimated credit and 10 percent of the credit at $50,000 and above. The two are not apples to apples, and not only because they price on different axes. A Digits subscription buys software that you or your bookkeeper then operate; a Median invoice buys the operating as well. Compare Digits plus whatever the review work costs you against Median, rather than the two subscription lines on their own.
Frequently asked questions
The questions to ask any bookkeeping service
A printable list covering what they actually do, who does the work, who pays when an error reaches your tax return, and what leaving looks like. Ask us the same ones, and ask them too.
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