Median vs Puzzle
Puzzle is the cheapest modern ledger here, and on its software plans you keep the books, with partner bookkeeping sold on top. Median is a firm that keeps them for you. The price gap is real, and so is what sits behind it.
| Median | Puzzle | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI-native firm that keeps its own ledger | Accounting software with its own ledger, run by you |
| Dedicated accountant | Yes, on every account | None in the software plans; partner bookkeeping sold on top |
| Who reviews the categorizations | Your accountant, before you see them | You, or a Puzzle partner firm from $171 / mo including software |
| Pricing model | Flat fee, banded by annual revenue | Flat tiers, metered by AI credits and users |
| Starting price | $200 / mo under $250K revenue | $30 / mo, up to $360 / mo |
| AI limits | None on your accountant's work | 25 credits for the account lifetime on the two cheapest plans |
| Accounting basis | Cash or accrual | Cash and accrual on every plan |
| Tax filing | Add-on from $1,499 / yr | Via a partner firm, from $1,250 / yr |
| Built for | Startups that want the work done | Founders who run the books, or pick a partner to |
Public pricing and terms as of September 2026. Models differ, so figures are not directly comparable. Confirm current details with each provider.
Where Puzzle wins
Puzzle is well built and genuinely cheap, and if you have someone who will own the books it is a strong place for them to work.
- Price. At $30 a month on the entry plan, or $24 billed annually, as of September 2026, nothing else here comes close on the subscription line.
- Cash and accrual on every plan, including the cheapest, which several more expensive providers do not state.
- Unlimited users from the $120 tier as of September 2026, so your accountant and your co-founder are not extra line items.
- Two months free at the entry tier, which makes it cheap to try before committing.
Where Median wins
Everything below follows from one difference: on Puzzle's software plans you are the accountant, and with Median you have one.
- A dedicated accountant reviews the exceptions and is accountable for the result. On Puzzle's software plans, a miscategorization stays until you find it, and its partner bookkeeping is a separate purchase from a separate firm.
- No AI credit ceiling on the work being done for you. Puzzle's two cheapest plans include 25 AI credits for the lifetime of the account, so the automation you are buying it for is capped early.
- Tax filing from $1,499 a year and R&D credits at $5,000 flat under a $50,000 estimated credit and 10 percent of the credit at $50,000 and above, built on books that are already current. Puzzle sells tax filing through a partner firm, from $1,250 a year as of September 2026.
- Your time. As of September 2026 Puzzle starts at $30 a month. The comparison is not $30 against a Median invoice, it is $30 plus your evenings, or a bookkeeper's fee, against Median doing the work.
How each one is built
Puzzle is a modern general ledger built for founders and the accountants who serve them, with automation layered on top and pricing that reflects a software business: cheap, self-serve, and metered by seats and AI credits rather than by how much work your books need. Notably, Burkland lists Puzzle among the systems it will work inside, and Puzzle now sells bookkeeping from vetted partner firms on top of a subscription, which tells you how it is positioned in practice, as the ledger a firm operates.
Median is that firm. Software does the high-volume categorization and posting every business day, a dedicated accountant reviews what it flags and owns the outcome, and tax filing and R&D credits sit alongside the books. The ledger is ours rather than yours, which is the honest cost of the model, and we will hand over a clean chart of accounts and general ledger if you leave.
Pricing compared
Puzzle publishes four flat software tiers, billed monthly at $30, $72, $120 and $360, or annually at $24, $58, $96 and $288 per month. Seats run from 1 on Starter and 5 on Core to unlimited on the top two. AI features are metered separately by credits: 25 for the lifetime of the account on the two cheapest plans, then 100 and 300 per month on the top two. The software includes no accountant. Puzzle also sells partner-reviewed bookkeeping from $171 a month including the Core software, up to $10,000 in monthly expenses, plus add-ons including migration at $149, an R&D study at 1.5 percent of qualified research expenses, and partner tax filing from $1,250 a year plus $250 per state, though the same page's FAQ quotes tax prep from $850. Verified on puzzle.io/pricing 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. Median will cost more than a Puzzle subscription, and it should: one is a tool and the other is the work. Compare Puzzle plus the cost of whoever operates it against Median, not the two subscription lines.
Frequently asked questions
The questions to ask any bookkeeping service
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