Sage Accounting
A UK and Canada cloud ledger: connect the bank, invoice, file VAT. No US SKU. Most US shops should pick something else.
- Starting price
- UK from £20/mo excl VAT (Start); Canada from CA$23/mo +tax. No US list.
- Pricing
- Free trial
- Works with
- Replaces your ledger
- Pricing checked
- September 12, 2026
Our take
- Best for
- UK VAT-registered sole traders and small limited companies who want the bank feed, invoices, MTD VAT, and UK payroll in one Sage Accounting file.
- Not ideal if
- A US shop. sage.com/en-us does not sell this SKU. You need 1099s, US payroll, or a CPA who only opens QuickBooks. You thought this listing was Sage Intacct or Sage 50.
- Standout
- UK MTD VAT plus payroll on every plan (with a per-employee overage), which most US cloud ledgers split into a second product.
About Sage Accounting
Sage Accounting (sold in some locales as Sage Business Cloud Accounting; formerly Sage One) is the ledger. You connect a UK bank (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, and others on Sage's list). Lines import. You match them to invoices and bills, send quotes, and snap receipts on Standard and Plus. Those posts are the books. Profit and loss, the balance sheet, cash-flow, and an MTD VAT return come out of Sage Accounting. UK plans now include payroll (PAYE and pension auto-enrolment) with a per-employee overage. Invite your accountant into the same file.
It replaces QuickBooks Online and Xero. It does not sit on those files. Moving over is a CSV import, or Sage-paid MoveMyBooks for two years of history. There is no US list on sage.com/en-us. That site sells Sage 50 (desktop, cloud-connected) and Sage Intacct (quote-only mid-market). Those are different products. FreeAgent and KashFlow are the other UK HMRC ledgers in this directory. Wave and Kick are the US replacement ledgers. Canada has its own Sage Accounting edition (GST/HST for CRA) at published CA$ prices.
People who stick are usually UK VAT-registered sole traders and small limited companies who want the bank feed, invoices, MTD VAT, and payroll on one subscription. They stay for HMRC work in the same weekly rec, and for CIS on Standard. US owners who land on the old Sage Business Cloud stub should treat this as the wrong country, not a cheaper QuickBooks.
Pricing
There is no US sticker. The live BookkeepDIY stub of $7.50/month is stale. UK list after the 90% intro is £20 / £43 / £59 per month excl 20% VAT (Start / Standard / Plus). A 5-person UK shop needs Plus for unlimited users: £59 + VAT is £70.80/month before extra payroll heads (£1.85 each after the 5 included) and extra receipt captures (£0.20). Canada list after the promo is CA$23 / CA$50 / CA$72 +tax. Skip the offer and you get 30 days free on UK Start, Standard, or Plus. US buyers on sage.com/en-us are sent to Sage 50 or Sage Intacct, which are different products and different prices.
Start
VAT-registered sole traders and micro shops. 1 user. 1 payroll employee, then £1.85 each. No receipt snap.
- 1 user
- Unlimited sales invoices, bank rec, cash-flow forecast
- MTD VAT calculate and submit
- Sage Copilot on the plan
- Payroll: 1 employee, then £1.85/employee/mo
- No snap-and-scan receipts
Standard
Small UK shops with suppliers, CIS, or accrual. 3 users. Usual step-up before inventory.
- 3 users
- Quotes and estimates, custom reports
- CIS manage and submit
- Snap-and-scan: 30 included, then £0.20 per approved capture
- Payroll: 1 employee, then £1.85/employee/mo
- Sage Copilot
Plus
The 5-person shop: unlimited users, inventory, multi-currency, and 5 included payroll employees.
- Unlimited users
- Stock and inventory
- Budgets
- Multi-currency invoicing and banking
- Snap-and-scan: 100 included, then £0.20 per approved capture
- Payroll: 5 employees, then £1.85/employee/mo
How it hits your books
- Replaces your ledger
- Yes
- QuickBooks Online
- No
- Xero
- No
- Inventory
- Partial
- 1099s
- No
- Payroll
- Partial
Review unmatched bank lines, lock the VAT period, and run UK payroll in the same file. US close, 1099s, and sales-tax filings do not live here.
Invite the accountant into the organisation. UK firms already work in Sage Accounting. A US CPA will not take this file as a QuickBooks substitute. Sage Accounting does not e-file a US return or 1099s.
What people who used it say
What they tend to like
VAT and invoices from the phone
App Store reviewers who stay cite on-the-go invoices, expense snaps, and quarterly VAT that does not need the laptop every week.
MTD is why UK sole traders pick it
UK personal-finance threads name Sage Accounting as solid enough for a sole-trader MTD setup, not as a US QuickBooks substitute.
Bank feed tied to the invoice
Official UK bank-feed page and owner quotes centre on seeing whether a customer has paid because the feed is connected, then matching the line.
What they hesitate about
The mobile app is buggy
App Store reviews (2023) report Trends showing money-out only, duplicate purchase invoices, crashes on data pull, and older complaints that supplier payments showed as refunds.
Bank feed and statement import can break
A Sage Accounting + AutoEntry thread describes the bank feed and statement import breaking. Sage also publishes a live bank-feed status page (HSBC re-auth loops were listed this pass).
This is not the US Sage product people think it is
US sage.com sells Sage 50 and Sage Intacct, not this SKU. The App Store changelog ended US mobile support after 31 Dec 2024. The live $7.50 stub is a stale Accounting Start figure, not Intacct and not Sage 50.
Features
- Connect the bank and reconcile
- Connect a UK bank feed (Open Banking, re-authorise every 90 days, or a direct feed that can take 3–10 working days). Named examples: Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest. Lines import. You match, create, or transfer. Rules learn the categories you keep. If the bank is missing, import a statement. Multi-currency banking is Plus.
- Send invoices and collect on the invoice
- Create and send unlimited sales invoices on every plan. Quotes and estimates start on Standard. Customers can pay by card through Stripe (invoice payments only; no foreign-currency Stripe). GoCardless Direct Debit and Pay by Bank (UK and Ireland, July 2026) collect from the invoice. PayPal (UK) can land as a bank feed; fees need a separate match.
- File VAT, CIS, and stay MTD-ready
- Calculate and submit VAT to HMRC from the file. Making Tax Digital is on every UK plan. Assisted VAT and AI mistake checks are in the comparison table. Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) manage-and-submit starts on Standard. This is HMRC work, not IRS 1099s or a US sales-tax engine.
- Snap receipts (Standard and Plus)
- Start has no snap-and-scan. Standard includes 30 approved captures a month, then £0.20 each. Plus includes 100, then £0.20. AutoEntry is the named capture add-on on the mobile app page. Receipt work is not a US expense product.
- Payroll in the same UK subscription
- UK Start and Standard include 1 employee, then £1.85 per extra employee per month. Plus includes 5, then £1.85. Payslips, a 4-step pay run, HMRC notices, and pension auto-enrolment are in the table. Salary payments go through Crezco. This is UK PAYE, not Gusto-style US payroll. Standalone Sage Payroll is a different SKU.
- Inventory and multi-currency on Plus
- Plus adds stock, budgets, multi-currency invoicing, exchange-rate updates, and multi-currency banking. Standard is sold for suppliers, CIS, and accrual. Start is one user, invoices, bank rec, VAT, and Copilot. Do not treat Start as an inventory plan.
Images
Integrations
Platforms
Audience
Pick something else instead of Sage Accounting
QuickBooks Online
Stay in QuickBooks Online if you are a US shop, your CPA will only open that file, you need 1099s, US payroll, inventory, or classes. Sage Accounting replaces the file in the UK or Canada; it does not sit next to QuickBooks.
Xero
Pick Xero instead if you want the other paid cloud ledger with a larger US accountant network, or a UK file your bookkeeper already knows how to recover.
FreeAgent
Pick FreeAgent instead if you want the other UK HMRC ledger, a funded NatWest / Mettle licence, or a thin US company type with sales-tax reports. Sage Accounting has no US list.
KashFlow
Pick KashFlow instead if you want a cheaper UK invoice-and-VAT file and you do not need Sage's bundled payroll or the Sage accountant network.
Kick
Pick Kick instead if you want a US replacement ledger that categorises bank and processor feeds and hands your CPA a year-end package, without a UK tax engine.
Ready to try Sage Accounting?
Check the live pricing page before you sign up. Plans change.