Choosing practice management software for a bookkeeping firm
This guide is for owners of bookkeeping and CAS firms who close books every month for dozens of clients. It covers what to test, what each pricing unit costs a firm like yours, and what it takes to leave. Firmary publishes it and makes one of the tools in it. Firmary doesn’t integrate with QuickBooks, Xero or any accounting software,1 so it isn’t the tool for tracking the close, and the guide says so where it matters.
The six things to judge for a bookkeeping practice
The close checklist. Every other tool on this site has workflow templates for repeat work.2–7 Test the boring parts: can a due date sit a set number of days after month-end, can a step need a reviewer before the close counts as done, and can you change the template once without editing 60 client copies by hand.
Client questions about transactions. This is the daily work of a close. Ask whether the question carries the transaction from the ledger, whether the client can answer on a phone without a password, and whether the answer goes back to the books or into a note someone retypes. Double and Financial Cents’ Month-End Close both answer the first question with a yes.8,9
The ledger link. Write down the direction and the records. “Integrates with QuickBooks” can mean a two-way sync of the client’s books or a one-way push of your own invoices. The next section lays out what each link moves.
Capacity and time. Fixed monthly fees hide clients that eat hours. You want time against a budget per client. Financial Cents and Karbon include budgets on every plan, and TaxDome sets time budgets per job in its single plan.10–12 Firmary compares recorded time with budgets.13 Jetpack Workflow puts budget-vs-actual on Premium,14 and Uku’s client budgeting is on Solo and Elite.15
The client side. Clients who won’t log in hold up the close. Look for sign-in by emailed link. Double, Financial Cents and Uku all describe magic-link access,16–18 and in Firmary a client can answer a single request from an emailed link after entering a one-time code.19
Automatic reminders, by plan. Reminders are often a higher tier. Karbon’s automatic client reminders need Business,20 and Financial Cents lists auto follow-ups for client tasks on Scale.21 Price the plan that has them, not the entry plan.
What each QuickBooks or Xero link moves
From each vendor’s own pages, as of 10 Nov 2026. Products are in alphabetical order.
| Tool | QuickBooks Online | Xero |
|---|---|---|
| Double | Two-way sync; changes update the client’s ledger22 | Two-way sync22 |
| Financial Cents | Client records, invoice statuses and payments, both ways;23 Month-End Close reads transactions and writes approved changes back9 | Not listed24 |
| Firmary (ours) | None1 | None1 |
| Jetpack Workflow | In version 1 of the product only25 | None listed25 |
| Karbon | Contacts both ways, invoices one way, through QuickBooks Online Accountant26 | Contacts matched, invoices synced, payments both ways27 |
| TaxDome | TaxDome invoices and payments; a bookkeeping hub for uncategorized transactions28 | Not listed29 |
| Uku | Clients imported, invoices exported, bidirectional sync30 | Clients imported, invoices exported30 |
Two links in this table are described as reaching into a client’s transactions: Double’s, and Financial Cents’ add-on for QuickBooks Online files. TaxDome’s bookkeeping hub for uncategorized transactions is the closest of the rest.28 The rest mainly carry contacts, invoices and payments between the practice tool and a ledger. Ask each vendor which ledger file the sync writes to, the client’s or your firm’s, before you assume.
Choosing the tool is half of it. The other half is deciding which close steps run on rules and reminders, which is covered in this guide to automating the monthly close.
Per connected client or per user, worked through for one firm
Say a 5-person bookkeeping firm closes the books for 60 clients a month, all on QuickBooks Online, and grows to 120 clients and 7 staff. Here is each tool’s cost for a year at list price, as of 10 Nov 2026, using annual billing where the vendor quotes it. These are examples, and the arithmetic is ours.
| Tool and plan | How it’s charged | 60 clients, 5 staff | 120 clients, 7 staff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double Core | $10 per connected client per month31 | $7,200 | $14,400 |
| Financial Cents Team | $49 per user per month32 | $2,940 | $4,116 |
| Financial Cents Team with Month-End Close | Plus $5 per client per month, first client free33 | $6,480 | $11,256 |
| Jetpack Workflow Starter | $40 per user per month34 | $2,400 | $3,360 |
| Karbon Team | $59 per user per month35 | $3,540 | $4,956 |
| TaxDome | $1,500 a year minimum, covering 150 active clients and 20 seats36 | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Uku Team | $38 per member per month37 | $2,280 | $3,192 |
The rows don’t buy the same thing, so the cheapest row isn’t automatically the cheapest answer:
- Double’s price includes the two-way ledger sync and transaction questions.8,22 Of the per-user rows, only Financial Cents with Month-End Close describes reaching QuickBooks Online transactions,9 so that’s the fairer pair to compare.
- For the 5-person firm, Double Core costs $10 times the number of clients each month.31 Financial Cents Team with Month-End Close costs $245 plus $5 for each client after the first.32,33 The two meet at 48 clients. Below that, Double Core costs less; above it, Financial Cents does, at list price.
- Entry plans can lack the reminders you want. For the 5-person firm, Karbon Business costs $5,340 a year and Financial Cents Scale $4,140, the plans that list automatic client reminders and auto follow-ups.20,21,32,35
- Double lets firms mix plans client by client.31 Ask which features you need sit on Core, Plus or Scale before using the Core price.
- TaxDome’s minimum covers this firm at both sizes,36 but each client account counts separately, so a client with two entities can count twice.38
In our view, a small team with a long list of QuickBooks Online clients pays least on TaxDome’s minimum or a per-user plan, at these list prices, and per-user cost stays flat as the client list grows. Per-connected-client pricing stays flat as you hire, which suits a firm adding staff faster than clients, or one that wants the close done inside a two-way ledger sync.
What switching costs, and what you can take with you
Switching practice software doesn’t move the books. Each client’s ledger history stays in QuickBooks Online or Xero. What moves is your templates, client list, open questions, time history and documents.
Onboarding, as each vendor states it on 10 Nov 2026:
- Double starts with a demo, then a free trial or contracted pilot.39
- Financial Cents lists premium onboarding and a dedicated success manager only on Enterprise.40
- Jetpack Workflow gives every account four free onboarding sessions and sells a $1,500 setup package.41,42
- Karbon runs free group sessions; guided implementation is a paid one-time fee.43
- TaxDome expects most firms to complete implementation in 6 to 8 weeks,44 and importing a client list is free.45
- Uku gives the first 90 minutes of help free, with paid packages of $700 for teams up to 4 and $2,000 for up to 15 members.46
Getting your data out:
- Financial Cents’ help center says you can export projects, clients and time data; the article dates from September 2021 and doesn’t mention documents.47
- Firmary exports clients, contacts, tasks, time entries, aged receivables and the audit log as CSV and documents as a ZIP, and an owner can export the whole firm.48 Its import takes clients, tasks and time entries from CSV, but not documents, messages, engagements or billing history.49
- Jetpack Workflow exports projects and tasks as CSV, up to 1,000 records at a time, and exports clients from the Clients page.50
- Karbon lists standard data export on Team and Business.51
- TaxDome exports each record type as a zipped CSV; documents come out folder by folder.52
- Uku: clients with all their fields, to Excel, ready to edit and re-import.53
We didn’t find an export description for Double on the pages we checked. Ask for one in writing.
Timing. Switch in the first week after a close, and run one close for 3 or 4 clients in both systems before you move everyone. Avoid January, when 1099s land on the same desks.
Questions to ask in a demo
- Rebuild last month’s close for one of our clients as your template, with due dates set from month-end. How long did that take?
- When we send a client a question about a transaction, does the question carry the transaction from QuickBooks Online or Xero, and where does the answer end up?
- Which direction does your QuickBooks Online link run, which records does it touch, and is it the client’s file or ours? Same questions for Xero.
- Which plan includes automatic client reminders, and what does that plan cost for our team on annual billing?
- What does our bill become if we add 20 clients and no staff? And if we add 2 staff and no clients?
- Show us a client answering a question on a phone without a password.
- Show budget against actual time for one fixed-fee client for last month.
- If we change the close template, do the open months for all clients update, or only new months?
- If we leave, what does the export contain, in what format, and are documents included?
- Who moves our templates and client list, how long does it take, and what does it cost?
- Is the contract monthly or annual, and can we remove users or clients during the term?
A checklist to print
- Ledger: QuickBooks Online, Xero, or both
- Close template rebuilt and run for 3 real clients
- Client question sent and answered on a phone
- Ledger link: direction and records written down
- Plan with automatic reminders identified
- Annual cost at list price for today’s clients and staff
- Annual cost with 25% more clients
- Annual cost with 2 more staff
- Time against budget shown for one fixed-fee client
- Contract length and billing period confirmed
- Export tested: clients, tasks, time, documents
- Onboarding cost and dates agreed, away from month-end
- Security attestation noted as the vendor states it
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Sources
Each product fact on this page links to a numbered source. Quotes are copied as the page’s text reads on the date shown, spacing included.
- 1
Firmary Ours
Firmary doesn’t integrate with accounting software (such as QuickBooks or Xero) or tax software.
- 2
Double
Create workflow templates and one-off tasks that are automatically re-applied each month.
- 3
Financial Cents
400+ templates built for accounting firms just like you
- 4
Jetpack Workflow
Set tasks and projects to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
- 5
Karbon
Assign tasks, create work from templates, schedule jobs, and view dashboards.
- 6
TaxDome
End-to-end processes for tax, bookkeeping, and CAS.
- 7
Uku
Set recurrence rules (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, custom).
- 8
Double
Set the reminder cadence once and Double nudges clients by email or text until questions are answered.
- 9
Financial Cents
You can send clients questions about specific transactions from the review screen. ... via a secure magic link, with no password required. Responses sync back into the Shared Transactions report for you to approve. ... must have their QBO file connected to Financial Cents. ... Financial Cents Month-End Close does this for clients on QuickBooks Online and syncs approved changes back to QBO.
- 10
Financial Cents
Time tracking Invoicing & billing Proposals & engagement letters QuickBooks Online Integration Budgeting & reporting
- 11
Karbon
Time Tracking Work Budgets Capacity Planning
- 12
TaxDome
Set time estimates per job. ... Monitor capacity, prevent bottlenecks.
- 13
Firmary Ours
Staff record time against client work and compare it with budgets; reports show unbilled time and realization.
- 14
Jetpack Workflow
Time Tracking & Time Logs Budget & Actuals Reports Capacity Management (Weekly & Yearly)
- 15
Uku
Your secret weapon for building good time-tracking habits.
- 16
Double
Custom-branded portal at your own domain
- 17
Financial Cents
With our secure magic link technology your clients will be able to access the portal without ever having to create a username or password
- 18
Uku
Customize with your logo, colors, domain, description, video and language.
- 19
Firmary Ours
Clients use PocketFirm in a web browser on a computer or phone and can add it to the home screen; no app install. For a single request, a client can answer from an emailed link after entering a one-time code, without signing in.
- 20
Karbon
Includes everything in Team, plus: Automatic Client Reminders Task Automation Industry Integrations
- 21
Financial Cents
Everything in Team Plan, plus Auto-follow ups for client tasks Customize client task emails Task dependencies Auto-send email updates Auto-create work
- 22
Double
All changes made in Double instantly update in QuickBooks Online and Xero
- 23
Financial Cents
Our two-way QuickBooks Online sync keeps your accounting data up to date by ensuring that client records, invoice statuses, and payment details are automatically reflected in both systems.
- 24
Financial Cents
Import clients, link employees, and sync time logs effortlessly with QuickBooks Online.
- 25
Jetpack Workflow
QuickBooks Online and Zapier integrations are available in version 1. Support for both in version 2 is on the roadmap.
- 26
Karbon
Two-way contact sync ... Automatic one-way invoice sync
- 27
Karbon
Karbon invoices will be synced to Xero, and payments collected from either system will be auto-synced with the other.
- 28
TaxDome
Automatically sync all payments and invoices created in TaxDome with your QuickBooks Online account.
- 29
TaxDome
QuickBooks Online
- 30
Uku
Uku’s powerful billing automatically generates all invoices and exports them to QuickBooks. The sync is bidirectional — changes flow both ways.
- 31
Double
$10 per month/per client ... $25 per month/per client ... $50 per month/per client
- 32
Financial Cents
Solo ($19/mo annual) – Best for single-user firms. Team ($49/mo annual, $69/mo monthly) ... Scale ($69/mo annual, $89/mo monthly)
- 33
Financial Cents
Month-End Close is a premium add-on priced at $5 per client, per month, available on any Financial Cents plan. Eligible firms can try it free with one client, with no time limit.
- 34
Jetpack Workflow
**Starter** – $49 per user per month billed monthly, or $40 per user per month billed annually.
- 35
Karbon
Team$59/month, per user, paid annually Or $79/month per user, paid monthly ... Business$89/month, per user, paid annually Or $99/month per user, paid monthly
- 36
TaxDome
Pricing starts at 150 active clients, which is $1,500 a year, or about $0.83 per client a month. That minimum applies even if you have fewer than 150 active clients.
- 37
Uku
$ 38 /mo per member, billed annually or $49/mo billed monthly ... $ 48 /mo per member, billed annually or $62/mo billed monthly ... $ 88 /mo per member, billed annually or $99/mo billed monthly
- 38
TaxDome
Each client account counts on its own. If one person has a personal return and a partnership return, they count as two active clients.
- 39
Double
Your first step is a personalized demo with our team. If you sign a contract to pilot Double, we’ll introduce you to a dedicated Customer Success team member
- 40
Financial Cents
Premium training & onboarding Dedicated customer success manager
- 41
Jetpack Workflow
4 complimentary onboarding sessions for every account.
- 42
Jetpack Workflow
Onboarding Setup & Training Package ... $1,500 One time add-on
- 43
Karbon
guided implementation is an optional paid service led by a specialist. Its one-time fee depends on your firm’s size and scope
- 44
TaxDome
Most firms complete TaxDome implementation in 6–8 weeks.
- 45
TaxDome
Importing your client list is free and unlimited, and contacts without activity cost nothing.
- 46
Uku
The first 90 min of onboarding help is free for every new account
- 47
Financial Cents (help)
You can easily export the following data from Financial Cents. ... All your client work/ projects ... All your clients and their information ... Time tracking data
- 48
Firmary Ours
Staff with permission export clients, contacts, tasks, time entries, aged receivables and the audit log as CSV and documents as a ZIP; an owner can export the whole firm.
- 49
Firmary Ours
Firms import clients, tasks and time entries from CSV, review the rows before anything is created, and inviting clients is a separate step. Documents, messages, engagements and billing history aren’t imported.
- 50
Jetpack Workflow (help)
use the Export Table button in the top right corner to download your current filtered view as a .csv (up to 1,000 records). On the Clients page, use the Export option to download your client and contact data.
- 51
Karbon
Data Import Self-Service Assisted Fully Managed Data Export Standard Standard Custom
- 52
TaxDome (help)
To export all the data from your active accounts to a CSV file ... You’ll receive a zipped CSV file containing all your time-tracking data ... If you want your documents to be stored on your computer, copy their folders from ... then paste them to your local drive.
- 53
Uku
Export clients with all fields to Excel; edit and re-import.