MTD-compatible software, compared honestly

Making Tax Digital obliges you to buy software, which makes this an unusually easy market to be sold to in. So here is the short version: a lot of people reading this need to spend nothing at all.

Start here: what suits your situation

Skip the grid if you like. These are the answers we would give a friend, and the reasoning is there so you can disagree with it.

You are a sole trader with simple affairs and you are not VAT registered

Sage Sole Trader — Free plan

Start with the free Sage plan. It keeps digital records, sends the quarterly updates and handles the year-end submission, and it costs nothing. If you hit the invoice or bank account limits, £7 a month lifts them. There is no reason to pay £16 a month for Xero to do a job a free product does.

You are a landlord with one to three properties and nothing complicated

Sage Sole Trader — Free plan · FreeAgent — Landlord · Hammock — Basic

Try the free Sage plan first — it records landlord income and expenses. If you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle, FreeAgent's landlord plan is free to you and is a fuller product. Pay for Hammock if you want rent tracking and arrears chasing, which the other two do not do.

Your property income is complicated — jointly held, overseas, or you are non-resident

untied — Pro

untied states support for sole owners, jointly held property, portfolio landlords, non-UK resident landlords and foreign property. Most of the cheaper products do not say they handle these, and a product that quietly cannot do your case is worse than one that costs more.

You have both a business and rental property

Coconut — MTD Filing · untied — Pro

You need one product that covers both, or you will be doing the work twice. Coconut and untied both state support for self-employment and property in the same account. A landlord-only product like Hammock will not cover the trade.

You keep good records in a spreadsheet and want to carry on

123 Sheets — MTD bridging · TaxCalc — MTD Quarterly Filer for Business (Individual)

You do not have to abandon the spreadsheet. Bridging software submits from it, and it is the cheapest route on this page. Check how you will handle the year-end declaration before you commit — bridging tools are built around the quarterly updates.

Your accountant does your books

Ask them first, and buy nothing until you have. Most practices have picked a product and get better rates on it than you will, and they may already be planning to file for you. Buying your own subscription first is the most common way to waste money on this.

Every product we checked

Prices are the standing price, not the introductory offer — an 80% discount for six months is not a price, it is a marketing campaign, so promotions are listed separately. Each row links to the vendor's own page, which is where the figures came from.

MTD-compatible software compared on price, audience, bank feeds and what it files
Product	Price	Who it suits	Bank feeds	Quarterly updates	Final declaration
Sage Sole Trader — Free plan	Free No monthly fee.	Sole traders, Landlords	One bank account	Yes	Yes
ANNA — Free plan	Free No monthly fee; you pay for individual services you use.	Sole traders	ANNA's own business account	Yes	Yes
Sage Sole Trader	£7 a month + VAT Single user.	Sole traders, Landlords	Multiple bank accounts	Yes	Yes
Hammock — Basic	£8 a month + VAT One to three properties. £76.80 + VAT a year if paid annually.	Landlords	Unlimited bank feeds	Yes	Yes
FreeAgent — Landlord	£10 a month + VAT £100 + VAT a year. Free if you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle.	Landlords	Yes	Yes	Yes
FreeAgent — Sole Trader	£19 a month + VAT £190 + VAT a year. Free if you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle.	Sole traders	Yes	Yes	Yes
Coconut — MTD Filing	£129.99 a year Or £12.99 a month.	Sole traders, Landlords	Yes, via Open Banking	Yes	Yes
untied — Pro	£129.99 a year untied Lite is £64.99 a year.	Sole traders, Landlords	Yes, unlimited accounts	Yes	Yes
QuickBooks — Sole Trader Plus	£108 a year + VAT Single user, plus access for your accountant.	Sole traders	Yes	Yes	Not stated
Xero — Ignite	£16 a month + VAT Xero's cheapest plan.	Sole traders	Yes	Yes	Not stated
Landlord Vision — Starter	£19.97 a month excl. VAT Four active tenancies, billed yearly.	Landlords	Yes, via Open Banking	Yes	Yes
123 Sheets — MTD bridging	£19.75 a year + VAT Per taxpayer, covering multiple self-employments and property lets. The site notes this price includes a first-year 50% discount.	Spreadsheet keepers, Sole traders, Landlords	No	Yes	Not stated
TaxCalc — MTD Quarterly Filer for Business (Individual)	From £24 a year The individual version of a product also sold to accountancy practices.	Spreadsheet keepers, Sole traders, Landlords	No	Yes	No

"Not stated" means exactly that — the vendor's own page does not say, and we are not going to guess on your behalf. Ask them before you pay if it matters to you.

The catch in each one

Every product on this page has something worth knowing before you pay. This is the part the vendors do not lead with.

Sage Sole Trader — Free plan — Free

A sole trader or landlord with straightforward affairs who is not VAT registered and does not need much beyond digital records and the two HMRC submissions.

Worth knowing: Five sales invoices a month, one connected bank account, and 25 auto-categorised transactions. Sage describes it as suiting non-VAT-registered sole traders. If you outgrow those limits the paid tier is £7 a month.

Checked on Sage — Sage Sole Trader plans and pricing on 2026-08-11.

ANNA — Free plan — Free

A sole trader who wants the business account and the tax filing in the same app, and is happy to open a new business account to get it.

Worth knowing: ANNA is a business account first and accounting software second, so this only makes sense if you want the account too. Auto Accounting is free for four months and then £29 a month on the Free and Grow plans. Landlords with no trading business are not the target user.

Checked on ANNA Money — pricing on 2026-08-11.

Sage Sole Trader — £7 a month + VAT

The same as the free plan, for people who need more than one bank account connected, unlimited invoices or CIS.

Worth knowing: Still aimed at non-VAT-registered sole traders. If you are VAT registered you are pushed up to the Start plan at £20 a month + VAT.

Current offer: 90% off for six months at the time of checking.

Checked on Sage — Sage Sole Trader plans and pricing on 2026-08-11.

Hammock — Basic — £8 a month + VAT

A landlord with a small portfolio who wants rent tracking and arrears alerts alongside the tax filing, and nothing to do with self-employment.

Worth knowing: Landlords only. It will not handle sole trader income, so if you have both a business and a rental you will need something else as well.

Checked on Hammock — pricing on 2026-08-11.

FreeAgent — Landlord — £10 a month + VAT

A landlord who already banks with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle — in which case it costs nothing — or who wants a mainstream product with a landlord-priced plan.

Worth knowing: The free-with-a-bank-account route means opening or holding an account with one of four banks; with Mettle you also have to make at least one transaction a month to keep it free.

Current offer: 50% off the first six months, or the first year on annual billing.

Checked on FreeAgent — pricing on 2026-08-11.

FreeAgent — Sole Trader — £19 a month + VAT

A sole trader who wants full invoicing, expenses and a proper accounting product — and especially one who banks with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle and can have it free.

Worth knowing: Twice the price of the equivalent Coconut plan if you are paying for it. The case for it is much stronger if your bank gives it to you.

Current offer: 50% off the first six months, or the first year on annual billing.

Checked on FreeAgent — pricing on 2026-08-11.

Coconut — MTD Filing — £129.99 a year

A sole trader, landlord or CIS subcontractor who wants one simple app built for exactly this job rather than a general accounting package.

Worth knowing: The year-end declaration is included, but filing a full Self Assessment return with other income on it (SA100 and the rest) needs the £159.99 plan.

Current offer: 14-day free trial, no card required — but you cannot file during the trial.

Checked on Coconut — pricing on 2026-08-11.

untied — Pro — £129.99 a year

The awkward cases: jointly held property, foreign property, non-resident landlords, portfolio landlords, or someone running several sole trades at once.

Worth knowing: Smaller and less known than the big names, which matters to some people and not to others. Check the Lite plan covers your situation before paying for Pro.

Current offer: 30-day free trial.

Checked on untied — Making Tax Digital on 2026-08-11.

QuickBooks — Sole Trader Plus — £108 a year + VAT

A sole trader who wants a big, well-supported product and may grow into VAT registration or payroll later.

Worth knowing: The pricing page lists "MTD for Income Tax ready", "MTD for Income Tax submission checks" and "Prepare for Self Assessment", but does not spell out that the plan files the final declaration. Ask before buying if that matters to you. There is no landlord-priced plan.

Current offer: 90% off for the first year at the time of checking.

Checked on QuickBooks UK — pricing on 2026-08-11.

Xero — Ignite — £16 a month + VAT

Someone who already uses Xero, or whose accountant works in Xero, or who is running a business big enough to need the rest of it.

Worth knowing: The most expensive way on this page to meet an obligation the free Sage plan also meets. Xero states all its plans are MTD ready but does not set out final declaration support plan by plan. Xero has also announced its UK prices rise from 1 September 2026.

Current offer: 80% off for the first six months at the time of checking.

Checked on Xero UK — pricing on 2026-08-11.

Landlord Vision — Starter — £19.97 a month excl. VAT

A landlord who wants tenancy, compliance and document management as well as tax — not someone who only needs to satisfy HMRC.

Worth knowing: This is property management software with MTD included, not MTD software. At the standing price it is more than twice Hammock and infinitely more than the free Sage plan. Only worth it for the property management.

Current offer: 60% off for two years at the time of checking, taking it to £7.99 a month.

Checked on Landlord Vision — pricing on 2026-08-11.

123 Sheets — MTD bridging — £19.75 a year + VAT

Someone who already keeps good records in a spreadsheet and wants to carry on, adding only the bit that talks to HMRC.

Worth knowing: Bridging software: it sends the quarterly figures out of your spreadsheet. The page describes quarterly filing and does not state that it handles the year-end declaration, so plan for how you will do that. Their own bookkeeping spreadsheet is £40 + VAT extra.

Checked on 123 Sheets — MTD bridging software for the self-employed on 2026-08-11.

TaxCalc — MTD Quarterly Filer for Business (Individual) — From £24 a year

A spreadsheet keeper who wants a bridging tool from an established UK tax software firm.

Worth knowing: Quarterly updates only. TaxCalc states the final position is calculated in their separate Tax Return Production software, so the year-end is another purchase or another product.

Checked on TaxCalc — MTD Quarterly Filer for Business on 2026-08-11.

Check it against HMRC's list before you pay

HMRC keeps the authoritative list of recognised software and it is longer than this page. A product that suits you but is not on that list is no use to you. Use the GOV.UK software finder to confirm, and check it covers your income types — some products are recognised for self-employment but not property, or the other way round.

Four things to check before you buy anything

Does it cover all your income? If you have a trade and a rental, one product has to handle both or you will keep two sets of books.
Does it file the year-end as well as the quarters? Several cheap products do the quarterly updates and stop there. That is a legitimate design, but you need a plan for the final declaration. What the quarterly updates involve.
Is your accountant already using something? Ask before you buy. They may be filing for you.
Are you actually in scope yet? The lowest announced threshold is £20,000 of qualifying income, and there is no obligation below it. Run the checker before you spend anything.

Check when this starts for you

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Here is precisely what you are signing up for:

One email about three months before your start date, and one about a month before.
An email if HMRC changes the thresholds or moves the dates.
Occasional emails about MTD software we build. You can turn these off and still keep the reminders.
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Common questions

Do I have to pay for MTD software?

No. There are free products recognised by HMRC. Sage lists a free Sole Trader plan that keeps digital records and submits both the quarterly updates and the year-end Self Assessment, and ANNA lists free MTD ITSA filing on its free plan. HMRC also notes that free products exist for simple tax affairs, with limits on how they can be used.

What is the cheapest way to comply with Making Tax Digital?

For most people with simple affairs, a free plan. If you already keep records in a spreadsheet, bridging software is the next cheapest route — 123 Sheets lists £19.75 a year plus VAT per taxpayer and TaxCalc lists its individual Quarterly Filer from £24 a year. Check how the year-end declaration will be handled before you buy a bridging tool.

Can I keep using my spreadsheet under MTD?

Yes, if you add bridging software that submits from it. Your bookkeeping still has to be digital, but a spreadsheet counts as digital. Bridging tools are built around the quarterly updates, so confirm how you will file the final declaration.

Do I need different software if I have both a business and a rental property?

You need one product that covers both, or you will keep two sets of records. Coconut and untied both state support for self-employment and property income in the same account. A landlord-only product such as Hammock will not cover a sole trade.

What software do I need if my property is jointly owned or overseas?

Check the vendor says so explicitly before paying. untied states support for sole owners, jointly held property, portfolio landlords, non-UK resident landlords and foreign property. Many cheaper products do not say either way.

Is this the official list of MTD-compatible software?

No. HMRC keeps the authoritative list and it is longer than this page. This is a comparison of products we have checked ourselves, aimed at sole traders and landlords. Always confirm a product is HMRC-recognised on GOV.UK before you buy it.

Should I buy software if my accountant does my books?

Ask your accountant before you buy anything. Most practices have already chosen a product, usually get better rates on it than an individual can, and may be planning to file on your behalf. Buying your own subscription first is a common way to waste money.

Where these prices come from

Every price and capability on this page was read off the vendor's own live page on 2026-08-11. Prices change without notice and promotions change faster — if you find one of these is wrong, it is wrong and we want to know. The rules themselves come from GOV.UK.

Checked against GOV.UK on 2026-08-11. See every source we used.