Clear Books review

Clear Books is UK accounting software for small businesses, sole traders, landlords and accountants. It covers invoicing, bookkeeping, VAT filing, MTD compliance and financial reporting, with a separate accountant portal for managing clients.

For sole traders, the key split is VAT status: the £5-a-month Sole Trader plan is for people without VAT registration, while the £15 Sole Trader Plus plan adds MTD VAT reporting, the flat-rate scheme and the VAT Domestic Reverse Charge. The free Sole Trader plan includes MTD quarterly updates and year-end filing, with no transaction limit.

Landlords get separate plans for UK and overseas properties, including free tiers for one property or grouped records. For companies, Small starts at £16 a month; Medium adds VAT and CIS submissions, and Large adds project accounting, multi-currency and fixed assets. Small, Medium and Large cost less with longer billing, and prices are plus VAT.

The clearest advantage is that Clear Books has free options for several kinds of user, not just a short trial. The Sole Trader Free plan includes MTD quarterly updates and year-end filing, and the Property Free and Foreign Property Free plans also cover MTD updates and year-end filing. Each lists no transaction limits, though the free property plans are aimed at one property or grouped records.

Paid plans add features in understandable steps:

• Sole Trader adds bill and receipt scanning, automated bank feeds, invoicing, reports and unlimited users for £5 a month. It is for businesses without VAT.
• Sole Trader Plus costs £15 a month and adds MTD VAT reporting, a flat-rate scheme and the Domestic Reverse Charge.
• Small costs £16 a month, or £14.40 when billed yearly, and includes bank feeds with automated matching, invoicing, full reporting, integrations, an API and user permissions.
• Medium adds MTD VAT and CIS submissions; Large adds project accounting, multi-currency and fixed assets.

Clear Books also lists branded and recurring invoices, automatic late-payment reminders, direct HMRC VAT submissions, financial reports and an accountant portal. There is a 30-day free trial listed, though the pricing information does not specify which plans it applies to.

The plan boundaries matter. The £5 Sole Trader plan is explicitly for people without VAT; VAT-registered sole traders need the £15 Plus plan for MTD VAT reporting. Company VAT submissions start at Medium, listed at £34 monthly or £30.60 with yearly billing. Small, Medium and Large are also subject to VAT, and the lower prices require annual or two-year billing. The pricing information does not list annual prices for the sole trader or property plans.

Several extras have no published price: payroll, Instant Bank Payments and Auto Bills for Small, Medium and Large. Auto Bills is included on paid Sole Trader and Property plans, but the pricing page does not say what the add-on costs elsewhere. No per-user costs are listed; unlimited users are specified for paid Sole Trader and Property plans, not every plan.

Setup help is another reason to check before committing. In one r/uklandlords thread, a user said they struggled to set up Clear Books for landlord MTD and found that useful support came at a cost. That is one user’s account, not a measure of support for every customer, but it is a relevant warning if you need guided setup. Another Reddit thread describes the interface as dated; that, too, is an individual opinion.

Clear Books has free plans for sole traders, landlords with one property and landlords with one overseas property. Paid Sole Trader and Property plans start at £5 per month; Sole Trader Plus is £15 per month for VAT-registered sole traders. That is a £10 monthly jump if you need its listed MTD VAT reporting.

For companies, Small costs £16 per month, Medium £34 and Large £44. Medium adds VAT and CIS submissions; Large adds project accounting, multi-currency and fixed assets. The pricing page lists lower annual rates for those three plans: £14.40, £30.60 and £39.60 per month. Billing every two years is listed as 20% less than monthly; annual billing is 10% less. Prices are plus VAT.

Payroll and Instant Bank Payments are optional extras with prices not published. Auto Bills is included on paid Sole Trader and Property plans, but is an extra for company plans, also with no listed price. Paid Sole Trader and Property plans include unlimited users, and no per-user fees are listed.

Before moving, confirm how Clear Books will handle the records you need to bring across: invoices, contacts, bank data, VAT history and any payroll information. Its listed features include invoicing, bank feeds, VAT submissions and payroll, but the published product information does not explain migration support, data-import options or export formats. Get those details in writing before cancelling your current software, especially if you need a complete archive or plan to leave later.

The published information also does not establish a lock-in period or whether all data can be exported. Ask about cancellation terms, export fees and access to records after cancellation rather than assuming they are included. We were not given Reddit posts or comments about Clear Books, so we cannot responsibly name user-reported reasons for leaving. The clearest known friction points here are unresolved migration and export details, plus add-on prices that are not published—not evidence of a widespread user complaint.