# Alternatives to Finlens

> Source: https://tickmarkbooks.com/finlens/alternatives (re-verified)
> Updated: 7 November 2026

## At a glance

| Name | Best for | Starts at | A month at 100 transactions | Better than Finlens at | Checked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Finlens](https://tickmarkbooks.com/finlens.md) | QuickBooks Online accounting firms managing many client closes | Free, then $49 a month | $49 | — | 6 November 2026 |
| [Zeni](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zeni.md) | U.S. startups that want AI bookkeeping and a dedicated finance team | From $549 a month | Quote only | Notice before a price rise, People check the books | 6 November 2026 |
| [Sage Accounting (US)](https://tickmarkbooks.com/sage-accounting.md) | VAT-registered sole traders and small firms up to 49 employees wanting payroll built in | From about $27 a month | No longer sold | Cost at 100 transactions a month, Cost at 500 transactions a month | 3 November 2026 |
| [FreeAgent](https://tickmarkbooks.com/freeagent.md) | UK sole traders and small limited companies filing their own VAT and Self Assessment | From about $26 a month | About $26 | Cost at 100 transactions a month, Cost at 500 transactions a month | 6 November 2026 |
| [SimpleAI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/simpleai.md) | Accounting firms and finance teams processing high volumes of invoices and bank statements | From $79 a month | $106 | Cost at 100 transactions a month, Cost at 500 transactions a month | 7 November 2026 |
| [Zoho Expense](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zoho-expense.md) | US finance teams reimbursing employee travel and card spend alongside QuickBooks or Xero | Free, then $4 a seat a month | Does not apply | Accuracy the vendor claims, Other currencies | 27 October 2026 |
| [Zoho Books](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zoho-books.md) | Small businesses and startups that want one ledger plus the wider Zoho app suite | Free, then $20 a month | $20 | Cost at 100 transactions a month, Cost at 500 transactions a month | 26 October 2026 |
| [Glean.ai](https://tickmarkbooks.com/glean-ai.md) | High-growth finance teams managing vendor invoices and spend | From $295 a month billed annually | Quote only | Past your plan’s limits, Your accountant can sign in | 6 November 2026 |
| [Cranston](https://tickmarkbooks.com/cranston.md) | CPA firms that want returns and monthly books drafted inside their own software | From $40 per outcome | Does not apply | Cost at 100 transactions a month, Cost at 500 transactions a month | 6 November 2026 |
| [Puzzle](https://tickmarkbooks.com/puzzle.md) | A US startup on Mercury, Brex, Ramp, Stripe and Gusto that wants to replace QuickBooks | From $30 a month | $30 | Cost at 100 transactions a month, Cost at 500 transactions a month | 7 November 2026 |

“About” figures are converted at the European Central Bank rate of 10 November 2026.

The ones people open most here come first, then the closest matches.

## Shortlist

### 1. Zeni

AI bookkeeping for startups that runs on QuickBooks Online Plus, with a dedicated finance team checking the work.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Notice before a price rise: yes — The terms of service promise at least 45 days' written notice, including by email, before pricing changes for a renewal term; prices are fixed within the current term.](https://www.zeni.ai/legal/terms-of-service)
- [People check the books: yes — Zeni describes automated close work as reviewed and approved by a human accountant.](https://www.zeni.ai/ai-accountant-agent/month-end-close)
- [Your own bookkeeper: yes — Every bookkeeping subscription includes a dedicated team of bookkeeping and accounting experts.](https://www.zeni.ai/pricing)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Promotion and regular price: partial — yearly shown monthly: no promotion is shown, but the page opens on annual billing at $494 a month (billed annually), against $549 a month under the Monthly link, which is still an annual contract.](https://www.zeni.ai/pricing)
- [Ledger included: no — Zeni requires a separate QuickBooks Online Plus subscription to synchronize its dashboard.](https://www.zeni.ai/pricing)
- [Setup or onboarding fee: yes — Zeni charges a $2,000 setup fee for CFO Lite and $6,000 for CFO Premium and Enterprise.](https://www.zeni.ai/pricing)

[View Zeni](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zeni)

### 2. Sage Accounting (US)

Sage's cloud ledger for US small businesses. Sage retired it on 31 December 2024, and access ended on 31 January 2025.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Cost at 100 transactions a month: yes — £43 a month (about $58) on Standard for 100 transactions. Standard is 90% off for 6 months for new customers (£4.30 a month (about $5.77)). The figure is the regular £43 (about $58), paid after it.](https://www.sage.com/en-gb/sage-business-cloud/sage-accounting/)
- [Cost at 500 transactions a month: yes — £43 a month (about $58) on Standard for 500 transactions. Standard is 90% off for 6 months for new customers (£4.30 a month (about $5.77)). The figure is the regular £43 (about $58), paid after it.](https://www.sage.com/en-gb/sage-business-cloud/sage-accounting/)
- [Ledger included: yes — Sage Accounting is itself the general ledger, so there is no QuickBooks or Xero subscription to buy alongside it; the plan price buys the books themselves.](https://www.sage.com/en-ca/sage-business-cloud/accounting/)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Reads receipts and bills: partial — Receipt and invoice snapping is excluded from the entry Start plan and metered above it, with 30 captures on Standard and 100 on Plus before GBP 0.20 each.](https://www.sage.com/en-gb/sage-business-cloud/sage-accounting/)
- [Accrual books and reports: partial — Sage names accrual accounting as a reason to take the middle Standard plan rather than the entry plan, and its pages list advanced and custom reports without naming a monthly P&L, balance sheet and cash flow set.](https://www.sage.com/en-gb/sage-business-cloud/sage-accounting/)
- [Your data trains AI: yes — Sage's own AI and data ethics principles say customer product data is analyzed together with other customers' data to develop and train AI models, and that anonymized product data carries no opt-out.](https://www.sage.com/en-us/trust-security/ai-ethics/)

[View Sage Accounting (US)](https://tickmarkbooks.com/sage-accounting)

### 3. FreeAgent

UK cloud accounting with HMRC filing, bank feeds and AI receipt capture, priced per business type.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Cost at 100 transactions a month: yes — £19 a month (about $26) on Sole trader for 100 transactions. Sole trader is 50% off for 6 months for new customers (£9.50 a month (about $13)). The figure is the regular £19 (about $26), paid after it.](https://www.freeagent.com/pricing/)
- [Cost at 500 transactions a month: yes — £19 a month (about $26) on Sole trader for 500 transactions. Sole trader is 50% off for 6 months for new customers (£9.50 a month (about $13)). The figure is the regular £19 (about $26), paid after it.](https://www.freeagent.com/pricing/)
- [Ledger included: yes — FreeAgent is the accounting ledger itself: it keeps the books, builds the accounting reports and files the returns, so no QuickBooks or Xero subscription sits underneath it.](https://www.freeagent.com/features/accounting-software/)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Accrual books and reports: partial — It keeps accruals-basis books with automatic accounting reports, a dashboard profit and loss and limited-company Final Accounts; what it publishes for cash is a Cashflow forecast, not a monthly cash flow statement.](https://www.freeagent.com/pricing/)
- [People check the books: no — Checking the AI is yours: Smart Capture ends with you approving each captured bill or receipt, and no plan includes a bookkeeper reviewing the books, only UK support accountants answering questions.](https://www.freeagent.com/features/expenses/)
- [Files 1099s: no — The vendor's own inventory of what can be filed from FreeAgent is End of Year accounts, Payroll, Self Assessment and VAT, all to HMRC or Companies House; US contractor forms are not among them.](https://support.freeagent.com/hc/en-gb/articles/15539041420178-What-can-you-file-using-FreeAgent)

[View FreeAgent](https://tickmarkbooks.com/freeagent)

### 4. SimpleAI

AI agents that extract, classify and reconcile accounting documents, then publish them into Xero or QuickBooks.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Cost at 100 transactions a month: yes — $106 a month on Starter, on Xero Early for 100 transactions. Includes Xero Early at $27 a month, which Starter, on Xero Early needs.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/pricing)
- [Cost at 500 transactions a month: yes — $106 a month on Starter, on Xero Early for 500 transactions. Includes Xero Early at $27 a month, which Starter, on Xero Early needs.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/pricing)
- [Past your plan’s limits: yes — Past the monthly credit allowance you buy add-on packs at a published rate, but the number of packs is capped per month, so very heavy months force a plan upgrade rather than open-ended overage.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/pricing)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Promotion and regular price: no — none on the SAAM plan cards: the only discount the vendor names on them is 10% for annual billing, and the separate Bank Statement Extraction module is the one that runs a labeled limited-time promotion.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/pricing)
- [Ledger included: no — SAAM is not the ledger: it extracts and classifies documents and then publishes entries into the accounting software you already pay for, so a Xero, QuickBooks or Accurate subscription sits on top of its price.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/contact)
- [Accrual books and reports: partial — Financial statements come from NOVA, which generates Balance Sheets and Cash Flow Statements on request, whereas SAAM prepares entries for your own ledger to report from; neither page says the books are kept on an accrual basis.](https://simpleaiworks.com/en/solutions/nova)

[View SimpleAI](https://tickmarkbooks.com/simpleai)

### 5. Zoho Expense

Travel, expense and corporate card management with Zia AI receipt capture, from $4 per user a month.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Accuracy the vendor claims: partial — The vendor describes scanning as reliable and improving with learned merchants but publishes no measured accuracy rate or test method, and warns faint receipts need checking.](https://www.zoho.com/us/expense/expense-faqs/)
- [Other currencies: yes — Multi-currency expenses are on every plan including Free, with exchange rates applied automatically so staff spend in one currency and are repaid in another.](https://www.zoho.com/us/expense/expense-faqs/)
- [Sign up without a sales call: yes — You sign up and start any plan online and pay by card or PayPal; only the custom enterprise plan needs a quote from sales.](https://www.zoho.com/us/expense/pricing/)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Cost for a solo freelancer: partial — One freelancer can run a month at $0 on the Free plan with personal-card import, GPS mileage and receipt capture, but only 20 AI receipt scans a month.](https://www.zoho.com/us/expense/pricing/)
- [Promotion and regular price: partial — yearly shown monthly: the pricing page opens on the Yearly control, so the $3 and $5 per-user figures a visitor sees first are annual-billed rates, not the $4 and $6 month-to-month prices.](https://www.zoho.com/us/expense/pricing/)
- [Ledger included: no — No ledger is included; Zoho Expense is a travel and expense system that pushes approved expenses into an accounting product you pay for separately.](https://www.zoho.com/us/expense/expense-faqs/)

[View Zoho Expense](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zoho-expense)

### 6. Zoho Books

Cloud accounting ledger with Zia AI, bank feeds, sales tax and 1099 e-filing, from $20 a month.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Cost at 100 transactions a month: yes — $20 a month on Standard for 100 transactions.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/)
- [Cost at 500 transactions a month: yes — $50 a month on Professional for 500 transactions. Standard ($20) holds up to 5,000 transactions a year; the workload priced has 6,000 transactions a year.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/)
- [Ledger included: yes — Zoho Books is the accounting ledger itself, so no QuickBooks or Xero subscription sits underneath it; the plan fee covers invoicing, banking, journals and the reports.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Promotion and regular price: no — none — the $20 Standard rate is the standing month-to-month price; the lower $15 figure is simply the yearly billing rate, not a time-limited introductory offer.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/)
- [Categorizes transactions: partial — Zia pre-fills the account and vendor against each imported bank line, so it suggests rather than posts by itself, and the page does not claim it learns from your corrections.](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/accounting-software/ai-in-accounting/)
- [Stripe: partial — Stripe, PayPal, Square and Authorize.Net are supported payment gateways and Shopify stores connect on Elite and above (up to two)](https://www.zoho.com/us/books/pricing/pricing-comparison.html)

[View Zoho Books](https://tickmarkbooks.com/zoho-books)

### 7. Glean.ai

Bill pay that reads every invoice line item and benchmarks what you pay vendors against peers.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Past your plan’s limits: yes — There are no overage charges; after two consecutive months over a level, customers move up.](https://www.glean.ai/plans)
- [Your accountant can sign in: yes — Because every plan carries unlimited users at no charge, bringing your accountant or bookkeeper in costs nothing extra on any tier.](https://www.glean.ai/)
- [Accuracy the vendor claims: yes — Claims highly accurate invoice extraction within minutes, but gives no figure and does not say how accuracy was measured.](https://www.glean.ai/product)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Cost for a solo freelancer: partial — One person pays the same as a team, because the plans are sold by invoice volume and not per user: the cheapest public plan is $295 a month billed annually for up to 35 invoices, and that price does not include the accounting software the product connects to.](https://www.glean.ai/plans)
- [Promotion and regular price: no — yearly shown monthly: the Basic price of $295 a month is billed annually, and no promotion or first-months discount is shown on the plans page.](https://www.glean.ai/plans)
- [Ledger included: no — Glean is an accounts payable platform that integrates with a separate accounting system rather than replacing it.](https://www.glean.ai/)

[View Glean.ai](https://tickmarkbooks.com/glean-ai)

### 8. Cranston

AI that prepares whole tax returns inside Drake, Lacerte, CCH Axcess, UltraTax and ProSeries for CPA firms.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Cost at 100 transactions a month: yes — $57 a month on Bookkeeping, on Xero Early for 100 transactions. Includes Xero Early at $27 a month, which Bookkeeping, on Xero Early needs.](https://cranston.ai/pricing)
- [Cost at 500 transactions a month: yes — $57 a month on Bookkeeping, on Xero Early for 500 transactions. Includes Xero Early at $27 a month, which Bookkeeping, on Xero Early needs.](https://cranston.ai/pricing)
- [Past your plan’s limits: yes — There is no allowance to exceed; each return is billed at $40, and past 2,000 returns in a season the firm negotiates a volume price with the team.](https://cranston.ai/pricing)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Cost for a solo freelancer: partial — One freelancer's books cost a firm $30 a month as a single client book, but the client still needs a QuickBooks Online or Xero subscription and Cranston sells to the firm rather than to the freelancer.](https://cranston.ai/pricing)
- [Promotion and regular price: no — none: the $40 per prepared return is the published regular rate, with no promotional or first-months price shown on the pricing page.](https://cranston.ai/pricing)
- [Ledger included: no — Cranston is not a ledger; it reads the client's QuickBooks Online books to prepare returns, and the client keeps and pays for its own accounting system.](https://cranston.ai/integrations/quickbooks-online)

[View Cranston](https://tickmarkbooks.com/cranston)

### 9. Puzzle

AI-native ledger for startups, with optional bookkeepers from Puzzle or partner firms on the same books.

**Where it improves on Finlens:**
- [Cost at 100 transactions a month: yes — $30 a month on Starter for 100 transactions.](https://puzzle.io/pricing)
- [Cost at 500 transactions a month: yes — $30 a month on Starter for 500 transactions.](https://puzzle.io/pricing)
- [Ledger included: yes — It is the ledger; no QuickBooks or Xero needed. Puzzle is a double-entry general ledger of its own, sold as a QuickBooks replacement (Core card: 'Your QuickBooks replacement').](https://puzzle.io/)

**Trade-offs against Finlens:**
- [Promotion and regular price: no — none: the pricing page opens on monthly billing and shows the regular $30 Starter price; the yearly toggle shows $25 a month billed annually, with no time-limited promotion on any plan.](https://help.puzzle.io/en/articles/8891734-faq-pricing)
- [Other currencies: no — Books are kept in US dollars only; the migration FAQ answers the multi-currency question by saying so, and Stripe currency conversion happens on Stripe's side.](https://help.puzzle.io/en/?q=multi-currency)
- [For accounting firms: partial — Partner firm program by waitlist; no firm plan. Puzzle no longer sells its platform to accounting firms.](https://puzzle.io/accounting-partners)

[View Puzzle](https://tickmarkbooks.com/puzzle)