Guide

Annual vs monthly billing for accounting software

What the annual discount is worth on the tools that publish both prices, with the break-even.

Prices as of October 8, 2026 · US list prices

Many accounting tools publish two prices for the same plan: a higher one for paying monthly and a lower one for paying a year at a time. The page usually shows the annual rate first and divides it by twelve, so it looks like a monthly price. This guide shows what the gap is worth for the tools that publish both, and what to check before committing a year.

Tools that publish both prices

Prices as of October 8, 2026, in US dollars, before tax.

The discount runs from 10% to 25% across these plans. Dext’s own banner says “Up to 20% cheaper with an annual subscription”, which matches its $31.50 monthly price less 20%. “Months of monthly billing that equal it” is the break-even: if you would stop using the tool sooner than that, monthly billing costs less, assuming no refund and no price change.

Worked example: the same tool, two ways of paying

A firm with 8 users on SmartVault Accounting Pro pays 8 × $85 × 12 = $8,160 a year billed monthly, or 8 × $65 × 12 = $6,240 a year billed annually, a difference of $1,920 (23.5%). A firm with 10 users on Karbon Team pays 10 × $79 × 12 = $9,480 billed monthly, or 10 × $59 × 12 = $7,080 billed annually, a difference of $2,400. These are list prices; SmartVault also sets a minimum of 2 users for Accounting Pro, and Karbon sells monthly billing only to teams of 4 or more.

Tools that publish one billing option

StackWatch records a single monthly price per plan for QuickBooks Online, Gusto, OnPay, BILL and Fathom. Xero’s US page offers monthly billing only: its FAQ answers “Can I pay the subscription annually?” by describing monthly invoicing (read September 12, 2026), so third-party claims of an annual prepayment discount do not describe the US page. TaxDome’s three plans are priced per seat per year by length of commitment, not per month; its page also mentions seasonal seats (Business plan only, $500 per seat for a four-month term, read October 5, 2026). Tax software is licensed per tax year.

TaxDome: price per seat per year by commitment

As of October 8, 2026. TaxDome’s own page lists all three prices at once; quote the 1-year price when comparing with a month-to-month tool.

Three things to check before you commit to a year

1. Will you use it for the whole term? The break-even column shows how many months of monthly billing equal one annual payment, from about 9 to 11 months for the tools above. Use annual billing only if you expect to keep the tool at least that long.

2. When does the next increase apply to you? Vendors can apply increases at renewal. Intuit applied its August 2026 QuickBooks Online increase to direct subscriptions renewing on or after August 1, 2026, so the renewal date decides when you pay the new price.

3. Does the discount survive increases? Not always in percentage terms. When SmartVault’s page began showing Business Pro $10 higher on both bases (first seen on October 2, 2026; SmartVault gives no effective date), at $85 monthly and $65 annual instead of $75 and $55, the annual discount shrank from 26.7% to 23.5%.

The SmartVault price history has the dated before-and-after prices for the plans above, and the calculator shows what an increase costs for a firm of your size.