Xero vs QuickBooks vs Sage for Making Tax Digital: costs before 6 April 2027

Summary. For a UK sole trader or landlord joining Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax on 6 April 2027, the cheapest paid plans from the three big brands sit within £3 a month of each other. On 13 November 2026, Xero Simple listed at £7 a month and QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus at £10, both before 20% VAT. Sage Sole Trader costs £7 a month, and Sage alone offers a free MTD plan, limited to one connected bank account and 5 invoices a month; Sage's site refused our requests, so its figures come from Sage's own pages as archived on 9 November 2026. All three were offering new customers 90% off for six months, and the price data behind QuickBooks' page schedules its offer to close on 20 November 2026. At list prices, a sole trader who is not VAT-registered pays £100.80 a year for Xero Simple or Sage Sole Trader and £144 for QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus, VAT included. A three-flat landlord who wants bill entry and extra logins pays about £310 a year on Xero Ignite with auto-reconcile. Budget 2026 dropped late-submission penalty points for this cohort's 2027-28 quarterly updates, but the updates are still required. Choose your accountant's platform first, then check invoice, bank account and user limits.

About this article. For sole traders, landlords and the bookkeepers who advise them on MTD for Income Tax software before April 2027. On 13 November 2026 we checked plans, prices, limits and offer terms on Xero's and QuickBooks' UK pages and the price data those pages load, Sage's UK pages through archived copies, and the rules on GOV.UK and HMRC's developer hub. Vendors change prices and promotions without notice, no vendor paid for inclusion, and this is general information, not tax advice. Researched with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.

What the software has to do

Sole traders and landlords registered for Self Assessment must use MTD for Income Tax from 6 April 2027 if their qualifying income for 2025 to 2026 was over £30,000; the £20,000 group, judged on 2026 to 2027, follows on 6 April 2028. Qualifying income is self-employment and property income before expenses, so a landlord's gross rent counts. Our Making Tax Digital April 2027 checklist covers sign-up and process in detail.

HMRC says your software, alone or with linked products, must create, store and correct digital records of self-employment and property income and expenses, send quarterly updates, and add your other income before submitting the tax return by 31 January. Each quarterly update runs cumulatively from the start of the tax year. The deadlines are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, both for standard update periods (from 6 April) and for calendar update periods (from 1 April, for a 1 April to 31 March accounting period). HMRC also suggests checking that a product covers all your income sources, allows multiple agents if you have them, and includes HMRC Assist, which flags likely errors in your return.

Budget 2026, published on 28 October 2026, said the government will not apply late-submission penalty points to 2027-28 quarterly updates for people required to join in April 2027. The updates must still be sent before the tax return can be filed.

That gives five practical tests for any plan:

1. Does it cover every income source you have: self-employment, UK property, foreign property?

1. Will it file the year-end tax return, or only quarterly updates?

1. How many bank accounts, invoices, bills and users does the plan allow?

1. Can your accountant work in it, and will they act as your main agent?

1. What does it cost per year after the promotion ends, including VAT you cannot reclaim?

Xero

Plans and prices. Ignite £18, Grow £39, Comprehensive £55 and Ultimate £70 a month, plus Simple at £7 for businesses that are not VAT-registered. Xero says all prices are in pounds, exclude VAT and renew monthly until cancelled. Its billing FAQ describes monthly invoicing only, with no annual price. New UK customers buying their first organisation get 90% off the base plan for six months, so Simple costs £0.70 and Ignite £1.80 a month during that period. The discount excludes add-ons and usage charges, Xero can change or cancel it at any time, and no end date is published. A one-month free trial is the alternative.

MTD for Income Tax. Every plan is marked as ready for MTD for Income Tax, and Xero says digital records flow into draft returns with real-time tax estimates. Its Income Tax FAQ notes that a sole trader who is also a landlord sends separate quarterly updates for each business but one final declaration, so a plumber with a rental flat could send eight updates a year.

Limits that matter. Simple allows 10 invoices, captures receipts only and lists no bill entry; invoices created by connected apps can count towards the limit. Ignite allows 20 invoices and 10 bills, adds VAT returns, and offers auto-reconcile as a £3.50 a month add-on. Grow removes the invoice cap and includes auto-reconcile, payroll for one person and expenses for one user. The pricing page does not say over what period the invoice and bill allowances apply, so ask Xero before relying on them.

Bank feeds and users. Direct bank feeds cost nothing extra for most customers, but some UK banks charge feed fees, which Xero passes on. Xero advertises no per-user licence fees, which helps when a letting agent, spouse or bookkeeper needs a login.

Bridging, more than one business, and accountants. Xero's FAQ says spreadsheets need separate bridging software and pitches Xero as the single-product alternative. The promotion applies only to your first organisation, so a second business set up as its own organisation would not get it. Xero runs practice tools for accountants, including Xero Tax and Partner Hub, and an accountant already on Xero can be invited without a licence fee.

QuickBooks

Plans and prices. Sole Trader Plus £10 (1 user), Simple Start £18 (1 user), Essentials £40 (3 users), Plus £60 (5 users) and Advanced £128 (25 users) a month, each with access for your accountant on top. QuickBooks' MTD page adds that all prices are plus VAT at 20%. The price data also carries annual list prices, sold with the 30-day free trial, set 10% below twelve monthly payments: £108 a year for Sole Trader Plus and £194.40 for Simple Start, before VAT.

The offer. New customers who choose Buy now get 90% off for six months, which rules out the free trial, and there is no limit on the number of subscriptions ordered. QuickBooks says it can change pricing at any time and the page shows no end date, but the data behind it runs the current 90% offer from 2 November to 20 November 2026.

MTD for Income Tax. Every plan is marked as ready for MTD for Income Tax and lists Self Assessment preparation. Sole Trader Plus is the option for businesses that are not VAT-registered; Simple Start adds VAT submission and a VAT pre-file check.

Bank feeds and bookkeeping. Automated bank feeds, automated bookkeeping, receipt capture and mileage tracking appear on every plan, but bill management starts at Essentials. Intuit Intelligence appears in the plan listings, yet the legal notes say it is not available with QuickBooks Sole Trader or QuickBooks Self-Employed, so check what Sole Trader Plus actually includes.

Bridging and accountants. QuickBooks sells bridging software for MTD for VAT, covering the Standard and Cash schemes. Its Income Tax page lists bridging as an option for spreadsheet users but does not present an Income Tax bridging product. Intuit runs an accountant suite and a ProAdvisor programme for practices. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the monthly billing period, with no pro-rata refund.

Sage

Sage's UK site returned access-denied errors to our requests on 13 November 2026, so the details below come from Internet Archive copies of Sage's own pages, captured on 9 November 2026 for plans and prices and on 26 October 2026 for promotion terms. Check the live pages before you buy.

Sage Sole Trader (not VAT-registered). The free plan has no billing and covers a single user, one connected bank account, 25 auto-categorised transactions, manual receipt entry, 5 sales invoices a month, an SA103S Self Assessment summary and recording of landlord income and expenses. Sage's FAQ says the free plan manages and submits Income Tax Self Assessment both quarterly and at year end. The paid Sole Trader plan, £7 a month before VAT, adds unlimited auto-categorisation, several bank accounts, receipt scanning, CIS, unlimited invoices, 10GB of storage and human webchat support. The archived page offered 90% off for six months, then £7.

Sage Accounting (VAT-registered and growing businesses). Start £20 (1 user), Standard £43 (3 users) and Plus £59 (unlimited users) a month before VAT, each MTD-ready, with VAT submission, payroll and the Sage Copilot assistant included. Payroll covers 1, 1 and 5 employees, then £1.85 per employee a month. Start has no receipt capture; Standard includes 30 captures and Plus 100, then £0.20 each. The same 90% off for six months applied, or a one-month free trial.

Promotion terms. Unless the offer says otherwise, Sage's discounts apply to the base price and one user licence only, not add-ons. If you cancel, Sage may remove the discount and charge the recommended retail price, and it can withdraw promotions at any time.

Bridging and accountants. The Sage pages we read do not describe an Income Tax bridging product. Sage says Sole Trader users can work with their accountant online, and Sage Accounting offers an in-product connection to your accountant.

Head-to-head on 13 November 2026

Xero and QuickBooks figures are from their live UK pages and price data; Sage figures are from the 9 November 2026 archived copies.

Not stated means the vendor's UK page did not say, not that the feature is missing. For any product, HMRC's software finder shows which income sources and which submissions it supports.

Which plan fits which buyer

Worked annual cost: a sole trader and a small landlord

Both examples use list prices from 13 November 2026 (Sage from the 9 November copy), add 20% VAT because neither person is VAT-registered, and leave out accountancy fees, payment processing and bank feed charges. VAT-registered businesses recover the VAT they pay through their VAT returns; others cannot, and registration is compulsory only above £90,000 of taxable turnover.

Example 1: a freelance designer. Not VAT-registered, £42,000 turnover in 2025 to 2026, one business current account and one credit card, about 6 invoices a month, and an accountant who files the year-end return.

The promotional figures are (6 × £0.70) + (6 × £7) = £46.20, plus VAT = £55.44, for Sage and Xero, and (6 × £1) + (6 × £10) = £66, plus VAT = £79.20, for QuickBooks. QuickBooks' annual list price of £108 comes to £129.60 with VAT. The free Sage plan fails this example on the second account, so the realistic range is £100.80 to £144 a year at list price. The £43.20 gap is small next to an accountant's fee, so accountant fit should decide it.

Example 2: a small landlord portfolio. One person owns 3 buy-to-let flats outright and collects £39,600 of rent a year (£13,200 each), which puts them in the April 2027 cohort. They use a rent account and a separate expenses card, receive monthly letting-agent statements, log about 8 repair and service bills a month, and want their accountant and a family member to have access. Letting residential property is normally exempt from VAT, so they are not VAT-registered.

For this landlord the sensible band is £100.80 to £309.60 a year. The cheaper end works if one person keeps the books and bills are photographed as receipts; the upper end buys proper bill handling and extra logins. The promotion does not cover Xero's £3.50 add-on, so Ignite's first year comes to £192.96 with VAT. HMRC treats all of a person's UK lets as one UK property business, so one set of quarterly updates covers the three flats, and per-property tracking is for the landlord's own reporting.

If the same landlord also had a sole trade, they would send separate quarterly updates for each business. Ask each vendor whether one subscription covers both income sources before you buy a second one.

HMRC's software finder and free products

HMRC does not recommend products, but every product in its online finder has passed HMRC's recognition process. The finder asks for your income sources, whether you want to create new records or connect to existing ones such as spreadsheets, and your accounting period, then returns matching products; agents see the full list with filters.

HMRC says free products exist for people with simple tax affairs but may limit transactions or features. Its developer guidance expects any free product to stay free for a full annual accounting period, with reasonable guidance and support. If you choose bridging software for spreadsheets, remember the digital links rule: once a record has gone to HMRC in a quarterly update, it must not be retyped or copied and pasted within or between products.

VAT-registered buyers have a second deadline to plan for. Budget 2026 confirmed legislation to let HMRC require VAT invoices in a set electronic format from April 2029, with a related consultation open until 20 January 2027. Our piece on the UK e-invoicing consultation covers it, and our 2027 compliance calendar places both changes alongside other UK deadlines.

Switching and set-up checklist

1. Ask your accountant first. If they will act as your main agent and file your return, use or connect to their platform.

1. Confirm income-source coverage in HMRC's finder for the exact plan, including UK and foreign property.

1. Price the year after the promotion, with VAT, and note that Sage may withdraw its discount if you cancel.

1. Count invoices, bills, bank accounts and users against the plan limits above.

1. Set the update period type (standard or calendar) before the first quarterly update, because it cannot change for the rest of the tax year once you have sent one.

1. Import history and connect bank feeds before 6 April 2027 so the first quarter's records are complete.

1. Sign up for MTD and authorise the software with HMRC, avoiding the planned service downtime from 27 to 30 November and 11 to 15 December 2026, then check the first cumulative update well before 7 August 2027.

How eCorpIT can help

eCorpIT is a Gurugram-based technology organisation, founded in 2021, assessed at CMMI Level 5 and MSME certified, with senior-led engineering teams working across AWS, Microsoft and Google platforms. Where an off-the-shelf plan falls short, our application development team can build landlord or practice tools that feed Xero, QuickBooks or Sage through their published APIs, leaving tax judgement to your accountant. Talk to us at /contact-us/.

Last updated: 13 November 2026.

References

1. Pricing plans, checked 13 November 2026 — Xero UK

1. QuickBooks pricing and offer terms, checked 13 November 2026 — Intuit QuickBooks UK

1. Sage Sole Trader plans and FAQ, archived 9 November 2026 — Sage UK (Internet Archive copy)

1. UK billing offers data loaded by the QuickBooks pricing page, generated 6 November 2026 — Intuit QuickBooks UK

1. Budget 2026: Overview of tax legislation and rates, 28 October 2026, sections 1.58 and 2.36 — HM Treasury and HMRC (GOV.UK)

1. Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — HMRC (GOV.UK)

1. Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — HMRC (GOV.UK)

1. Choose the right software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, updated 13 July 2026 — HMRC (GOV.UK)

1. Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: send quarterly updates — HMRC (GOV.UK)

1. Simple plan details — Xero UK

1. Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax — Xero UK

1. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: deadlines and FAQs — Xero UK

1. Making Tax Digital software — Intuit QuickBooks UK

1. MTD for Income Tax — Intuit QuickBooks UK

1. Sage Accounting plans and pricing, archived 9 November 2026 — Sage UK (Internet Archive copy)

1. Promotional offers: general terms, archived 26 October 2026 — Sage UK (Internet Archive copy)

1. Find software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — HMRC (GOV.UK)

1. VAT rates — GOV.UK

1. How VAT works — GOV.UK

1. VAT on land and property (VAT Notice 742) — HMRC (GOV.UK)

1. Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: create digital records — HMRC (GOV.UK)

1. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax end-to-end service guide: free-to-use software — HMRC Developer Hub

1. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: service availability and issues, updated 4 November 2026 — HMRC (GOV.UK)