Clear Books vs QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) for Making Tax Digital
By the selector's own rules, Clear Books and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) both work for landlords and sole traders, so the choice comes down to the four points where they differ. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) does not offer a free plan, support for more than one property or support for jointly owned property, which Clear Books does. Their cheapest plans are listed as free (Sole Trader Free / Property Free) for Clear Books and £10 plus VAT a month (Sole Trader Plus) for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
Clear Books suits landlords and sole traders looking for free MTD filing, mixed-income users willing to keep separate business records and people who want quarterly updates and the year-end return in the same product. QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) suits sole traders or single-property landlords, landlords who want a lower-priced mainstream option and people who do most of their bookkeeping on a phone.
The facts on this page come from each provider’s own pages and from HMRC’s software list, and how we compare products explains how we check them.
If you are thinking of moving from one to the other, the guide to changing your MTD software explains what GOV.UK says about when you can move and what happens to your records.
Where they differ
These are the points where our checks of the two products came out differently. A “No” means we did not find that feature on the provider’s own pages when we last checked them. Where we had nothing to go on for one of the two, we leave the point out here rather than guess.
| Point | Clear Books | QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | Free (Sole Trader Free / Property Free) | £10 plus VAT a month (Sole Trader Plus) |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| More than one property | Yes | No |
| Jointly owned property | Yes | No |
On the other points we compare (holiday lets and former FHL, self-employment income, bank feeds, receipt capture, phone apps, accountant access and MTD for VAT returns), they give the same answer, or at least one provider does not say. The full list is under each product’s own page.
What HMRC’s software list says about both
HMRC’s list marks each feature as available now or intended for later. This is what HMRC’s list says, not something we have tested ourselves. Where HMRC lists a product under more than one name, we show the strongest answer and the listing it comes from.
| Feature | Clear Books | QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) |
|---|---|---|
| Your tax return and other income | ||
| Sending your tax return | Available | Available |
| Foreign property | Available | Not stated |
| Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) | Available | Available |
| Employment (PAYE) | Available | Available |
| UK dividends | Available | Available |
| UK interest | Available | Available |
| Capital gains | Available | Availablesince 24 July 2026 |
| How it works | ||
| Bridging software that connects to your records | Not stated | Not stated |
| Calendar update periods (1 April to 31 March) | Available | Available |
| A free version | Not stated | Not stated |
| Welsh language | Not stated | Not stated |
| Accessibility | ||
| Blindness or impaired vision | Available | Not stated |
| Deafness or impaired hearing | Available | Not stated |
| Motor or physical difficulties | Available | Not stated |
| Cognitive impairments | Available | Not stated |
This is HMRC’s list as it stood on 30 October 2026, at HMRC’s commit 201b34e. A date beside a feature is when HMRC’s list changed it from intended to available. HMRC’s software finder shows the current answers. How we read HMRC’s list
Does HMRC’s software list show Clear Books and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start) as available for sending your tax return?
For sending your tax return, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 marks it “Available” for Clear Books and marks it “Available” for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
Does HMRC’s software list show a free version of Clear Books or QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)?
For a free version, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 says nothing either way for Clear Books and says nothing either way for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start).
How many features does HMRC’s software list mark as available for Clear Books and QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)?
HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 covers 15 features, and it marks 12 “Available” for Clear Books and 7 “Available” for QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start). For Clear Books, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 3. For QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start), it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 8.
The cheapest plan for your situation
A product’s cheapest plan is not always one you can use, because some plans are only for landlords or only for sole traders. These are the lowest prices the selector would show each reader, as each provider states them. Where a price grows with the number of properties, it is shown as a starting price. The figure over 12 months is the same plan at its regular price, worked out the way the software cost calculator does it.
Clear Books
- For landlords
- Free
- For sole traders
- Free
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- Free
We checked Clear Books’s prices on 25 October 2026.
Clear Books also works for people with rental and self-employment income.
QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)
- For landlords
- £10 plus VAT a month
- For sole traders
- £10 plus VAT a month
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £120 plus VAT
We checked QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)’s prices on 3 November 2026.
Notes from our checks
Clear Books
The current pricing and free-MTD pages both include quarterly updates and year-end filing. Mixed income uses a Sole Trader business and a Property business under the account; each has its own free or paid plan. The £5 plus VAT price is per paid business and is the regular price; Clear Books advertises 50% off the first three months for new subscriptions bought within 30 days of registration. Specialist ownership and former-FHL requirements still need a check against the exact account setup.
QuickBooks (Sole Trader Plus / Simple Start)
Regular monthly prices are shown excluding VAT. When we checked the pricing page on 3 November 2026, the price list it loads showed Intuit's offer of 90% off for six months for new customers, running until 20 November 2026, so the pricing page is the place to see any offer running now. Its setup guidance requires a separate account for each business or property income source. Combined subscription costs were not confirmed, so the selector does not recommend QuickBooks for mixed income. Joint-property support also remains unconfirmed.
Neither product is ranked above the other here: the page sets out what each provider says so you can weigh it against your own situation. How we compare products
More on these two products
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