Crunch vs untied for Making Tax Digital
By the selector's own rules, Crunch and untied both work for sole traders, so the choice comes down to the four points where they differ. untied offers support for more than one property and support for jointly owned property, which Crunch does not. untied does not offer MTD for VAT returns, which Crunch does. Their cheapest plans are listed as £10 plus VAT a month (Crunch Plus) for Crunch and £129.99 a year including VAT, about £10.83 a month (Pro including MTD) for untied.
Crunch suits sole traders who want simple invoicing and expense software with MTD filing at a low monthly price, sole traders who would like an accountant to handle their Self Assessment alongside the software and people who are also VAT-registered and want MTD VAT returns on the same plan. untied suits people with mixed income (property + self-employment or PAYE), sole traders who want a phone-only workflow and non-resident and joint-owner landlords with complex returns.
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 | Crunch | untied |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | £10 plus VAT a month (Crunch Plus) | £129.99 a year including VAT, about £10.83 a month (Pro including MTD) |
| More than one property | No | Yes |
| Jointly owned property | No | Yes |
| MTD for VAT returns | Yes, from the Crunch Plus plan | No |
On the other points we compare (free plan, holiday lets and former FHL, self-employment income, bank feeds, receipt capture, phone apps and accountant access), they give the same answer, or at least one provider does not say. The full list is under each product’s own page.
If you are registered for VAT, the guide to one product for MTD for VAT and Income Tax explains what GOV.UK asks you to check and which of the products we compare say they handle both.
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 | Crunch | untied |
|---|---|---|
| Your tax return and other income | ||
| Sending your tax return | Available | Available |
| Foreign property | Not stated | Available |
| Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) | Intended | Available |
| Employment (PAYE) | Intended | Available |
| UK dividends | Intended | Available |
| UK interest | Intended | Available |
| Capital gains | Intended | Available |
| How it works | ||
| Bridging software that connects to your records | Not stated | Available |
| Calendar update periods (1 April to 31 March) | Not stated | Available |
| A free version | Not stated | Not stated |
| Welsh language | Not stated | Not stated |
| Accessibility | ||
| Blindness or impaired vision | Not stated | Not stated |
| Deafness or impaired hearing | Not stated | Not stated |
| Motor or physical difficulties | Not stated | Not stated |
| Cognitive impairments | Not stated | 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 Crunch and untied 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 Crunch and marks it “Available” for untied.
Does HMRC’s software list show a free version of Crunch or untied?
For a free version, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 says nothing either way for Crunch and says nothing either way for untied.
How many features does HMRC’s software list mark as available for Crunch and untied?
HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 covers 15 features, and it marks 1 “Available” for Crunch and 9 “Available” for untied. For Crunch, it marks 5 “Intended” and gives no answer on 9. For untied, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 6.
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.
Crunch
- For sole traders
- £10 plus VAT a month
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £120 plus VAT
We checked Crunch’s prices on 25 October 2026.
untied
- For sole traders
- £129.99 a year including VAT, about £10.83 a month
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £129.99 including VAT
We checked untied’s prices on 25 October 2026.
untied also works for landlords and people with rental and self-employment income.
Notes from our checks
Crunch
Crunch's software pricing page lists three plans. Crunch Free and Crunch Lite at £4 a month have MTD for Income Tax crossed out, so the cheapest way to file MTD with Crunch is Crunch Plus at £10 a month excluding VAT, which the page says covers all your quarterly updates, the end of year figures and the final declaration. The accountancy package for sole traders starts from £27 a month excluding VAT and depends on an instant quote; Crunch currently takes 20% off the first 3 months, which we have left out of the price. The address HMRC gives for Crunch's pricing now opens that quote form rather than a price list. Crunch's sole trader page says its MTD filing handles more than one income source, including rental income, but when we looked at HMRC's software list it did not show UK property income as available for Crunch, so we treat both plans as being for self-employment income only. Some of Crunch's software page still speaks of being ready by April 2026, while its MTD page describes the software as HMRC recognised. We did not find anything about furnished holiday lets, several properties or jointly owned property. We checked this on 25 October 2026.
untied
untied is often listed as free in roundups, but the free version is a 30-day trial and filing requires a paid plan. Plans are priced per tax year with VAT included, which is unusual for this market, so compare like-for-like against ex-VAT monthly prices carefully. untied also sells a cheaper Lite plan, but its pricing page shows Making Tax Digital and property income as not included on Lite, so we do not list it.
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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