FileThat vs Pandle for Making Tax Digital

We checked these prices on 25 October 2026.

By the selector's own rules, FileThat and Pandle both work for landlords and sole traders, including people with both kinds of income, so the choice comes down to the five points where they differ. Pandle offers a free plan, bank feeds and phone apps, which FileThat does not. Pandle does not offer handling for holiday lets, which FileThat does. Their cheapest plans are listed as £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated (Pay per submission (qualifying income £30,000 to £50,000)) for FileThat and free for Pandle.

FileThat suits sole traders and landlords who would rather pay for each quarterly update than take out a subscription, people with a trade and rental income, or property abroad, who want every income source filed from one place and VAT-registered sole traders who want their VAT returns and income tax updates to come from the same records. Pandle suits sole traders and landlords who want free MTD submissions without a usage cap, small portfolios that can start with manual bank imports and users willing to pay a modest amount for live feeds and per-property projects.

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.

Where FileThat and Pandle differ
Point	FileThat	Pandle
Cheapest plan	£4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated (Pay per submission (qualifying income £30,000 to £50,000))	Free
Free plan	No	Yes
Holiday lets and former FHL	Yes	No
Bank feeds	No	Yes
Phone apps	No	Yes (iOS and Android)

On the other points we compare (more than one property, jointly owned property, self-employment income, receipt capture 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.

Both send MTD for VAT returns, from different plans: FileThat from the Pay per submission (qualifying income £30,000 to £50,000) plan and Pandle from the Pandle plan.

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.

What HMRC’s software list says about FileThat and Pandle
Feature	FileThat	Pandle
Your tax return and other income
Sending your tax return	Available	Available
Foreign property	Available	Not stated
Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)	Available	Intended
Employment (PAYE)	Available	Availablesince 9 October 2026
UK dividends	Available	Availablesince 9 October 2026
UK interest	Available	Availablesince 9 October 2026
Capital gains	Availablesince 2 October 2026	Availablesince 9 October 2026
How it works
Bridging software that connects to your records	Available	Available
Calendar update periods (1 April to 31 March)	Available	Available
A free version	Available	Available
Welsh language	Not stated	Not stated
Accessibility
Blindness or impaired vision	Available	Available
Deafness or impaired hearing	Available	Available
Motor or physical difficulties	Available	Available
Cognitive impairments	Available	Available

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 FileThat and Pandle 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 FileThat and marks it “Available” for Pandle.

Does HMRC’s software list show a free version of FileThat or Pandle?

For a free version, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 marks it “Available” for FileThat and marks it “Available” for Pandle.

How many features does HMRC’s software list mark as available for FileThat and Pandle?

HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 covers 15 features, and it marks 14 “Available” for FileThat and 12 “Available” for Pandle. For FileThat, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 1. For Pandle, it marks 1 “Intended” and gives no answer on 2.

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.

FileThat

For landlords: £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated
For sole traders: £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated
For people with rental and self-employment income: £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated
Cheapest plan over 12 months: £19.96, VAT not stated

We checked FileThat’s prices on 25 October 2026.

Pandle

For landlords: Free
For sole traders: Free
For people with rental and self-employment income: Free
Cheapest plan over 12 months: Free

We checked Pandle’s prices on 25 October 2026.

Notes from our checks

FileThat

FileThat has no subscription. Keeping digital records is free, and you buy a credit for each new quarterly update or VAT return with figures in it, at £3.99, £4.99 or £5.99 depending on your qualifying income across all your businesses. The first 500 individuals to connect to HMRC keep £3.99 for good, and until FileThat has figures to work out your band you pay the lowest price, so the price you end up paying may be higher than the cheapest one shown. We show each band as a monthly equivalent of four quarterly updates for one business. We leave out the £3.99 band from our prices because people who must use MTD have qualifying income over £50,000 now and over £30,000 from April 2027, so the bands that apply to them start at £4.99. Each trade, your UK property and any foreign property are separate businesses with their own quarterly updates, so a landlord who is also self-employed pays twice, although FileThat caps an individual's spending at £50 in a tax year, with £55 the most charged. The annual submission, final declaration and amendments are free. The 4 free credits on sign-up cover the first year of quarterly updates for one business, and FileThat's pricing page says this is why HMRC's software finder lists it with a free version. After that first year there is no lasting free plan for filing, so we do not count it as a free tier. FileThat says all your UK lets are kept apart under nicknames and filed as one property business, and that it does not split figures between joint owners, so each owner files their own share. It says a UK holiday let is filed as part of the ordinary property business now that the furnished holiday lettings rules have ended. Bank transactions come from a CSV statement you upload, as FileThat deliberately does not use Open Banking, so we do not count that as a bank feed. An accountant can sign up as an agent and file for you, and FileThat also files from a spreadsheet template if you prefer. It is a website that works in a phone's browser, and we did not find mobile apps. None of the pages we read says whether VAT is added to FileThat's own prices. We checked this on 25 October 2026.

Pandle

Pandle's free plan includes MTD Income Tax submissions and no usage limits. Live bank feeds, projects for separating properties, receipt uploads and mileage tracking are Pro features at £5 + VAT per month. Confirm joint-ownership, foreign-property and final-return coverage for your exact setup.

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

Check which fits your situation

Other side-by-side comparisons

Hear about price changes once a month

We’ll email you a link to confirm first. Once you confirm, Acrenvo will send one email a month summarising the MTD software price changes we have checked and any changes to HMRC’s list of software for MTD for Income Tax, with links to the pages on Acrenvo where each change is recorded. Each email may also pick out one dated finding from that month’s record and list the coming MTD for Income Tax deadlines. If nothing changed in a month, we send nothing. In future it may also carry one advert and news of paid guides or templates from Acrenvo, each clearly labelled for what it is. Every email has a stop link, and stopping takes a single click.

Email address

This is separate from the deadline reminders, and signing up for one does not sign you up for the other. No account is needed. How we use your email address. Past emails and what each one holds