Coconut is a mobile-first bookkeeping and tax app built specifically for sole traders, landlords and CIS subcontractors, and it is already HMRC-recognised for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Ledgers takes a different route: it owns a real double-entry general ledger, works transaction-first, and is self-serve with a free tier and free tools. If you want the simplest possible app for the £50k+ MTD-ITSA wave right now, Coconut is a genuinely strong, proven choice. If you want software that keeps a proper set of books you can trust and grow into, that is where Ledgers is built to win. Here is an honest look at both.
Coconut is already recognised by HMRC for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (recognition code 4YTVND) and files quarterly updates plus the year-end return through the app. For a sole trader or landlord over £50,000 who is mandated from 6 April 2026, that proven, in-market filing pipeline is a real, here-and-now advantage over software still building toward it.
Coconut handles multi-property landlords (separate, track and report per rental source) and has dedicated CIS-subcontractor support, adding back CIS deductions and producing SA103S. If your affairs are property-heavy or you are a CIS subcontractor, that specialised, battle-tested handling is a concrete strength.
Coconut is designed as a genuinely simple phone app for people who are not accountants: bank feed, snap a receipt, categorise, see a live tax estimate. For a single-trade sole trader with a handful of transactions a month, that low-friction, mobile-first experience is hard to beat.
Coconut has an established Accountant Platform, partner discounts, and franchise/network deals, so accountants can review and recode transactions and retain as much control as they like. If your accountant already uses Coconut, or you want a tool firms know how to service at volume, that ecosystem is a real plus.
Coconut is fundamentally a bookkeeping-and-tax-estimate app, not a full double-entry system. Ledgers keeps a proper double-entry general ledger with balanced journal entries and built-in integrity checks, so your books actually reconcile and tie out. When your affairs grow beyond a simple SA103, or you ever need statutory-grade numbers, you are already on solid foundations rather than a categorised transaction list.
Coconut leans accountant-mediated: it is sold heavily to firms, and its model assumes an accountant reviews or recodes your data. Ledgers is transaction-led and truly self-serve. Agents categorise every transaction live and never leave a line blank, and you approve the edges yourself in a glass-box view. You can keep an accountant for year-end, but you are not dependent on one to run day to day.
Coconut runs a 14-day trial and then paid plans from roughly £99.99 to £159.99 a year (about £16.99–£21.99 a month), with the free route tied to a specific bank account. Ledgers offers a genuine free tier plus free public tools (MTD checkers, tax and deadline calculators) with no card and no bank lock-in, so you can get real value and check where you stand before paying anything.
Coconut gives accountants visibility and lets clients see a tax estimate, but the reasoning behind each categorisation largely sits with the accountant workflow. Ledgers makes the trust layer universal on every tier: you see why each transaction was treated the way it was, corrections stick as rules, and integrity indicators flag anything that does not tie out, so you are approving explainable books rather than trusting a black box.
Coconut is a fair, strong competitor and, for many people, the safe pick right now, because it is already live with HMRC-recognised MTD-ITSA filing, it is delightfully simple on mobile, and it is genuinely excellent for landlords and CIS subcontractors with light affairs. If you are mandated from April 2026, want the smallest possible tool, and your accountant already uses it, Coconut is easy to recommend. Ledgers is the better long-term bet if you want to own a real, reconciling general ledger, stay self-serve with a free tier and free tools, and get glass-box trust on every transaction rather than leaning on an accountant to review the numbers. Choose Coconut for proven, accountant-friendly simplicity today; choose Ledgers if you want transaction-led software that keeps a proper set of books you can trust and grow into. Note that Coconut is ahead on live filing and CIS handling, and honest buyers should weigh that against Ledgers' deeper ledger and self-serve model. Pricing and HMRC-recognition facts here were verified against Coconut's own site (getcoconut.com) in mid-2026 and can change, so confirm current details before deciding.
See also: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax · Check your MTD status · For landlords
Comparison based on publicly available information as at mid-2026; check each provider's site for current features and pricing.