FreeAgent is one of the most established names in UK small-business accounting, free through several major banks, and already HMRC-recognised for MTD for Income Tax. Ledgers is the transaction-led challenger that owns the general ledger and is built self-serve for sole traders and landlords. Here's an honest look at where each one wins.
FreeAgent is on HMRC's recognised list for MTD for Income Tax from April 2026, and it already files VAT and full Self Assessment (SA103 self-employment, SA105 UK property) directly to HMRC today. That is a mature, battle-tested filing pipeline — sole traders and unincorporated landlords can submit quarterly updates and the final declaration from inside the product. Ledgers is building toward the same live SA105 submission but FreeAgent has it shipping now.
If you bank with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank, or Mettle, FreeAgent is bundled at no extra cost — the full product, not a cut-down tier. For a landlord or freelancer already with one of those accounts, that's a genuinely hard price to beat, and it's a distribution advantage Ledgers cannot match.
Beyond sole traders and landlords, FreeAgent handles single-director limited companies end to end: payroll (RTI), Corporation Tax, dividend vouchers and Final Accounts filing. If you're a one-person Ltd company today, that breadth is real and proven. Ledgers is still expanding its statutory company coverage.
FreeAgent has years of refinement, a mature mobile app, UK-based support and a large accountant partner network. It's a known, low-risk quantity — the kind of stability that matters when the software has to file your tax.
Ledgers is a true double-entry general ledger where every figure traces back to a categorised transaction — not a lighter layer with limited ledger and reporting depth. Your quarterly MTD figures are a by-product of correct books, not a separate tax exercise. That means fewer surprises at the final declaration and a real audit trail behind every number.
Where most tools ask you to trust an automated categorisation, Ledgers shows its work: you approve the edges, every posting is inspectable, and corrections are learned. You stay in control of the ledger rather than handing it to a black box — which matters when the numbers become an HMRC submission.
Ledgers is built for the owner to run their own books directly, keeping an accountant for year-end if they want one — not around one. FreeAgent leans heavily on its accountant partner channel; Ledgers' wedge is a self-serve owner who wants to understand and control their numbers without mediation.
Ledgers offers free public tools (tax and deadline calculators, guides) plus a genuine free tier open to anyone — not conditional on holding a specific bank account. FreeAgent's free access requires a NatWest-group or Mettle account; outside that, it's a paid subscription after a 30-day trial.
If you already bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle, or you're a single-director limited company that needs payroll and Corporation Tax today, FreeAgent is an excellent, low-risk choice — it's free for you, mature, and already filing MTD for Income Tax and VAT directly to HMRC. Ledgers is the stronger fit if you're a sole trader or landlord who wants to genuinely own and understand your books: a real transaction-led general ledger, glass-box trust where you can see and approve every posting, self-serve control without depending on an accountant, and free tools plus a free tier that isn't tied to one bank. FreeAgent wins on maturity and free-with-your-bank distribution; Ledgers wins on owning the ledger and being built, from the ground up, for the MTD-ITSA owner.
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.