Apps for accountants, sorted by the job each one does
An accountant's iPhone carries the practice-management app, a receipt scanner, the ledger app for reconciling on the train, a signature app, a portal for client documents and an assistant for drafting, and the useful question is not which one to rank first but what each one is for and what a year of it costs. Below: the apps other lists name most often, grouped by job, each in its maker's own words with the price its maker publishes, plus the one job none of them is built for.
Most accountants already have the apps. Fewer can say what each is for, what the year's bill comes to, or where two overlap. This page sorts that out, job by job. It covers apps, not the wider question of AI in the practice: the AI tools by kind and the professional rules are in our guide to AI for accountants.
Who is writing: Equerry, whose own app sits in the general-assistant group, marked as ours. Equerry is not accounting, bookkeeping or tax software and does not touch the ledger, and nothing on this page is accounting, tax or legal advice. No maker paid to be here, there are no affiliate links, and a subscription to anything listed earns us nothing.
How the list was assembled
The jobs are the ones that recur across published lists of apps for accounting and bookkeeping firms; the apps under each are the names those lists repeat. Three rules:
- The maker describes the app. Every description is quoted or closely paraphrased from the maker's site or App Store listing, read 2026-11-06. Nothing was tested or scored; within a job the order is alphabetical.
- Prices are the maker's published prices, with the billing period, because "$59 a month per user" on an annual plan is a $708 commitment per seat. Where a page showed only "From", a slider or "Get pricing", the entry says so. Prices change and may exclude tax.
- Platforms are as the maker lists them. Several practice tools have an iPhone app for the firm and a separate one for clients; one is used in the browser on the phone, and one lists "Mobile-enabled access" without naming an app.
Every app on one screen
| App and platforms | In the maker's words | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| Practice management | ||
| CanopyWeb · iPhone · iPad | "Canopy helps accountants build an autonomous firm" | Standard $74/user/mo billed annually; Plus $109; Premium $149 |
| Financial CentsWeb | "Brings all your firm's operations into one simple, powerful platform" | Solo $19/mo billed annually; Team $49/user/mo billed annually ($69 monthly); Scale $69 ($89) |
| KarbonWeb · iPhone · iPad | "Practice Management Software for Accounting Firms" | Team $59/user/mo paid annually ($79 monthly); Business $89 ($99) |
| TaxDomeWeb · desktop app · iOS and Android apps for the firm and for clients | "Everything you need, for less than $1 per client a month" | One plan from 150 active clients: $0.83 per client monthly, "$1,500 your total, billed annually", 20 seats included |
| Receipts, bills and expenses | ||
| DextWeb · iPhone · iPad | "You snap it. We do everything else." | Firm plans "From", per client per month, 10-client minimum, no amount shown; business plan $25.21/mo or $302.50/yr, USD, excludes tax |
| ExpensifyWeb · iPhone · iPad | "The easiest way to do your expenses" | Submit free; Collect $5 per member/month; Control "available at a custom price" |
| HubdocWeb · "smartphones & tablets" | "All your bills and receipts in one place" | "$12 USD" per month after a free 30-day trial |
| The ledger and bank feeds | ||
| QuickBooks OnlineWeb · iPhone · iPad | "Cleaner books from day one" | Simple Start $38/mo; Essentials $85; Plus $140; Advanced $340 (page shows "50% off for 3 months*"); Free plan without the mobile app |
| XeroWeb · iPhone · iPad | "Simple software to run your business, with support when needed" | Early $27/mo; Growing $59; Established $97 (page shows 80% off for three months for new customers) |
| E-signature and client portals | ||
| DocusignWeb · iPhone · iPad | "For individuals and sole proprietors with basic e-signature needs" (Personal plan) | Personal $11/mo on a $132 annual commitment, 5 envelopes a month; Standard $30/user/mo ($360/yr) |
| Liscio"Web and mobile apps" | "One place for every client document, request and signature, built for accounting and bookkeeping firms" | File Intelligence $19/user/mo billed annually; Liscio Platform $49/user/mo billed annually |
| SmartVaultWeb · "Mobile-enabled access" | "Document Management Software Built for Accountants" | Accounting Pro $65/user/mo billed annually ($85 monthly), 2-user minimum; Accounting Unlimited $85 ($110) |
| General assistants | ||
| ChatGPTWeb · iPhone · iPad | "A subscription plan that provides enhanced access to the ChatGPT web app" (Plus) | Plus "$20/month (billed monthly)" |
| ClaudeWeb · iPhone · Mac · Windows | "For everyday work" (Pro) | Pro $17/mo on a $200 annual plan, or $20 billed monthly; Max $100/mo |
| Equerry (ours)iPhone · iPad | A personal assistant that holds what you send it about each client and briefs you from it | Pro $39.99/mo or $329/yr |
Practice management
These four are other makers' systems for the work itself: clients, jobs, deadlines, document requests, proposals and billing. Equerry does not connect to any of them. Three have an iPhone app for the firm; one is browser-only.
- Canopy. Its home page: "Canopy helps accountants build an autonomous firm," under the line "All-in-one practice management software." The pricing page lists a "Practitioner Mobile App" to "Manage tasks and client work on the go" and a "Dedicated Client Mobile App"; the App Store badge in its footer is labelled for iPhone and iPad. Price: Standard is $74 per user a month, Plus $109, Premium $149, all "billed annually"; monthly billing is offered only on Enterprise, where "annual billing saves you 20%". The page shows dollar figures without naming the currency. Tax workflow, close automation and tax resolution are priced add-ons.
- Financial Cents. Its pricing page: "Financial Cents brings all your firm's operations into one simple, powerful platform." It is used in the browser; its site describes the client portal as "Mobile-friendly so your clients actually use it" rather than naming an app. Price: Solo is $19 a month billed annually, for single-user firms; Team is $49 per user a month billed annually or $69 billed monthly; Scale is $69 or $89 on the same basis; monthly billing on Team and Scale needs five users. The page has a USD/CAD toggle.
- Karbon. Its pricing page carries the line "Practice Management Software for Accounting Firms." The App Store listing for "Karbon Practice Management" opens with "Karbon for iOS allows you to triage your day before you sit down to work," for iPhone and iPad. Price: Team is $59 per user a month "paid annually" or $79 "paid monthly"; Business is $89 or $99; the monthly option is "only available for teams of 4+". The page shows dollar figures with a currency selector that lists USD among nine currencies.
- TaxDome. Its pricing page leads with "Everything you need, for less than $1 per client a month," and "One plan for tax, bookkeeping, and accounting firms." Its feature list names a "Firm mobile app" ("Manage your firm on the go"), a "Desktop app" and a "Client mobile app" on "iOS and Android". Price: the plan "Starts at 150 active clients"; at that size the page shows "$0.83 per client monthly" and "$1,500 your total, billed annually", with "20 seats" included. An "AI add-on" is "$200 per month" for the whole team. Custom pricing covers unlimited seats, an SLA and a white-labelled client app.
Receipts, bills and expenses
The capture end of the pipe: a client photographs the receipt, the app reads it, and the transaction lands in the ledger with the image attached. All three publish an iPhone app, and two of them price the firm separately from the business.
- Dext. Its US home page: "Intelligent bookkeeping automation," and, of receipt capture, "You snap it. We do everything else." Receipts, invoices and statements arrive "by mobile, email, WhatsApp or desktop." The App Store app is "Dext: Expense Tracker," for iPhone and iPad. Price: for practices, the Essentials and Advanced plans show "From" with no amount, priced "Per client / Per Month" with a "(10 clients minimum)"; the business plan is $25.21 a month, "USD, Excludes Tax," or $302.50 billed annually, for 250 documents a month and five users.
- Expensify. Its home page: "The easiest way to do your expenses." The pricing page says "It's always free to SmartScan receipts, send and receive money, and chat with coworkers"; the App Store app is "Expensify - Travel & Expense," for iPhone and iPad. Price: Submit is free, "The free plan for employees, no company approval needed"; in the USD view (the page has a currency selector), "Most businesses start with our Collect plan at $5 per member per month"; Control is "available at a custom price."
- Hubdoc. Its home page: "All your bills and receipts in one place," and "You can take photos on your mobile, use email, scan or upload documents into Hubdoc." It then creates "transactions in Xero and QuickBooks Online with the source document attached." Its pricing page says "Available for smartphones & tablets," labelled "Apple" and "Android". Price: a "Free 30-day trial," then "$12 USD" "PER MONTH THEREAFTER."
The ledger and bank feeds
Two ledgers hold most small-business books, and both publish a phone app that reconciles bank feeds, which is the part of the job that actually gets done on the train. Prices below are the business's subscription, read on the US pages; firm-side access is separate.
- QuickBooks Online. Its US pricing page is headed "Cleaner books from day one." It says "You can download the QuickBooks Online mobile app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store," and that "Mobile app access and third-party integrations not currently available with QuickBooks Free." Price: Simple Start $38 a month, Essentials $85, Plus $140, Advanced $340, each shown struck through to half for "50% off for 3 months*". For the firm's side, Intuit's accountant page says "QuickBooks Online Accountant is going away December 31, 2026," and that "the Core version of Intuit Accountant Suite has no monthly recurring fee and remains free for your firm to use"; its Accountant Suite page adds "The Accelerate plan is also free through January 2027, then moves to $149/month."
- Xero. Its US pricing page: "Simple software to run your business, with support when needed." Its app page: "Manage your finances on the move with Xero's accounting and bookkeeping app," "Reconcile your transactions on the go," and "The Xero Accounting app is available on iOS and Android devices, including iPads and tablets." Price: Early $27 a month, Growing $59, Established $97, after an introductory "80% off your plan for your 3 first months" that the footnote limits to new customers ("New customers get 80% off for the first 3 months"); auto-reconciliation is included on Growing and Established and a "$5.00 per month" add-on on Early.
The small-business bookkeeping lists are a different question
A search for "accountant apps" brings back pages that rank QuickBooks, Xero, FreshBooks, Wave and the rest for a business owner who wants to do their own books. That is a different reader with a different question. The two ledgers appear on this page because your clients' books live in one of them and the firm reconciles in the app; if you are the owner choosing bookkeeping software, those other lists will serve you better than this one.
E-signature and client portals
Engagement letters, 8879s and organisers go out through one of these; completed documents and returns come back through a portal. Many firms get both from the practice-management system (TaxDome lists unlimited e-signatures and a client app in its one plan; Canopy lists a client app); the three below are the standalone names.
- Docusign. Its Personal plan is "For individuals and sole proprietors with basic e-signature needs"; the mobile page says "The mobile app is supported on iPad, iPhone and Android devices." Price: Personal is $11 a month, "Annual | Billed monthly," which the page states as a $132 annual commitment, for "Send 5 envelopes per month"; Standard is $30 per user a month ($360 a year) for "a total of 100 envelopes per user per year."
- Liscio. Its home page: "One place for every client document, request and signature, built for accounting and bookkeeping firms"; its pricing page lists "Web and mobile apps" and "Secure file exchange and storage." Price: File Intelligence is $19 per user a month and Liscio Platform $49 per user a month, both "Billed annually per user"; "Monthly plans available, contact us." The page shows dollar figures without naming the currency.
- SmartVault. Its home page: "Document Management Software Built for Accountants"; the pricing page lists "Mobile-enabled access" and a "Custom branded client portal" on every plan. Price: Accounting Pro is $65 per user a month billed annually or $85 billed monthly, with a two-user minimum; Accounting Unlimited is $85 or $110 on the same basis. The page shows dollar figures without naming the currency.
The general assistants
Three apps that are not accounting software at all: two for drafting and explaining, and ours for the client record. What each of the first two is good at in a practice, what its maker says happens to what you type, and what to keep out of it are in ChatGPT for accountants, Claude for accounting and, for a whole firm on a business plan, ChatGPT for accounting.
- ChatGPT. OpenAI's help centre: "ChatGPT Plus is a subscription plan that provides enhanced access to the ChatGPT web app," "available on the ChatGPT website and supported apps," which include the iPhone and iPad app. Price: "Price: $20/month (billed monthly)." (help centre article 6950777, read 2026-11-06).
- Claude. Anthropic's pricing page describes Pro as "For everyday work" and Max as "For all-day work"; its download page offers an iOS app, macOS and Windows. Price: Pro is $17 a month on an annual plan paid as $200, or $20 billed monthly; Max is $100 a month; Team is $20 per seat a month on an annual plan.
- Equerry (ours). A personal assistant for iPhone and iPad that holds what you send it about each client and briefs you from it. The next section is what that means in practice, with the price.
What each client sent and still owes: where Equerry fits
Every app above holds a thing: a job, a receipt, a transaction, a signature, an upload, a draft. None of them holds the conversation. "She said the new van is 60% business, and that she'd send the finance agreement." "They asked for the extension and I told them the October date; the K-1 still hasn't come." "Which of the four documents I asked for in September have they actually sent?" That record lives in the accountant's head, which is why the first ten minutes of a client call so often go on reconstructing the last one, and why the chase for the missing item starts from scratch each time.
Equerry (this is our app) is a personal assistant for iPhone and iPad that keeps that record and briefs you from it. It connects to nothing but your calendar, if you allow it: you hand it things, the way you would hand them to an assistant, and ask it questions later.
| What you send | CC your Equerry address on the thread where you asked Pennock Dental for the year-end documents, or forward the one email where the owner said what was still coming. Share the signed engagement letter PDF or a photo of the mileage log from another app. Type a note. Record a voice note in the app in the car after the call with Ms Varga about the van. |
|---|---|
| What you ask | "Which of the four items I asked Pennock Dental for in September have they sent, and what's still missing?" "What did Ms Varga say about the business use of the new van?" "What did I tell the Ardens about their extension deadline, and when?" |
| What you get back | The answer, drawn from what you sent it. When it draws on a note you saved, it carries a source chip: tap it to see the passage Equerry used and open the original. For a thread you CC'd or forwarded: What Equerry remembered from it is listed in Settings → Your memory, each line marked as from that email, and you can delete any line. If you allow calendar access and set up Meeting Prep, a short brief on where things stand with that client arrives before the meeting, built from what you have shared. |
Equerry has an email address of its own, ending in @mail.getequerry.app. Put it on the CC line of a live thread and every later reply arrives on its own for as long as the address stays there; the original stays in your mailbox, and it never asks for your inbox. Price: Pro is $39.99 a month or $329 a year.
What Equerry is not: a ledger, a tax program, a practice-management system or a connection to one (it does not talk to QuickBooks, Xero, TaxDome, Karbon or Canopy), a receipt scanner that posts transactions, a portal your clients log into, a way to text or call clients, or a source of advice. It holds only what you have sent it, plus your calendar if you allow that; an email you never forwarded is not in it. Two cautions before client material goes in. Everyone on a CC'd thread can see the address, so forward where that matters. And what you send, with the calendar snapshot if you allow it, is processed by the outside providers listed on our AI disclosure page so that it can be searched and answered from. Equerry makes no claim about meeting any AICPA, IRS or state-board rule; whether client material goes into any app here, ours included, is for your firm's policy, your engagement letters and the rules that apply to you. The rules themselves, as the bodies publish them, are collected in our guide to AI for accountants.
Setting up the phone
Start with what the firm already pays for: the practice-management system and its phone app, the portal and e-signature that usually come with it, and the ledger apps your clients' books live in. Then buy only for the jobs still open: a capture app if clients still hand you shoeboxes, a standalone signature plan if the system's envelopes run out, an assistant for drafting if the firm has not standardised on one. That leaves the client record, which is rarely bought on purpose and usually noticed the first time a client says "I sent you that in September" about a document that never arrived. The habit itself, with or without an app, is in our guide to keeping track of multiple clients.
Sources, all read 2026-11-06. Dollar prices are from each maker's US page or App Store listing; where a maker's page shows a dollar sign without naming the currency (Karbon, SmartVault, Liscio, Canopy), the entry says so. Canopy, home page and pricing. Financial Cents, home page and pricing. Karbon, home page, pricing and the Karbon Practice Management App Store listing. TaxDome, pricing. Dext, US home page, pricing for practices, pricing for businesses and the Dext App Store listing. Expensify, home page, pricing and the Expensify App Store listing. Hubdoc, home page and pricing. Intuit, QuickBooks Online pricing, QuickBooks Online Accountant and Intuit Accountant Suite. Xero, US pricing plans, accounting software and Xero Accounting app. Docusign, eSignature plans and pricing and mobile app. Liscio, home page and pricing. SmartVault, home page and pricing. OpenAI, What is ChatGPT Plus? (help centre article 6950777). Anthropic, pricing and download. Makers change their products and prices often; where a maker's current page disagrees with this one, the maker's page is right. This page is general information, not accounting, tax or legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
What apps do accountants use?
One per job rather than one for everything: a practice-management system for the work itself (TaxDome, Karbon, Canopy and Financial Cents are the names that recur in published lists), a receipt and bill capture app that feeds the ledger (Dext, Expensify, Hubdoc), the ledger clients keep their books in (QuickBooks Online, Xero), an e-signature service and a client portal for engagement letters and documents (Docusign, Liscio, SmartVault), and a general assistant for drafting (ChatGPT, Claude). Which brand fills each slot is usually decided once for the whole firm, because the practice-management system and the portal are what clients see. This page lists them by job, each described in its maker's own words and priced as its maker publishes it; it is not a ranking.
What is the best app for accountants on iPhone?
No one app covers the practice, but most jobs have an iPhone app its maker publishes: the Karbon, Canopy and TaxDome apps for the practice, the Dext, Expensify and Hubdoc apps for receipts and bills, the QuickBooks Online and Xero Accounting apps for the ledger and bank reconciliation, the Docusign app for signatures, and the ChatGPT and Claude apps for drafting. Financial Cents is used in the browser on the phone; SmartVault lists "Mobile-enabled access" without naming an app. Our own app, Equerry, is the iPhone and iPad entry in the general-assistant group, for the record of what each client sent and still owes. Platforms and prices on this page were read from each maker's site on 2026-11-06.
Do accountants use ChatGPT or Claude?
Both are in common use for drafting client emails, explaining a tax position in plain words, cleaning up a spreadsheet formula and summarising a long document, and both have iPhone apps. OpenAI prices ChatGPT Plus at "$20/month (billed monthly)"; Anthropic prices Claude Pro at $17 a month on an annual plan or $20 billed monthly. Neither is a ledger, a tax program or a client portal, and what goes into them is governed by your firm's policy and your engagement letters. Which one suits which task, what each maker says happens to what you type, and what to keep out of both are in our guides to ChatGPT for accountants and Claude for accounting.
Is there an app that keeps what each client sent in one place?
The practice-management system keeps the documents and the job status, and the portal keeps the uploads. What a client said on Tuesday's call, what you told them the extension deadline was, and which of the four items you asked for in September they have actually sent is a different record, and most accountants keep it in their head or across email, notes and the car. Equerry, the publisher of this page, is a personal assistant on iPhone and iPad built for that record. You CC it on the client thread or forward the one email that matters, share a PDF or a photo from another app, type a note or record a voice note in the app after the call, and later ask it in plain words what the client sent or said. It answers from what you gave it. It does not connect to any ledger, tax program or practice-management system, and it never asks for your inbox.
Are apps for accountants and bookkeepers different?
Mostly the same list, weighted differently. A bookkeeping practice lives in the capture apps and the ledger (Dext, Hubdoc or Expensify feeding QuickBooks Online or Xero, with reconciliation done in the Xero or QuickBooks phone app), and Dext's firm plans and Xero's plans are priced for that volume. A tax and accounting firm leans on practice management (TaxDome, Canopy, Karbon, Financial Cents) and on the portal and e-signature for engagement letters, organisers and return delivery. The client record, what each client sent and still owes, is the same problem in both, which is why Equerry's group on this page does not change with the practice type.
Last updated 2026-11-06.
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