How much does Sage Accounting software cost in 2026?

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Sage Accounting: 90% off for 10 months

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Sage 50 Accounts: 90% off for 10 months

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Sage Intacct: For Over 50 Employees

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Sage Accounting costs between £18 and £59 per month across three main plans: Start (£18 plus VAT), Standard (£39 plus VAT), and Plus (£59 plus VAT).

During our analysis of seven top accounting software platforms, testing them on 1,512 areas of investigation, Sage stood out due to its tailored financial solutions and strong brand customisation.

Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, Sage has done an impressive job of giving its US-based competitors a run for their money as one of the best accounting software platforms for small businesses.

Sage Accounting Pricing Plans 2026

Sage has three plans to choose from. There’s no contract to sign and no hidden fees, and each plan includes one user for the AI-powered assistant Sage Copilot: 

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	Plan	Cost	Features
Accounting Start	Accounting Standard	Accounting Plus
£18/month (+ VAT) 90% off for three months	£39/month (+ VAT) 90% off for three months	£59/month (+ VAT) 90% off for three months
Create and send unlimited sales invoices Submit VAT returns 24/7 support	Advanced reporting capabilities Unlimited users Cash flow statements	Support for multiple currencies Inventory management

While Sage isn’t the most budget-friendly accounting software, you should be on the lookout for deals and discounts. For example, right now you can get 90% off the first three months of any of its three plans.

Sage Accounting Start: features and pricing

Sage Accounting Start: £18 per month + VAT Special offer: 90% off for the first six months

• Number of users: One billable user

• Prepare, track and submit tax for Making Tax Digital VAT
• Unlimited sales invoices
• Sage Copilot, the AI-powered accounting assistant

Summary The Accounting Start plan is geared towards sole traders and solopreneurs who are registered for VAT, but any enterprise larger than a micro-business will need to upgrade to Accounting Standard.

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Accounting Start is best for sole traders, the self-employed who are registered for VAT (as it happens, Sage also ranked on our list of the best accounting software for the self-employed), and small business owners who deal in cash accounting and just need the absolute basics.

With Accounting Start, you can:

• Send unlimited sales invoices a year
• Track your invoices so you can see when they were created, sent, viewed, or paid
• Calculate and submit VAT and be fully MTD (Making Tax Digital) compliant
• Get automated bank reconciliations to help simplify your records
• Use Sage Copilot (but only one user can do so)

Invoices, quotes, and reports can all be heavily customised, with a range of options for changing the style, colour and CTAs, and adding in your own bespoke logo. Just note that these options are more limited on the basic Start plan.

The customisability of Sage’s external documents is one of its biggest strengths. Source: Startups.co.uk

A standout feature is that Sage also includes payroll functionality at this plan level, which is something very few other accounting software platforms provide.

All Sage plans also include Sage Carbon Accounting, which can help your business track its carbon footprint. An important inclusion, as many SMEs are increasingly required to report on their emissions data.

However, there’s no built-in time tracking functionality on any of the plans. It can be somewhat rare for a small business to need this feature though, so it’s not what we’d call a dealbreaker.

What is Sage Copilot?

Sage Copilot is Sage’s AI-powered accounting assistant. It can help you improve your workflow by providing actionable insights, flagging potential risks and automating tasks for you.

Sage Copilot also includes a VAT assistant that can flag upcoming deadlines and calculate what you owe to HMRC.

Sage Accounting Standard: features and pricing

Sage Accounting Standard: £39 per month + VAT Special offer: 90% off for the first six months

• Number of users: Three billable users

• Submit monthly Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) returns to HMRC
• AI-captured receipts and invoices
• Advanced reporting

Summary Accounting Standard will be the plan most growing small businesses will require. If you're a small business looking to expand, working with suppliers or in accrual accounting, then this will be the plan for you.

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Accounting Standard is Sage’s mid-level plan aimed at small businesses that work with suppliers, need to submit CIS tax, or want to work in accrual mode accounting (as opposed to on a cash basis). With this plan, you can keep a record of who you owe what to.

If you’re a limited company, you’ll almost certainly have to start with the Accounting Standard plan. While there are workarounds for this on the Start plan (only if you have limited expenses), it’s less than ideal, so Accounting Standard will be the best choice.

You’ll get everything included in Accounting Start, but Accounting Standard also lets you:

• Submit CIS tax directly to HMRC, with automatic CIS deductions and calculations
• Keep track of how much you owe your suppliers with purchase invoice management; AI can assist with uploading
• Send out quotes to customers and convert quotes to invoices with a single click
• Get customisable profit and loss statements, giving you clarity and control over your finances with analysis types and tags
• Save time by snapping and uploading receipt photos
• Automatically capture, manage and classify invoices and receipts with AI (up to 30 captures included, then 20p per additional capture)
• Use Sage Copilot (one user included)

With Accounting Standard, you’ll also get more advanced reporting tools, including a cash flow projection widget that factors in your expected outgoings and income to predict your bank balance.

While solopreneurs and sole traders will get by with Accounting Start, anything larger than a microbusiness would benefit from Accounting Standard’s tools.

Sage Accounting Plus: features and pricing

Sage Accounting Plus: £59 per month + VAT Special offer: 90% off for the first six months

• Number of users: Unlimited

• Multi-currency invoicing
• Inventory management
• Create and manage financial budgets and future forecasts

Summary Accounting Plus is aimed at small-to-medium-sized businesses, especially those in retail who need to manage an inventory of products. It's also for those operating internationally, as it provides multi-currency support.

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Sage Accounting Plus costs £59 per month and is designed for businesses requiring multi-currency invoicing and inventory management.

That’s because the key features of this plan are:

• Inventory and stock management: tailor prices to your business, including purchase, sales, trade, or wholesale.
• Out-of-stock warnings and stock limits: get a warning when you’re running low and set stock re-order levels.
• Multi-currency invoicing and automatically updated exchange rates: receive payments in a range of currencies.
• Exchange rate reports: track gains and losses made from currency exchange rates.
• AI receipt and invoice capture: automatically extract, manage, and classify up to 100 captures (then it’s 20p per additional capture).
• Sage Copilot: unlimited users can use the AI assistant.

Beyond this, you’ll also get access to tools needed for more sophisticated businesses, like the ability to create and manage yearly financial budgets.

With Accounting Plus, you can create a budget with your financial year data, and you can track budget performance with the “Profit and loss – actual vs budget report” tool.

Is there a free plan?

Outside of the standard Sage Accounting software range of plans, the Sole Trader Free plan is aimed at sole traders not registered for VAT.

Just keep in mind that the free plan is for self-employed sole traders only. You can also jump over to our breakdown of the best free accounting software for small businesses for our recommendations on no-cost plans.

Does Sage have a free trial?

You can try any of the three plans free for one month. However, if you opt for a free trial you won’t be able to access the 90% discount. 

Is Sage worth the money?

Sage is worth the money. We’d recommend Sage in particular if you want to prioritise:

• Built-in payroll functionality
• No limits on usage or transaction caps
• The reliability of an established brand name in accounting software

When I tested Sage, I appreciated the modern-looking interface. It has the look of a 2026 accounting software. Source: Startups.co.uk

Is there a mobile app?

Yes, Sage provides a mobile app that is optimised for both iOS and Android.

You can use the app to create sales invoices, quotes, credit notes, and receipts. You can also use it to manage your bills, perform bank transfers, and create and import contacts.

Plan	Best for	Snap and scan receipts	Number of users	Key features
Sage Accounting Start (£18 per month + VAT)	Sole traders who are registered for VAT	Not included	One	- Sage Copilot - MTD-ready - Unlimited sales invoices
Sage Accounting Standard (£39 per month + VAT)	If you're working with suppliers, or need CIS support	30 included (+ £0.20 for each additional approved capture)	Three	- Manage and submit CIS - Send quotes and estimates - Custom reports
Sage Accounting Plus (£59 per month + VAT)	If you work in multiple currencies and hold inventory	100 included (+ £0.20 for each additional approved capture)	Unlimited	- Budget creation and tracking - Multi-currency support - Inventory management

How expensive is Sage compared with its rivals?

Sage’s cheaper plan is similarly priced to competitors, but its more advanced tiers are expensive.

If you’re a microbusiness with very basic needs, you’d be better off going with Zoho Books’s free plan.

For businesses with high transaction numbers, Sage could lack the more sophisticated financial management tools they might want. Xero’s Ultimate plan, while more expensive than Sage’s Accounting Plus at £65 per month, is better suited to fast-growing businesses that have complex financial needs.

However, Sage does beat many of its competitors in terms of user numbers, as you can have unlimited users on the Accounting Plus plan.

This is pretty impressive when you consider that on QuickBooks’s most expensive plan (at £123 per month, plus VAT), you only get a maximum of 25 users, and Zoho Books’s Ultimate plan (at £199 per month, plus VAT) is limited to 15 users.

You can use our helpful comparison table below to see how Sage stacks up against competitors:

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		Rating	Price from	Best for	Free trial
FEATURED PROVIDER	BEST OVERALL
Xero	Zoho Books	QuickBooks	FreeAgent	Sage	FreshBooks
4.3	4.8	4.5	4.5	4.2	4.1
£7/month (+ VAT) 90% off for 6 months	Free	£10/month (+ VAT)	£10/month (+ VAT)	£18/month (+ VAT)	£16/month (+ VAT)
Expanding businesses that need a software that can grow alongside them	Best overall accounting software	Managing your finances on the move, thanks to an excellent mobile app	If you bank with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle	If you prefer a more traditional bookkeeping software experience	Service based business that need affordable time tracking tools

Are there any hidden costs?

There are no hidden costs or fees associated with Sage.

However, don’t get caught out by the limit on receipt captures. With Standard you get 30 approved captures, and 100 in Plus. After this you’ll need to pay 20p per capture.

Verdict: who should buy Sage Accounting?

The efficient workflow for invoicing and quoting makes Sage Accounting a good fit for service-based businesses, such as builders, contractors, handymen, catering services, personal trainers, and more.

Sage has a super-clear and modern design, and is easy to navigate. Its invoicing and quoting workflow works pretty seamlessly. And if you want customisable document templates, this could be worth the moderate price tag. 

Sage gives you a summary of all your key metrics. Source: Startups.co.uk

However, if you’re dealing with a high volume of transactions or you need to plug in various other apps, you might find there are better software solutions for your needs.

Sage is more of a traditional bookkeeping experience, which can be good for some established businesses, but users new to accounting software might prefer some of the unique ways of working in the recently updated Xero (though this does ultimately come down to preference).

Read next: our comprehensive review of QuickBooks.

Our methodology

Sage was one of seven different accounting software platforms that we tested: Zoho Books, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Xero, Sage, FreshBooks and Clear Books.

Our testing process was comprised of industry-based insights and actual, hands-on user testing spread across 1,512 total areas of investigation.

To ensure you’re getting your money’s worth, for this page, we specifically focused on pricing, investigating:

• Exit fees
• Contracts
• Set-up fees or one-time charges
• Hidden costs
• Free trials or plans

After a total of 57 hours of testing, we are confident in the recommendations we make about accounting software.

We also worked with our expert external accountant, Dan Heelan, who has 19+ years of actual accounting experience, to ensure our findings are correct and helpful.