Review contents
Countingup is an odd piece of software to manage your business finances. It’s trying to merge a business account within accounting software. We think it doesn’t quite work, and makes for a confusing and complicated system, which is not really what you need when trying to manage your business finances. On top of that, it’s very expensive. For these reasons and more we don’t recommend using CountingUp. Go for something tried and tested like Xero.
Check out Xero - it’s super popular and easy to use. Get 90% off for 4 months too.
Is Countingup a business account? Or is it accounting software? Well, we’re not quite sure, it’s trying to be both.
It includes a business account (think like a bank account), so you can send and receive money, alongside keeping your ‘books’ in order with all your transactions recorded correctly, as long as you use the app for everything. So you can view things like your profit and how much tax to pay.
There's also additional features such as creating invoices and scanning receipts. We’ll run through the key features below.
Check out Xero - it’s super popular and easy to use. Get 90% off for 4 months too.
To put simply, it’s got the basics that a business needs, but you must use the app for everything. For instance, you can’t have another bank account. And it means you are limited to the features that CountingUp offers, which aren’t that many compared to other accounting options (such as Xero or QuickBooks).
It also means you are stuck paying Countingup’s high fees (for instance 30p per transaction. Ouch).
It’s not very popular, and there aren’t many businesses using it. In fact, there are many reviews and reports online where Countingup have blocked customer accounts and money, with very poor or no communication.
We think it’s better to use a regular business bank account (you can find the top ones with our business bank account comparison) to manage all your payments, and then use accounting software to manage your accounts (we recommend Xero¹). As simple as that. That way you get the best of both worlds and are free to change your bank or accounting system whenever you like in future.
The business current account is to manage your finances, so that’s all the payments to suppliers, and money received from customers, basically money coming in and out of your business.
That means you do not need to open another account with a bank / business account provider, Countingup is your business account. It also means that none of Countingup’s features will work if you use another account.
Features include being able to set up direct debits, withdraw cash from an ATM, add cash at a Post Office or PayPoint, a debit card for spending, and send and receive money within the app. You can also send and receive foreign currencies (but there are high fees).
Note: there are fees depending on how you use the account, and we’ll run through these below.
The debit card you’ll get is a Mastercard, which means you can use it pretty much anywhere, and online of course.
Check out Xero - it’s super popular and easy to use. Get 90% off for 4 months too.
Countingup brings together a business account with accounting features, all in a single app.
The accounting side is simple to set up and organise, and essentially each transaction that happens (such as you making a sale and money coming in) is placed in a category, such as a sale or expense, either automatically or set manually by you, and then lots of accounting things happen behind the scenes with these categories to produce financial statements and reports, and everything you see in the app.
That isn’t unique to Countingup, and that’s essentially what all accounting systems do - you simply link your existing business bank account to the accounting software and the transactions are imported automatically.
Nuts About Money tip: looking for accounting software? Try Xero¹ with 90% off for 4 months with Nuts About Money.
Creating your own invoices can be pretty painful and time consuming without accounting software or specific invoicing software. With Countingup, it’s all taken care of and you can generate an invoice in a few clicks. It uses a template with all the information that’s legally required, branded to your business (like adding your logo) and with unique invoices numbers.
It will then be saved into your account ready to be matched up when someone pays, ensuring that your records remain in good order.
If you are out and about spending on your card, you might be racking up a whole load of receipts. With Countingup, you can take a photo of the receipt and automatically match it with the right transaction in Countingup.
Note: annoyingly, you have to use your Countingup cards for the transaction to be matched, so you can’t have a different expense card (such as American Express or another bank’s card).
You'll be able to set up a tax pot, which is completely separate from your daily money going in and out, so you can set aside enough to cover taxes throughout the year.
You’ll see an estimate of how much your tax will be, for both VAT (if you are registered) and Corporation Tax (tax on profits) if you are a limited company (an official registered business), or a self assessment tax return if you are a sole trader, so there’s no surprises later down the line. And you can decide how much to set aside each month, or whenever you like, to ensure you’re covered (such as 20% per month).
However, you won’t earn interest on the reserved money in your pot. This could mean you are missing out on a small fortune. It’s often a good idea to keep your tax money in a business savings account so your money is working for you too (and the taxman).
This feature is useful to have, and it's continuous insights into your business finances whenever you’d like.
As you’ve got all your financial information in a single app, such as your money going in and out, your invoices and other costs, Countingup can review everything automatically and give you financial insights and reports on your business.
That’s things like how much profit you’re making, tax due and how much money customers owe.
If you’ve got an accountant, there's no longer any need to send any reports or documents to them. You can give them secure access to your Countingup account and they can view everything they need to themselves.
It’s not unique however, and all accounting systems, like Xero, have this feature.
Note: that means your accountant will have their own Countingup account, we don’t mean giving your accountant your password!
If you are running a limited company, Countingup connects directly to Companies House, so you’ll get reminders of when to file things, such as your confirmation statement (which confirms the business is still running and who the owners are).
Check out Xero - it’s super popular and easy to use. Get 90% off for 4 months too.
Countingup partners with a company called iwoca, who provide business loans to small businesses. So, if you need a loan, within the Countingup app itself, you can see the potential loan options where you can borrow up to £400,000 with repayment periods from one day to two years.
This is good and bad, as you might be shown ads for loans when you’re trying to do something important in the app. It’s also a good idea to compare business loans (such as using a broker), rather than go directly to a loan provider.
Note: you’ll need to be a limited company and the loan is based on your business circumstances, so it’s not guaranteed you’ll get one.
If you’re ready to register as a limited company, Countingup will register this all for you, saving a bit of admin and making sure it’s all set up correctly.
They’ll do this for free too, saving you £50 in Companies House fees, and £100s if you were to use an advisor or solicitor. But, it’s not too difficult to do this yourself, and it’s all handled on the Companies House website if you wanted to.
Countingup is primarily for small businesses, so that’s both sole traders (running and business under your own name) and limited companies, but only up to a limit…
Your limited company will need to be registered with Companies House, and either have one or two directors, unfortunately you can’t use Countingup if you have more than two directors.
Nuts About Money tip: if you do have more than two directors, check out your options with our best business accounts table.
It should also be a typical business where the directors are shareholders, rather than a different type such as a partnership or charity.
There are also a fair few certain industries that are not permitted, such as stock trading and gambling companies.
If you are an accountant doing the books for lots of clients, with Countingup you’ll get your own Countingup software to manage all your clients in one place, with all of your clients transactions automatically showing into your Countingup dashboard, so you can manage them all easily, create the reports, and be up-to-date on everything. It’s free for accountants, but unfortunately not for your clients!
Overall, the fees are very high when compared to other business accounts for small businesses, and when compared to accounting software.
With Countingup, you don’t sign up for a certain plan, instead the pricing is determined by how much you use the account. Which means the fees can add up if your business is busy.
It’s broken into two types of fees, the first is an overall tier (either 1, 2 or 3), and is a set monthly fee based on how much money is coming into your account (e.g. from sales). The tiers are just below, and range from £3 per month to £18 per month.
Alongside that is transaction fees, and these are fees for doing certain things within your account, such as sending money or paying cash in at the Post Office. These are just below too.
So overall, you’ll pay the monthly tier fee, and any transaction fees that are relevant.
As you can see, these fees are very expensive. 30p to make a payment (e.g. pay a supplier or a customer to pay you), and even 30p to make a Direct Debit payment (e.g. recurring bills).
3% on foreign currency transactions is super high too, and so is paying in cash at a PayPoint (3%) and Post Office (0.5%). If you handle cash in your business, it’s going to get expensive.
That’s on top of the monthly subscription fee too.
With other business accounts, some are free to open and have lower transaction fees, and others have a monthly plan which gives you most things you need without any extra transaction fees (e.g. £5 per month). Compare all our top options with our best business bank accounts.
In terms of accounting software, the popular options, such as Xero¹ have a low cost monthly plan, so don’t think that accounting software has to be expensive! You’ll likely save money, and have more features and flexibility by using both one of the top business accounts and one of the top accounting software options, rather than using CountingUp.
The customer support isn’t that great, and there are reviews of accounts getting blocked with no communication or resolution from customer support. And this often happens after you have added money (or a customer has paid you).
There’s no phone number to call, just an email address, or a message within the app, and it only runs from 9am to 5pm during the week.
It is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who are the people making sure businesses and looking after you and your money.
Your business money is held securely in your name or your business name, held entirely separate from Countingup’s own money. They cannot access it for any reason, and it can only be returned to you (for instance if Countingup were to go out of business).
Here’s a quick recap and the pros and cons of Countingup:
Having all your business finances in one place is a great idea in theory, but with Countingup this throw ups a lot of issues - and means you are tied to Countingup, rather than being able to shop around for the best business account for you, and the best accounting system for you (and being able to change either in future). It also means you are stuck paying high fees.
With Countingup, it functions well, and you can make payments and receive money, and produce things like invoices for customers. But, there’s not a huge range of accounting features when compared to proper accounting software (which aren’t complicated to use by the way).
The fees overall are very expensive, and will add up if you make a lot of transactions, and likely not worth it. Particularly for cash businesses.
We recommend shopping around for a great, low cost business account and then separately simply use one of the top accounting systems (like Xero¹) for your accounts. They’re not complicated, and you’ll be guided through it if you’re not quite sure - your accountant (or future accountant) will thank you too (accountants love Xero).
To compare, here’s all our top picks for the best business bank accounts, and if you want to check out Xero¹, don’t forget to use the discount we’ve nabbed for our readers - 90% off for 4 months. Learn more with our Xero review too.
We’d love to hear from you, and it will help others too.
Christopher Dowling combines a communications degree with over 10 years experience in the financial services industry in London – with focus on educating people on a wide range of money topics in an easy to understand way. He writes about savings, investing, pensions, mortgages, insurance, banking, loans, business finance and other money topics.
This article was written, reviewed and fact checked by the expert team at Nuts About Money. You’re in safe hands. Learn more.
We're experts in all things money, with years of combined experience working in the finance industry and writing about money. We understand the ins and outs, how to get the best deals, save money, and how to communicate money in an easy to understand way (we hope you agree).
More than 20 years of combined experience researching and writing about money
Researched and reviewed a wide range of financial services companies, and have a transparent review process
We follow a strict editorial code to ensure you get the best information possible
Check out Xero - it’s super popular and easy to use. Get 90% off for 4 months too.
