FreeAgent Review (2026): the Best Deal in UK Accounting?
A complete, UK-built accounting package with payroll and the clearest Self Assessment workflow we tested, free if you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle. Even at list price it earns its keep for freelancers and contractors.
- Price from: £0 with a qualifying bank account; list price from £19/mo ex VAT, checked July 2026
- MTD status: HMRC-recognised for VAT and Income Tax
- Free trial: 30 days on paid plans
- Payroll: included on every plan, RTI built in
The headline: free means the whole product
Let's deal with the deal first, because it is the reason most people are here. FreeAgent is owned by NatWest Group. If your business banks with NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland or Ulster Bank, or you use the free app-based Mettle account, you get FreeAgent at no charge for as long as you keep the account and meet the bank's usage conditions (for Mettle, that means using the account genuinely, so check the current terms when you sign up).
Crucially, this is not a lite tier. It is the same product paying customers get: invoicing, bank feeds, VAT filing, payroll, Self Assessment, corporation tax forecasting, the lot. We tested the Mettle route for this review and the sign-up-to-working-books journey took under an hour. If you are a sole traderish one-person band and your banking is flexible, opening a Mettle account purely to get FreeAgent free is a rational move, and thousands do exactly that. More free routes are covered in our free accounting software guide.
What we tested
Following our methodology, we ran our sole trader test books through FreeAgent end to end and loaded our limited company set with 1,400 transactions and two employees. We filed a test VAT return, submitted an MTD ITSA quarterly update, ran two months of payroll and raised support queries by phone and email.
Built for UK tax, and it shows
FreeAgent was built in Edinburgh for UK freelancers and contractors, and that heritage is its biggest strength. The Tax Timeline on the dashboard lists every upcoming HMRC deadline with the amount due: VAT, payroll taxes, Self Assessment payments on account, corporation tax. Nothing else we tested presents your obligations this plainly.
The Self Assessment support is the best in this comparison. For sole traders and company directors, FreeAgent fills in the main return sections from your books and files directly to HMRC. Our test filing matched the figures our accountant calculated independently. For limited companies, it drafts corporation tax computations and final accounts, though your accountant will still want the final say.
MTD and VAT filing
FreeAgent is HMRC-recognised for MTD VAT and MTD for Income Tax, and was among the earliest products working with HMRC on ITSA. Quarterly updates are generated from your digital records with a review screen before submission; ours filed without a hitch. VAT supports standard, cash and Flat Rate schemes, and FreeAgent nudges you when your rolling turnover approaches the £90,000 registration threshold, a genuinely thoughtful touch.
UK bank feeds
Open banking feeds connected cleanly to NatWest, Mettle, Barclays, Lloyds, Monzo and Starling in our tests. Unsurprisingly the NatWest-family feeds are rock solid, refreshing multiple times daily. The "Guess" feature suggests explanations for new transactions and learned our test company's patterns within a few weeks of data. Reconciliation is slightly more manual than Xero's one-click matching but perfectly pleasant at small scale.
Payroll: included, not an add-on
Every FreeAgent plan includes payroll with RTI submissions, auto-enrolment support and payslips, at no extra cost. That is worth £50 to £100 a year against rivals where payroll is a paid extra. It ran our two-employee payroll faultlessly. The honest caveat: it is built for small, simple payrolls. Beyond roughly ten employees, or with complex pension and benefits setups, you will want Sage or a dedicated payroll product.
Support: humans in Edinburgh
Support is UK-based, weekdays 9am to 5pm UK time, by phone and email, on every plan including the free-via-bank route. Our test email got a correct, human answer in under three hours; the phone was answered in four minutes. The tone is notably unscripted. Among all seven packages in our main comparison, FreeAgent's support was the most pleasant to deal with.
Pricing (checked July 2026)
- Free via bank: full product with a NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account.
- Sole Trader: from £19/mo ex VAT at list price.
- Partnership/LLP and Limited Company plans: priced above the sole trader plan; check freeagent.com for current rates as FreeAgent adjusted pricing within the last year.
Universal across plans: unlimited users, unlimited clients and projects, payroll, and accountant access included. There are no per-user fees anywhere, and a 30-day trial on paid plans.
Pros
- Genuinely free with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle
- Best Self Assessment workflow we tested
- Payroll included on every plan
- Tax Timeline shows every HMRC deadline and amount
- UK-based phone and email support, warm and competent
- MTD VAT and Income Tax recognised
Cons
- No stock or inventory tracking
- Struggles past roughly ten employees
- Reporting is basic next to Xero and Sage
- Fewer third-party integrations than the big two
Who it suits, and who it doesn't
Choose FreeAgent if you are a freelancer, contractor, landlord or micro limited company, especially if you bank (or are willing to bank) with the NatWest family or Mettle. It is also the most beginner-friendly package here for people who fear bookkeeping.
Look elsewhere if you sell physical products and need stock control (Xero or Zoho Books), you are past ten employees (Sage), or you need advanced reporting and consolidations.
FreeAgent FAQs
Is FreeAgent really free with NatWest or RBS?
Yes. Business banking customers of NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank, and Mettle account holders, get the full product free while they keep the account and meet the bank's usage conditions. It is not a cut-down version.
Is FreeAgent MTD compatible?
Yes, HMRC-recognised for MTD VAT and MTD for Income Tax, with quarterly ITSA updates filed from inside the product.
Does FreeAgent include payroll?
Yes, on every plan at no extra cost, with RTI submissions and payslips. Best suited to payrolls of up to about ten people.
How much is FreeAgent without a qualifying bank?
List pricing starts at £19/mo ex VAT for sole traders (checked July 2026), with company plans priced higher; check freeagent.com for current rates.
Alternatives to FreeAgent
Prices and features checked July 2026 and re-checked quarterly. Spotted a change? Email hello@best-in-the.co.uk.