Stoneledger compared

Stoneledger against the big names.

What each one costs, and what each one does for the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS). Everything we say about another company’s software comes from its own website, with the date we checked it.

How it can cost this little

Stoneledger is built and run by a small, dedicated team. We don’t have a sales floor, a big head office or a national advertising budget to pay for, and we build one product for the businesses we know rather than a range of them. So there are no large running costs to price into your subscription - and the saving is passed straight to you.

The price

£8 a month or £50 a year, with everything in it.

Stoneledger's price against QuickBooks, Xero and Sage, with what you would save each year and over three years
Software	The plan you would need	A month	A year	You save each year	Over three years
Stoneledger	Everything, one plan: VAT, both sides of CIS and Making Tax Digital, with no monthly limits	£8	£50 on the yearly plan	-	-
QuickBooks	Simple Start - its first plan with VAT	£16	£192	£142	£426
Xero	Ignite - VAT and CIS, with 20 invoices and 10 bills a month	£18	£216	£166	£498
Xero, for a contractor	Ignite, and £5 a month more to file contractor CIS returns	£23	£276	£226	£678
Sage	Accounting Standard - its first plan with CIS	£43	£516	£466	£1,398

On the yearly plan that is £142 to £466 a year less, and £426 to £1,398 over three years, for one plan that already includes what theirs charge extra for.

Not registered for VAT? Then you cannot claim their VAT back, and it adds a fifth to what you pay: a year of Xero Ignite comes to £259.20, and Sage Accounting Standard to £619.20, against Stoneledger’s £50, with no VAT to add.

List prices before VAT as each company publishes them, before any introductory offer, checked on 5 October 2026. Each saving is against Stoneledger’s yearly plan, at today’s prices. Stoneledger is not registered for VAT, so there is none to add to its price.

CIS, in their own words

What each one says it does, and what that means for you.

Xero

Every plan lists “Automate subcontractor CIS calculations and reports”. “Submit contractor CIS returns” is £5 a month more, and its cheapest plan, Ignite, allows 20 invoices and 10 bills a month (its pricing page, 5 October 2026). On Xero’s own ideas forum, “CIS deduction after retention - subcontractor invoices”, posted on 3 May 2023, had 47 votes and the status Submitted when we checked on 4 October 2026.

What it means for you: a contractor pays £276 a year before VAT to file from Ignite, and a month with more than 20 invoices needs a dearer plan.

In Stoneledger: both sides of CIS in the one £8 plan, with no monthly limits, and retention tracked from the invoice, with the CIS worked at the rate in force when it is paid.

QuickBooks

Every plan lists “Calculate and submit CIS”, and payroll is an add-on on every plan (its pricing page, 5 October 2026).

What it means for you: its list stops at the contractor’s calculation and return. Nothing on it checks the statements a contractor sends you, or flags a deduction taken at the wrong rate.

In Stoneledger: every statement you receive is reconciled against what you were paid, a deduction at the wrong rate is flagged, and your refund is tracked all year.

Sage

Its first plan with CIS is Accounting Standard, at £43 a month before VAT, so a business in CIS moves up from Sage’s starting plan to get it (its pricing page, 5 October 2026).

What it means for you: £516 a year before VAT just to have CIS - more than ten years of Stoneledger’s yearly plan.

In Stoneledger: CIS is in the £8 plan from the start, for the subcontractor and the contractor.

FreeAgent

Free with some business bank accounts: HMRC lists it as “FreeAgent for free with Mettle, NatWest & RBS” (4 October 2026). Its help centre says the monthly CIS300 return cannot be filed from FreeAgent: you prepare it there and file it on HMRC’s own online service (5 October 2026).

What it means for you: a contractor still files every return by hand, twelve times a year, with a penalty for each one that is late.

In Stoneledger: the CIS300 is built from your books to HMRC’s own specification, and the penalty clock runs on screen until it has gone. Sending it from Stoneledger comes once HMRC grants access.

Something here out of date? Tell us at hello@stoneledgeruk.co.uk and we will put it right.

CIS in Stoneledger

Built for the people CIS is taken from, as well as the people who take it.

Most software was built for the contractor, who has to file. Stoneledger was built around the subcontractor too, whose tax is taken before they are paid, and who has to prove it to get it back.

Statements you receive, checked. Log each contractor’s payment and deduction statement and Stoneledger reconciles it, month by month, against what you were actually paid. A missing one is flagged once the 14 days a contractor has to send it are up.
A wrong deduction, flagged. One taken at a rate that does not match your status, and materials billed with no purchase behind them.
Retention held and released. Tracked from the invoice until the money is released, with the CIS worked at the rate in force when it is paid, not when it was invoiced.
Your refund, all year. A running total of what has been taken off you and the route back: your Self Assessment as a sole trader or partner, your monthly payroll return as a limited company.
The contractor side too. Deducting at each subcontractor’s rate, statements within 14 days and the monthly CIS300, with the late-filing penalty shown on HMRC’s own scale. Verifying subcontractors with HMRC, and sending the CIS300, come once HMRC grants Stoneledger access: both are built to HMRC’s specification and checked against HMRC’s own sample returns.
Prepared is not filed. A return Stoneledger has prepared is never shown as filed. Until it has actually gone, the penalty clock keeps running on screen, so nobody finds out from HMRC’s letter.

See CIS in Stoneledger

See it on a book like yours.

The books, both sides of CIS, VAT, your tax, payroll and property in one plan, and every figure opens to show where it came from.