FreeAgent alternatives without NatWest
Free MTD software that does not need a specific bank account

FreeAgent is a good product with an unusual commercial model, and the model is why this page exists. HMRC's software directory shows FreeAgent with a free version, which is true. What the directory cannot show is the condition attached: as checked in August 2026, FreeAgent is £0 for people holding a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle account and using it monthly. NatWest Group owns FreeAgent, so the free tier is a banking benefit rather than a product tier.

If you bank elsewhere and have no intention of moving, that free version is not available to you, and the list price is £19 a month for the sole trader plan or £10 for the landlord plan. This page is about what else you can use.

What HMRC's directory says about FreeAgent

HMRC publishes a feature grid for every listed product using its own three-state scale: ready now, in development, or not included. We scraped all 159 listings on 17 October 2026.

FreeAgent

£19/mo sole trader, £10/mo landlord list; £0 with a NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle account(checked August 2026)

• Free version: no
• Android; Apple iOS: yes
• Sole trader income: yes
• UK property income: yes
• Foreign property income: no
• Keeps digital records: yes

16/16 tax-return items ready.

HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 17 October 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site

Promotional rates of £9.50 and £5 have been running. The free route requires a qualifying bank account used monthly. Graded not included on foreign property.

HMRC lists what each vendor declares. Feature flags, mobile-app support in particular, are vendor claims rather than verified facts, and listings change. Check with the vendor before you buy. Data: HMRC find-MTD-software service (tax.service.gov.uk), scraped 17 October 2026.

On capability this is a strong listing and nothing here is a criticism of the software. All 16 tax-return items ready puts FreeAgent in the top cohort of the whole directory, one of 15 products graded complete, with Clear Books, QuickBooks, untied, Kletta, RentalBux, TaxHeaven and My Tax Digital one item behind at 15. Digital record-keeping, agent software and calendar update periods are all graded ready, and iOS and Android apps are listed.

Two gaps to note. Foreign property is graded not included, so an overseas rental is out. And HMRC Assist submission feedback is graded not included, where Clear Books and QuickBooks are ready.

Free version (HMRC directory)

A flag HMRC displays when a vendor declares a free version of its product. It says nothing about the conditions attached. Across the directory those conditions vary enormously: some free tiers are forever-free with no card, some are capped by property or invoice count, some expire on a fixed date, and some require you to open or hold a particular bank account. 37 of the 159 listed products carry the flag, so reading the vendor's own terms is the only way to know what a given free version means.

The bank-linked free tier pattern

FreeAgent is not alone in this, and once you see the pattern across the directory it is hard to unsee. A meaningful share of the free tiers on HMRC's list are customer-acquisition deals for a financial product rather than free software.

37of 159 (23%)list a free versionHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 17 October 2026

Within that group:

• FreeAgent is free with a NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle account, used monthly. NatWest Group owns FreeAgent.
• Coconut Free is tied to a Zempler Bank account deal for new funded accounts, as checked in August 2026. Coconut's own 14-day trial cannot file.
• Monzo, Starling, Lloyds Bank and Tide Accounting all appear on the directory with free versions that come with their business accounts. All four are graded 0 of 16 on tax-return items today, so they are record-keepers rather than return-completers.

None of that is dishonest. Banks giving away MTD tooling to make current accounts stickier is a rational strategy and a genuine saving if you already bank there. It just means "free" on the directory and "free for you" are different questions.

The bank-independent free options are a shorter list, and they are what most people searching for this actually want. The full breakdown is in our analysis of every HMRC-listed MTD tool.

The alternatives, ranked by how closely they match FreeAgent

Clear Books Free: the closest match

Clear Books Free

£0 forever(checked August 2026)

• Free version: yes
• Android; Apple iOS: yes
• Sole trader income: yes
• UK property income: yes
• Foreign property income: yes
• Keeps digital records: yes

15/16 tax-return items ready, 1 more in development.

HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 17 October 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site

No card, no transaction limits, covers quarterly updates and the final declaration. Graded ready on foreign property, where FreeAgent is not included.

Grade for grade this is the nearest thing to FreeAgent without a bank condition. Both are established UK accounting products, and both are graded ready on digital record-keeping, sole trader, UK property, agent software and calendar quarters. They separated slightly in the week to 23 August 2026: FreeAgent went to 16 of 16 return items where Clear Books Free is at 15, and Clear Books turned foreign property ready where FreeAgent is still not included. Clear Books Free also adds HMRC Assist, which FreeAgent lacks.

The difference is that Clear Books is free for everyone rather than free for NatWest customers.

TaxHeaven and My Tax Digital: free, and ready on foreign property

TaxHeaven

£0 Angel, £58.80/yr Archangel(checked August 2026)

• Free version: yes
• No mobile app listed: no
• Sole trader income: yes
• UK property income: yes
• Foreign property income: yes
• Keeps digital records: yes

15/16 tax-return items ready, 1 more in development.

HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 17 October 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site

Angel covers one automated business or income type and three AI uses a month. No mobile app listed. Graded ready on foreign property.

My Tax Digital (Free)

£0(checked August 2026)

• Free version: yes
• No mobile app listed: no
• Sole trader income: yes
• UK property income: yes
• Foreign property income: yes
• Keeps digital records: yes

15/16 tax-return items ready, 1 more in development.

HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 17 October 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site

No paid tier at all. Covers VAT and Income Tax, bridging or full accounting, multi-business and agents. Web only, no mobile app listed.

Both are free with no bank condition, both are graded 15 of 16 on return items, and both are graded ready on foreign property where FreeAgent is not. The trade is interface: neither is listed with a mobile app.

If you want a mobile-first product

This is where the market gets thin, and it is worth understanding why before you shortlist.

65of 159 (41%)list a mobile appHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 17 October 2026

Plenty of apps, then. But cross-reference against free filing and the overlap nearly disappears: the products that give away the full obligation are overwhelmingly browser-based, while the mobile-first names charge. Kletta self-serve software lists at £19 to £29 a month (its £49 Care tier includes a human bookkeeper), untied at £129.99 a year, Coconut at £129.99 a year, and TaxZap at around £8.99 a month, none with a permanent free tier.

Five listed products do sit in that overlap, being free, on both app stores, keeping digital records and covering all three income sources: Clear Books Free, Coconut Free, DIY Tax, Self Assessment Direct and RentalBux Free. Each comes with conditions. Clear Books Free and Self Assessment Direct are browser-first products whose mobile flags are vendor-declared, and Self Assessment Direct's sits oddly against a web-first product. Coconut Free is tied to a Zempler Bank account deal and is graded 0 of 16 on return items. DIY Tax's free edition is capped at one business or property, 30 invoices and expenses, and MTD for VAT or Income Tax but not both. RentalBux Free is the most usable of the app-first options, on its own terms:

RentalBux Free

£0(checked August 2026)

• Free version: yes
• Android; Apple iOS: yes
• Sole trader income: yes
• UK property income: yes
• Foreign property income: yes
• Keeps digital records: yes

15/16 tax-return items ready.

HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 17 October 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site

Free plan covers one property and is described as free until March 2028. Graded ready on all three income sources and 15 of 16 return items.

TapTax targets exactly this gap: a free tier with native iOS and Android apps, CSV bank-statement import with presets for 16 UK banks (direct bank connection is coming soon), AI categorisation, receipt capture, covering sole trader, UK property and foreign property. There is no bank condition and no property cap on the free tier.

The caveat we put on every page applies here too: TapTax is HMRC-recognised, with its directory listing pending, so it did not appear on the 17 October 2026 directory scrape. FreeAgent is listed today. If you need a product that is on the HMRC directory today, use a listed one. TapTax's own return-items grade is mid-pack at roughly six to eight of 16, behind FreeAgent's 16.

“Free with a bank account is a perfectly good deal if you already have the bank account. It is a switching cost dressed as a discount if you do not.”

Side by side, checked August 2026

Feature grades in the first three columns are HMRC's own from the 17 October 2026 scrape. Prices are from vendor pricing pages as checked in August 2026.

Who should choose what

You bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle. Stay on FreeAgent. It is free, it is graded 16 of 16, and nothing on this page beats free plus top-cohort completeness.

You bank elsewhere and want the same thing for nothing. Clear Books Free. Same grades on almost every axis, no bank condition, and HMRC Assist on top.

You have an overseas rental. Not FreeAgent, on current grading. Clear Books now covers it, as of the 17 October 2026 scrape, and on the directory you can also look at TaxHeaven, My Tax Digital, RentalBux or Xero. TapTax also reports foreign property, and is HMRC-recognised with its directory listing still pending, so it has no row on the list yet.

You want to do your tax on a phone without switching banks. TapTax is built for that shape, and is HMRC-recognised with its directory listing pending. RentalBux Free is the listed alternative if one property covers you.

You are happy paying and want the accountant ecosystem. FreeAgent at list price is defensible if your accountant already works in it. Otherwise compare against QuickBooks at £10 plus VAT a month, which is graded 15 of 16, one item behind FreeAgent, and adds HMRC Assist.

The bottom line

FreeAgent's free version is real and its HMRC grades are strong. The condition is a bank account most people do not have, and switching banks to save £19 a month is a bigger decision than the saving justifies for most sole traders.

Without that account, the alternatives are genuinely better value: Clear Books Free is £0 with no strings and now covers foreign property where FreeAgent does not, TaxHeaven and My Tax Digital do the same, and TapTax offers the free-plus-mobile combination that almost nothing on the directory does, and is HMRC-recognised with its directory listing pending.

Compare any of the listed products against the same source rather than the marketing, in the MTD software directory. TapTax has no row there yet.

People also ask

How do I get FreeAgent for free?

As checked in August 2026, FreeAgent is free for customers holding a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle business account, with a requirement to use that account monthly. NatWest Group owns FreeAgent, so this is a banking benefit rather than a general free tier. Without a qualifying account the list price is £19 a month for the sole trader plan or £10 a month for the landlord plan, with promotional rates of £9.50 and £5 running. HMRC's directory shows a free version flag for FreeAgent but cannot show the bank condition attached.

What free MTD software works with any bank?

Clear Books Free, TaxHeaven Angel, My Tax Digital and Self Assessment Direct are all free with no bank condition, and all four appear on HMRC's directory. Clear Books Free and TaxHeaven are graded 15 of 16 on tax-return items, and Clear Books Free, TaxHeaven and My Tax Digital are all graded ready on foreign property. On mobile they split: HMRC lists no app for TaxHeaven or My Tax Digital, while Clear Books Free and Self Assessment Direct are listed with Android and Apple iOS apps. Those mobile flags are vendor-declared rather than verified by HMRC, and both are browser-first products, so test the app before relying on it. TapTax's free tier is bank-independent too and imports statements from your existing bank by CSV with native iOS and Android apps, and is HMRC-recognised, with its directory listing pending.

Is FreeAgent better than Clear Books for MTD?

On HMRC's grading they are close: both ready on digital record-keeping, sole trader income, UK property, agent software and calendar update periods. As of the 17 October 2026 scrape FreeAgent is ready on all 16 tax-return items and Clear Books Free on 15, while Clear Books is ready on foreign property and FreeAgent is not. Clear Books is also graded ready on HMRC Assist where FreeAgent is not. The decisive difference is commercial: Clear Books Free is free for everyone, while FreeAgent is free only with a NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle account and otherwise £19 a month for sole traders.

Do banks offer free MTD for Income Tax software?

Yes, several appear on HMRC's directory. Monzo, Starling, Lloyds Bank and Tide Accounting all list free versions bundled with their business accounts, and FreeAgent is free with a NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle account. The important caveat is completeness: Monzo, Starling, Lloyds and Tide are all graded 0 of HMRC's 16 tax-return items ready as of the 17 October 2026 scrape, so they keep digital records and file quarterly updates but are not graded able to finish your return. FreeAgent is the exception at 16 of 16.