Sage alternatives for MTD
What HMRC's directory says about Sage, and what else is out there
Sage has four separate MTD listings and a real free tier. All four are graded at 0 of HMRC's 16 tax-return items today. If that is the reason you are looking, here is where to look.
Estimate your self-employed tax in seconds
See what you would owe for the year, then file the real figures with TapTax in a couple of taps.
Total turnover before expenses
Under £1,000 we use the trading allowance automatically
Estimated tax bill
£6,872
15.3% effective rate for 2026/27
- Income tax
- £5,286
- Class 4 NI
- £1,586
Take-home pay
£32,128
after tax, NI and expenses
This is an estimate using HMRC-confirmed rates for 2026/27, not your official tax calculation. TapTax is MTD-compatible, so you can connect to HMRC and file the real figures in a couple of taps.
Sage is one of the most familiar names in UK accounting, and it has taken MTD for Income Tax seriously: four separate listings on HMRC's directory, a genuinely free tier, mobile apps on most of them, and a paid plan at £7 plus VAT a month that undercuts several smaller rivals. If you are on Sage and it works, none of what follows is an argument to leave.
But there is one number in HMRC's own data that sends people looking, and it is worth putting up front rather than at the end. All four Sage listings are graded at 0 of HMRC's 16 tax-return items ready now.
- HMRC lists four Sage products: Accounting from Sage, Sage50, Sage Sole Trader & Landlord and Sage Sole Trader & Landlord Free.
- All four are graded 0 of 16 tax-return items ready now, with 14 or 15 in development as of the 5 August 2026 scrape.
- All four are graded not included on foreign property, though ready on sole trader and UK property.
- The free tier is real, capped at 5 sales invoices a month as checked August 2026; the paid tier is £7 plus VAT with a 90% discount for 6 months.
- Alternatives graded 15 of 16 include Clear Books Free (£0), FreeAgent, QuickBooks, untied, Kletta, RentalBux, TaxHeaven and My Tax Digital.
What HMRC's directory actually says about Sage
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 122 listings on 5 August 2026. Here is every Sage entry side by side.
| Product | Free | Sole trader | UK property | Foreign property | Mobile app | Return items |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sage Sole Trader & Landlord Free | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Android; Apple iOS | 0/16 |
| Sage Sole Trader & Landlord | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Android; Apple iOS | 0/16 |
| Accounting from Sage | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Android; Apple iOS | 0/16 |
| Sage50 | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Not listed | 0/16 |
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 5 August 2026.
Three observations from that grid.
The return-items column is 0 across the board. Every Sage product can file quarterly updates and none is graded able to complete a single one of the 16 year-end items. Sage has told HMRC it intends to close that: 14 to 15 items are marked in development on each listing, meaning committed for the 2026-27 return but not shipped.
Foreign property is not included on any of them. If you have an overseas rental, no Sage listing covers it on current grading.
Sage50 has no mobile app listed, while the other three do. If you are comparing reviews online, check which Sage product the review is about, because they grade differently on more than one axis.
- Tax-return items (MTD ITSA)
- The 16 categories HMRC grades separately, covering everything outside your quarterly business updates: UK interest, employment (PAYE), UK dividends, state and private pension income, partnership income, foreign dividends and interest, pension contributions, Construction Industry Scheme, charitable giving, capital gains, student loan, marriage allowance, voluntary Class 2 NI and the High Income Child Benefit Charge. A product graded 0 of 16 can file your quarterly updates but is not graded able to finish your return.
Is 0 of 16 actually a problem?
Honestly, it depends entirely on your tax life, and a lot of coverage gets this wrong in both directions.
First, context. Sage is not unusual here:
87of 122 (71%)cannot complete a single tax-return itemHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026That is the majority of the directory, so 0 of 16 is the market norm rather than a Sage failing. What makes it worth acting on is that a meaningful minority have solved it:
27of 122 (22%)have 9 or more of the 16 return items readyHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026So the question is simply whether your return contains anything beyond business income and expenses. If you have a workplace pension, some savings interest, dividends from an old shareholding, CIS deductions, a student loan or the High Income Child Benefit Charge, those are return items. If your only income is your trade or your rent, a 0 of 16 product may serve you fine for the quarterly cycle, and you finish the year another way.
The full breakdown of which products sit where is in our analysis of all 122 HMRC-listed MTD tools, and you can filter the directory yourself on the MTD software directory.
The alternatives, by what you are trying to fix
If you want completeness: the 15 of 16 cohort
These are the products graded at nine or more of the 16 return items ready now, which is where the field separates.
| Product | Free | Sole trader | UK property | Foreign property | Mobile app | Return items |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTD 4 Income Tax | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Android; Apple iOS | 16/16 |
| MTD Companion for iPhone & iPad | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Apple iOS | 16/16 |
| MTD Companion for macOS | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 16/16 |
| AbraTax MTD for Income Tax | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 15/16 |
| Abridge (MTD for Excel/Sheets) | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Android; Apple iOS | 15/16 |
| Clear Books | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Android; Apple iOS | 15/16 |
| Clear Books Free | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Android; Apple iOS | 15/16 |
| Forbes MTD | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Android | 15/16 |
| FreeAgent | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Android; Apple iOS | 15/16 |
| Kletta | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Android; Apple iOS | 15/16 |
| My Tax Digital (Free) | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 15/16 |
| QuickBooks (Intuit) | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Android; Apple iOS | 15/16 |
Among those, the ones most likely to suit someone leaving Sage:
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: no
- Keeps digital records: yes
15/16 tax-return items ready, 1 more in development.
HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site
An established UK accounting suite like Sage, but free including the final declaration, with no card and no transaction limits. Graded not included on foreign property.
FreeAgent
£19/mo sole trader, £10/mo landlord list; £0 with a NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle account(checked August 2026)
- Free version: yes
- Android; Apple iOS: yes
- Sole trader income: yes
- UK property income: yes
- Foreign property income: no
- Keeps digital records: yes
15/16 tax-return items ready, 1 more in development.
HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared.
The free version on HMRC's listing is bank-gated in practice: it needs a partner bank account used monthly. Graded not included on foreign property.
QuickBooks (Intuit)
£10 + VAT/mo Sole Trader(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
15/16 tax-return items ready.
HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site
Promotional rate of £1 plus VAT for the first 6 months. No free tier. Graded not included on foreign property.
If you want the same price or lower
Sage Sole Trader & Landlord is £7 plus VAT a month as checked in August 2026, with a 90% discount for the first six months. Products at or below that:
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 5 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site
Angel covers one automated business or income type and three AI uses a month. HMRC lists no mobile app. Graded ready on foreign property and 15 of 16 return items.
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 5 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site
Genuinely free with no paid tier at all, covering VAT and Income Tax, bridging or full accounting, multi-business and agents. Web only, no mobile app listed.
MTD 4 Income Tax
£20/yr individuals, £5/client/yr agents(checked August 2026)
- Free version: no
- Android; Apple iOS: yes
- Sole trader income: yes
- UK property income: yes
- Foreign property income: yes
- Keeps digital records: yes
16/16 tax-return items ready.
HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site
The only product on the directory graded ready on all 16 return items alongside MTD Companion. Responsive web rather than a native app; first month free, no permanent free tier.
If you want foreign property
This is where the field narrows sharply, and where no Sage listing reaches.
60of 122 (49%)handle foreign property incomeHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026RentalBux 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 5 August 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.
Xero
£7 + VAT/mo Simple, £16 + VAT/mo Ignite(checked August 2026)
- Free version: no
- Android; Apple iOS: yes
- Sole trader income: yes
- UK property income: yes
- Foreign property income: yes
- Keeps digital records: yes
2/16 tax-return items ready, 14 more in development.
HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 5 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site
Same entry price as Sage and graded ready on foreign property, but only 2 of the 16 return items are ready now, with 14 in development.
If you want to do it on a phone
Sage lists mobile apps on three of its four products, so this is not a gap so much as a difference in centre of gravity: Sage is accounting software with apps attached.
TapTax is built the other way round. It is tax only, with no invoicing, VAT or payroll, and the whole cycle runs from a phone: open banking pulls transactions in, AI categorisation proposes the treatment, the camera captures receipts, CSV import with presets for 16 UK banks covers the rest, and the quarterly update is a review and a tap. It covers sole trader, UK property and foreign property, and its free tier is not invoice-capped.
The honest caveat, which we put on every page: TapTax is MTD-compatible and going through HMRC's recognition process, so it did not appear on the 5 August 2026 directory scrape. Sage is listed today. If you need to file a live submission this month, choose a listed product. TapTax's own return-items position is mid-pack at roughly six to eight of 16, ahead of Sage's 0 and well behind the 15 of 16 cohort.
Leaving a big brand over one column in a spreadsheet is usually an overreaction. Leaving because that column is the year-end and yours has a pension in it is not.
When you should just stay on Sage
Three cases, stated plainly because a page like this is otherwise too easy to write in one direction.
Your accountant works in Sage. The cost of them relearning a tool almost always exceeds the software saving, and Sage is graded ready on agent software across all four listings.
You are inside the free tier and your income is business-only. Five sales invoices a month is a real cap, but if you are under it and your return has nothing beyond your trade or rent, a 0 of 16 grade may never bite.
You use Sage for the accounting, not the tax. VAT, payroll and invoicing are things Sage does and the tax-first alternatives on this page mostly do not.
The bottom line
Sage's MTD position on HMRC's own data is: four listings, a real free tier, mobile on three of four, ready for quarterly updates, not included on foreign property, and 0 of 16 on the year-end return items with the rest in development.
If that last number matters for your return, the strongest like-for-like alternatives are Clear Books Free at £0 and 15 of 16, FreeAgent if you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster or Mettle, and QuickBooks if you want the other big brand. If you need foreign property, look at Xero, RentalBux, TaxHeaven or My Tax Digital. If you want the whole thing on a phone, TapTax is built for that, with recognition in progress.
Check any of them against the same source rather than the marketing, in the MTD software directory.
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