Crunch bundles accountant support into every plan, which sounds great until you realise you're paying accountant prices for a job software can do in seconds.
Crunch has a clever pitch: pay a monthly fee and get a real accountant in your corner, plus software to go with it. For a limited company director juggling payroll, VAT and year-end accounts, that is a genuinely useful deal. For a sole trader who needs to file quarterly MTD updates and keep HMRC happy, it is roughly the same as hiring a removal van to take one box to the post office.
The single biggest deciding factor in this matchup is not features, it is what you are actually buying. TapTax sells software. Crunch sells accountancy, and charges accordingly. Once you understand that distinction, the right choice for most self-employed people becomes obvious.
Crunch started life as a disruptor to traditional high-street accountants. Its whole model is built around giving small businesses access to qualified accountants at a fixed monthly price, wrapped inside a software dashboard. That is a reasonable proposition for a limited company with payroll, multiple directors or a VAT-registered turnover that needs ongoing professional oversight.
For a sole trader, the economics look different. Crunch's free software tier exists but is quite limited in scope. Its paid packages, running from roughly £25 to over £100 a month depending on the level of accountant access you want, are priced to cover human time. A junior accountant reviewing your books, handling correspondence with HMRC and preparing your Self Assessment costs money, and that cost is baked into every tier.
If your circumstances are genuinely complex, perhaps you are juggling employed income alongside self-employment, you have rental property income on top, or you are not confident interpreting HMRC notices, paying for that accountant layer can be worth every penny. But if your situation is a single income source, straightforward expenses and a quarterly MTD filing obligation, you are funding a service you will never fully use.
TapTax is transparent about its tiers. The Free plan gives you expense tracking and bank connection at no cost. Starter at £4.99 a month (£59.88 a year) adds AI categorisation, receipt scanning and one-tap quarterly MTD filing. Pro at £9.99 a month unlocks the full feature set. There are no introductory prices that expire and no upsells to a tier you did not need.
Crunch's free software tier covers basic bookkeeping but accountant support, MTD filing assistance and year-end help sit behind the paid plans. The moment you want a human to check anything, you are on a monthly plan. At the lower end that is around £25 a month; at the higher end it climbs well past £100 a month for more comprehensive cover. Annualised, even the entry paid tier runs to roughly five times the cost of TapTax Starter.
For context, if you use the sole trader tax calculator to model your annual bill, the software cost you pay to stay compliant is a legitimate business expense. Paying £300 or more a year for Crunch when £60 at TapTax Starter gets you MTD-compliant is an easy saving to make, provided you do not need the accountant hand-holding.
TapTax was designed with one job in mind: making MTD for Income Tax as painless as possible for UK sole traders. Connect your bank, let the AI sort your expenses into HMRC categories, scan receipts on your phone and push the quarterly update to HMRC with one tap. Everything on the product roadmap points at that single goal.
Crunch's MTD functionality exists and is legitimate, but it is one component inside a much larger accountancy platform. The workflow is built around an accountant reviewing and approving your figures before anything goes to HMRC. That is reassuring if you want a second pair of eyes. It adds friction if you want to file at 9pm on a Sunday because you finally got five minutes.
For a broader look at how both products stack up against the full market, the best MTD software for sole traders in 2026 guide covers the landscape in detail.
| TapTax | Crunch | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | MTD filing software for sole traders | Online accountancy service with software included |
| Cheapest paid plan | £4.99/mo (Starter) | ~£25/mo |
| Free tier | Yes, with bank feed | Yes, limited scope |
| Annual cost (entry paid) | £59.88 | ~£300+ |
| MTD ITSA built-in | Yes, core feature | Yes, part of wider service |
| Bank feed | Yes | Yes |
| AI expense categorisation | Yes (Starter and Pro) | Partial / accountant-assisted |
| Receipt scanning | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile-first | Yes | Partial |
| Human accountant access | No | Yes (paid tiers) |
| Invoicing | No (by design) | Yes |
| Built for sole traders | Yes, exclusively | Ltd companies and sole traders |
TapTax is mobile-first by architecture, not as an afterthought. The interface was built for someone standing next to a van, photographing a fuel receipt before driving to the next job. Every flow has been stripped to the minimum number of taps.
Crunch's software is functional on mobile but the product has desktop roots and an accountancy-firm workflow. You are expected to interact with your accountant through the platform, upload documents, await review. That is a collaborative model, not a self-serve one. For a courier or a freelance designer who wants to forget about tax until the quarterly deadline lands, it introduces steps that TapTax removes entirely.
Credit where it is due: Crunch has real advantages in specific situations.
If you are considering whether to incorporate, the sole trader versus limited company calculator can help you model the tax difference, but Crunch can then actually handle the limited company accountancy if you make the switch. TapTax does not do that.
If you want a qualified accountant to sign off your accounts, handle HMRC correspondence on your behalf, or advise on allowable expenses in grey areas, Crunch's human layer is a genuine product feature, not a bolt-on. For a sole trader whose affairs are genuinely complex, or who is simply time-poor and wants to outsource all tax thinking entirely, that accountant relationship has a price and Crunch's model prices it reasonably compared to a traditional firm.
Crunch also offers invoicing tools, which TapTax deliberately does not. If invoicing sits at the centre of your workflow and you want it tightly integrated with your bookkeeping, Crunch can serve that need in a way TapTax cannot.
You need MTD compliance from April 2026, you have reasonably tidy expenses and you are comfortable using your phone for admin. TapTax Starter at £4.99 a month does everything you need. The quarterly filing takes minutes. You keep £240 or more a year compared to Crunch's entry paid tier.
Start with the Ltd vs sole trader calculator to see whether incorporation actually saves you money at your turnover. If it does and you make the switch, TapTax is no longer your tool as it is built purely for sole traders. Crunch, by contrast, can follow you through that transition with full limited company accountancy. Factor that in before you commit.
You do not need an accountant watching over your shoulder every month. You need software that connects to your business bank account, logs your materials and fuel automatically and submits quarterly updates without requiring you to learn bookkeeping. That is exactly what TapTax does for under £5 a month.
This is where Crunch earns its money. Complexity benefits from professional review. A human accountant catching a mistake before it goes to HMRC is worth paying for. TapTax does not offer accountant access and makes no attempt to replicate it.
Crunch is a good product doing a specific job: providing affordable accountancy to small UK businesses. The problem is that most sole traders are not buying the job it is doing. They are buying MTD compliance, expense tracking and a quarterly filing button. TapTax sells exactly that, and nothing else, at a fraction of the price.
If your tax affairs are simple and your goal is frictionless MTD compliance, TapTax wins this matchup on price, focus and mobile experience without it being a close call. If you genuinely need an accountant, Crunch is a fair deal and meaningfully cheaper than a traditional firm. The question to ask yourself honestly is which of those two descriptions fits your situation.
Paying for an accountant you do not need is the most common way sole traders overspend on tax admin.
TapTax connects to your bank, categorises expenses automatically, and submits quarterly updates to HMRC. Free plan, no card required.
