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Practice management software prices: who publishes them, and what a 14-person practice would pay
We read the price pages of Karbon, IRIS Elements, Senta, TaxCalc Engager and BrightManager and worked each through for a 14-person, 600-client practice.
"Best practice management software for accountants" is searched constantly, and price is the first filter a small practice applies. So we checked what each supplier's own website says it costs, on one day, and worked the published figures through for one practice.
What this is, and is not. A desk check of pricing pages as they stood on 1 October 2026. We did not ask for quotes and we have not used any of these products, so we say nothing about how good they are. Prices change; read the live page before deciding.
Who publishes a price
| Software | Price on its own site? | What the page shows |
|---|---|---|
| Karbon | Yes, in full | Team £34 per user a month paid annually (£44 paid monthly); Business £49 (£59 monthly); Enterprise custom. Monthly billing only for 4 or more users. The page does not mention VAT. |
| IRIS Elements Practice Management (was Senta) | Yes, by number of users | One user £29 a month, or £23.20 on a 12-month contract; 2 to 4 users £27 (£21.60); 5 to 9 £25 (£20); 10 to 19 £23 (£18.40); falling to £13 (£10.40) at 500 users. A second IRIS page showed higher figures on the same day. |
| Senta | Now part of IRIS | Senta's own site says Senta by IRIS is now IRIS Elements Practice Management, and shows the same £29 starting price |
| TaxCalc Engager | Yes, by client count | Tiers by number of clients with unlimited users, billed monthly: 501 to 600 clients £169 a month; up to 1,000 clients £249 a month |
| BrightManager | Yes, per user | Essential £42.63 per user a month, or £409.25 per user a year, plus VAT |
Two pricing units on one shortlist: per user and per client. That is why the comparison sites that quote "from £X a month" for all of them are not much use.
The example practice
A four-partner practice in a county town: 14 staff who all need a login, about 600 clients, a mix of sole traders, landlords and small companies. The kind of practice that has just absorbed its first MTD quarter.
The sums, where the page allows one
| Software | Basis | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Karbon Team | 14 users × £34 × 12, annual billing | £5,712 |
| Karbon Business | 14 users × £49 × 12, annual billing | £8,232 |
| BrightManager Essential | 14 users × £409.25, billed yearly, plus VAT | £5,729.50 |
| IRIS Elements Practice Management | 14 users × £18.40 × 12, 12-month contract | £3,091.20 |
| TaxCalc Engager | 501 to 600 clients, £169 × 12, unlimited users | £2,028 |
Karbon's Business plan is the most expensive line, and BrightManager's Essential plan costs almost exactly what Karbon's Team plan does. Engager is the cheapest because it charges by client count, not by seat: the same practice with 1,000 clients would pay £249 a month, £2,988 a year. IRIS's main product page showed a higher figure for the same band on the same day (£24 a user, £4,032 a year), so ask which price applies before signing. On any of these the practice would add tax and accounts production software on top.
What the price does not include
Moving the client list and workflows across, training 14 people, and the quarter where both systems run at once. None of the pages prices that, and for a practice of this size it is usually the bigger number. Budget time, not just licence money.
Where Overlyft fits
The AI staff Overlyft sets up work inside the practice software you already use. We do not ask you to switch. If you are choosing practice management, choose on price, the trial and how it handles the MTD quarterly cycle, then we can set up an AI assistant to chase the records, keep the deadline list and run the onboarding checklist inside the one you pick. It does not replace any of these; it is the person who does the typing in them.
Short answers from this page
What does accounting practice management software cost?
For a practice with 14 users and 600 clients, on prices published on 1 October 2026: Karbon's Team plan is £5,712 a year and its Business plan £8,232 on annual billing, BrightManager Essential £5,729.50 plus VAT, IRIS Elements Practice Management £3,091.20 on its 12-month rate, and TaxCalc's Engager £2,028, because it charges by client count, not by seat.
Source: Each supplier's pricing page, read 1 October 2026
Where this comes from: karbonhq.com/pricing; iris.co.uk IRIS Elements Practice Management pages; senta.co; engager.app/pricing and taxcalc.com/pricing; brightsg.com BrightManager page; all read in a browser on 2026-10-01. An earlier version of this page gave Karbon in US dollars, an IRIS price that applies only at 500 users and no BrightManager price; all three were corrected from the suppliers' own pages the same day. Desk check only: we did not request quotes or trial any product.
AEO Lookup editorial team
We write practical guides for people who run small UK firms, and we check every fact against its source on the date shown. Read how we review, or tell us if something has changed.
