Bench alternatives after the shutdown: what to use in 2026

Bench stopped operating on December 27, 2024, was acquired by Employer.com three days later, and was rebranded as Mainstreet on August 11, 2025. If you want a person to keep your books, compare Pilot, 1-800Accountant ($469 a month billed annually) and Zeni ($494). If you want software you control, compare Accountable, Digits, Puzzle and Kick, from $0 to $149 a month.

Updated September 30, 2026 · 4 min read · By the Accountable team

The short version

Bench took its platform offline on December 27, 2024, Employer.com announced the acquisition on December 30, and Bench filed for bankruptcy in Canada on January 7, 2025.
Employer.com rebranded Bench as part of Mainstreet on August 11, 2025, and Bench's pricing page still lists $199, $399 and $649 a month plans.
The closest alternatives to Bench's bookkeeper-plus-tax model are Pilot, 1-800Accountant and Zeni, priced from $469 to $494 a month for full service.
Software-first alternatives run $0 to $149 a month: Accountable, Digits, Puzzle and Kick.
Keep your own monthly copy of your general ledger whichever you choose, because a shutdown leaves you locked out.

What happened to Bench

Bench timeline, December 2024 to August 2025
Date	What happened
December 27, 2024	Bench told customers its platform would no longer be accessible, with no advance notice, days before year-end and tax season (Wikipedia, TechCrunch).
December 30, 2024	Employer.com announced it would acquire Bench and revive the service. It said about 12,000 customers could port their data or stay (TechCrunch).
January 7, 2025	Bench filed for bankruptcy in Canada, reporting $2.8 million in cash against $65.4 million in liabilities (Wikipedia).
January 2025	Service resumed under Employer.com. Customers had to click I Consent on the login screen before the data download was created (Pilot FAQ).
August 11, 2025	Employer.com rebranded Bench as part of Mainstreet, joining Mainstreet Tax Credits and Dough, an accounting API company (press release).

inDinero reports the customer download window at data.bench.co closed on March 7, 2025. If you never downloaded your books, ask your bookkeeper for the year-end package and read what to do after the Bench shutdown.

Bench's own prices set the bar

Bench's pricing page lists Bookkeeping Light at $199 a month (up to $250,000 of annual revenue), Bookkeeping at $399, Bookkeeping plus Tax at $649 and Full-service Tax at $300. Annual plans save 20%. A fractional bookkeeper costs $55 an hour plus a $1,200 onboarding fee.

Nine alternatives, priced

Bench alternatives by who does the work, list prices checked September 30, 2026
Option	Price	Who does the books	Taxes
Pilot Core	Quoted by monthly expenses; Essentials (AI only) is $99 for up to $100,000 of monthly expenses	A US-based bookkeeper (Core) or AI (Essentials)	From $1,000 a year for a single-member LLC, $2,000 for partnerships and S corporations, $2,450 for C corporations
1-800Accountant	Starter $299, Business Complete $469, billed annually	Business Complete includes full-service bookkeeping for 75+ transactions a month	Starter and up include business tax return filing
Zeni	Starter $494 billed annually ($549 list), Growth $719 ($799 list)	AI with a dedicated finance team	Sold as a separate tax service
QuickBooks Live	Set by average monthly expenses, plus a QuickBooks Online plan	A dedicated bookkeeper on Full Service	Excluded
Puzzle Core with Expert Reviewed Bookkeeping	$171 for up to $10,000 of monthly expenses	Software with a reviewer	Not stated on its pricing page
Kick	$0 (250 transactions a year), $40 Basic, $100 Plus	Software; categorizations reviewed by an expert	Tax deduction help on the home page
Digits	$65 or $100 per company	You or your firm	Through partner accounting firms
Accountable	$0 Free, $149 Pro for 2 companies, $49 per extra	Software you control, with a person replying on Pro	Prepares the year's package for your CPA; does not file taxes
Mainstreet (formerly Bench)	Bench's own pricing page: $199, $399, $649 a month	A dedicated bookkeeper	Tax filing at $649 a month bundled, or $300 a month alone

Staying with Mainstreet is reasonable if your books are in good order and your bookkeeper is responsive. We did not test its service after the change of ownership.

Choose in four questions

Step 1: Do you want a person to be accountable for the books? Compare Pilot, 1-800Accountant, Zeni, QuickBooks Live and Mainstreet.
Step 2: Do you want your tax return filed by the same firm? That points to Pilot or 1-800Accountant. Zeni, Kick, Digits and Accountable are not tax-filing firms.
Step 3: Do you run more than one company? Per-company pricing adds up: three companies are $198 a month on Accountable and $300 on Digits Core.
Step 4: Can you answer a few questions a month? If yes, software with a reviewer, at $0 to $171 a month, costs a fraction of a full-service plan.

Protect yourself from a repeat: keep your own copy of the books

The lesson of December 2024 is that an outside service can disappear with your data. A bookkeeping service is only one bad quarter from locking you out, so keep a copy of your books that does not depend on the vendor.

Download the general ledger, trial balance and bank statements for every month-end, and store them in your own drive.
Keep admin access to the accounting file. Pilot's terms say it transfers primary administrator status on a QuickBooks Online file when the subscription ends.
Choose a tool where export is free on every plan. On Accountable, export and import are never behind a paywall, and an ended plan falls back to Free, read-only books.

Questions founders ask

Is Bench still in business?

It sells under the Bench name at bench.co and as part of Mainstreet, after Employer.com acquired it in December 2024 and rebranded it on August 11, 2025.

When did Bench shut down?

Bench took its platform offline on December 27, 2024. Employer.com announced the acquisition on December 30, 2024, and service resumed in January 2025.

Did Bench go bankrupt?

Bench filed for bankruptcy in Canada on January 7, 2025, according to Wikipedia, reporting $2.8 million in cash against $65.4 million in liabilities.

What is the cheapest Bench alternative?

Kick Basic at $40 a month, or a free plan: Accountable Free, Kick Free, or Mercury Books (free through 2026). For a person on your books, Pilot Core and 1-800Accountant are cheaper than Bench's Bookkeeping plus Tax at $649.

Can I still get my Bench data?

Ask your bookkeeper for the year-end package, which includes the income statement, balance sheet, general ledger and trial balance, and download financial statements from Reports. inDinero says the customer download window closed March 7, 2025.

Books you control, with a free move and a free export

Accountable moves your history from a general ledger file for free, checks every month-end to the cent, and lets you export everything on any plan. Bench exports come in through the spreadsheet move. See moving from a spreadsheet or ledger file.

Move my books for free

Sources, checked September 30, 2026: