Pilot Review

Pilot sells finished books, not software, and the price is a function of how much your company spends each month. That makes it predictable for a seed-stage startup and expensive for a company with a big payroll and simple transactions.

Toolradar data: the accounting category we run tracks 279 tools as of 17 October 2026, and 26% of them are free, freemium or open source. Pilot sits in the other camp: a paid service where a person closes the books.

This review covers what each plan includes, what it costs at different expense levels, the fees beyond the sticker, and when an alternative is cheaper. The wider shortlist is our online bookkeeping services roundup. We did not buy a Pilot plan; every figure comes from Pilot's own pricing page and FAQ.

Pilot is a US back-office firm that does bookkeeping, tax filing, fractional CFO work and outsourced operations for startups and small businesses. Its FAQ says it keeps all bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online, so the ledger stays in a format any tax preparer or investor can read, and the data leaves with you if you cancel.

Pilot is not a public accounting firm: its pricing page says it does not provide services that require a license to practice public accountancy. That matters if you need an audit or a CPA's opinion, which you would buy elsewhere.

The bookkeeping has three plans. Essentials uses AI to categorize and reconcile on a cash basis. Core adds a US-based bookkeeper and accrual accounting. Custom adds payables, receivables, payroll administration and faster reporting.

You connect bank accounts, cards, payroll and payment platforms, and Pilot's team or AI categorizes transactions and closes each month. Core delivers reports on the 10th business day of the following month, and Custom on the 6th.

Pricing is recalculated as you grow. Pilot's FAQ says it averages your prior three months of expenses each month, counting payroll, cost of goods sold and distributions, and also weighs the number of financial institutions, special transactions and support hours. If expenses rise past what you prepaid, you are billed the difference that month, so an annual prepayment does not lock the price.

On cancellation, an annual subscription runs to the end of the billing cycle and is not renewed if you give notice. Companies coming from Xero are moved to QuickBooks Online during onboarding, with monthly journal entries back to the start of the year.

Core's price steps up with monthly expenses. Billed annually, it starts at the entry price up to $15,000 of expenses, then $499 up to $30,000, $559 up to $60,000, $679 up to $100,000, $799 up to $150,000 and $999 up to $200,000. Month to month, the same bands cost about a third more at the bottom, then $599, $669, $815, $959 and $1,199. Above $200,000 a month, Pilot quotes a custom plan.

Our first-year cost model multiplies those published prices and adds the onboarding charge the FAQ describes. A seed-stage company spending $12,000 a month on Core, billed annually, pays $3,588 for the year plus one month of onboarding, so roughly $3,887 in year one. The same company paying month to month pays about $5,187.

Add C-corporation tax filing, from $2,450 a year, and the annual-billed Core bill reaches about $6,337 in year one. A company spending $80,000 a month lands in the $679 band, or $8,148 a year before tax and onboarding.

Essentials comes to $1,188 a year at its flat price, which is cheap if cash-basis books are enough. Extra tax filings run $250 to $500 per state or city, a Form 5472 for a foreign shareholder is $500, and an FBAR is $500 for corporations and partnerships.

Prices were read on Pilot's pricing page and the Pilot FAQ on 17 October 2026. Alternatives were priced the same day on Bookkeeper360, inDinero, Kruze Consulting and QuickBooks Live.

Pilot fits a venture-backed or fast-growing startup that wants accrual books an investor will accept, monthly reports by the 10th business day and one vendor for books, tax and later a fractional CFO.

It also fits a small business that only needs clean cash-basis books for its tax preparer, through Essentials. That plan has no human bookkeeper, so it works best when transactions are routine.

Skip Pilot if your expenses are high but simple, such as a services company with a large payroll, because the price follows spending rather than workload. Skip it if you are committed to Xero, since Pilot moves clients to QuickBooks Online, or if you need audited statements from a licensed CPA firm.

For software you run yourself, see AI bookkeeping tools, free accounting software, the Xero review and the Zoho Books review. For the bank account Pilot connects to, see the Mercury review and our business bank account list.