FreeAgent Alternative: Independent Accounting Software for UK Small Businesses

If you're searching for a FreeAgent alternative, chances are one of two things has happened: your free access through NatWest, Mettle or Tide has become uncertain, or you've realised that running your entire financial life through software tied to your bank isn't quite the arrangement you thought it was. Either way, you're not alone, and WDI Billing gives you a genuinely independent option built for UK sole traders, self-employed people and small limited companies.

Why look beyond FreeAgent?

FreeAgent is a capable product, and we won't pretend otherwise. But its business model is worth understanding before you build your bookkeeping around it. FreeAgent is owned by NatWest, and free access is typically bundled with a NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Mettle or Tide business bank account. That's a reasonable deal while it lasts - but it quietly links your accounting software to a banking relationship, not to a standalone choice you made on the software's own merits.

That matters for a few reasons. If you ever switch banks, your free access can change. Your financial data - invoices, expenses, client relationships, years of bookkeeping history - sits inside a platform whose commercial incentives are set by a bank, not by what's best for your books alone. And if you want to change accounting software down the line, you're extracting your data from an ecosystem designed to keep you inside it.

WDI Billing takes a different approach: independence first. Your subscription is yours, your data is yours, and there's no bank, card processor or lender sitting behind the software with its own agenda for your finances.

Built for Making Tax Digital, without the automatic streaming

Like FreeAgent, WDI Billing is built around Making Tax Digital software requirements - MTD for VAT is already mandatory for VAT-registered businesses, and MTD for Income Tax is arriving for the self-employed and landlords on HMRC's timetable. But we handle it differently underneath.

WDI Billing runs on three modes: Records, Prepare and File. Prepare is the default. Your invoices, expenses and bank transactions build up your books automatically, but nothing streams to HMRC on its own. When you're ready - and only when you're ready - you press file. That single decision point means you always know exactly what's being submitted and when, rather than trusting an automated pipeline you can't see inside.

Your books stay yours

This is the core of our independence promise. With WDI Billing:

• No lock-in. Export your full financial history in clean, standard formats whenever you want - not just when you're leaving.
• EU/GDPR-grade data residency as standard, with no dependency on a banking group's infrastructure decisions.
• No per-invoice fees and no hidden charges tied to transaction volume or bank account type.
• Accountant access without giving up control. Invite your accountant or bookkeeper with break-glass style access - they see what they need, when they need it, not permanent unrestricted rein over your account.

You choose WDI Billing because it's the right accounting software for your business, not because it happened to come free with a current account.

Receipt scanning and expenses, your way

WDI Billing includes document ingestion for receipts and bills, with AI-assisted scanning available as an opt-in feature - it works perfectly well without AI too, for anyone who'd rather keep manual control over how their data is processed. See our expense tracker app page for the full detail on how receipts, mileage and allowable expenses come together in your books.

Who WDI Billing suits best

WDI Billing is built for:

• Sole traders and self-employed people who want MTD-ready software without a bank relationship attached.
• Small limited companies who want clean, exportable books and straightforward accountant collaboration.
• Anyone who has outgrown, or simply doesn't want, a "free with your bank account" arrangement and would rather choose their accounting software on its own terms.
• Businesses who value knowing precisely what happens to their data - and when anything is actually sent to HMRC.

If you want a full, feature-by-feature look at how the two platforms compare, our WDI Billing vs FreeAgent comparison sets out an honest table covering pricing, MTD coverage, invoicing, expenses and data portability - including where FreeAgent genuinely does well.

Invoicing that doesn't assume a banking relationship

Because FreeAgent grew up alongside a bank account offer, some users find its invoicing feels most natural when it's feeding straight into that same current account. WDI Billing's invoicing software is built to work cleanly whichever bank, or banks, you actually use - including businesses that hold accounts with more than one provider, or that change banks over time without wanting to change their accounting software as well. Invoices, payment tracking and client records stay put regardless of what happens on the banking side.

The same independence applies to bookkeeping day-to-day. If your priority right now is simply getting organised records in place before you worry about filing anything, our bookkeeping software page covers how Records mode lets you build clean books at your own pace, with Prepare and File available whenever you're ready to move to them.

Straightforward, transparent pricing

One side effect of "free with your bank account" deals is that the real price of the software itself can be hard to pin down - what happens if you change banks, add a second business, or need features outside the bundled tier isn't always obvious upfront. WDI Billing publishes a single, transparent pricing page in GBP, with no per-invoice fees and no charges that depend on which bank you happen to use. You always know what you're paying and why, whether you're a sole trader just starting out or a small limited company with an accountant already on board.

Switching from FreeAgent

Moving your books across doesn't mean starting from zero. WDI Billing supports importing your existing client list, invoice history and expense records, so your historical data comes with you rather than staying trapped behind someone else's bank offer. Once you're set up, you keep full ownership of exports at any time - so this is the last switch you'll need to make simply because a free deal changed.

Start your independent switch today

You don't need a NatWest, Mettle or Tide account to get proper, MTD-ready accounting software - you just need software built to serve your business first. Start a free trial of WDI Billing and see what independent bookkeeping feels like: your invoices, your expenses, your Making Tax Digital filings, all under your control, on your terms, with nothing tied to your bank. Explore our UK accounting software overview or head straight to pricing to see exactly what you'll pay - no bank account required.