The short answer: of the practice management tools we checked on September 30, 2026, two have a free plan: FinishTax, free for up to 3 clients, and Docket, whose free core is built for Canadian firms. Of the tools we checked, FinishTax is the only one that prices its team plans per firm; the other paid plans, Docket's paid tiers included, charge per user. This post shows what that difference costs a small firm that hires for the season, and what else to check before you pick.
FinishTax is our product, so weigh this accordingly. Every competitor price below comes from that vendor's own pricing page on September 30, 2026, listed under Sources. We couldn't load TaxDome's pricing page that day, so it isn't in the numbers; our TaxDome pricing explainer covers what it published in August.
Why Per-User Pricing Hurts a Seasonal Firm
Per-user pricing charges for every login. A tax firm's headcount isn't flat: two people who work all year might add two seasonal helpers from January to April. During the season you need four logins, and on annual billing you may be paying for all four all year. Tidyflow, for one, says a seat you free up stays on your plan until renewal, and Financial Cents says all its plans are 12-month agreements.
Monthly billing doesn't always get a small firm out of that. Karbon offers monthly subscriptions only to teams of 4 or more, and Financial Cents bills monthly only with at least 5 users, still on a 12-month agreement.
Here is the arithmetic for four users, at each vendor's lowest listed per-user plan:
| Tool and plan | Annual billing, 4 users | Monthly billing, 4 users |
|---|---|---|
| Canopy Standard | $74 × 4 × 12 = $3,552 a year | $93 × 4 = $372 a month |
| Karbon Team | $59 × 4 × 12 = $2,832 a year | $79 × 4 = $316 a month |
| Client Hub Practice Manager | $59 × 4 × 12 = $2,832 a year | $79 × 4 = $316 a month |
| Financial Cents Team | $49 × 4 × 12 = $2,352 a year | Not offered below 5 users |
| Jetpack Workflow Starter | $480 × 4 = $1,920 a year | $49 × 4 = $196 a month |
| Tidyflow Core | $348 × 4 = $1,392 a year | $39 × 4 = $156 a month |
| Docket (free core) | $0; Pro is $59 × 4 × 12 = $2,832 a year | $0; Pro is $75 × 4 = $300 a month |
| FinishTax Small Firm (up to 5 team members) | $756 a year | $79 a month |
This is list-price arithmetic, not a like-for-like comparison. The tools do different jobs: Jetpack Workflow's pricing page, for example, describes it as a workflow tool that doesn't handle billing and invoicing. The prices exclude add-ons, payment fees and negotiated rates. To add up the tools you pay for today, use the stack cost calculator.
Which Tools Have a Free Plan
- FinishTax. Free for up to 3 clients with no time limit and no card: tasks, document checklists, the dashboard and a firm website. It has no file uploads, e-signature, organizers, AI tagging or client portal; those start on paid plans (pricing).
- Docket. The core platform is free: clients, workflows, client portal, deadlines, boards, and time and billing, with no per-user fee or seat cap on the core. AI customization is the paid layer. It's built for Canadian firms, with CRA T1, T2 and GST/HST deadlines.
The others offer trials instead. Financial Cents and Tidyflow give 14 days with no card, and Jetpack Workflow offers a free trial with no card. Canopy sets up a trial after a demo, and Client Hub runs a guided 14-day trial after a demo. Karbon's pricing page lists neither a free plan nor a trial.
Which Tools Price per Firm
FinishTax's paid plans are priced per firm: Solo is $29 a month for one user, Small Firm $79 for up to 5 team members, and Agency $149 for unlimited team members. Monthly plans cancel anytime, and annual billing drops them to $276, $756 and $1,428 a year.
A few per-user tools have a flat single-user plan, which works if you'll never hire: Financial Cents Solo is $19 a month billed annually, for single-user firms only, and Client Hub Solopreneur is $49 a month, annual billing only. Docket's free core has no per-user fee, but its paid tiers are per user, with a 3-seat minimum on Firm.
What to Check Besides the Headline Price
- Client caps. FinishTax Free stops at 3 clients; its paid plans have no client limit. Tidyflow and Client Hub list unlimited clients, and Tidyflow doesn't charge for portal users.
- Storage. FinishTax has no storage on Free, 500 MB on Solo, 5 GB on Small Firm and unlimited on Agency. Client Hub includes unlimited storage on every plan.
- E-signature and identity checks. FinishTax includes e-signature on paid plans, with the identity check chosen per envelope and no per-envelope or per-check fee. Financial Cents includes e-signatures on every plan and charges $1–$2 per KBA identity check on top (Financial Cents pricing). Karbon sells eSignature credits in bundles from $100 for 100, and a KBA request uses two (Karbon pricing). Canopy includes unlimited e-signatures and charges $1.25 per KBA credit for knowledge-based identity checks. Tidyflow includes unlimited standalone PDF signing on every plan but puts signature steps in client request workflows on Pro.
- Payment processing. FinishTax adds a platform fee on invoices paid through it: 5%, capped at $10 per payment, or 2.5% capped at $5 on Agency, on top of Stripe's fees. Canopy lists 3.30% + $0.20 on standard cards and 1%, capped at $10, on ACH; Karbon lists 2.6% + $0.30 on standard cards and 1% + $0.30, up to $5, on ACH.
- Minimums and terms. Karbon's monthly option starts at 4 users, Financial Cents' at 5, and Docket's Firm tier at 3 seats. Tidyflow has no minimum.
- Add-ons and setup. Canopy sells add-ons such as Tax Resolution ($50 per user a month), and Jetpack Workflow offers a $1,500 onboarding package.
Where FinishTax Fits, and Where It Doesn't
FinishTax is built for solo preparers and small firms whose work is mostly tax: organizers, document uploads, e-signature for Form 8879, invoicing, pipelines, and from Small Firm up a client intake portal and automations. Its limits are real. Free is 3 clients with no uploads. Small Firm stops at 5 team members, so a sixth person means Agency at $149 a month. It's a newer product with fewer integrations than older platforms and no bookkeeping or CAS workflows, it doesn't text clients yet, and its organizers are in English only. If those matter, the TaxDome alternatives comparison covers each tool above in more detail, and our practice management buyer's guide covers what to ask in a demo.
If they don't, start on the free plan with three real clients and upgrade when it's worth it.
Sources
Pricing pages, each checked on September 30, 2026:
- FinishTax pricing: https://finish.tax/pricing/
- Docket pricing: https://docket-systems.com/pricing.html; free core: https://docket-systems.com/free-practice-management-software
- Canopy pricing: https://www.getcanopy.com/pricing
- Karbon pricing: https://karbonhq.com/pricing/
- Financial Cents pricing: https://financial-cents.com/pricing/
- Jetpack Workflow pricing: https://jetpackworkflow.com/pricing/
- Tidyflow pricing: https://tidyflow.com/pricing/
- Client Hub pricing: https://www.clienthub.app/pricing
- TaxDome pricing, which we couldn't load (not used): https://taxdome.com/pricing