Checked October 26, 2026. Prices were read on each vendor's own pricing page. Dext's firm pricing and BILL's trial length are not readable, and we say so. Prices change: re-check before you buy. Dooza Crew is our product and our top pick for the admin side of a bookkeeping practice; we say why, and where the others fit better.
Best AI tools for bookkeepers: the short answer
Our top pick for the admin around the books is Dooza Crew: AI employees that chase clients for missing documents, draft reminders and fill forms, $49 a month for the whole organization, and it asks before it sends anything. For receipt and invoice capture, look at Dext. For AI categorization inside QuickBooks Online or Xero, Booke AI. For the ledger itself, QuickBooks, Xero or Digits. For bill coding, BILL. For call notes, Fathom has a free plan.
How many bookkeepers and firms use AI in 2026
A Financial Cents survey of "486 accounting and bookkeeping professionals across North America", run "from July 15–August 7, 2026", found that "95 % are already using or exploring AI." But "Only 1 in 5 firms can point to a measurable return on their AI investment."
The same page says 90% have no written AI policy (87% among the firms actively using AI; the page does not explain the gap). Financial Cents sells practice-management software, most respondents were owners and partners, and bookkeepers were a small share, so read it as a signal, not a census. Many firms are trying AI; few have measured it.
AI tools for bookkeepers compared
| Tool | What the AI does | Price (vendor page, Oct 26) | Free option |
| Dooza Crew (ours, top pick) | AI employees that chase documents, draft reminders, fill forms; takes phone calls | $49/mo per organization, unlimited users and agents, AI usage included | 7 days free (card required) |
| Dext | Captures receipts and invoices and extracts their data | $25.21 per month (250 documents, 5 users); AI Assist $10.5 per month | Free trial, no card details |
| Booke AI | AI bookkeeper inside QuickBooks Online and Xero | $129 per business/month | Not stated |
| Digits | AI-native ledger with an agentic close | $65 or $100/mo per client account | 30-day trial; firm's own books free |
| Xero | Ledger with JAX, its AI finance partner | $27, $59 or $97 per month | One month free |
| QuickBooks Online | Ledger with Intuit Intelligence AI features | $19 to $170 per month (promo prices) | 30-day trial; Free plan |
| BILL | AI bill coding for payables | $49, $65 or $89 per user/month | Trial "in most cases" |
| Karbon | Practice management with Kai AI Coworker and Email Triage | Team $59/user/mo paid annually; Business $89 | Demo, no trial stated |
| Fathom | AI notes and summaries for client calls | Premium $20/mo per user ($16 billed annually) | Free forever plan |
| Smith.ai | 24/7 call answering and client intake | Starter $300/month for 30 calls | No free trial; money-back guarantee |
1. Dooza Crew (our product, top pick): AI employees for the back office
Crew gives a bookkeeping practice AI employees for the jobs that eat your week outside the ledger. Each one has its own computer and browser, its own job, and works around the clock. They work with your team in one chat and pass work to each other. Before it sends an email or clicks Send, Submit or Pay, it asks you to Approve, Edit or Reject.
- Example jobs you could give it: you could give one agent the job of checking each client's folder for the month's missing receipts and statements and drafting a polite reminder email for you to approve; another the job of filling the fillable PDF, Word or Excel forms you upload; another the job of answering your phone and taking a message or booking a call.
- Forms: it fills fillable PDF, Word and Excel files you upload. Scanned PDFs without form fields cannot be filled. You type passwords and 2FA codes yourself.
- Phones: Crew agents take phone calls too, included in the plan.
- Price: free for 7 days (card required), then $49 a month for the whole organization (unlimited users and agents), AI usage included with a hard spending cap. At the cap it pauses and tells you.
- Watch for: no bookkeeping software (such as QuickBooks or Xero) is certified or integrated with it, so it does not sync with your books; it works only in web tools you log in to. It is not a CPA: the books and filings stay with you.
Try Dooza Crew free for 7 days.
2. Dext: receipt and invoice capture
Dext's plans include "document capture, automatic data extraction, document storage and integration with accounting software". An AI Assist add-on is pitched as "The everyday bookkeeping calls, made for you. You still have the final word."
3. Booke AI: an AI bookkeeper for QuickBooks Online and Xero
Booke AI works like this: "Invite AI Bookkeeper to QuickBooks Online or connect Xero → AI Bookkeeper works daily → you review exceptions." It lists daily bank feed categorization, smart document matching, missing document requests, and an exception review with an audit trail.
- Price: "$129 per business/month"; the Accounting Firms plan (white-label, multi-client) is "Pricing by request". No free trial is mentioned.
- Watch for: the price is per business, so cost grows with your client count, and it works with QuickBooks Online and Xero only.
4. Digits: an AI-native ledger
Digits' Agentic Close runs the close inside its own ledger. For firms, "Digits is priced per client account, not per firm-wide seat."
- Price: Essentials $65/mo, Core $100/mo, Pro $250/mo (marked coming soon). Free Firm Books lets your own firm's books run free.
- Free trial: "Yes, Digits offers a 30-day free trial"
- Watch for: it replaces QuickBooks or Xero rather than adding to them, so each client has to migrate.
5. Xero: a ledger with JAX, its AI finance partner
Xero says "JAX automates your work and provides clarity, so your books stay current and your next move is always confident." The pricing page does not say which plan includes JAX or what it can and cannot do.
6. QuickBooks Online: AI features by tier
QuickBooks groups its paid tiers under "Intuit Intelligence". Simple Start lists "AI Chat for instant insights" (marked "Limited capacity" and "BETA"), Essentials "Cleans up your books, fast", Plus "Transactions auto-categorized and verified", and Advanced "Continuous books quality checks, with quarterly insights".
- Price (per month): Free $0; Simple Start $19; Essentials $42.50; Plus $70; Advanced $170. Each paid plan shows "50% off for 3 months*", with the regular prices struck through ($38, $85, $140, $340).
- Free trial: the page lists "Free trial for 30 days", "No annual contract" and "Cancel anytime".
- Watch for: the prices shown are promotional for three months, several AI features are in beta, and we could read this page only through a fetch tool, so re-check it live.
7. BILL: AI bill coding for payables
BILL's Team and Corporate plans list "Automatic AI multi-line bill coding with the Invoice Coding Agent" and sync with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier and Xero.
- Price (per user per month): Essentials $49, Team $65, Corporate $89; Enterprise is custom. The page does not state the billing term, and some payment types carry per-transaction fees.
- Free trial: the page says the plans are "paid subscriptions priced per user, with a free trial available in most cases." No length is stated.
- Watch for: Essentials only syncs by CSV file import and export, and the AI coding agent is not listed on Essentials.
8. Karbon: practice management with an AI coworker
Karbon's pricing page names Kai AI Coworker and Email Triage but does not describe what each does.
- Price: Team "$59/month, per user, paid annually" or $79 paid monthly; Business $89 paid annually or $99 monthly; Enterprise "Custom pricing". Monthly billing is only for teams of 4+. No trial is stated.
- Watch for: the Team plan caps workflow statuses at 35 and contacts at 1000, and it is priced per user, which suits a team more than a solo bookkeeper.
9. Fathom: free AI notes for client calls
Fathom's free plan has "Unlimited recordings, instant call summaries, integrations with LLMs & more." Premium adds AI action items.
- Price: Free forever; Premium $20/mo per user ($16/mo billed annually); Team $19/mo per user ($15/mo annually, 2-user minimum); Business $34/mo per user ($25/mo annually) (Fathom pricing).
- Watch for: it is not built for accounting: nothing connects it to your books or practice software. Tell clients before you record a call.
10. Smith.ai: call answering and client intake
Smith.ai offers "Professional call answering by real people" 24/7, with lead screening and intake. It is not accounting-specific.
- Price: Starter $300/month for 30 calls; Basic $810/month for 90 calls; Pro $2,100/month for 300 calls; $11.50 per call over 30 on Starter (Smith.ai pricing).
- Free trial: none; all plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Watch for: it is priced per call, the page describes real people rather than an AI agent, and $300 a month is a lot for a solo practice.
Free AI tools and trials for bookkeepers
- Free plans: Fathom's free forever plan for call notes; QuickBooks lists a Free plan at $0 per month.
- Your own books: Digits Free Firm Books.
- Trials: Dext (no card details), Digits 30 days, QuickBooks 30 days, Xero one month free, BILL in most cases, Dooza Crew 7 days (card required).
How to choose an AI tool for your bookkeeping practice
- Start with the job that eats the most hours. Chasing receipts, data entry, bank feed categorization, bill coding or the phones.
- Check the ledger your clients already use. Booke AI needs QuickBooks Online or Xero; Digits replaces the ledger; BILL syncs with QuickBooks and Xero (not on Essentials).
- Do the math per client or per user. Booke AI and Digits charge per client; BILL and Karbon charge per user; Dooza Crew charges per organization.
- Keep review human. AI categorization still needs your eyes. Pick tools that ask before they send, and keep the books and filings with you.
- Write a one-page AI policy. In the Financial Cents survey, 90% of firms had none.
Running a bookkeeping practice? See best AI tools for small business.
Try Dooza Crew
A lead AI agent plus helper agents that browse the web, write files and ask you before they send or pay. 7-day free trial (card required), then $49/month with AI usage included and a hard spending cap.