FreeAgent alternative for landlords: is LandlordTaxAi the better MTD choice in 2026?

FreeAgent alternative for landlords — TL;DR

Prices correct as at 19 April 2026. HMRC recognition status sourced from HMRC's compatible software list.

Pricing comparison

FreeAgent charges £19/month (billed monthly) or around £190/year billed annually. The standout exception is NatWest and RBS business account holders, who receive FreeAgent at no additional cost as part of their banking package. For a landlord who already banks with NatWest or RBS, this makes FreeAgent a compelling zero-cost MTD option — provided the lack of SA105 native support is not a problem.

LandlordTaxAi charges £19/month for 1–2 properties, £39/month for up to 10 properties, and £69/month for 11 or more. Because it is built only for property income and excludes invoicing, payroll, and VAT, the pricing reflects that narrower scope. See the full pricing breakdown.

Landlords considering FreeAgent purely for its low cost should factor in the additional time required to manually categorise transactions against SA105 boxes each quarter. If that adds even two hours per quarter, the effective hourly rate of the time saved by AI categorisation is typically well above the cost difference between the two products.

Feature comparison: LandlordTaxAi vs FreeAgent (12 criteria)

Where FreeAgent has the advantage

• 1
  Confirmed HMRC recognitionFreeAgent is listed on HMRC's published compatible software register for MTD for Income Tax. Landlords who are mandated from 6 April 2026 and want certainty that their software is on the official register will find FreeAgent the lower-risk choice at this moment. LandlordTaxAi is HMRC sandbox-verified — direct submission launches soon, so we are not yet listed.
• 2
  General accounting breadthFreeAgent covers invoicing, expense claims, payroll, VAT returns, and bank reconciliation in a single subscription. For landlords who also run a freelance or sole-trade business alongside their property portfolio, FreeAgent handles all income streams in one platform without the need for separate tools.
• 3
  Bank integration and NatWest/RBS free accessFreeAgent's bank feeds are well-established and connect to a wide range of UK banks. NatWest and RBS business account holders get FreeAgent at no cost. If you already bank with NatWest or RBS, the financial argument for a paid FreeAgent alternative is harder to make unless the SA105 automation gap is a real pain point.

Where LandlordTaxAi has the advantage

• 1
  SA105-native categorisationLandlordTaxAi maps every transaction directly to the SA105 property income boxes that HMRC uses — rents received, allowable expenses by category, finance costs, and so on. In FreeAgent, landlords must manually assign each rental expense to the closest general accounting category and then translate that to the correct SA105 box when preparing the quarterly update. For a portfolio with 50 or more transactions per quarter, this manual mapping becomes a material time cost.
• 2
  AI transaction categorisationLandlordTaxAi uses AI trained on SA105 property income categories to auto-categorise bank transactions. For the majority of standard landlord transactions — rental receipts, insurance, letting agent fees, repairs, mortgage interest — the AI will categorise correctly without human intervention, leaving only unusual or ambiguous transactions for review. FreeAgent uses rule-based auto-categorisation that is generic rather than SA105-specific, so more manual correction is typically required for landlords.
• 3
  Simpler workflow for landlordsBecause LandlordTaxAi does nothing other than landlord MTD compliance, the interface contains only what a landlord needs. There is no invoicing module, no payroll tab, no VAT return section. For landlords who find FreeAgent's general accounting interface more complex than their needs warrant, this focused approach reduces friction in the quarterly workflow.
• 4
  Property-level income and expense trackingLandlordTaxAi separates income and costs by property, which is how HMRC expects landlords to report under SA105. FreeAgent has no property-level split — all rental income sits in a single stream. For a landlord with three properties and different expense profiles per property, FreeAgent requires manual allocation outside the software, whereas LandlordTaxAi handles this natively.

Which tool fits which landlord?

How to migrate from FreeAgent to LandlordTaxAi

Switching MTD software mid-year is straightforward provided you retain your transaction history. Follow these steps to move from FreeAgent to LandlordTaxAi without losing any quarterly data.

1. 1
   Export your FreeAgent transaction historyIn FreeAgent, go to Accounting > Bank Accounts and export a CSV for each bank account covering the current tax year from 6 April 2025. This gives you a complete record of all transactions categorised to date.
2. 2
   Note your quarterly updates already submittedIn FreeAgent, check the MTD for Income Tax section and note which quarterly periods have already been submitted to HMRC for the current tax year. You will not need to resubmit these, but you will need to know the figures to reconcile.
3. 3
   Set up LandlordTaxAi and connect your bankCreate your LandlordTaxAi account, add your properties, and connect your bank via open banking. Import your exported FreeAgent CSV to cover the portion of the year already elapsed. LandlordTaxAi's AI will re-categorise transactions against SA105 boxes.
4. 4
   Verify totals and submit future quarters from LandlordTaxAiReview the AI-categorised transactions, confirm the totals match your FreeAgent exports, and submit your next quarterly update directly from LandlordTaxAi. You can then cancel your FreeAgent subscription at the end of the billing period.

For a full explanation of what the quarterly submission process involves, read our MTD for landlords complete guide. To see how LandlordTaxAi compares against other alternatives, see our best MTD software for landlords comparison.

Frequently asked questions