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Pilot vs Bookkeeper360

Side by Side

Pilot and Bookkeeper360, attribute by attribute
AttributePilotBookkeeper360
What It IsA tech-forward outsourced back office: bookkeeping on a dedicated US-based team, business tax filing, and fractional CFO and COO support, built around accrual accounting and a monthly close. Aimed at startups and growing companies, it fits a newly acquired business whose books need to become clean and stay that way without an in-house hire.A full outsourced accounting shop for small businesses: monthly or weekly bookkeeping on QuickBooks Online or Xero, business and personal tax, payroll administration, sales-tax filing, and fractional CFO and forecasting. It covers the whole back office a new owner inherits, from the first clean close to ongoing payroll and tax.
CategoryOperating ResourcesOperating Resources
Pricing ModelSubscriptionSubscription
What It CostsBookkeeping from $99/mo (Essentials, up to $100k monthly expenses) up to a Core plan with a dedicated US bookkeeper; business tax filing from $1,000/yr (single-member LLC) to $2,450/yr (C-corp); fractional CFO from $1,750/mo and COO/operations support from $850/mo. Pre-revenue discounts advertised. Verified on pilot.com/pricing.Bookkeeping from $399/mo (monthly) or $599/mo (weekly), plus onboarding and catch-up from $1,000; business tax from $1,000/yr and business-plus-personal from $1,500/yr; payroll administration from $200/mo; sales-tax filing from $125/mo; fractional CFO from $2,000/mo. Works on QuickBooks Online and Xero. Verified on bookkeeper360.com/pricing.
Best ForA new owner who wants clean accrual books and fractional CFO help without hiring in-houseAn owner who wants bookkeeping, payroll, and tax handled by one team on QuickBooks or Xero
Where It FitsOperate & Grow the BusinessOperate & Grow the Business
Our VerdictStrong for investor-grade books and CFO help; weigh its startup-first fit against a plain operating SMB.The most complete single-vendor back office here: books, payroll, and tax on the platform you already run.
Pros
  • A dedicated US-based bookkeeper plus accrual accounting and a monthly close, not just software
  • Tax filing and fractional CFO and COO support under one roof, so the back office scales with the business
  • Transparent, published monthly pricing, which is rare among outsourced accounting firms
  • Bookkeeping, payroll, tax, and CFO advisory from a single vendor, so the whole back office is one relationship
  • Supports both QuickBooks Online and Xero rather than forcing a platform switch post-close
  • Published, itemized pricing for each service line
Cons
  • Explicitly built for startups and growing companies, so an established blue-collar SMB may pay for a growth-stage feature set it does not need
  • Priced per month on top of the purchase, and the CFO tiers climb quickly
  • Provides no full-time or part-time officer, so it is support rather than a hire
  • Costs stack quickly once bookkeeping, payroll, tax, and advisory are added together
  • Higher-tier pricing signals it targets established businesses, not the smallest or simplest
  • Weekly bookkeeping, the plan it markets hardest, is a real step up in monthly cost

Both rows were read at source: Pilot ↗ and Bookkeeper360 ↗.

Our take

Choose Pilot for accrual books and fractional CFO access when investor-grade financials matter most, accepting that it is built startup-first. Its CFO tiers start at $1,750 a month billed annually, a little under Bookkeeper360's $2,000.

Choose Bookkeeper360 to run the whole back office (bookkeeping, payroll, and tax) from one vendor on the QuickBooks or Xero you already use, rather than adding a platform.

Looking wider than these two: alternatives to Pilot, each with a line on when it is the better pick.