Side by side
CharityFinancials vs Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software
Both stand on church accounting software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Choose CharityFinancials if a UK charity needs fund accounting, project costing, and charity-specific reporting. The Standard plan brings those tools together for £25 a month (billed £25 + VAT / month). Buyers relying on direct bank feeds should account for the lack of a direct bank-feed licence, and MTD VAT recognition is pending.
Visit CharityFinancialsChoose Paxton if your church or charity needs fund accounting, Gift Aid management, and charity-specific reporting, with web or Windows access. Look elsewhere if you require an automatic bank feed or need Advanced-only functions while using Standard.
Visit Paxton Church & Charity Accounting SoftwareThe facts
| CharityFinancials | Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Not published | A free trial |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Web | iPhone, Mac, Web, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Standard: £25 a month | Standard: £50 a month |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | charityfinancials.uk | paxtonsoftware.co.uk |
| On church accounting software | #20 of 26 | #14 of 26 |
CharityFinancials: what it does well
- Tracks four fund types with live balances and an audit trail.
- Tags transactions to projects and reports remaining funds.
- Includes SOFA, donor, fund, and project reports.
- Covers statutory accounts and SORP notes.
- Imports bank statements from CSV or Excel.
What to know first
- The listed platform is web only.
- There is no direct bank-feed licence.
- HMRC software recognition for MTD VAT is pending.
Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software: what it does well
- Supports multi-fund accounting and budget tracking.
- Produces SORP-compliant reports and a Charity Commission-format SOFA.
- Manages donations and Gift Aid, including an HMRC-format schedule.
- Imports bank-statement transactions and submits VAT returns via MTD.
- Offers cloud access and a Windows desktop version.
What to know first
- There is no free plan; paid plans start at £50.00 per month.
- No automatic bank feed is available.
- Receipts and payments accounting is only available in Standard.
- Invoicing and foreign currency processing are only available in Advanced.
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