Bench

RATING:

4.7

(290)

About Bench

Bench is the online bookkeeping platform for small business owners. Each month, Bench automatically gathers transaction data from all connected business accounts. Then, a dedicated team of bookkeepers ensures books are tax-ready. With books up-to-date, users can access the Bench iPhone or desktop app to monitor cash-flow and financial health with intuitive expense reports, income statements, and more. Users can also send the Bench team a text in the message feed, and they respond within one business day. And at tax time, Bench delivers a package with everything needed to get filed.

Awards and Recognition

FrontRunner 2023
Software Advice's FrontRunners report ranks top products based based on user reviews, which helps businesses find the right software.

Bench Pricing

- Monthly bookkeeping - Dedicated bookkeeping team - Year-end tax ready financial statements - Direct, unlimited communication with our in-house research team

Starting price: 

$249.00 per month

Free trial: 

Available

Free version: 

Not Available

Pulse dashboard
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Bench Reviews

Overall Rating

4.7

Ratings Breakdown

Secondary Ratings

Ease-of-use

4.5

Customer Support

4.5

Value for money

4.5

Functionality

4.5

Most Helpful Reviews for Bench

1 - 5 of 289 Reviews

Erik

2 - 10 employees

Used more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

5

Reviewed August 2022

Completely alleviated stress while reducing my bookkeeping costs

User Profile

Manabu

Verified reviewer

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed October 2017

Solves the Startup Book-keeping Headaches

All of my book-keeping headaches are gone!

PROS

I really like it that Bench people essentially leave me alone and they will do all the bookkeeping stuff for me. It is not my forte, so it is great and done at much lower price point than hiring a firm. The web interface is great and pretty much you upload your expense receipts and they will take care of it.

CONS

Occasionally the bank statement transfers stops, then takes a bit of trial and errors for it to work, only happens perhaps once a year or so. No biggie, but could improve it.

Vendor Response

Hi Manabu - Thank you for your kind words! We're thrilled to be able to ease the headache of bookkeeping for you. We've passed the message on to Nadeeshi and the rest of your team, and you've made their day much brighter. - SP

Replied October 2017

Steve

Management Consulting, 1 employee

Used weekly for less than 6 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

4

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

3

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed April 2022

Friendly, helpful staff. Software is nicely designed and easy to use. It's too expensive.

Overall, I've been very impressed with Bench. The people, organization, resources, and software are top-notch. The price, however, is too much for someone who is self-employed or a small business owner with limited transactions. I understand that you generally get what you pay for, but I don't feel that you get 10x the value over self-managed bookkeeping using Quickbooks, Freshbooks, or Wave bookkeeping software. Excellent product -- it's just not for everyone.

PROS

Everyone I worked with to understand and use the bookkeeping software was friendly, professional, and helpful. The dashboard analytics was very easy to understand and is very appealing. I also like that I can export all data into a single workbook (summaries and itemized transactions).

CONS

I don't like that the product is so expensive. Depending on how large your business is and how many transactions you're managing, this product may be too expensive. For example, I've used Quickbooks Self-Employed for years and it's under $20/mo. In comparison, Bench (without any promotions) is hundreds of dollars per month. Granted, they are provided professional bookkeeping services as well as the software, but for a business with 50 transactions per month, it is a little overkill. It's really the only thing I don't love about Bench.

Reason for choosing Bench

I chose Bench over FreshBooks and Wave Accounting because of the bookkeeper assistance, design of the product, and ease of use.

Reasons for switching to Bench

I wanted to test out Bench to see if the added cost would equate to advice on how I could save more than I'm spending. To date, everyone has been helpful but I have received no recommendations.

Vendor Response

Hi Steve, thank you for sharing your experience with us. It's great to hear that your team has been friendly, professional, and helpful. And that you are finding our User Interface to be appealing and easy to use. We're concerned to hear that you feel as though you are not experiencing the price to the relative value of our product. A member of our Client Success Team will be reaching out to you shortly.

Replied May 2022

Bethany

Accounting, 1 employee

Used monthly for less than 12 months

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

2

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

1

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

1

FUNCTIONALITY

2

Reviewed August 2023

They have great resources

PROS

I like that they have articles that are helpful to small business owners

CONS

I dislike that they sometimes don't do a great job with bookkeepin

Vendor Response

Hi Bethany. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. We're concerned to hear about some of your frustrations and would love the opportunity to connect with you to discuss this further. A member of our Client Success team will be reaching out to you shortly!

Replied August 2023

User Profile

John

Verified reviewer

Retail, 11-50 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

3

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

3

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed July 2023

Better Suited to Larger Companies

Bench is useful and helped me to navigate the early days of my company, but I could've saved a lot of money doing some of the data correlation myself and hiring a tax expert directly.

PROS

I like that Bench can customize the experience and give you almost any list of metrics.

CONS

Bench is more expensive than other options I've tried, but much of that is my fault. Their pricing is based on working with much larger companies.

Vendor Response

Hi John, we're so happy to be supporting you and your business during the growth of your company. We strive to offer competitive pricing to reflect the value of the services we provide, including access to a dedicated team of in-house bookkeepers and our proprietary software that automates many bookkeeping tasks.

Replied August 2023