Pilot

RATING:

4.7

(22)

About Pilot

We’re the largest startup-focused accounting firm in the US with a team of 350+ US-based employees. Our accountants, fractional CFOs, and tax specialists are dedicated to building a strong finance foundation for your business. We offer Bookkeeping, CFO, tax services, and more for thousands of startups and small businesses, ranging from two founders in a garage to hundred-person teams. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your decision-making or want a hands-off compliance solution, we'll tailor our services to your unique needs.

Awards and Recognition

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

Pilot Pricing

Pilot Bookkeeping Core: $599/mo billed annually Select: $849/mo billed annually Plus: Contact Pilot for pricing details. Pilot CFO Services Monthly Engagement: $900/mo billed annually Annual Budgeting & Forecasting: $1500+/yr billed annually Pilot Tax Essentials: Starts at $1950 /yr Standard: Starts at $4500/yr

Starting price: 

$499.00 per month

Free trial: 

Not Available

Free version: 

Not Available

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Pilot 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 Pilot

1 - 5 of 22 Reviews

User Profile

Max

Verified reviewer

Fund-Raising, 11-50 employees

Used weekly for less than 2 years

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

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed April 2021

Happy Customer: Bookkeeping, Tax, CFO, R&D

We started with Pilot Bookkeeping and have been adding on services (CFO, Tax, R&D) ever since due to our satisfaction with their services and their efficient, effective all-in-one approach.

PROS

As a fast-growing tech company, it was extremely important to us that we partnered with a like-minded firm on our financials. We don't have this expertise in-house, but for a fraction of the cost we've been able to outsource and automate enormous amounts of the legwork involved with our monthly reconciliation process, CFO/Board Reporting, Tax, and R&D filings. On top of that, Pilot continues to proactively create value for our business thanks to their talented team, wealth of knowledge with similar businesses as ours, and dedication to top-knotch customer service. As the ultimate testimonial, I frequently recommend Pilot to other entrepreneurs and personal friends of mine.

CONS

My only regret is not working with them sooner! Pilot has saved me hundreds of hours through their highly technical, automation-forward approach to everything they do.

Reason for choosing Pilot

I especially loved that Pilot builds on top of existing accounting software like Quickbooks, rather than reinventing the wheel with some proprietary software, and was able to build models in Google Sheets vs. Excel, enabling much better collaboration.

Anonymous

2-10 employees

Used monthly for less than 12 months

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

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed April 2021

Great Onboarding Experience and Ancillary Services

Our prior accountant closed unexpectedly and quickly and we were in a bind. From sales to onboarding to BAU support, the Pilot team has been incredibly responsive and patient with us as we uncovered mistakes that needed to be addressed asap. Additionally, we realized that we needed some additional reporting for our board and discussed options with the [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] services team. It was expensive (for us) but soooo worth it. The added insight that the team provides in addition to the reporting has been invaluable. We've had many conversations about our growth plans etc and I feel like they are an extension of our team. We had recent conversations about leveraging PIlot for R&D Tax Credits. Although, we ultimately determined that we aren't ready to proceed at this point, I now know what we would need to have in place & the benefit should we decide to proceed in the future.

PROS

I'm someone that appreciates human interaction and Pilot makes it easy to engage with the team when I wanted to. I also love, love the dashboard it's easy to use and interactive.

CONS

I wouldn't say anything is missing - I would love to be able to generate reports directly out of Pilot instead of going to QBO - purely for aesthetic reasons because the format doesn't look the same as the monthly reports the team provides.

Reason for choosing Pilot

Professionalism of the sales team, your investors and leadership team made me feel like you were in a stable place and wouldn't be closing up shop anytime soon, and the team agreed they could assist with some of the issues left unaddressed by our prior accountants.

Reasons for switching to Pilot

Because they closed abruptly and we had 30-60 days to figure it out!

Michael

Retail, 2-10 employees

Used weekly for less than 2 years

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

OVERALL RATING:

1

EASE OF USE

1

VALUE FOR MONEY

1

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

1

FUNCTIONALITY

1

Reviewed April 2024

Avoid Pilot - Use Finaloop

Pilot was our book keeper for the 2022-2023 tax year, although they never completed the services and we were required to get a second bookkeeper (at half the price and twice the quality) to finish the books. I really recommend finaloop software for bookkeeping. It is night and day compared to pilot. As I said, we were unable to get finalized accurate books from Pilot for the 2023 tax season and we were forced to engage a new bookkeeper that got the job done in 3 weeks. Instead of paying $2,000 a month for pilot, Finaloop was only $6,000 for the whole year and the software is night and day. Finaloop will automatically calculate COGs. Pilot will just do nothing and ask for your team to fill out COGs journal entries. I do not recommend Pilot to any small business owner. Pilot refused to credit back any of the monthly fees even though they did not complete the service.

PROS

Nothing - they did not complete the service and we were forced to hire another bookkeeper.

CONS

Pilot was our book keeper for the 2022-2023 tax year, although they never completed the services and we were required to get a second bookkeeper (at half the price and twice the quality) to finish the books. I really recommend finaloop software for bookkeeping. It is night and day compared to pilot. As I said, we were unable to get finalized accurate books from Pilot for the 2023 tax season and we were forced to engage a new bookkeeper that got the job done in 3 weeks. Instead of paying $2,000 a month for pilot, Finaloop was only $6,000 for the whole year and the software is night and day. Finaloop will automatically calculate COGs. Pilot will just do nothing and ask for your team to fill out COGs journal entries. I do not recommend Pilot to any small business owner. Pilot refused to credit back any of the monthly fees even though they did not complete the service.

Reason for choosing Pilot

Pilot is terrible I wish I never picked Pilot to begin with

Victor

Hospitality, 11-50 employees

Used daily for less 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

4

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed June 2022

Life made easy with pilot

We mainly work with the system in food and beverage department to track income versus expense. Stock is accurately tallied, expenses, sales all are deducted in one go giving us a solid plan on what to do next in terms of the company Goals.

PROS

The income and expenses comparison is the most impactful as it determines the benchmark for the next marketing target. We have as well managed to integrate it with semper reservations for easy flow of revenue.

CONS

Everything seems to be working well with pilot.

Reasons for switching to Pilot

Semper is slow and outdated. Revenue generation takes surmountable time to generate.

Camilla

Consumer Services, 2-10 employees

Used monthly for less than 2 years

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

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed April 2021

I tell all my founder friends to use Pilot!

PROS

Pilot is brilliant at doing exactly what it promises: taking over the accounting and back office work of running a company so that you (the founding team) can focus on actually building your product. Pilot also does an exceptional job delivering great value for much less than any of their competitors — a testament to the strength of their technology. Lastly, the humans at Pilot are amazing. Every time I’ve had a question, from the most basic to truly arcane accounting and tax questions, all I have to do is email my account manager and he proactively pulls in the needed expertise from the larger Pilot team. I am simply so grateful this service exists; it has fundamentally changed the way I get to run my company.

CONS

I’m excited to see what new features Pilot rolls out in the future. A founder community where we could ask accounting and finance related questions would be amazing, for example.

Reason for choosing Pilot

Better value for the price, better product, and better service. I know that Pilot can scale with my startup.