CFO Software Pricing Index 2026: The $6,173 Year

A board can accrue $6,173 a year before a sales call, and that figure is not an ERP. It is the lowest printed line in each priced function, for one US company with 10 ledger users and sales tax in 5 states. Seven of the 13 products publish a dollar price. The other six do not, so the ERP, the close, and planning stay blank. Pages were read on October 17, 2026.

CFOpresso data: of these 13 products, 7 publish a dollar figure and 6 do not. Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 279 accounting tools as of October 16, 2026, and 117 of them have a verified price. The median entry paid plan is $37.50/mo among the 100 tools priced with no stated unit, on the accounting statistics page. That median sits under hobby ledgers and receipt apps. It is not the year a CFO signs.

CFO software, in this index, means the systems a finance leader is asked to budget: the ledger, the close, planning, payables, employee expenses, and sales tax. Fit rankings live on the reviews linked below, and this page stops before the quote. The FP&A pricing comparison stays the page for planning vendors.

The 13-product basket

A product counts as published when its own page shows a dollar figure, including a stated starting price. "Pricing varies," a demo button, or a package with no amount counts as unpublished, so that row is a quote. Intro offers are not the rate a renewal bills. The stack column uses the rule in the next section, and a blank there means the page gave us nothing to multiply.

Product	Function	What the page prints	In the printed year?
Zoho Books	Ledger	Standard $15/org/mo billed annually ($20 monthly); user add-on $2.50/user/mo billed annually	Yes, the ledger line
Xero	Ledger	Early $27/mo, Growing $59/mo, Established $97/mo, after 3 months at 80% off	No, higher than Zoho for 10 people
QuickBooks Online	Ledger	Simple Start $38/mo, Essentials $85/mo for 3 users, Plus $140/mo, Advanced $340/mo for 25 users	No, the 25-user plan is the one that states a cap above 10
Business Central	Ledger	Essentials $80/user/mo, Premium $110/user/mo, Team Members $8/user/mo, paid yearly	No, 10 full seats are a much larger year
NetSuite	Ledger	No dollar amount on the financial management page	No
Sage Intacct	Ledger	Modules and a tailored plan, no dollar amount	No
FloQast	Close	Close Management, Close AI, and Risk and Compliance, no dollar amount, no per-user fee	No
BlackLine	Close	Unlimited users for a stated revenue band, no software amount	No
Workday Adaptive Planning	Planning	"Pricing varies," plus a 30-day trial	No
Tipalti	Payables	Accounts Payable plans start at $99/mo, unlimited users; Mass Payments starts at $249/mo	Yes, the platform floor only
Stampli	Payables	Feature list and a sales contact, no subscription amount	No
Expensify	Expenses	Collect $5 per unique member/mo, pay-per-use	Yes
Avalara	Sales tax	Core $799/state/year, or $79/state/mo; SST $699/state/year	Yes, Core for 5 states

Prices in that table were read on October 17, 2026, and tool names link to the page the figure came from.

How the printed year is built

The scenario is one US organization, 10 people who need a ledger login, employee expenses for those same 10, and sales tax collected in 5 states. The company is under the revenue label Avalara prints on its published plans. Software sales tax, payment-transaction fees, and first-year discounts stay out. Where a vendor shows an annual rate and a monthly rate, the index uses the annual rate.

Ledger, $390. Zoho Books Standard is $15 per organization a month when billed annually, and the plan includes 3 users. The same page prices extra users at $2.50 each per month on annual billing, or $3 each if you pay monthly, so skip the monthly add-on. Seven extra people are $17.50 a month, the organization plus those seats is $32.50 a month, and twelve of those months are $390. Premium, which includes 10 users with no add-on, is $60 a month on the same billing and would replace this line with $720. The index keeps the smaller path because the page allows the add-on.

Expenses, $600. Expensify Collect is $5 per unique member a month, pay-per-use, with no annual Collect plan, and ten members for twelve months are $600. That rate applies when the organization's first workspace was created on or after April 1, 2025, so an older workspace should use the legacy rate further down. Expensify also prints fixed pound, euro, Australian dollar, and New Zealand dollar rates, and those are not a conversion of the dollar rates, so a non-US entity should not translate this line.

Sales tax, $3,995. Avalara Core Compliance is the tax line for states already registered, at $799 per state a year, so five states are $3,995. The monthly Core rate is $79 per state, and the yearly figure is the one the page marks as a 15% saving. The $403 per location registration fee is not in the year.

Payables, $1,188. Accounts Payable plans start at $99 a month, with unlimited users on that description, and twelve months at that floor are $1,188. The page also says transaction pricing applies per invoice and per payment, and it does not print those amounts, so this line is the platform floor, not the amount that leaves the bank.

Add the four lines and the printed year is $6,173. Swap Zoho Premium for the Standard-plus-seats path and the year becomes $6,503. Neither total is a full finance stack, and it is the part a controller can put in the model without a quote.

Ledgers that print a price, and the two that do not

Zoho's US page is an organization price until you pass the included users. Standard at the annual rate is the entry paid plan. Professional is $40 a month billed annually and includes 5 users, so 10 people there are the base plus 5 add-ons, $52.50 a month. Elite is $120 a month billed annually and Ultimate is $240, both still per organization. The free plan stays at $0 only while revenue for the financial year stays at or under $50,000, and it includes 1 user plus 1 accountant, so it never enters this scenario, and a 14-day trial does not price the year.

Xero's rates are before tax, so the invoice runs higher. Early renews at $27 a month and stops at 20 invoices and 5 bills, which is why a company past that volume should skip it. Growing renews at $59 a month for a company past Early's caps. Established renews at $97 a month, $1,164 across a year, and that is the plan that lists multiple currencies, projects, and employee expense claims.

The page does not add a per-user license fee. New US customers buying a first organization get 80% off the base plan for 3 months, so Early shows $5.40, Growing $11.80, and Established $19.40 during that window, which the index ignores in favor of the renewal. Payroll is a separate add-on at $36 a month plus $6 per employee or contractor, and the directory record is Xero.

QuickBooks Online prints four paid amounts and a free plan at $0 for 1 user, a solo seat this company has outgrown. Simple Start is $38 a month, Essentials is $85 a month and caps at 3 users, Plus is $140 a month, and Advanced is $340 a month for up to 25 users with no added user fee. Each of those paid amounts is also shown at half off for 3 months, so Advanced appears beside $170, and that window is not the rate to accrue. A 10-person team cannot stay on Essentials, so Advanced is the plan whose cap covers them, and a year at the list rate is $4,080 before the short discount.

The QuickBooks review is the product page, and the fork against an unpriced ERP is QuickBooks vs NetSuite.

Business Central is the printed multi-company seat when one company file is not enough. Essentials is $80 per user a month, paid yearly, and it includes finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, projects, and warehouse, plus multiple companies. Ten full users are $9,600 for the year, worth it only when multi-company work is real. Premium is $110 per user a month and adds manufacturing and service orders, so a manufacturer should not budget Essentials. Team Members are $8 per user a month for people who read, approve, and make limited updates.

The Sales Order Agent and the Payables Agent need Copilot Credits, sold apart from the seat. Use the Essentials year when the license has to cover more than one company, keep Team Member seats out of that count, and use the directory entry for Dynamics 365.

NetSuite's financial management page lists accounting, subscription billing, planning, revenue recognition, reporting, consolidation, and governance, and it prints no price, so that year cannot be accrued from the site. The license shape, users, and modules are on NetSuite pricing, and the product verdict is the NetSuite review. Sage's US pricing page builds a plan from modules and industry fit, and it prints no dollar amount either. Planning is named there as its own area, still without a figure. The module walk-through is Sage Intacct pricing, and the two blank quotes side by side are NetSuite vs Sage Intacct. A board slide that ranks them on website price is ranking two empty cells.

Close and planning stay off the index

FloQast lists Close Management, Close AI, and Risk and Compliance. The page says packages scale with outcomes rather than seats, and it says there is no per-user fee. It does not say what the package costs, what implementation costs, or what the minimum is. Close AI is labeled the popular package and adds agents, matching, and journal posting on top of the checklist, and that label is not a price a model can multiply. The operating comparison is FloQast vs BlackLine, and the product notes are the FloQast review.

BlackLine's midsize page is written for companies with annual revenue between $100 million and $750 million, so a smaller company should not read it as a rate card. It describes a platform package with unlimited users, and it says you can start with reconciliations, close management, or journal entry. It does not print a software fee, so unlimited users remove the seat argument and leave the order form as the only source. The BlackLine review covers that package, and the wider set is close management software.

Workday Adaptive Planning's pricing page says pricing varies, so the planning year stays a quote. The paid package lists unlimited versions, unlimited what-if scenarios, and a connection to any general ledger. A second package adds close and consolidation, still with no amount. The free trial is 30 days and includes a guided walkthrough, which shows the product and does not price a year of it. The Adaptive Planning review is where fit for the quote is argued. Toolradar data: the financial planning ranking evaluated 18 tools, updated October 15, 2026. This index keeps a single planning row on purpose, because twelve planning vendors, and the one per-user add-on that page could compute, are already on the FP&A pricing comparison.

Payables, expenses, and the tax line

Tipalti is in the sum because $99 a month is a real floor, and it is a weak floor. Accounts Payable includes unlimited users, a supplier portal, and core automation, then adds transaction pricing the page does not quantify. Mass Payments starts at $249 a month for a different job, paying a large outside network, and that job should not be priced off the AP floor. There is no free Accounts Payable tier, so vendor bills have no zero start. Standard implementations are included for common workflows, and a more complex environment may need professional services. Expenses, procurement, and treasury are add-on modules, also unpriced here. A 200-bill fee comparison, which this index does not recompute, is AP automation pricing, and the product note is the Tipalti review.

Stampli publishes a feature grid, including unlimited users on the rows it marks that way, and a sales address. It does not publish a subscription amount, so it cannot enter the year. Direct Pay is described as free for existing Stampli customers, which is a payment method inside a contract you do not yet have a price for.

Expensify Collect is the expense line, and the plan names do not match the rates a renewal uses. Collect is pay-per-use only, which sends a 10-person budget to the wrong rate. Control is the plan with an annual option, at $18 per member a month inside a subscription size you choose, plus $36 per active member above that size. Pay-per-use Control is $36 per active member a month. Workspaces whose first workspace predates April 1, 2025 stay on legacy Collect, at $10 per active member a month on pay-per-use, and those workspaces should not copy the newer rate. Taxes are extra. A free Submit workspace exists for an individual whose company has not adopted the product, and it does not include approvals, payments, or accounting integrations, so it is not a company plan.

A plan-by-plan breakdown of those rates is on Expensify pricing. Ten people on Control's annual rate, with no one above the subscription size, would be $2,160 a year instead of $600, which is the right comparison if the team needs the Control feature set rather than Collect.

Avalara's published plans are labeled for annual revenue under $50 million. Above that label, the page sends you to Custom, which has no amount, so a larger company should not copy this line. Core plus SST Services is $699 per state a year, or $69 per state a month, and the lower rate depends on qualifying as a volunteer seller in participating states. This index uses Core because the year should not assume a status the page gates. License Guidance is as low as $119, and Sales Tax Registration is $403 per location. Neither is inside the $3,995, so registration pushes a first year above the compliance plan. The state-count walk-through is Avalara pricing, and the wider set is sales tax software.

What a blank line does to the board model

The printed year covers a small ledger, a pay-per-use expense tool, a per-state tax filing plan, and an AP platform floor. It does not cover a multi-entity ERP, a close checklist with a dollar on it, or a planning model. A CFO who drops that year into the software row and leaves the quote lines at zero has understated the stack by every contract still in a sales process.

The control use of the index is the opposite. Put the printed year in the model as the published floor, then add a line called unpublished for NetSuite or Sage, a line for FloQast or BlackLine, and a line for Adaptive or whichever planning tool the FP&A comparison sent you to quote. Those three lines should be ranges from the order forms, not zeros, and they should be the lines the board asks about. The accounting software ranking is where the ledger choice is argued on fit. A Series A stack at a fixed headcount, which prices a different set of tools, is the Series A finance stack.

Two swaps show how fast the printed floor moves when the ledger has to do more. Ten Business Central Essentials users are $9,600 for the software year, and the four-line total becomes $15,383 if that seat replaces Zoho and the other three lines stay put. QuickBooks Advanced at the $340 list rate is $4,080 for the year, and the same swap produces $9,863. Both still exclude the close and the planning quote. Established on Xero, at $1,164 for the year, lands between Zoho and those two if one organization and no per-user fee match the license you need.

Methodology

We read each vendor's own page on October 17, 2026, and we multiplied only figures that page printed. The basket is 13 products across six functions: four published ledgers, two ERPs that do not print a price, two close products, one planning product, two payables products, one expense product, and one sales-tax product. Zoho's annual rate is the lower of the two rates on its pricing page. Expensify's line uses the dollar rates in its pricing help article. Avalara's five-state total is 5 times the yearly Core rate. Tipalti's line is 12 times the published starting price. The Toolradar counts were read on the accounting statistics page (snapshot October 16, 2026) and the financial planning ranking (updated October 15, 2026). Louis Corneloup, who founded Toolradar and Dupple, edited this page. The rating method for reviews on this site is how we rate, and the corrections and sourcing rules are the editorial policy.

This page is general information, not personalized financial advice. Confirm terms with the provider before you accrue a number from this index, because list pages move and a quote can add fees these pages do not print.

The next refresh is December 17, 2026, when we re-read every page in the basket. A product moves into the sum only when its page shows a dollar figure that fits the same 10-user, 5-state scenario.

FAQ

What is the CFO software pricing index for 2026?

It is a 13-product basket, read on October 17, 2026, and seven products publish a dollar price. The lowest printed lines for one US company with 10 ledger users and sales tax in 5 states add to $6,173 a year: $390 for Zoho Books Standard plus 7 user add-ons, $600 for Expensify Collect, $3,995 for Avalara Core in 5 states, and $1,188 for Tipalti's AP platform floor.

How much does CFO software cost for 10 users?

On published pages, the ledger piece of that question is $390 a year on Zoho Books Standard billed annually, because 3 users are included at $15 a month and 7 more are $2.50 each. QuickBooks Advanced, the plan that states a cap of 25 users, is $4,080 a year at list. Ten Business Central Essentials users are $9,600 a year. NetSuite and Sage Intacct still have no public US dollar price, so a 10-user ERP year is a quote.

Which CFO software publishes a price?

Zoho Books, Xero, QuickBooks Online, Business Central, Expensify, Avalara, and Tipalti print a dollar figure. FloQast, BlackLine, Workday Adaptive Planning, Stampli, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct do not, so those six should be quotes rather than zeros. Tipalti's figure is a starting price, and the per-payment fees are not on the page.

Is there a free CFO software stack?

Not for this scenario, since the free offers below stop short of this headcount. Zoho Books has a free plan while revenue stays at or under $50,000, with 1 user and 1 accountant, and QuickBooks has a free plan for 1 user. Expensify has a free Submit workspace for an individual, without approvals or accounting integrations. None of those covers 10 people filing expenses and sales tax in 5 states, and Adaptive's 30-day trial is not a free year.

Why is the AP line only $1,188?

That is 12 months at Tipalti's published starting price of $99 a month for Accounts Payable. The pricing page says transaction fees apply per invoice and per payment and does not list them, so a high bill count costs more than the floor. Stampli, the other payables product in the basket, publishes no subscription amount at all.

Does this index include FP&A software?

Only Workday Adaptive Planning, and only as an unpublished row, because its page says pricing varies. The other planning vendors, and the seat math for the one add-on that publishes a per-user rate, are on the FP&A pricing comparison. Adding them here would repeat that page rather than price a stack.

How often is this index updated?

Every 60 days, which is how long the basket stays current. The figures above were read on October 17, 2026, and the next read is December 17, 2026. The Toolradar accounting counts cited here are that site's October 16, 2026 snapshot.

Directory pages for the products in the basket: QuickBooks, Zoho Books, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, FloQast, BlackLine, Workday, Tipalti, Stampli, Expensify, and Avalara.

Cite this: CFOpresso, "CFO Software Pricing Index 2026: The $6,173 Year", October 2026. Prices read on vendor pages on October 17, 2026. CC BY 4.0.

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