Bench tells you where you stood last month. Your books here are live.
Come April, both hand your CPA the same thing: a P&L, a balance sheet, the Schedule C lines. The other eleven months are what you're paying for. Bench closes your books after the month ends, so they show you where you were, not where you are. ExpenseGhost's books are live right now, and they cost $16, not $199.
- ExpenseGhost: $16/mo, Plaid sync daily, self-serve.
- Bench: $199 to $599/mo, monthly close after month-end, 1 to 2 week onboarding.
One more thing worth knowing
Bench shut down abruptly in December 2024, and thousands of businesses had to scramble to pull their records out mid-tax-season. It was bought days later by Employer.com and now operates as "Bench Accounting by Mainstreet." The service is running again. But your books are the one thing you never want to lose access to overnight. With ExpenseGhost, your data is yours: export every transaction as a CSV and every receipt as a ZIP, any day you want.
What a year costs
| ExpenseGhost (Solo) | Bench (entry) | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $16 | $199 |
| Year 1 | $192 | $2,388 |
| Year 5 | $960 | $11,940 |
What you still do on Bench
Done-for-you still comes with homework.
- Upload receipts.
- Answer monthly clarification emails.
- Wait for the monthly close, then review the packet.
- Hand the packet to a CPA. Tax filing is the $599 tier, not the base plan.
What ExpenseGhost ships
- Plaid bank sync, daily.
- Receipt OCR, auto-matched to bank transactions.
- One-click classification. Auto-learns your recurring vendors after month one.
- A live self-employment tax estimate, stamped DRAFT, moving as you classify.
- A tax-ready packet any day of the year, sole prop to C-corp. Not just a year-end drop.
- Contractor 1099s: track who you pay and collect their W-9s all year. 1099-NEC e-filing is rolling out now.
- Receipts by email forward or web upload. No bookkeeper in the loop, no waiting.
ExpenseGhost provides tax estimates and tax-ready exports. We are not a tax preparer and do not file returns. Estimates are informational. Verify every number with a licensed tax professional before filing.