Botkeeper vs. Bench
We've compiled a few key differences between two automated accounting solutions: Botkeeper and Bench. Choosing the right automated bookkeeping solution is critical, and we want you to have the best information possible to do so — that's why we created this Botkeeper review. Ready to see the power of Botkeeper? Click below to book a live presentation.
Overview
Don’t settle for incomplete platforms.
A true automation-based bookkeeping platform will help you operate your end-to-end bookkeeping programs. While there are many bookkeeping solutions available today that can help streamline bookkeeping tasks, not all solutions are built the same. This page will help you understand the differences between Botkeeper and Bench so you can decide which is the right bookkeeping solution for your business or firm.
Bookkeeping Services
Investing in an automated bookkeeping solution can transform your business. As the bookkeeping decision-maker, it's important to choose the right combination of tools and services that can deliver power and flexibility and are easy and delightful for your team to use every day.
To truly transform your bookkeeping, you need an integrated set of tools that help you drive accuracy, efficiency, security, and ultimately tie all your bookkeeping efforts back to ROI.
With Bench, you get software paired with human bookkeepers to get the bookkeeping done. For accountants, Bench provides financials to improve tax filing quality and deliver standardized books that tie to prior year returns, capture adjusting journal entries, and account for all tax-relevant financial activity.
With Botkeeper, all of this functionality is built directly into the platform, offering your firm a comprehensive solution. Using machine learning, artificial intelligence, and robotic process automation in conjunction with the expertise of senior accountants, we augment the manual and time-consuming tasks, creating lightning-fast and hyper-efficient bookkeeping (data entry, reconciliations, classifications, etc.).
Botkeeper is able to fully automate your bookkeeping department with human-assisted AI. And you can benefit from avoiding increases in headcount and overhead costs, see and trust the health of company results due to noticeably less manual human error, and get superior reporting and real-time, 24/7 data entry.
In addition, Botkeeper provides you with comprehensive support from your own Botkeeper accounting team. From onboarding forward, we will ensure a customized experience for your firm. Plus, we offer 24/7 support, so we are always plugged in for you and your firm.
Technology & Features
Finding the right automated accounting solution for all your bookkeeping needs can become the foundation of your practice and the differentiator you need to grow. As a result, it’s important to seek out technology and features that fit your firm, staff, AND client base. This is why we’ve made Botkeeper with our CPA partners AND business owners in mind — we can grow and adapt our platform with your organization’s wants and needs. As a CPA, this means exponential value for you and your clients.
Bench's software component is largely the general ledger itself — an alternative to some of the more widely adopted solutions such as QuickBooks or Xero. The actual bookkeeping (i.e., categorizations, posting of transactions, data entry, etc...) is primarily conducted by bookkeepers working out of their Vancouver office in Canada.
Botkeeper has built a full suite of tools, letting CPA firms and/or business owners pick the tools that work best for them. Botkeeper uses automation to combine various data sources while applying rules, processes, and calculations so you get the most insightful custom reporting and dashboards. This eliminates costly and error-prone manual accounting.
For firms looking for more, Botkeeper leverages machine learning technology to handle labor-intensive bookkeeping tasks by processing and categorizing transactions at an incredibly high accuracy level. The technology also learns more about your firm, and accuracy continues to improve. We extract data from receipts, process payroll, pay bills, send invoices, reconcile accounts, and generate beautiful reports.
With Botkeeper's Partner Platform, you have the ability to onboard and manage all of your clients through a custom white-labeled portal. Stay up to date on what is happening in all of your clients' Financial Hubs with your clickable activity feed, communicate directly with the Botkeeper accountants on what they need from you, and receive direct access to any open conversations you’re having within the tool.
The Botkeeper Client Portal is where the business owner would find financials, download statements, build custom reports, and chat with your Botkeeper team as desired. Your clients receive a central platform to connect their financial and non-financial accounts, ensuring that their data is automated, compiled, and organized. Your clients get fast, accurate, seamless bookkeeping each month, while getting the personal touch, top-notch advisory services only you can provide.
The best part is that the platforms tie together into a comprehensive ecosystem so CPAs, their business owner clients, and Botkeeper operate in a centralized hub.
Support and Success
Because having the right support is imperative for success, finding exceptional customer service is critical when evaluating an automated accounting solution. The best customer support enables fluid, real-time conversations to help troubleshoot issues and answer questions as they arise. They get back to you quickly to provide updates or solutions. They offer you multiple means of contacting them including email, chat, and direct message within the platform for your convenience. Choose an automated accounting solution that understands the value of being there when you need it.
Bench gives you a dedicated bookkeeper supported by a team of in-house experts. If your business needs any of the following: property tracking, third-party revenue collection, or cash revenue and cash expense tracking, you will need a specialized Bench team for support for an additional cost to add on to your Bench plan.
All Botkeeper packages include a talented and experienced member of our Growth Partner team. Their role is intended to help empower accounting firms and assist them through periods of change.
Growth Partners are unique to Botkeeper, adding another valuable element to the human-assisted automation we’re so proud to deliver to accounting firms. This team of experienced accounting professionals (even CPAs!) manages relationships with accounting firms of all sizes, including some of the largest and most innovative firms out there. They offer a broad technical and product knowledge to help accounting firms scale. Their whole end game is to ensure impeccable service and insightful guidance on how to get the most out of Botkeeper’s products and services.
We'd love to talk through our innovative approach to client support and success with you, so click below to speak with one of our experts!
MEASURE ROI
Measure the performance of your bookkeeping when you integrate an automated solution, and see what your firm is able to achieve.
Bench provides bookkeeping software and a team of professional bookkeepers at an affordable price.
Botkeeper goes a bit farther. Our solution allows you to automate bookkeeping and pre-accounting procedures so you can dedicate more time and resources to your client base. Leverage the newly available insights Botkeeper provides and increase the value you can offer your clients. You can also differentiate your brand, help expand your firm, and diversify your service offering. Botkeeper oversees the automation so you can focus on complex accounting, data integrity, and interpretation. We’ll be hard at work extracting data from receipts, processing payroll, paying bills, sending invoices, reconciling accounts, and generating beautiful reports — so you have more time to achieve your firm's goal and focus on what matters most.
Cost of Ownership
Growth Software Without Any of the Administration Headaches
The cost of ownership is a way for you to assess the long-term value of an automated accounting solution to your firm. While the cost of the package is certainly a key component to keep in mind, it's not the only cost that you should take into account.
Bench bases their pricing model on monthly expenses; the price increases with the expense value. They offer 5 plans ranging from $139/per month to $299/per month: Starter, Micro, Boutique, Venture, and Corporate that all maintain the same level of service and operate on a cash basis. The Bench plans include monthly bookkeeping for up to 15 financial accounts (e.g., bank accounts, credit cards, loans, merchant processors, etc.), above which, you may be custom priced. For accountants, the standard Bench pricing ranges from $139-$219/per month for clients under $50k in monthly ($600k annual) expenses.
Botkeeper's pricing packages are customizable and flexible. Botkeeper has a pricing model meant for accounting firms to choose what their needs are based on a combination of their client's gross expenses, how often they need services, and the services they need from Botkeeper — but we offer the same white-glove service regardless of your package. Pricing starts at $155 per entity per month, and scales based on cadence and average entity expenses.
We know that businesses change over time, and we want to make sure we provide pricing to reflect that. We have a toolset that allows you to estimate your costs with Botkeeper, and we also have a Botkeeper specialist to walk through your needs with you and help determine the best-fit bookkeeping services. The Botkeeper pricing structure is built to grow with your firm, offering a fully customizable option.
Botkeeper is much more than just software.
Choosing a bookkeeping automation provider is a crucial decision, so it's important to consider not only the software but the support and resources you'll receive, as well. We at Botkeeper are invested in your success.
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Free Training & Education — Botkeeper resources are available to help you and your entire team learn best practices and successfully execute tactics that grow your business. Take a look at the dozens of resources available, and get started today.
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Support Is Available For Your Entire Team — Anytime you have a question, reach out and we'll answer. Our support team is happy to help, whether it's a question about our software or advice on how to best tackle bookkeeping tasks.
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Deployment — When you start using Botkeeper, you'll have a dedicated team to help you get started with the software, technical setup tasks, and execute your first successful dive into the tool. Learn more about Botkeeper Deployment here.
We've built the Botkeeper Platform to be easy for Accounting Professionals and their clients to use. That's why we're happy to share reviews of everyday professionals using Botkeeper to grow better, just like you. Click below to request a demo.
Grow your business like a team twice your size.
Bring your team, tools, and data together to drive high-impact efficiency in your bookkeeping department- in less time.
