Compare · Bench
Bench vs your own QuickBooks file, compared fairly.
Bench's app-based service, which keeps the books on its own platform on its standard plans, or a bookkeeper working in your own QuickBooks file. What happened from December 2024 on, what Bench does well today, and which model fits your business, stated straight.
Bench facts checked on ; confirm current terms with Bench.
Quick answer
Bench shut down on 27 December 2024, and Employer.com announced its acquisition three days later. Service resumed under Employer.com in January 2025, and Bench operates today. The difference is the model: on its standard plans Bench keeps your books on its own platform, while we work in the QuickBooks file you own, with a fixed fee set in writing.
Side by side
The comparison at a glance.
Bench characteristics reflect its published offering as of mid-2026 — confirm current terms with Bench directly.
| Dimension | Bench | Everholt & Co. |
|---|---|---|
| The model | App-based bookkeeping on Bench's own software on its standard plans; a separate fractional option works inside your QuickBooks Online account. Checked on , bench.co | Bookkeeping in your own QuickBooks file, at a fixed fee |
| Where your books live | On its standard plans, Bench's own platform. Asked "Do I have to switch software?", Bench's home page answers: "No. Bench bookkeepers can also work within your existing QuickBooks account." Checked on , bench.co | Your QuickBooks file, Online or Desktop, in your name with its full history |
| How the work is done | A dedicated bookkeeper; several bookkeepers review the books each month, plus a year-end check. Checked on , bench.co | Reconciled to source in your file, then reviewed before delivery |
| Tax filing | Included only in the Bookkeeping + Tax plan. Checked on , bench.co | Not offered — returns stay with your CPA, working from books we keep CPA-ready |
| Pricing | $199, $399 or $649 a month (the $649 plan adds tax filing); 20% off on a 12-month plan. Checked on , bench.co | From $550/mo on our published range; the fixed fee is agreed in writing once a free review has sized the work |
| Catch-up for months behind | Bench's catch-up page says: "Catch-up from January 2026 to the present is free with an annual subscription to Bench." Going further back is included with a paid subscription. Checked: , bench.co | One fixed fee in our published $1,800–$6,000 range, agreed in writing once a free review has sized the backlog |
| If you leave | Excel exports and an Excel year-end package; your Bench login stays after you cancel. Checked on , bench.co | Nothing to rebuild — the file was yours from day one |
Checked: , every Bench cell against Bench's own pages. Last evidence check: .
Scope note, stated plainly: Everholt & Co. keeps books and is not a CPA firm. We make books CPA-ready and work alongside your CPA. Full pricing →
Bench's model, platform, and pricing tier above are confirmed directly on Bench's own site and its FAQ (checked September 2026); the shutdown, acquisition, and bankruptcy record is confirmed via TechCrunch, GeekWire and the bankruptcy trustee's first report (verified September 2026).
The documented record
What happened to Bench — dated, factual, no gloating.
Bench launched in 2012, grew from Vancouver into one of the largest app-based bookkeeping services in North America, and raised more than $100 million along the way (GeekWire, verified September 2026). On December 27, 2024, it announced an abrupt shutdown; customers were told their data would be available to download by December 30 and that they had until March 2025 to retrieve it (TechCrunch, verified September 2026). Bench had more than 10,000 customers at the time, per the bankruptcy trustee's first report (verified September 2026).
On December 30, 2024, Employer.com announced it was acquiring Bench (GeekWire, verified September 2026). Bench filed for bankruptcy in Canada on January 7, 2025 (TechCrunch and the trustee's first report, verified September 2026), and the service operates today under Employer.com's ownership — still live and taking new clients as Bench (bench.co, checked September 2026).
On August 11, 2025, Employer.com announced that it had rebranded Bench as Mainstreet, folding in its Mainstreet Tax Credits and Dough acquisitions (Employer.com's press release). Bench's own pages still sell the bookkeeping service under the Bench name and don't mention Mainstreet. Checked: , against the release and bench.co.
We state this as record, not ridicule — companies hit hard times, and the people at Bench built something thousands of owners genuinely liked. The durable lesson for any owner choosing a bookkeeping service is structural: when your books live on a provider's proprietary platform, the provider's continuity becomes your accounting risk. Books that live in your own QuickBooks file are yours regardless of what happens to any vendor — including us. That's the model question this page is really about, and it's covered plan by plan in software-only vs bookkeeping with people.
Credit where due
What Bench does well.
If we wanted you to distrust this page, we'd skip this section. These strengths are real.
A genuinely low price point
Bench's published plans start at $199 a month, below our $550 starting fee. For budget-bound owners with simple books, that matters — full stop.
A simple, pleasant app
The interface is clean and approachable. Owners who want to glance at tidy numbers on a phone, without learning accounting software, get exactly that.
A tidy year-end package
Bench's year-end financials give a tax preparer a clean starting point — for simple cash-basis books, that covers what many very small businesses actually need.
Figure data as a table
| Date | Event | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 27, 2024 | Shutdown announced | Bench announces an abrupt shutdown; customers are told their data can be downloaded by December 30. |
| Dec 30, 2024 | Acquisition announced | Employer.com announces it is acquiring Bench. |
| January 2025 | Filing, then service resumes | Bench files for bankruptcy in Canada on January 7; service resumes under Employer.com ownership that month. |
| March 2025 | Download window closes | The deadline customers were given to retrieve their data. |
| Aug 11, 2025 | Mainstreet rebrand announced | Employer.com announces that it has rebranded Bench as Mainstreet, folding in its Mainstreet Tax Credits and Dough acquisitions. |
| September 2026 | Operating today | Bench runs as an Employer.com company, still sold under the Bench name, and takes new clients. |
| Sources: TechCrunch, GeekWire, Employer.com press release, bench.co. Checked: 2026-09-30. | ||
The structural contrasts
Three differences that aren't about price.
Portability. On its standard plans, Bench keeps your books on its own platform, so leaving means exporting reports and rebuilding in QuickBooks (Bench's own FAQ, verified September 2026). Bench says its bookkeepers can also work inside an existing QuickBooks account, and there the file stays yours. Working inside your QuickBooks file from day one means you own the file, the history, and the exit, with nothing to rebuild and nothing held.
The review. Bench pairs automation with a team behind the app. In your own file, each month is tied to its statements, then reviewed before you see it.
The scope. Bench grew up cash-basis-first with a year-end focus — modified cash basis by default, with full accrual offered as a separate service (Bench's own site, verified September 2026). Our monthly bookkeeping is full operational bookkeeping — reconciliations to source, a monthly close, payroll and sales-tax support, reporting you can run the business on mid-year, not just file with in April.
Your file, portable forever
QuickBooks is the industry standard — any future bookkeeper or CPA can pick up your file. No translation layer, no rebuild.
Reviewed before delivery
Each close is reviewed before you receive it. How monthly works →
A real monthly close
Reconciled to source on a fixed cadence — numbers you can act on all year, not a package you open at tax time.
Weighing the move? Start with a free look at your books — wherever they live today — and a fixed-fee scope in writing.
Free books reviewIf you're leaving Bench
What switching actually involves.
On a standard Bench plan the books aren't in QuickBooks, so moving away is a rebuild, not a transfer; if Bench's bookkeepers were already working in your own QuickBooks account, the file is yours and the move is a handover. The honest version of the rebuild: download everything Bench provides — financial statements, transaction exports, year-end packages — then your new bookkeeper reconstructs the books in QuickBooks from those exports plus your bank and card records, reconciling as they go. It's real work, scoped and priced as a cleanup or catch-up, and it ends with something you didn't have before: books in a file you own.
If that's the road you're on, our switching guide walks the whole handoff — what to download, when to give notice, how to avoid a gap in your books. And the first step is free: we review what you have and give you a fixed-fee scope in writing before you commit to anything.
The honest close
Who should still choose Bench.
The smallest, simplest books
Low transaction volume, cash-basis, no payroll or inventory — the profile automation genuinely carries.
Budget as the binding constraint
If the business can only carry the lower app-based price right now, Bench delivers honest value at that price.
App-first by preference
Some owners genuinely prefer a clean app over a relationship with a person. That's a valid preference — Bench serves it well.
If that's you, choose Bench with clear eyes about the platform trade-off — and you'll get good value. If your books outgrow it, you'll know what to look for. How we work →
FAQ · Updated October 2026
The questions Bench evaluators ask.
Bench is a trademark of its owner; Employer.com and QuickBooks are trademarks of their respective owners. Everholt & Co. is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Facts on this page reflect the public record and published terms, checked September 2026 — confirm current details with each provider. See also: the model comparison.
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