AI + human bookkeeping service
Pilot
The broadest published ladder in outsourced accounting: $99/mo software-assisted books up to a dedicated CFO.
At a glance
- What it is
- AI + human bookkeeping service
- Relationship to your books
- Outsourced service
- Starting price
- $99/mo
- Pricing basis
- Tiered monthly bookkeeping fee. Tax is priced per return by entity type. CFO and COO services are separate monthly retainers.
- Human involvement
- Dedicated accounting team
- QuickBooks Online
- Partial
- Xero
- Not published
- Multi-entity
- Partial
- Income tax filing
- Yes
- Free trial or free tier
- Not published
- Best suited to
- A business that wants one vendor for books, tax and eventually CFO help, and wants to start cheap and move up tiers without switching providers.
- Tested by the AI Ledger Benchmark
- Not yet — see the benchmark programme
- Facts verified
- September 4, 2026
Pilot sells bookkeeping, tax, CFO and back-office services as separately priced tiers, which makes it one of the few services where you can see the whole cost ladder before talking to sales. The $99 Essentials tier is AI-assisted with chat support and no dedicated bookkeeper; the Core tier adds a US-based bookkeeper; Custom adds a CFO and lets you keep your existing QuickBooks account and history. Tax filing is priced per entity type.
Who it is for
Choose Pilot if: A business that wants one vendor for books, tax and eventually CFO help, and wants to start cheap and move up tiers without switching providers.
Look elsewhere if: The Core tier — the one most growing businesses actually need — has no published price, or if any of the limitations below are load-bearing for your business.
Pilot pricing
Tiered monthly bookkeeping fee. Tax is priced per return by entity type. CFO and COO services are separate monthly retainers.
| Plan | Price | Basis | Notes and inclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials Small businesses that just want clean books | $99 | per month | AI categorization · Account reconciliation · Monthly close · Chat support |
| Core Startups and growing businesses | Not published | per month, billed annually | Pilot does not publish a figure for this tier US-based bookkeeper · Cash or accrual · Bill management (10 per month) · Custom chart of accounts · Reports by the 10th business day |
| Custom Complex structures | Not published | per month | Quoted Dedicated CFO · Full AR/AP · Payroll · Reports by the 6th business day · Keep your existing QuickBooks account and historical data |
Add-ons and separately priced services
The headline monthly fee is rarely the whole bill. These are the extras Pilot.com publishes.
| Add-on | Price | Basis | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax — single-member LLC | $1,000 | per year | From $1,000 per year |
| Tax — partnership / S-corp | $2,000 | per year | From $2,000 per year |
| Tax — C-corp | $2,450 | per year | From $2,450 per year |
| CFO — Basic | $1,750 | per month, billed annually | Essentials $3,150/mo; Custom $5,250/mo |
| R&D tax credit | Not published | one-time | 20% of the credit received |
Accounting platform compatibility
This is the first thing to check. A product that replaces your ledger is a migration; one that sits on top of it is reversible.
| Platform | Support |
|---|---|
| QuickBooks Online | Partial |
| Xero | Not published |
| NetSuite | Not published |
| Sage Intacct | Not published |
| Own general ledger | Yes |
Capabilities
| Capability | Status |
|---|---|
| Automated transaction categorization | Yes |
| Bank / account reconciliation | Yes |
| Month-end close workflow | Yes |
| Accounts payable / bill pay | Yes |
| Invoicing / accounts receivable | Partial |
| Receipt & document capture | Not published |
| Multi-entity support | Partial |
| Classes, departments or locations | Yes |
| Accrual-basis accounting | Yes |
| Revenue recognition | Not published |
| Inventory accounting | Not published |
| Payroll (included or native) | Partial |
| Sales tax handling | Not published |
| Income tax return filing | Yes |
| CFO / advisory service | Yes |
| Anomaly & error detection | Not published |
AI and developer surface
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Named AI agents that complete work | Not published |
| Natural-language assistant over your books | Not published |
| Public API | Not published |
| MCP server / LLM-native access | Not published |
| White-label for firms | No |
Strengths
- $99 entry tier is the cheapest published price for an outsourced service with a monthly close
- Tax pricing is published by entity type, so the annual all-in cost is knowable in advance
- The Custom tier lets you keep your existing QuickBooks account and history rather than migrating
- A single ladder from $99 books to a $5,250/mo CFO reduces the cost of outgrowing your provider
Limitations
- The Core tier — the one most growing businesses actually need — has no published price
- The $99 tier has no dedicated bookkeeper; it is chat support over automated books
- Bill management is capped at 10 per month on Core, which is low for anything with real AP volume
- CFO and COO retainers add up quickly; the headline bookkeeping price is not the total
What we could not verify
Most sites in this category would state these as facts. We list them as gaps, and they are the questions to put to Pilot.com directly.
- Which accounting platform the Essentials and Core tiers keep books on is not clearly stated; only the Custom tier explicitly mentions keeping your QuickBooks account
- The specific AI techniques behind 'AI categorization' are not described
Frequently asked
How much does Pilot cost?
Pilot starts at $99/mo. Tiered monthly bookkeeping fee. Tax is priced per return by entity type. CFO and COO services are separate monthly retainers. Full published tiers are listed above; figures were read from the vendor's own pricing page on September 4, 2026.
Does Pilot work with QuickBooks Online?
Partly. QuickBooks Online support depends on the tier or configuration — confirm which one covers you before buying.
Does Pilot include a human bookkeeper?
Dedicated accounting team. Named humans own your close and are accountable for the books.
Has AI Ledger Intelligence tested Pilot?
No. We have not run Pilot against a transaction set, and we do not claim hands-on experience we do not have. This page is a verified-data profile built from primary sources. Our benchmark programme explains the accuracy testing we intend to publish and how it will be run.
Alternatives to Pilot
Closest products by category, ledger relationship, human involvement and price.
Bench
$199/moLong-running human bookkeeping service on proprietary software — with a documented continuity event you should price in.
Merritt Bookkeeping
$250/moA flat $250/month human service that explicitly refuses to use AI — the control group for this whole category.
Docyt
$299/moAI agents plus bookkeeping staff built around multi-location operators — hotels, franchises and multi-entity groups.
Sources for Pilot
Every figure on this page was read from the vendor’s own published material or from named trade press on the date shown. We do not estimate prices.
- Pilot pricing — pilot.com, retrieved September 4, 2026
Record last verified September 4, 2026.