Puzzle vs Bench

Two accounting tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	PuzzlePuzzle	BenchEmployer.com
In one line	Accounting for startups that live in Stripe and a neobank	A bookkeeping team that does your books each month
Starting price	From $30/mo	From $199/mo
Six-person team	$30/mo	$199/mo
Plans	Starter $30/mo monthly or $24/mo billed yearly (1 seat); Core $72/mo monthly or $58/mo billed yearly (5 seats); Complete $120/mo (unlimited seats); Scale $360/mo	Bookkeeping Light $199/mo (up to $250K revenue/yr); Bookkeeping $399/mo; Bookkeeping + Tax $649/mo; 20% off yearly; catch-up free on yearly plans
Pricing model	Free trial	Paid
Free trial	60 days	—
Users	1 on Starter; 5 on Core	n/a (service)
Both connect to	Stripe Invoicing
Also connects to	Rippling, Deel, Mercury, BILL, Ramp, Brex, Rho	Square POS, Gusto, Shopify, BigCommerce, Shoeboxed
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people
Available in	US	US
Phone support	None listed	Every plan
Live chat	Plans not stated	Every plan
Support hours	Not published	Phone: weekdays 7am to 5pm PST
Incidents posted	We found no public status page for Puzzle.	We found no public status page for Employer.com.
Capterra score	See reviews on Capterra	Not listed
Trustpilot score	3.2 / 5 from 1 reviews (few reviews)	4.1 / 5 from 1,355 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	25	65
Fit: Restaurant or café	15	60
Fit: Service business	75	80
Fit: Agency or studio	82	80
Fit: Trades or contractor	30	70
Fit: Online store	55	75
Why people pick it	Cash and accrual books at once Strong startup integrations	A bookkeeper you can message any time Free catch-up on yearly plans
Where it falls short	No inventory Built for US startups, not local shops	Costs far more than software Service paused in late 2024 before the sale
	Visit Puzzle ↗	Visit Bench ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. How we calculate prices