PilotLedger FAQ

PilotLedger is cloud-based, double-entry accounting software for small businesses, freelancers and growing teams. It handles quotes, invoices, payments, bills, expenses, inventory, bank reconciliation and 11 financial reports, and every transaction posts balanced debits and credits to a real general ledger. It runs in your web browser, so there's nothing to install. See all features.

PilotLedger suits freelancers, consultants, service businesses and small product sellers who want correct books without a full-time accountant. It also works well for bookkeepers who look after several small clients. It is not aimed at businesses that need built-in payroll, automatic bank feeds or industry-specific tools such as job costing for large construction firms.

Create a free account with your email, then set up your company details and base currency. A standard chart of accounts is created for you and you can edit it at any time. Add opening balances if you're moving from another system, add a customer and send your first invoice. Most people are ready to invoice the same day.

No. Everyday tasks such as invoicing, recording bills and reconciling your bank use plain business language, and PilotLedger writes the journal entries for you. If you want to learn the ideas behind it, our guide to double-entry accounting and the glossary explain terms like debit, credit and accounts receivable in plain English.

Not at the moment. PilotLedger has no iOS or Android app. It runs in any modern web browser, including on a phone or tablet, but the screens are designed mainly for laptop and desktop use. If a native mobile app is essential for you, that's worth weighing before you choose.

Yes. The Free plan costs $0, needs no credit card and includes 1 user, 10 invoices a month, unlimited customers, plus unlimited vendors, items and expenses. It uses the same double-entry ledger, chart of accounts, journal entries and 11 reports as the paid plans. The customer portal and bank reconciliation start on Starter ($14.99/month). You can keep using Free as long as it fits your business. See the current limits on the pricing page.

There are 3 paid plans. Starter is $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year and includes 1 user, unlimited invoices a month, unlimited customers, plus customer portal, bank reconciliation. Growth is $34.99 a month or $349.99 a year and includes 5 users, unlimited invoices a month, unlimited customers, plus customer portal, bank reconciliation, multi-currency. Business is $69.99 a month or $689.99 a year and includes 15 users, unlimited invoices a month, unlimited customers, plus customer portal, bank reconciliation, multi-currency, period close. Paying yearly saves about 17%, roughly two months free. Prices can change, so the pricing page always shows the current figures.

Yes. Paid plans come with a 7-day money-back guarantee. If PilotLedger isn't right for you, contact us within 7 days of your first payment and we'll refund it. The Free plan has nothing to refund because it never asks for a card.

Yes. You can upgrade, downgrade or cancel from Settings → Billing in your account. If you move to a plan with lower limits, check that your users and monthly invoice counts fit the new plan first. If you're leaving PilotLedger altogether, export your reports before you cancel.

Multi-currency is included on the Growth and Business plans, from the Growth plan ($34.99/month). It is not part of Free or Starter. With it you can invoice, bill, pay and hold bank accounts in foreign currencies, with daily exchange rates and realized and unrealized gains and losses. See multi-currency.

You can create quotes, email them and, on the Starter, Growth and Business plans, let customers accept them in the customer portal, then convert an accepted quote to an invoice. Invoices support line items from your item catalog, tax rates, discounts, custom numbering, branded PDF templates and editable email templates. You can send payment reminders and record full or partial payments. See invoicing and quotes.

No, not yet. PilotLedger doesn't offer automatic bank feeds or bank connections. You record transactions in your bank and cash accounts, then use bank reconciliation, included from the Starter plan ($14.99/month), to match the books to each bank statement. Many small businesses reconcile monthly this way, and it gives you a clear record of every period you've checked.

Not at the moment. PilotLedger doesn't process card payments on invoices. Customers pay you by bank transfer, check or any method you already accept, and you record the payment against the invoice. Customers can view invoices and download PDFs in the customer portal on the Starter, Growth and Business plans, from the Starter plan ($14.99/month).

Not yet. PilotLedger doesn't create recurring or automatic invoices on a schedule. For a monthly retainer you create each invoice when it's due, which takes a minute when the items and customer are already saved. If automatic billing is central to your business, keep that in mind when comparing tools.

No. PilotLedger doesn't run payroll, track time or track mileage. Most small businesses use a dedicated payroll provider and record each payroll run as a journal entry or expense in PilotLedger. If you bill by the hour, track time in a separate tool and add the hours as invoice line items.

PilotLedger includes 11 reports: Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement, Trial Balance, General Ledger, Aged Receivables, Aged Payables, Sales by Customer, Sales by Item, Expense by Category and Tax Summary. Reports can be printed or exported to CSV. See financial reports for what each one shows.

Yes. Turn on Track inventory for an item and PilotLedger keeps a perpetual inventory: bills add stock at cost, and invoices remove it at average cost and post cost of goods sold automatically. You can import and export items by CSV. It isn't a warehouse or multi-location system. See inventory.

All traffic uses HTTPS, so data is encrypted in transit. Passwords are hashed with bcrypt, sessions are validated on the server, and an audit log records changes to your books. PilotLedger does not currently hold a SOC 2 certification, and we don't claim certifications we haven't earned.

Yes. Each organization can have multiple users, up to your plan's limit, and you assign roles and permissions that control access. For example, you might let a bookkeeper record bills and reconcile the bank without giving them access to billing or user management. The audit log shows who changed what and when.

Yes. Reports export to CSV and can be printed, and customer statements download as PDF. Items can be exported and imported as CSV. If you ever leave PilotLedger, export your trial balance, general ledger and open invoices and bills so you can set up opening balances elsewhere.

Yes, on the Business plan ($69.99/month). Set a lock date and PilotLedger blocks edits to transactions on or before it, which protects periods you've already reported or filed taxes for. A period-close checklist helps you review the month before locking it. Learn more about lock dates.

Pick a start date, ideally the beginning of a month or quarter. Run a balance sheet and a list of open invoices and bills in QuickBooks as of that date, enter the balances as opening balances in PilotLedger, import items by CSV and add the open documents. There's no one-click importer today. Read our QuickBooks alternative comparison first.

Yes, using the same opening-balance approach: choose a start date, bring across balances, customers, vendors, items and anything still unpaid. Our comparisons of Wave and FreshBooks explain the main differences, including where those tools are stronger, so you can decide whether switching is worth it.

Not usually. Add up what you own and owe on your start date, enter those as opening balances and start recording new transactions in PilotLedger. You don't need to re-enter old history. Our small business bookkeeping guide walks through setting up clean books.

Yes. Invite your accountant or bookkeeper as a user and give them a suitable role; Free and Starter include one user, so a second login needs Growth (5 users) or Business (15 users). They'll find an editable chart of accounts, manual journal entries, opening balances, a trial balance and a general ledger on every plan, plus the lock date and period-close checklist on Business, which are the tools they use to review and adjust books at year end.

Email support@pilotledger.net, call 1 888 370 6801, or use the form on our contact page. We aim to reply within one business day. Include your company name and a short description of what you were doing so we can help faster.

Our blog has practical guides such as how to make an invoice and what a profit and loss statement is, and the glossary defines more than 40 accounting terms. The free templates and tools are useful even if you don't use PilotLedger.

Yes, please do. Send feature requests through the contact page or by email. Requests from real users shape what we build next. We don't publish dates for unreleased features, but when something ships it appears on the features page and in this FAQ.