Enterprise DNA

Karbon pricing and alternative

Paying Karbon by the seat, and still chasing missing records by hand? Own the system that chases for you.

Book 30 minutes with Sam. Bring your last Karbon invoice and the number of people who log in each week. We look at what you pay now, what it becomes at your next hire, and which jobs keep slipping. Then we show you your own version with your Karbon clients and work brought across. One setup fee, then a monthly retainer, and the system is yours.

Karbon's pricing page lists Team at US$59 and Business at US$89 per user per month on annual billing (US$79 and US$99 billed monthly), with Enterprise quoted privately. One person on Business is US$1,068 a year, and every hire adds the same again.

Book a 30-minute bill review See how it works
  • check_circle30 minutes with Sam, no obligation
  • check_circleYour Karbon clients and work brought across
  • check_circleNo per-user licence, ever

What a practice owner pays for

The Karbon bill grows with every hire

Karbon packages shared work, client records and reporting into per-user plans. The client records and the work history are yours; the seat you rent them through is charged for every person who opens a file.

paid

A licence for each colleague

Team is US$59 and Business is US$89 per user per month on annual billing. The part-time bookkeeper pays the same seat as the partner.

calendar_month

The year, per person

One user on Team is US$708 a year; on Business, US$1,068. Paying monthly lifts that to US$79 and US$99 per user, for teams of four or more.

notifications_active

Reminders held back a tier

Automatic client reminders and task automation sit in Business, not Team. Reaching them moves every seat up, not just the people who use them.

groups

Limits on the cheaper plan

Team caps contacts at 1,000, work templates at 40 and workflow statuses at 35. Outgrow one and the whole practice moves to Business.

business

Customisation is Enterprise

Customisation and unlimited usage limits sit in Enterprise, which is quoted privately.

lock

Your records behind their export

Years of client work, emails and time live in their cloud. Leaving means exports and a mapping pass, which is why most practices never leave.

Your practice, your rules

Run the week from the records you own

Client work

Find the job that is about to slip

See the client, the owner, the missing records and the deadline together. Bring the partner a decision to make.

  • check List overdue work beside the records still missing
  • check Spot jobs that have gone quiet for more than a week
  • check Find unassigned jobs and deadlines nobody has recorded
  • check Combine these signals using your own definition of an at-risk client

The partner review

Keep review work moving

Bring late reviews and upcoming deadlines into the same conversation. Record who reviewed a finished service and where its evidence lives.

  • check Read the review queue in date order
  • check Check remaining budgeted work against each person's weekly capacity
  • check Record service outcomes and evidence references before completion
  • check Change the practice checks around your own review process

Fees and time

Explain the unbilled work

Read time against agreed fees, see the oldest unbilled entries and keep different currencies apart.

  • check See time value against the agreed fee for each job
  • check Separate unbilled time older than thirty days
  • check Group missing records and unbilled work by client family
  • check Record an existing invoice reference when time has been billed

Make it yours

Bring your records and change the system

Start with a test import. Then shape the practice record around the questions your partners actually ask.

  • check Import client and work exports, with a test run before changes
  • check Produce client status reports and requests in your practice brand
  • check Check recorded evidence and retention dates against documented rules
  • check Keep a complete copy of your records and add your own analysis

Make it yours

Design your own Karbon replacement

Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from Karbon. Try it here, and we build the real one.

2. What it runs

3. Make it fit

4. Your colour

Your business · your Karbon replacement Your version
YB Your business

auto_awesome

Answered from your own database

Build my version

We build it from the open-source base, bring your Karbon data across and run it for you.

What it looks like

Ask it like you would ask a colleague

Real answers from the demo data that ships with Accounting Practice for Claude Code. It runs in Claude Code inside the Claude app, so it feels like any chat you already use.

forum

Accounting Practice for Claude Code

Connected to your own database

Which jobs need my attention and what is holding them up?

Harbour annual accounts

Ient ow
Harbour Foods Ltd
Ner re
Aroha Wilson
Ason da
missing records
Ys
12

Harbour annual accounts

Ient ow
Harbour Foods Ltd
Ner re
Aroha Wilson
Ason da
quiet job
Ys
12

Banksia year end

Ient ow
Banksia Consulting Pty Ltd
Ason da
quiet job
Ys
10

Harbour trust return

Ient ow
Harbour Family Trust
Ner re
Aroha Wilson
Ason da
missing records
Ys
8

Harbour trust return

Ient ow
Harbour Family Trust
Ner re
Aroha Wilson
Ason da
quiet job
Ys
8

Harbour annual accounts

Ient ow
Harbour Foods Ltd
Ner re
Aroha Wilson
Ason da
overdue job
Ys
3

Banksia year end

Ient ow
Banksia Consulting Pty Ltd
Ason da
missing deadline
Ys
0

Banksia year end

Ient ow
Banksia Consulting Pty Ltd
Ason da
needs owner
Ys
0

Harbour annual accounts

Ient ow
Harbour Foods Ltd
Ner re
Aroha Wilson
Ason da
over budget
Ys
0

Ask it anything

Questions Karbon cannot answer

Every one of these is a real question the demo answers today. Yours will be different, and that is the point.

chat_bubble Which overdue jobs are also waiting for client records, and who owns them?
chat_bubble Which family groups have the most unfinished records and unbilled time?
chat_bubble Which jobs have used more time value than the agreed fee?
chat_bubble How much unbilled work is over thirty days old, in each currency?
chat_bubble Who has more remaining work due this week than their weekly capacity?
chat_bubble Which partner reviews are late while a client deadline approaches?
chat_bubble Which missing records have not been chased since last week?
chat_bubble Which imported email subjects are still unresolved against overdue work?
chat_bubble Which open jobs have no deadline, no owner or no recent activity?
chat_bubble Which completed services have missing evidence or short retention dates?

Switching

How to switch from Karbon

The move involves exporting your contact and work records from Karbon, loading them in with a test run first, checking what the import flags, and running both systems side by side before you switch Karbon off, with no fixed number of days given.

  1. 1

    Export your records from Karbon

    Start with your contacts, exported through Karbon's administrator Export/Import controls, and your work records, which Karbon exports to a spreadsheet. Export what your account allows, usually CSV or XLSX, and check the exact options with Karbon since these can change. Keep both files together, since the import step reads contact and work data separately.

  2. 2

    Load the records with a test run

    Bring the exported files into the new system. The import is set up to run as a test first, so nothing is written to your real records until you tell it to go ahead. Use that test run to see what would happen before it happens, then run it for real once you are satisfied with the result.

  3. 3

    Review what the import flags

    After the test run, you get a report of any columns the import could not match or ignored. Go through this with whoever manages your practice data. Some gaps are expected, things like email history, attachments, time history and custom workflows in Karbon need a separate mapping pass rather than a straight import, so treat those as a follow-up task, not a blocker.

  4. 4

    Run both systems side by side

    Once your client and work records are in, keep Karbon running as well for a short period. Compare client counts, open jobs and outstanding work between the two systems so you can catch anything missing before you rely on the new one for real work. Fix any mismatches you find during this window rather than after Karbon is gone.

  5. 5

    Switch off Karbon

    Once the counts match, the team is comfortable working from the new system, and any separate mapping for email, attachments or time history is done, cancel your Karbon subscription. Keep your exported files somewhere safe in case you need to check something later. From this point, your practice runs on the database you now own.

construction

Where the real effort goes

The real work is not the export or the import itself, it is mapping your own fields, work stages and review rules onto the new system, and deciding how much history, email, attachments, time records, to bring across rather than leave in an archive. That mapping pass takes judgment about how your practice actually runs. Enterprise DNA does this part with you when they install and run it for you.

Not ready for a call?

Get your Karbon switch plan by email

We will send you the step-by-step plan for moving your business off Karbon, what the move really involves, and how we would do it for you.

One email with your plan. No spam, and you can unsubscribe any time.

Three ways to own it

Do it yourself, have it customised, or have it run for you

Open source

Do it yourself

Free, open source

  1. 1 Clone the repo and run npm run demo
  2. 2 Use Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode or Cursor
  3. 3 Test your Karbon contact and work exports before importing
  4. 4 Set up your own database, backups and access controls
Get it on GitHub

Built around your business

We customise it

One setup fee, then a retainer for ongoing work

  • check Your fields, work stages and partner review rules written in
  • check Your Karbon clients and work brought across, with a test run first
  • check Your mailbox and client portal connected
  • check A web front end or a different stack, if you want one
Get your version built

Omni by Enterprise DNA

We run it for you

One setup fee, then a retainer

  • check Installed and run inside Omni by Enterprise DNA, with the rest of your business
  • check Backups and access for each partner, accountant and bookkeeper set up
  • check The attention list and review queue ready before the week starts
  • check Your rules and reports kept up as the practice grows, with no seat to add
Book a 30-minute bill review

Questions

Instead of Karbon, answered

How much does Karbon cost a practice like mine? expand_more

Karbon charges per user per month: Team is US$59 and Business US$89 on annual billing, or US$79 and US$99 billed monthly for teams of four or more. Enterprise is quoted privately. One person on Business is US$1,068 a year, and each hire adds the same again. Enterprise DNA charges one setup fee, then a retainer, with no per-user licence.

Can we bring our Karbon history? expand_more

Yes. Start with the contact and work exports. Karbon provides a contact export through its administrator controls and supports work exports to a spreadsheet. We check the columns and compare the results with you. Email history, attachments, time history and custom workflows need a separate mapping pass.

Will this connect our inbox and client portal? expand_more

We build those connections into your version. The free version works with an imported email index and drafts follow-ups for review. Tell us which mailbox and client portal your team uses so we can scope your version around them.

Does it know our tax deadlines and record obligations? expand_more

You record each client's confirmed deadline and its source. The practice checks flag missing dates, overdue reviews and incomplete service records. Documented retention checks support the review. The responsible practitioner confirms the dates, evidence and obligations.

We are a small practice. Is a 30-minute bill review worth our time? expand_more

Bring your last Karbon invoice and the number of people who log in each week. We work out what you pay in a year, which parts of Karbon your practice relies on, and whether your own version would cost less to run. If staying on Karbon is the better choice for your practice, we say so.

Stop paying by the seat to see your own client work

30 minutes with Sam. Bring your Karbon invoice and one job that is hard to keep moving. We look at what you pay now and at your next hire, how your team tracks missing records and reviews, and what your own version would look like for your practice. If it is a fit, we build it and run it. If not, take the free version.

Book a 30-minute bill review Get the free version

Accounting Practice for Claude Code is free and open source, published by Enterprise DNA.

Done paying for Karbon?

Book a 30-minute bill review