Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Bench vs Modern Treasury

Bench logo

Bench

Accounting

America's largest bookkeeping service for small businesses

From
$299/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Modern Treasury logo

Modern Treasury

Accounting

Payment operations and ledger infrastructure that sits between your product and your own bank accounts

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Bench recent bankruptcy and acquisition by Employer.com creates uncertainty about product roadmap and support continuity; Modern Treasury you must already have or be able to obtain your own bank accounts with the right connectivity, so early stage companies without a banking relationship cannot use it and are pushed towards a sponsor bank model instead.
  • They diverge on capability: Bench covers Dedicated bookkeeper, Modern Treasury covers Multi-rail payment initiation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bench and Modern Treasury actually diverge.

Attributes where Bench and Modern Treasury differ
AttributeBenchModern Treasury
Starting price$299/monthOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Bench

  • Dedicated bookkeeper
  • Monthly financial statements
  • Bank reconciliation
  • Tax preparation
  • Expense categorization
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Square

Only in Modern Treasury

  • Multi-rail payment initiation
  • Bank connectivity
  • Ledgers
  • Automatic reconciliation
  • Approval workflows
  • Virtual accounts
  • Compliance tooling
  • Return and exception handling

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Bench

  • Bookkeeping outsourcingnot Modern Treasury
  • Tax preparationnot Modern Treasury
  • Financial reportingnot Modern Treasury

Modern Treasury

  • A marketplace paying out to thousands of sellers that needs a ledger its application can trust rather than reconciling a payments dashboard by handnot Bench
  • A lender originating and servicing loans that must track disbursements, repayments and returns against its own bank accountsnot Bench
  • A company that wants to move off a banking as a service provider and hold its own bank accounts after seeing sponsor banks offboard fintech programmesnot Bench
  • An insurer handling premium collection and claims payment across several rails with approval controls and an auditable trailnot Bench

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Bench

  • Recent bankruptcy and acquisition by Employer.com creates uncertainty about product roadmap and support continuity
  • Higher starting cost at $299/month compared to self-service accounting software like Wave or QuickBooks Online
  • Requires manual connection of financial accounts and ongoing coordination with bookkeeping team, less automated than software-first solutions
  • Tax services limited to US income tax returns; no support for complex entity structures or multi-state taxation
  • History of burning through capital rapidly, raising concerns about long-term business sustainability

Modern Treasury

  • You must already have or be able to obtain your own bank accounts with the right connectivity, so early stage companies without a banking relationship cannot use it and are pushed towards a sponsor bank model instead.
  • Pricing rests on an annual minimum commitment, and companies that miss their volume forecast pay the minimum regardless, which makes the headline per-transaction rate close to irrelevant in year one.
  • Supported bank connectivity is a finite list, so if your bank is not on it you are either waiting for an integration or changing banks, which is a far larger project than adopting the software.
  • It is software over banking, not banking, so it does not solve card issuing, deposit accounts or the licensing questions that a company embedding financial products still has to answer elsewhere.
  • The ledger is genuinely good but adopting it properly means making it the source of truth for balances in your product, which is a significant application change rather than a payments integration and is where implementations run long.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bench

$299/month

No published plan breakdown. See the Bench review.

Modern Treasury

On request
  • Modern Treasury Platform$undefined/year
    • Platform access fee covering API, dashboard, infrastructure and support
    • Usage-based fees across ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow, push to card, cheques and stablecoins
    • A single annual minimum commitment that both platform and usage fees count towards

Which should you pick?

Choose Bench if

  • You need dedicated bookkeeper.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want monthly financial statements.
Bench review

Choose Modern Treasury if

  • You need multi-rail payment initiation.
  • You also want bank connectivity.
Modern Treasury review

Questions people ask

Is Bench or Modern Treasury better?
Neither clearly leads. Bench starts at $299/month and Modern Treasury at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bench or Modern Treasury?
Bench starts at $299/month and Modern Treasury at On request.
Does Bench or Modern Treasury run on more platforms?
Bench runs on Web, Ios, Android. Modern Treasury runs on Web.
What is Bench best used for?
Bench is most often used for bookkeeping outsourcing, tax preparation, financial reporting. Of those, bookkeeping outsourcing and tax preparation are not what Modern Treasury is typically brought in for.
What can Bench do that Modern Treasury cannot?
Bench covers Dedicated bookkeeper, Monthly financial statements, Bank reconciliation, Tax preparation. Modern Treasury covers Multi-rail payment initiation, Bank connectivity, Ledgers, Automatic reconciliation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bench: What happened to Bench Accounting?

Bench shut down abruptly on December 27, 2024, filing for bankruptcy in Canada with $65 million in debt. The company was acquired by Employer.com on December 30, 2024, and resumed operations in January 2025 under new ownership.

Source
Modern Treasury: Is Modern Treasury a bank or a banking as a service provider?

Neither. You hold your own bank accounts and it is software over them. That avoids sponsor bank concentration risk but means you need the bank relationship yourself.

Bench: What are Bench's current pricing plans?

Bench offers Bookkeeping at $299/month (billed annually) and Bookkeeping + Tax at $599/month (billed annually). Both include automated bookkeeping, real-time financial statements, and a dedicated team of bookkeepers.

Source
Modern Treasury: What does it cost?

Not published. A platform access fee plus usage fees across rails, on an annual term with a single minimum commitment. Negotiate the minimum, not the per-transaction rate.

Bench: Does Bench include tax preparation services?

The Bookkeeping plan includes monthly bookkeeping and year-end tax-ready financial statements. The Bookkeeping + Tax plan adds one-on-one income tax consulting and annual income tax return filing.

Source
Modern Treasury: Which rails are supported?

ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow, push to card, cheques and stablecoin payments, subject to what your bank supports.

Bench: How does Bench's bookkeeping work?

Bench combines proprietary software with human bookkeepers. You connect your financial accounts to automate data entry, and Bench's team handles bookkeeping and provides year-end tax-ready statements. Customers can reach their dedicated team within 24 hours.

Source
Modern Treasury: Do we still need our own compliance programme?

Yes. KYB, KYC and transaction monitoring are included in the platform, but you are the one holding the accounts and the regulatory obligation sits with you and your bank.

Bench: Can I access real-time financial data with Bench?

Yes, Bench provides real-time reporting, allowing you to access or download updated income statements and balance sheets at any time.

Source
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