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Accounting · head to head

Money Forward Cloud vs MYOB

Money Forward Cloud logo

Money Forward Cloud

Accounting

Japanese cloud accounting, payroll and back office suite built for Japanese tax law and filing

From
On request
Rated
-
MYOB logo

MYOB

Accounting

Australian accounting and business management software for small and mid-sized businesses

From
12/year
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Money Forward Cloud the product, its help documentation and its support operate in Japanese, so a finance function without a fluent Japanese reader cannot run it unaided regardless of any English language marketing, and hiring for that is the real cost of adoption.; MYOB every published price is promotional and reverts to a higher regular rate after an introductory period, for example Business Pro rises from AUD 21/month to AUD 70/month after 6 months
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Money Forward Cloud and MYOB actually diverge.

Attributes where Money Forward Cloud and MYOB differ
AttributeMoney Forward CloudMYOB
Starting priceOn request12/year
Pricing modelquotesubscription

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web), 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 Money Forward Cloud

  • Japanese consumption tax handling
  • Qualified invoice support
  • Electronic record keeping
  • Bank and card feeds
  • Automated journal proposal
  • Invoicing
  • Payroll
  • Attendance and leave

Only in MYOB

Nothing recorded that Money Forward Cloud does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Money Forward Cloud

  • A Japanese small or medium company moving off desktop bookkeeping and needing qualified invoice and electronic record keeping compliancenot MYOB
  • A Japanese subsidiary of a foreign group that must file locally in Japan while reporting upward in the group's own systemnot MYOB
  • A growing Japanese company that wants payroll, attendance and social insurance administration in the same suite as the ledgernot MYOB
  • A tax accountancy practice standardising its client base on one cloud product with a practitioner access rolenot MYOB

MYOB

  • Tracking income and unlimited expenses for tax lodgementnot Money Forward Cloud
  • Processing payroll with automated superannuation contributionsnot Money Forward Cloud
  • Managing GST compliance and Business Activity Statement filingnot Money Forward Cloud
  • Reconciling bank transactions and monitoring cash flownot Money Forward Cloud

Where each one falls short

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

Money Forward Cloud

  • The product, its help documentation and its support operate in Japanese, so a finance function without a fluent Japanese reader cannot run it unaided regardless of any English language marketing, and hiring for that is the real cost of adoption.
  • The tax logic is Japanese, so it cannot serve as the accounting system for entities filing anywhere else, and a group with Japanese and foreign entities ends up running two ledgers with a manual consolidation between them.
  • Modules are licensed separately with per user and per employee components, so accounting, payroll, attendance, expenses and invoicing bought together cost several times the headline accounting plan and the bill grows with every hire.
  • Bank connectivity in Japan relies substantially on scraping and delegated access rather than on a standardised open banking interface, so feeds break after bank site changes and reconciliation stalls until the connector is fixed.
  • In Japanese small business the tax accountant usually chooses the bookkeeping software, and practitioners are divided between Money Forward, freee and Yayoi, so picking it when your accountant works in another product means either paying them to learn it or changing accountant.

MYOB

  • Every published price is promotional and reverts to a higher regular rate after an introductory period, for example Business Pro rises from AUD 21/month to AUD 70/month after 6 months
  • Adding payroll employees beyond the included allowance costs an extra AUD 3/month per additional employee on top of the plan price

Pricing, plan by plan

Money Forward Cloud

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Money Forward Cloud review.

MYOB

12/year
  • Solo by MYOB$99/year
    • First year $12 (70% off)
  • Business Lite$315/year
    • First year $94.50 (70% off)
    • Payroll $3/month per employee max 2
  • Business Pro$70/month
    • First 6 months $21 (70% off)
    • Unlimited payroll employees
    • 14-day free trial
  • Business AccountRight Plus$165/month
    • First 3 months $66 (60% off)
    • Unlimited payroll
    • 14-day free trial

Which should you pick?

Choose Money Forward Cloud if

  • You need japanese consumption tax handling.
  • You also want qualified invoice support.

Choose MYOB if

Nothing in the data separates MYOB from Money Forward Cloud on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Questions people ask

Is Money Forward Cloud or MYOB better?
Neither clearly leads. Money Forward Cloud starts at On request and MYOB at 12/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Money Forward Cloud or MYOB?
Money Forward Cloud starts at On request and MYOB at 12/year.
Does Money Forward Cloud or MYOB run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Money Forward Cloud best used for?
Money Forward Cloud is most often used for a japanese small or medium company moving off desktop bookkeeping and needing qualified invoice and electronic record keeping compliance, a japanese subsidiary of a foreign group that must file locally in japan while reporting upward in the group's own system, a growing japanese company that wants payroll, attendance and social insurance administration in the same suite as the ledger, a tax accountancy practice standardising its client base on one cloud product with a practitioner access role. Of those, a japanese small or medium company moving off desktop bookkeeping and needing qualified invoice and electronic record keeping compliance and a japanese subsidiary of a foreign group that must file locally in japan while reporting upward in the group's own system are not what MYOB is typically brought in for.
What can Money Forward Cloud do that MYOB cannot?
Money Forward Cloud covers Japanese consumption tax handling, Qualified invoice support, Electronic record keeping, Bank and card feeds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Money Forward Cloud: Can I use it if I do not read Japanese?

Not realistically on your own. The interface, support and the tax concepts themselves are Japanese. Companies that succeed with it have a bilingual bookkeeper or an English speaking tax accountant operating it.

MYOB: How much does MYOB cost?

MYOB pricing starts at $12 AUD per year (first year only) for Solo, with plans ranging to $165 AUD per month for AccountRight Plus after introductory periods expire.

Source
Money Forward Cloud: Does it handle the qualified invoice system?

Yes. Capturing and validating supplier registration numbers and retaining invoices in the required form is one of the main reasons Japanese companies moved to it around the 2023 introduction.

MYOB: What is MYOB's introductory pricing?

MYOB offers 60-70% off introductory pricing for the first 3-12 months depending on plan selection, after which regular pricing applies with no lock-in contracts.

Source
Money Forward Cloud: How does it compare with freee?

Both are Japanese cloud suites covering similar ground. freee is often described as easier for non accountants, Money Forward as closer to conventional bookkeeping and preferred by many tax accountants. The practical tiebreaker is which one your accountant already uses.

MYOB: Does MYOB include payroll pricing?

Payroll starts at $3/month per employee (limited on lower tiers) and is included unlimited on Business Pro and AccountRight Plus plans.

Source
Money Forward Cloud: Can it file my corporate tax return?

The suite supports the bookkeeping and much of the preparation, and there are filing oriented products in the family, but Japanese corporate tax filing is normally done by a licensed tax accountant. Treat it as the record keeping layer, not the filer.

Money Forward Cloud: Is it usable for a company outside Japan?

No, not as an accounting system. Its value is the Japanese tax and filing logic, and none of that applies elsewhere.

Money Forward Cloud: What does it cost to add payroll?

Payroll is a separate module with its own subscription and a per employee element, as are attendance and expenses. Price the whole stack for your headcount rather than the accounting plan alone.

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