By the ClientBrief Team · Last updated August 2026
Karbon costs $59 per user per month on the Team plan and $89 per user per month on the Business plan when billed annually. On monthly billing those rise to $79 and $99 per user per month respectively. An Enterprise tier exists with custom pricing. Annualized, that's $708 per user per year on Team and $1,068 per user per year on Business.
Karbon prices per user per month, with a roughly 25% discount for annual billing. There's no free tier. The important structural detail is which tier holds which features: task automation and automatic client reminders — the capabilities most firms cite as the reason to buy Karbon — sit on the Business plan, not on Team. Comparing Karbon to other tools using the $59 entry rate usually understates what a firm will actually pay.
Annual or monthly
Triage (the shared team email inbox), work and task management, client management, client portal, document storage, billing and payments, and integrations. The foundation tier — everything Karbon is known for except automation.
Annual or monthly
Everything in Team plus task automation and automatic client reminders. Marked as the most popular plan, and in practice the tier most firms end up on once they want the system to chase clients without someone doing it manually.
Contract
Unlimited work statuses, templates, work types, and contact management options that carry limits on lower tiers, plus a dedicated support contact and customization. Quoted rather than published.
| Annual vs monthly | Annual billing saves $20-10 per user per month depending on tier |
| Add-on modules | None — Karbon is tier-based rather than modular, so there are no per-module surprises |
| Firm setup | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Solo, Team plan (annual) | $708 / year |
| 3-person firm, Team (annual) | $2,124 / year |
| 3-person firm, Business (annual) | $3,204 / year |
| 5-person firm, Business (annual) | $5,340 / year |
| 10-person firm, Business (annual) | $10,680 / year |
Karbon is priced fairly for what it uniquely does — turning a shared inbox into tracked, owned work — and expensively for anything else. If your firm's problem is coordination between people, the Business plan at $89/user/month is defensible. If you're solo, or if your only real friction is clients not sending documents, you're paying for a collaboration engine with nobody to collaborate with.
Comparing against ClientBrief: ClientBrief is $7.99/month flat — no per-user pricing, no seat minimums, no annual commitment, and unlimited clients and checklists. It covers document collection only: send a checklist, clients upload without an account, reminders go out automatically. It is not a replacement for Karbon's wider feature set, and firms often run both.
How much does Karbon cost per user?
$59 per user per month on the Team plan and $89 per user per month on Business, both on annual billing. Monthly billing costs $79 and $99 per user per month respectively.
What's the difference between Karbon Team and Business?
Business adds task automation and automatic client reminders on top of everything in Team. That's the single feature difference most firms care about, and it's a $30 per user per month step up on annual billing.
Does Karbon have a minimum number of users?
Karbon's published pricing doesn't state a minimum user count for the Team or Business plans, though some third-party summaries cite a three-user minimum on Business. Confirm directly with Karbon for your firm size before budgeting.
Is Karbon cheaper than TaxDome?
At the entry tier yes — $708 per user per year on Karbon Team versus $800 on TaxDome Essentials. At the tiers most firms buy, they're close: Karbon Business is $1,068 per user per year against TaxDome Pro at $1,000.
Does Karbon have a free plan?
No. Karbon offers a trial and demo but no permanent free tier.
How much does Karbon cost for a firm of 5?
Five users on Karbon Team annual billing is $295 per month, or $3,540 a year. On the Business plan it is $445 per month, or $5,340 a year. Paying monthly instead raises those to $395 and $495 per month respectively.
How much do you save on Karbon annual billing?
$20 per user per month on Team ($79 monthly versus $59 annual) and $10 per user per month on Business ($99 versus $89). For a five-person firm that is $1,200 a year saved on Team and $600 on Business — the annual discount is proportionally larger on the cheaper plan.
Are there hidden costs with Karbon?
The main one is tier placement rather than a fee: the automation and automatic client reminders most firms actually want sit on the $89/user/month Business plan, not on the $59 Team plan people quote when comparing. Budget against Business unless you are certain Team covers you.
Does Karbon have a free trial?
Karbon does not offer a permanent free plan. Evaluation is handled through a demo and trial process rather than self-serve signup with a free tier, which is worth knowing if you were hoping to test it quietly before talking to anyone.
Is Karbon worth it?
Karbon earns its price when more than one person touches each client and email is where work goes missing. Its Triage shared inbox — client email becoming assignable, tracked work — has no equivalent among its competitors, and that single feature is what firms cite when they stay. For a solo practitioner it is poor value, because coordinating work between people is the problem it solves and a one-person firm does not have that problem.
What is the cheapest alternative to Karbon?
Financial Cents, at $19/month solo and $49/user/month on annual Team billing, is cheaper at every comparable tier and covers recurring bookkeeping workflow well — it just has no shared inbox. SuiteDash is cheaper still for larger teams at $19-99/month per workspace with unlimited users, though it is a much broader and harder-to-learn platform. For document collection only, ClientBrief is $7.99/month flat.
Pricing checked against the vendor's public pricing page in August–September 2026. Software vendors change prices, tier names, and included features regularly — always confirm current numbers directly with the vendor before signing.