TaxDome vs a custom client portal for accounting firms
The short answer
Buy TaxDome if you run a tax, bookkeeping or accounting firm whose work fits its intake, document request and return delivery flow: at about $1,500 a year for 150 clients, it costs a fraction of any custom build. Build custom only when the portal has to follow steps that are yours, keep money in more than one currency, or serve a firm that is not a tax practice.
| TaxDome | A custom build | |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Tax, bookkeeping and accounting firms with a standard flow | Firms whose steps, currencies or clients do not fit a tax tool |
| How you pay | Per active client a year, from 150 clients, 20 seats included | A fixed build price, agreed before the build starts |
| Client app | Web and mobile; under your own brand only on custom pricing | Your brand from day one, on your own domain |
| Workflow | Ready-made automations for tax and bookkeeping work | Your own fixed steps, from first inquiry to sign-off |
| AI | An add-on: document sorting and return delivery | Drafts inside your own steps, approved by a person before anything is saved |
| Money | Proposals and payments in one place | Each amount kept in its own currency, at the rate it was recorded |
Who each is for
TaxDome
Pick TaxDome when your firm prepares returns or keeps books, your clients mostly upload documents, sign and pay, and your team would rather adopt a proven flow than design one. Its per-client price is hard to argue with, its client app runs on web and mobile, and it ties into the tax software and IRS transcripts a US firm already uses.
A custom build
Go custom when the work moves through steps TaxDome does not model, when amounts have to be kept in more than one currency with the rate they were recorded at, when AI should draft inside your own process with a person approving, or when your firm is not a tax practice at all: a law firm, a consultancy or an agency that needs a client portal shaped like its own work.
The honest version
TaxDome is the right answer for most tax, bookkeeping and accounting firms, and I will say so before anything else. One plan, priced per active client, gives a firm a client app on web and mobile, intake, document requests, e-signatures, payments and ready-made automations for tax and bookkeeping work. At 150 active clients that is about $1,500 a year. Nothing I build comes close to that price.
So the question is not which is cheaper. It is whether your firm's work fits the flow TaxDome is built around. If it does, buy it. If it doesn't, the cheapest tool is the one you spend the year working around.
Where TaxDome wins
Price per client. Less than a dollar a client a month, with 20 seats included from the first tier, and contacts with no activity cost nothing.
A finished client experience. The client app runs on web and mobile, and clients upload documents, sign and pay in one place. Building that well is a large share of any custom portal's price.
US tax plumbing. IRS transcripts and integrations with tax software are in the plan. For a US firm preparing returns, that is work a custom build would have to repeat.
Where it pinches
The flow is a tax flow. Intake, document requests and return delivery are the backbone. A firm whose work moves through other steps, a law firm's matters or an advisory firm's engagements, ends up bending its process to fit.
Your brand costs extra. The client app carries your own brand only on TaxDome's custom pricing.
AI is an add-on, and it is TaxDome's AI. The AI add-on, $200 a month, sorts incoming documents and guides clients through return delivery. That helps inside TaxDome's model. AI that drafts inside your own steps and waits for a named person to approve it is a different thing.
Money in one shape. Proposals and payments sit in one place. A firm that has to keep amounts in more than one currency, each with the rate it was recorded at, needs more than that.
What custom looks like
I haven't published a build for an accounting firm yet, so here is the closest proof. On Beeline's credentialing platform, every amount is stored in its own currency with the exchange rate it was recorded at, so a report run again later matches the original line for line, and finance records are kept for 7 years. In Broomstick Hub, every inquiry moves through fixed steps, and payments and the client's sign-off are written to the audit log. Those are the two parts a practice would reuse.
A portal is $28,000 to $55,000, fixed before the build starts, and typically 4 to 10 weeks to a working portal. If you are not sure the build is worth it, the Ops Leak Audit counts the hours your team loses around its tools first, and if a cheaper fix inside the tool you already pay for wins, the report says so on page one.
How to decide
- Is your firm a tax practice? If you prepare returns or keep books, start with TaxDome. If you are a law firm, a consultancy or an agency, it was not built for you.
- Do your clients mostly upload, sign and pay? Then TaxDome's flow is your flow. If they review drafts, approve versions and follow a process you designed, look at custom.
- Does money move in more than one currency? If reports have to reproduce the rate each amount was recorded at, that is a build.
- Where should AI sit? If TaxDome's document sorting is enough, take the add-on. If AI should draft inside your own steps with a person approving, that is a build.
If two or more of those point at custom, tell me how your firm works and I will tell you honestly whether TaxDome would do.
Common questions
- What are the alternatives to TaxDome for a custom client portal?
- Other practice tools first: Karbon fits firms of 25 or more people with standard delivery, and my comparison of it is on this site. A custom portal is the other route, and it costs far more: with me, $28,000 to $55,000, fixed before the build starts, against about $1,500 a year for TaxDome at 150 active clients, read off its pricing page on 9 November 2026. Build only if your steps, currencies or clients do not fit a tax tool.
- Should an accounting firm build its own client portal instead of using TaxDome?
- Usually not. If your firm prepares returns or keeps books and your clients mostly upload, sign and pay, TaxDome does that for less than a dollar a client a month. Build when the work follows steps a tax tool does not have, when money is kept in more than one currency, or when the portal is for a firm that is not a tax practice. I haven't published an accounting build yet; the closest proof is Beeline's credentialing platform.
- How much does TaxDome cost compared to a custom portal?
- TaxDome publishes one plan priced per active client: from 150 active clients with 20 seats included, $0.83 a client a month, or $1,500 a year billed annually at 150, as read on 9 November 2026. Its AI add-on is $200 a month for the whole team. A custom portal with me is $28,000 to $55,000, fixed before the build starts. On cost alone, TaxDome wins at every size.
- Can a custom portal keep money in more than one currency?
- Yes, and it is one of the clearest reasons to build. On Beeline's platform every amount is stored in its own currency with the exchange rate it was recorded at, so a report run again later matches the original line for line. Firms working across the US, the UAE and Pakistan are where that matters.
- Does TaxDome work for a firm in the UAE?
- Its core features, the client app, intake, document requests, e-signatures and payments, are not tied to one country, but some of what makes it strong is US-specific, such as IRS transcripts and US tax software integrations. A UAE firm should ask TaxDome how its own VAT and corporate tax work would run in it before choosing. I build for UAE firms remotely from Pakistan.