A factual look at how the two firms work: who each is built for, who looks after you, the software, what happens between year ends and how you get a price. Checked on their website on 4 September 2026. If something has changed, email hello@buzzaccounting.co.uk and we will correct it.
Crunch is an online accountancy service built around its own software. You sign up to a plan, do your bookkeeping in the Crunch platform, and a team of accountants and client managers supports you through it. Its website describes a free tier, paid subscriptions for sole traders and limited companies, and a set of add-ons: expense capture, a payments service, video calls, tax-investigation cover, a perks scheme and partner insurance.
Buzz is an accountancy firm with offices, a named accountant for every client and its own portal and app. The software is part of the service rather than the product. Where Crunch adds an accountant to a platform, Buzz adds a platform to an accountant.
| Buzz Accounting | Crunch | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Owner-managed businesses that want an accountant through the year: sole traders, companies, landlords and partnerships, from the first year to a finance function. | Freelancers, contractors, sole traders and small limited companies who are happy to run their bookkeeping in Crunch's own software, with support from a team. Their site describes a free tier for the very smallest. |
| Who looks after you | A named accountant with a small pod behind them. The same people every time. | A team of accountants and client managers behind the platform. Their site describes "unlimited support" on paid plans and video calls with client managers for paid subscribers. |
| Where they are | Offices in London, Hertford, Salford, Leigh and Ballymena, with a production team in Pretoria. Meetings in person, by phone, video call or WhatsApp. | Online. Their site does not offer local offices or in-person meetings; support is through the platform, phone and video. |
| Software | FreeAgent included, or Xero. Plus the Buzz portal and app, built in-house on Buzz OS. See it. | Crunch's own accounting software, which is the centre of the service. Expense capture, invoicing, a payments feature and a mobile app are described on their site. |
| Bookkeeping | Included in the monthly fee, with receipts captured through the app and reviewed by a person. | You do it in their software; a paid bookkeeping service is offered as an add-on for one-off tidy-ups or regular help. |
| Management accounts and advisory | Business Pulse: a budget, a rolling cashflow forecast, management accounts and a meeting every month or quarter. Details. | Their site describes an "ask an accountant" service and advisory calls with their team. We could not find a management-accounts-and-meeting service equivalent to Business Pulse on their site. |
| Coaching | Buzz Coaching, run by the same team, for the owner as well as the business. | Not offered on their site. |
| Other services | Payroll and pensions, CIS, company secretarial, legal support through Buzz Legal, financial planning through our regulated partner, funding introductions. | Company formation, registered office, payroll, self assessment, tax-investigation cover, a perks scheme, and business insurance through a partner broker, all described on their site. |
| How you get a price | An instant quote on the site that shows the monthly fee and emails the full proposal, which you can accept online. | Published plan prices on their site, and a three-step quote form that asks about turnover, monthly transactions and services. |
| Switching | We write to your old accountant, collect the records and sort HMRC. How it works. | Their site describes a switching process with support from their team. |
| Service promise | Most queries answered within one working day, written down on our promise page. | Their site describes support levels by plan rather than a written response-time commitment. |
Sources: crunch.co.uk and buzzaccounting.co.uk, read 4 September 2026.
It is written by Buzz, so read it as our view. Every statement about Crunch comes from their own website, read on 4 September 2026, and where they do something we do not, the page says so. If we have got something wrong, tell us and we will correct it.
Both firms publish how their pricing works, and the numbers change. We would rather you saw our fee for your actual business, which the instant quote does in a few minutes, than compare a headline "from" price that may not apply to you.
Yes, at any time of year. We write to them for your records, sort the HMRC authorisation and set you up. The switch is free. How switching works.
