Compare · decision pages

Comparisons written fairly — even when the answer isn't us.

Choosing a bookkeeping service is a real decision with real trade-offs. These pages lay them out with dated facts and genuine credit to every option — because the only comparison worth your time is one you can trust.

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Seven comparisons live below — the category question first, then the named providers, then the roles.

Dated facts

Competitor pricing and scope cited as of mid-2026, framed as published terms — confirm current rates with each provider.

Credit where due

Every page has a "what they do well" section. Strengths are stated as plainly as differences.

Honest recommendations

Every page ends with who should choose the competitor — and means it. We win the segment we actually serve.

The comparisons

Pick the decision you're actually facing.

Start with the model

Operator-led vs software-only

Start here — the category question every other comparison inherits. For owners deciding between an app and a person.

The category flagship

Against the named providers

Westgate vs Bench

For current and former Bench users — including the full, dated record of what happened in December 2024, told without gloating.

Westgate vs Bench

Westgate vs Pilot

For owners weighing a startup-focused service against an operator relationship — both on QuickBooks Online, honestly compared.

Westgate vs Pilot

QuickBooks Live vs a ProAdvisor

For QBO users offered Intuit's own service — its published scope and pricing, accurately, next to a ProAdvisor relationship.

QuickBooks Live vs ProAdvisor

The roles, defined

Bookkeeper vs CPA

The license question: what a CPA is uniquely authorized to do, what a bookkeeper properly owns, and why it's a sequence — not a rivalry.

Bookkeeper vs CPA

Bookkeeper vs accountant

The function question: recording vs interpreting — same numbers, two acts, and which layer your business actually needs.

Bookkeeper vs accountant

Should my CPA do my bookkeeping?

Usually not — and most CPAs agree. The rate-and-season math, the honest exceptions, and the healthy split.

The CPA-bookkeeping question

How we write comparisons

The rules these pages are held to.

We're a party to every comparison on this site, so the pages follow rules strict enough to be worth trusting anyway. Every competitor fact comes from published terms or the documented public record, stated with its date — "as of mid-2026" — so you can verify it and so it ages honestly. Historical events, like Bench's December 2024 shutdown, are told as dated record, never as mockery. Every page gives the competitor a "what they do well" section we actually mean, and ends by recommending them for the segments they genuinely serve better — because a small business that picks the right-fit service, even when it isn't us, is a better outcome than a mismatched client won by a slanted page. Where we can't confirm a claim is currently true, we cut it.

Our own side rests only on what's already published here: the operator-led model, David's real background, and our actual pricing. No invented differentiators, no client counts we can't show.

Compare FAQ

Quick answers before you dive in.

How do I choose a bookkeeping service?

Start with the model question — automation with a team behind an app, or a named person who owns your file — then check three things against your business: scope (does the published service cover AP/AR, payroll, inventory if you need them?), platform (do your books live in your own QuickBooks file or the provider's system?), and accountability (who, by name, answers when the numbers look wrong?). Our operator-led vs software-only page walks the whole framework.

Are these comparison pages biased toward Westgate?

We're a party to the comparison and say so. What keeps the pages honest: every competitor fact is drawn from published terms and the public record, dated (as of mid-2026) so you can verify it; every page has a section on what the competitor does well; and every page ends by recommending the competitor for the segments they genuinely serve better. We'd rather lose a mismatched client than win one with a slanted page.

What does Westgate's side of the comparison rest on?

Only what's already published on this site: an operator-led model where a dedicated senior operator owns your file — led by David Westgate, Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor with 40 years on real books — monthly bookkeeping from $450 (typical $450–$1,500), cleanups $1,500–$5,000, fixed fees in writing after a free review, serving Texas and remote clients across the US. We're an operational accounting firm, not a CPA firm, and every page says so.

Already decided to move? How switching works, without a gap in your books → All competitor names are trademarks of their respective owners; Westgate Financial Services is not affiliated with or endorsed by any provider compared here.