Best bank reconciliation software by use case
There is no single best bank reconciliation software, there is the best fit for how your books are kept and who does the work. This comparison sorts the options into four groups and says plainly where each one is strong and where it is not.
Four groups compared
Fit by use case
- Built into your accounting softwareBank feed of one ledger
- Excel templatesTyped in by hand
- File based reconciliation toolsAny statement against any ledger
- Enterprise close softwareMany formats, long implementation
What to compare
- Where your statements come from: a live bank feed or PDF and file downloads
- Where your books live: one ledger or many, across clients
- How much volume you reconcile each month
- Whether you need a written report for auditors, lenders or clients
- How much setup and cost you can accept
Reconciliation built into your accounting software
QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, Zoho Books and similar products include a reconcile screen. It is included in the subscription you already pay, and it works well when the bank feed is complete and you reconcile one company in one ledger.
Where it is weak: it only reconciles against its own books and feed, PDF statements are compared by hand, a broken feed leaves gaps you must find yourself, and accountants working in many client files do the same routine in each one.
Best for: a single business with a healthy bank feed and a simple account.
Enterprise close and reconciliation software
Products such as BlackLine, Trintech and FloQast cover the whole financial close for large finance teams: account reconciliations across the balance sheet, task lists, approvals and controls.
Where it is weak for smaller companies: sales led buying, implementation projects measured in months and annual contracts sized for large teams.
Best for: corporate finance teams with many entities, a controller and an audit committee.
Excel templates
A bank reconciliation template in Excel costs nothing and gives a correct format.
Where it is weak: all matching is manual, there is no duplicate detection, and every month starts from scratch.
Best for: very low volume accounts, or learning the method.
File based bank reconciliation tools
Tools in this group, BankReconciler among them, take any statement file and any ledger export, do the matching and produce a report, without a bank connection or an implementation.
Where it is weak: there is no live feed, you upload files each month, and the scope is bank and card accounts rather than the whole balance sheet.
Best for: small businesses with PDF statements, bookkeepers and CPA firms reconciling many clients across different ledgers, and catch up work on months of history.
Side by side
| Group | Works with PDF statements | Works across many ledgers | Written report | Setup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built into accounting software | Manual | No, one ledger each | Basic | None |
| Enterprise close software | Yes | Yes | Yes | Months |
| Excel templates | Manual | Yes, by hand | You build it | None |
| File based tools | Yes | Yes | Yes | None |
How to choose
If one company, one ledger and a clean feed describe you, the reconcile screen you already have is enough. If you run a large finance team with a full close process, look at enterprise close software. If your statements arrive as PDF, your feed breaks, or you reconcile many clients across different systems, a file based tool saves the most time for the least money. See how BankReconciler handles it on how it works and compare plans on pricing.