TaxDome's Switch to Per-Client Pricing: What to Work Out Before Your 2027 Renewal

For most of the last decade, the price of practice management software came down to one number: how many people at your firm needed a login. That is starting to change.

On Nov. 2, 2026, TaxDome moved new customers to pricing based on active client accounts instead of seats. Existing customers move over at their first renewal on or after Jan. 1, 2027 (TaxDome). Karbon and Canopy still charge per user.

A firm renewing with TaxDome could see its bill move either way. TaxDome’s president told Accounting Today he has “people yelling at me from both sides of the aisle,” some saying their price is going up and others asking for a refund (Accounting Today).

I build practice management software, and an extra login or an extra client costs the vendor next to nothing to serve. Per-seat and per-client pricing are both ways of measuring how big a firm is, and so what it can pay. That’s conventional pricing and pretty widespread, so not a scandal, but it is mainly based on indicators of who does more work and therefore can pay more.

The math isn’t hard. All prices below are list prices as of November 2026.

Two models, two growth curves

Per-user pricing grows with headcount

Karbon lists $59 or $89 per user per month, and Canopy $74 to $149, billed annually (Karbon, Canopy). Take on 200 new clients without hiring and the bill doesn’t move.

For firms that still hire for the season, per-user pricing has meant paying for those seats, sometimes all year, depending on the contract. A January 2026 piece in INSIDE Public Accounting described firms quietly moving away from seasonal hiring. Overlap costs something, too. When someone leaves, you may pay for their seat and their replacement’s while they hand over. Turnover is lower than it was, at 11.1% in the 2025 Rosenberg MAP survey, the lowest since before the pandemic (CPA Trendlines), but it isn’t zero.

Per-client pricing grows with the client list

Under TaxDome’s new plan, $1,500 a year covers 150 active client accounts and up to 20 team members at any one time. Extra accounts come in prepaid packs, from $12 down to $6 each at renewal depending on pack size, or on demand at $15 each (TaxDome). More than 20 people at once, or more than 3,000 active accounts, means a custom plan with no published price.

Here the per-client model has a real advantage. Seasonal hires and overlapping staff cost nothing extra, up to that 20-person limit.

The weak spot is the word “active.” It doesn’t mean “clients we billed this year.”

What counts as active?

TaxDome says an account is active when “your firm is doing real client work through TaxDome.” Its help center lists what qualifies: a document is uploaded to the account; a client e-signs an engagement letter or other document; a client starts or completes an organizer or submits a document checklist; a tax return is delivered; an invoice is paid through TaxDome; or a message is sent or answered through the portal (TaxDome).

It doesn’t count: jobs, tasks, pipelines, emails (bulk ones included), editing account details, and an unsigned proposal or engagement letter. Once an account is active, it stays active for the 12-month billing period, and archiving it doesn’t change that. The count goes back to zero at renewal.

The count is by account, not by person. A household is one account, even when you prepare a return for each spouse. Each separate business entity is its own, so a client with a personal return and a partnership return counts as two.

What activity-based pricing rewards

Every pricing model nudges behavior. A few questions worth asking about this one:

The two official pages don’t agree: As of Nov. 11, 2026, TaxDome’s help center says client logins don’t count and an invoice counts once it’s paid through TaxDome. Its pricing page lists “logging in” and “receiving an invoice” as activity.
Doing less through the portal: If portal activity is what’s billed, a firm has a reason to handle some client work outside it, such as emailing a document or delivering a return another way. That’s the opposite of what a portal is for, and it means more manual work and less secure file sharing. Is that a trade you, or the vendor, would want for a client you hear from once a year?
Former clients: A former client calls for last year’s return. You upload it to their account, and that’s an active account for the plan year.
Mistakes: A document uploaded to the wrong client’s account is still an upload. TaxDome’s pages don’t say whether removing it reverses the activation. Ask.
Stored documents: A file the firm puts in a client’s account counts, even if the client never sees it. TaxDome says it is “looking at whether we can separate” those cases.
Prospects: “Qualifying a prospect is free,” TaxDome says; the account becomes active when the client signs, and TaxDome recommends sending the engagement letter first. What it doesn’t spell out is a prospect who uploads documents before signing. Uploads count on their own, so ask.

One client list, three team sizes

Take a firm with 500 active accounts over a full year. Under the new plan it pays the $1,500 base plus 350 extra accounts, bought as a pack at renewal for $10.50 each, or $3,675. Total: $5,175, whether the firm has three people or 15.

For the per-user side, use TaxDome’s own previous price. On a one-year term, its Pro plan was $1,000 per seat per year (TaxDome).

Team size	Per seat ($1,000 each)	Per client (500 active)	Per-client vs. per-seat
3 people	$3,000	$5,175	$2,175 more
5 people	$5,000	$5,175	$175 more
8 people	$8,000	$5,175	$2,825 less

At five people the two land within $175. As a rough rule at these prices, the crossover is about 100 active clients per person. Well below that, per-client tends to cost less. Well above it, per-seat does.

Further out, the gap widens fast. A three-person practice with 1,200 active accounts pays $3,000 per seat, but $9,375 per client ($1,500 plus 1,050 accounts at $7.50).

All of this assumes list prices and no add-ons. TaxDome’s president told Accounting Today that existing smaller firms get 50% off extra accounts, payment-system users get further discounts, and after offers the average firm pays “somewhere close to five to six, five to seven dollars an account for the year.” Those offers aren’t on the public pricing page, so your number may be well below list.

Before you renew

Gather these before the renewal notice arrives:

A full-year active count: Not a July snapshot, which misses tax season.
The vendor’s definition of “active,” in writing and dated, including where it stands on logins and unpaid invoices.
Prepaid packs vs. on demand: Packs cost less at renewal than mid-year ($10.50 vs. $12 an account for 200 to 499). Unused pack accounts expire at renewal; overflow is $15 an account. Check whether the next pack size up is cheaper.
Contract terms: TaxDome bills annually, and on multi-year plans, its pricing page says “Not right now.” Existing customers who renew before Jan. 1, 2027, get one more full term at their current price.
Add-ons: TaxDome’s AI ($200 a month), Client Care ($100 a month) and Premium support ($249 a month) are extra.
Any offer, in writing: The per-account price, the pack size, and the term it covers.

One more, from my side of the table. I build these systems, and the uploads, signatures, and messages that make an account active are already in the activity log. A 12-month, per-account list of what triggered each activation is a simple chain of queries for the vendor. The question is whether it’s readily available in the software or something you have to request through support. TaxDome shows the count today and marks a per-account report “Coming soon.” Ask for it before you renew.

So which model is cheaper?

Neither, in general. Practices built on high-volume individual returns, with many clients per preparer and a lower fee per return, will usually pay less under per-user pricing. A per-account charge is the same for a simple 1040 client as for a full-service business client, so it takes a bigger share of the smaller engagement. A larger team serving fewer, bigger clients will usually pay less under per-client pricing.

The ratio of active clients-to-staff decides it, and you can work out yours in an afternoon. Do it before you sign the renewal, with your own counts and the vendor’s real offer in front of you. The vendor’s average firm isn’t your firm.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Yassir Khalid builds custom practice management software at WebMastry, including the system a 13-person CPA firm in California runs its client records, billing, and client portal on.

Photo credit: TaxDome/Instagram