Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software
Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software is designed for churches and charities, with multi-fund accounting, budgets, expense management, and financial re…
What Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software is
Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software is designed for churches and charities, with multi-fund accounting, budgets, expense management, and financial reporting among its listed capabilities. Standard includes a purchase ledger, donations and Gift Aid, document attachments, Charity Commission reports, transaction imports, VAT processing through Making Tax Digital, user access levels, and telephone and email support. Advanced adds a sales ledger, invoicing, sales analysis, foreign currency processing, project analysis, and project budgets. The software supports Charity Commission SORP-compliant reporting and can produce a SOFA in Charity Commission format. It manages Gift Aid and can produce an HMRC-format Gift Aid schedule. Transactions can be imported from bank statements, but there is no automatic bank feed. The online version is cloud-hosted and available from internet-connected devices; a desktop version runs on Windows. Standard costs £50.00 per month and Advanced £75.00 per month, billed monthly in advance, with prices excluding VAT at 20%. A no-cost 30-day trial connects users to demonstration data. The online service is available within the United Kingdom unless Paxton approves otherwise.
Good
- Supports multi-fund accounting and budgets.
- Produces SOFA and Gift Aid schedules in stated formats.
- Can submit VAT returns via Making Tax Digital.
- Includes a no-cost 30-day trial.
- Online and Windows desktop versions are available.
Watch out
- No automatic bank feed; transactions require import.
- Invoicing and foreign currency are Advanced-only.
- Receipts and payments accounting is Standard-only.
- Online service is UK-only unless approved otherwise.
Who it suits
It suits churches and charities needing accounting features such as fund tracking, budgets, Gift Aid, and Charity Commission reporting. Organizations should consider whether Standard or Advanced features and the UK service territory fit their needs.
Verdict
Paxton provides church- and charity-focused accounting, with distinct Standard and Advanced feature sets. Check the bank-feed limitation, plan-specific features, and service territory before choosing.
Plans and prices
From Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software's own pricing page, checked 21 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | £50 a month | online and Windows desktop · multi-fund accounting · purchase ledger · budgets · donations and Gift Aid · document attachments · fund manager · receipts-and-payments or accruals accounting · Charity Commission reports · transaction import · VAT/MTD · multi-user access · telephone and email support · monthly in advance by direct debit; VAT at 20% extra |
| Advanced | £75 a month | online and Windows desktop · all Standard features except receipts-and-payments accounting · sales ledger · invoicing and price files · sales analysis · foreign currency · project analysis and budgets · monthly in advance by direct debit; VAT at 20% extra |
The facts
Each one read from Paxton Church & Charity Accounting Software's own pages, with the date it was checked.
Where it runs
- Access and platforms
- The online version is hosted in the cloud and can be accessed from internet-connected devices, while a desktop version runs on Windows computers.checked 8 Oct 2026
What it does
- Advanced features
- Advanced adds sales ledger, invoicing, sales analysis, foreign currency processing, project analysis, and project budgets.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Advanced invoicing
- Invoice creation is available only in the Advanced edition.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Bank transactions
- Users can import bank-statement transactions, but the FAQ says automatic bank feeds are not available.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Budgets
- Fund budgets are supported in both editions, while project budgets require Advanced.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Business classification
- Companies House classifies the company under SIC 62012, business and domestic software development.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- The product is offered as a cloud service and as a Windows desktop program.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- Public documentation includes online instructions, trial guidance, Standard and Advanced procedure guides, transaction and donor import guides, and a Members manual.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Foreign currency
- Foreign-currency processing is restricted to the Advanced edition.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Gift Aid
- Donation and Gift Aid tools produce schedules in HMRC format for claims.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Integrations and import
- The FAQ says there is no automatic bank feed, but transactions can be imported from bank statements.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Legal entity
- Companies House lists Paxton Software Ltd as an active private company, number 01424228, incorporated on 31 May 1979.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Licence
- The public pages do not identify an open-source licence or provide source-code licensing terms.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Limit: documentation effort
- The same reviewer said users may need to create their own instructions for colleagues.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Limit: interface
- One Trustpilot reviewer reported an older-generation interface and awkward keyboard navigation requiring extra mouse use.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Limit: reconciliation
- The SoftwareSuggest reviewer said some small-organisation tasks, such as bank reconciliation, may be more practical manually.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Limits
- Receipts and payments accounting is available only in Standard, while invoicing and foreign currency are available only in Advanced.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Limit: scope
- Solevant characterizes the product as highly specialized for charities, which limits suitability for general businesses.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Limit: Standard edition
- Solevant notes that Standard lacks sales-ledger and invoicing functions, while Advanced does not support receipts-and-payments accounting.checked 21 Oct 2026
The company
- Company history
- Paxton says it was established in 1979 and has offices in Rushden, Northamptonshire.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Company profile
- The Company Check describes Paxton Software as a Rushden-based SaaS and B2B provider founded in 1979, offering accounting, payroll and independent-examiner services.checked 21 Oct 2026
- Founded
- 1979checked 28 Sep 2026
- Headquarters
- The registered office is 61a High Street South, Rushden, England, NN10 0RA.checked 21 Oct 2026
Money
- Free onboarding
- Each purchase includes database setup valued at £250 and one hour of training valued at £75.checked 21 Oct 2026
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