Botkeeper’s Shutdown: What Bookkeeping Firms Should Do Next

After 11 years, Botkeeper is shutting down. If it wasn’t part of your tech stack, that announcement likely sounds like another tech or business news.

For Botkeeper users, this is the loss of a tool around which they have built their tech stack, so it raises questions about business continuity, client communication, and staffing.

Since accounting engagements don’t pause for firm owners to rethink their stack, this development can send firm owners scrambling for solutions out of desperation, which is usually counterproductive.

As short as the window for action is, the firms that navigate this situation well are those that pause, assess their operational dependencies and risk exposure, and rebuild with more visibility and control than they had before.

In this guide, we show how Botkeeper users can find the clarity to restore stability and move their teams toward greater efficiency.

Quick Summary: What’s Happening with Botkeeper

On February 7, 2026, Botkeeper announced it was discontinuing its services.

The announcement was made by CEO Enrico Palmerini on the company’s website and stated that industry consolidation among its key clients, which significantly affected its revenue and financial outlook, was the reason for the shutdown.

Timeline Expectations

• Shutdown date: Effective immediately, with no new sign-ups or service expansions.
• Support sunset: No extended support period was announced. Current efforts are focused on assisting users with data export.
• Data access deadline: While no official sunset date was given in the Botkeeper announcement, users have until late February to download all data.

What This Means for Firms Using Botkeeper

Firms that depend on Botkeeper for automation or outsourced bookkeeping functions will experience disruptions in their services, especially if they don’t export their data quickly enough.

Once portal access is ended, firms will lose access to Botkeeper’s services and stored historical records, which could create compliance and audit problems.

Without a solid transition plan, their monthly bookkeeping engagements and client deliverables could be significantly delayed.

Immediate Actions Firms Should Take

Again, the window is short. You can’t take the following actions early enough:

a. Export and Back Up All Data

This step protects firms from permanent data loss. Although access to Botkeeper’s customer portals is expected to remain accessible through February 2026, any delay in transferring your data will only increase technical and operational risk.

You should start with high-volume or high-risk clients to minimize exposure. Depending on your client count, your team could complete full data exports within a few days.

Examples of data to download include:

• Transaction-level details.
• General ledger data.
• Reconciliations and audit trails.
• Historical reports and dashboards.
• Client lists, assignments, notes, tags, and custom workflows.

Use Botkeeper’s export tools (CSV, Excel, PDF) and download data in multiple formats and store copies in at least two secure locations to increase redundancy.

b. Communicate with affected clients immediately

Confidence in your firm will increase when your clients hear about this kind of situation from you first.

Send a clear, calm, and confident message to reassure them that you are handling the transition systematically.

Your email could read like this (feel free to customize it to your firm’s voice):

c. Audit current Botkeeper workflows and dependencies

This step will help you understand what Botkeeper actually did for your firm (rather than underestimating how deeply it was embedded in your daily operations), so you can replace it effectively.

To do this well, document:

• Every task Botkeeper handled (from transaction categorization to month-end support and client-specific rules).
• The clients whose work relies most heavily on Botkeeper.
• Fully automated tasks versus those requiring human review.
• Any reports, dashboards, notes, or internal documentation stored in Botkeeper alone.
• Key integrations (QuickBooks Online, Xero).

This clarity should enable you to differentiate between processes that require a temporary workaround and those that can wait to be rebuilt in your new tool.

d. Stabilize month-end and recurring deliverables

Accounting deadlines do not recognize your technology challenges, so keeping your next close circle on track is a priority.

While you still have portal access, complete any pending reconciliations, categorizations, or month-end processes inside Botkeeper, so you don’t carry unfinished items into your new system.

As a temporary alternative, you can also use:

• The bank feeds, rules, and auto-categorization features within QuickBooks Online or Xero.
• Recurring journal entries or reconciliation templates in your main ledger.
• Short-term outsourced bookkeeping support to handle transaction backlogs during the next few close cycles.

e. Assess Team Capacity Without Botkeeper

With Botkeeper no longer handling your tasks, that workload will have to return to your team, which makes it all the more important to be clear on your available capacity.

Start by calculating the additional hours for each client in a month, and calculate the total added workload across your client base. The result will show you your capacity gap.

Then, analyze your team’s current workload and determine how much additional work each team member can handle over the next few months.

If your team can’t fill the gap, that’ll be another reason to hire temporary bookkeepers or administrative support to absorb the surge.

What Firms Should Ask Themselves Next

With the most urgent task of exporting data, client communication, and stabilization out of the way, answering the following questions can help you take a strategic stand to replace Botkeeper effectively.

• What capabilities did Botkeeper provide that we can’t lose?

When you replace a tool like Botkeeper too quickly, you may discover months later that the new system is a downgrade in areas that matter most.

To get a Botkeeper replacement that is even more suited to your operation than Botkeeper, you need to be clear about the features your firm can’t do without.

These could be:

• AI-driven transaction categorization for high-volume or complex bank feeds.
• Automated reconciliations and exception handling.
• Structured workflows with client-specific tagging and notes.
• Visibility into month-end progress and task ownership.

This clarity will help you to define what to look out for to rebuild your tech stack intentionally, rather than buying a tool reactively.

• What workflows depended on Botkeeper?

The answer to this question will help you to map the exact points in your bookkeeping process where Botkeeper was used in day-to-day operations.

Create a checklist or flowchart for your processes, starting with month-end engagements and working your way back through transaction processing. Document every step that relied on Botkeeper in any way.

Mapping these dependencies is necessary for filling the gap that now exists.

• How much manual rework can we absorb temporarily?

As Botkeeper winds down in the coming weeks, your manual work will likely increase. Tasks that were previously automated may now require hands-on processing and review.

While this is a temporary situation, it is necessary to contain it and quantify the manual work, so you understand what your team members are getting into and whether it’ll be possible at all.

Start by calculating the additional manual hours required for tasks like transaction categorization, reconciliations, catch-up work, and cleanup.

Then ask yourself:

• How many extra hours can each team member take on without compromising quality?
• How much delay will these manual processes introduce into your reporting cycle?
• Etc.

If your answers suggest higher chances of errors and burnout, you’ll need to implement a new automation layer.

• Do we need full automation or partial?

If your firm relied on Botkeeper for end-to-end automation, you may want to look for a replacement that offers similar coverage, but you need to be sure of why you need that.

Full automation makes more sense for firms pursuing aggressive growth without proportional increases in hiring.

But this transition is an opportunity to reassess how much automation your firm really needs versus how much control you want to retain internally.

Partial automation makes more sense for firms with strong review processes and clearly defined workflows. They can automate high-volume transaction categorization and reconciliation support while keeping final review and adjustments in-house. It reduces the risk of suffering this scale of disruption in the future.

• What’s our budget for replacement tools?

Determining your budget early can help firms to narrow options quickly, to say nothing of saving them the time and stress of evaluating too many tools.

When setting your budget, you can use what you spent on Botkeeper as a baseline. But be strategic about it.

Don’t focus on money saving at the expense of operational benefits. A lower subscription price may require more oversight or more tool stacking, while a higher subscription price may reduce operational strain and increase reliability.

Don’t forget to factor in the cost of migration, workflow redesign, potential add-ons, and staff training.

What to evaluate in your next platform

1. Feature Coverage

This transition from Botkeeper should help you get a tool with more functional depth, but that may not happen unless you are clear on what sufficient feature coverage means for your firm.

Do you want the platform to:

• Handle complex industries and messy bank feeds?
• Flag exceptions intelligently, or simply batch-process entries?
• Have comprehensive reconciliation tools to reduce review time?
• Customize workflows and client-specific rules at scale?

Don’t just rely on advertised features for your decision. Ask the software vendors questions targeted at these features.

For example, you can ask how much of your month-end close can be automated (versus manually reviewed), how long exception handling takes, and how easily you can spot bottlenecks within the system during your demo and sales conversation.

2. Integration Compatibility

The right integrations will reduce operational friction by ensuring adequate interconnection with your critical tools.

At a minimum, your next solution should offer direct integrations with:

• General ledger software (e.g., QuickBooks Online, Xero)
• Bank and credit card feeds
• Practice management system
• Tax preparation software (if applicable)

Meanwhile, it’s not enough for tools to integrate. How do they function? A tool that lacks two-way synchronization with your general ledger will result in duplicate data entry and longer review cycles.

3. Scalability & Firm Size Fit

A tool is scalable when it meets your current and future needs. A platform that works now but struggles under higher client volumes, larger teams, or heavier transaction loads will create bottlenecks and additional costs.

One way to evaluate scalability is pricing. If you provide standard bookkeeping or payroll services, chances are your revenue grows with the more clients you can serve. A per-client tool might become too expensive as your firm grows, unlike a tool that charges per user.

One way to get this right is by looking at the user base to see if a tool serves firms of similar sizes and workflow complexity, and whether they have to deal with hidden costs or workarounds.

4. Client Communication & Portals

Seamless client communication is critical during a technology transition. Your replacement platform should provide a client portal that allows collaboration, file sharing, and secure messaging.

Prioritize portals that make it easy for clients to:

• Login (preferably with passwordless authentication).
• Upload documents, chat with your team, and sign digital signatures.
• Recognize (customizable with your branding to maintain a consistent client experience)

A well-designed portal preserves service quality, reassures clients, and minimizes disruptions during the transition.

5. Security & Data Retention

Strong security and retention protocols ensure your data is protected and fully retrievable when needed.

Key features and certifications to evaluate include:

• SOC 2 Type II or equivalent independent audit
• Data encryption at rest and in transit
• Clearly defined data retention policies
• Frequent automated backups

Ask the vendor how often they perform backups (and where the data is stored), how long data is retained after termination, and how your data would be handled if the platform were shut down or acquired.

6. Pricing Models

Verifying the pricing model will help you understand the costs of using the tool with your current (and future) firm size to avoid unexpected costs that could reduce your profit margin or the level of support.

Common approaches include:

• Per client: Costs scale with the number of clients.
• Per user: Costs scale with the number of team members using the platform.
• Tiered: Costs increase based on transaction volume and feature depth.

Ask vendors to provide quotes based on your current client base, projected growth, and desired level of automation.

7. Support & Onboarding Resources

Onboarding support can determine whether your transition takes weeks or months (or a year). It ensures a seamless data migration, reduces the risk of errors, and helps your team regain full operational efficiency faster.

This support could be in the form of:

Migration & Onboarding

• Whether the vendor has a dedicated team to guide migration.
• If they handle CSV mapping, historical catch-up, and rule import.
• What is the timeline for a firm of your size and complexity?

Training Resources

• Are live sessions, recorded videos, or a knowledge base available?
• Will your team be able to operate independently after onboarding?
• Is ongoing support provided after migration?

The availability of community & peer support is another important consideration. It gives you access to advice from other bookkeeping firm owners implementing the platform.

Categories of Tools Firms Should Consider

i. Workflow & Task Automation

While Botkeeper focused primarily on transaction automation, its shutdown increases the need for stronger internal workflow visibility and control.

Workflow and task automation tools do not replace bookkeeping automation, but they provide the operational structure necessary to maintain consistency during and after this transition.

Common features include a workflow dashboard, pre-built month-end templates, task assignment (and dependency), and recurring work automation.

The leading tools in this category are Financial Cents, Jetpack Workflow, and Karbon.

ii. Bookkeeping Automation

Bookkeeping automation was Botkeeper’s core strength. This category includes tools that use AI and automation to support transaction categorization, reconciliations, exception handling, and multi-client data processing.

Firms seeking a direct replacement for Botkeeper’s automation should prioritize this category.

This category is divided into:

• End-to-end automation software platforms
• Hybrid AI + human bookkeeping services
• Fully outsourced bookkeeping providers

For example, Docyt is focused on automation. Pilot and Zeni provide a hybrid of automation and human efforts.

iii. Document & Client Collaboration

This category covers the client-facing aspect of your operation by providing a secure, centralized environment for client collaboration and sharing.

Core features include document requests, client chat, secure file sharing, E-signatures, and branded client portals.

These tools play a critical role in managing client experience and data security, and common examples include SmartVault, Financial Cents, and Liscio.

iv. Month-end close

This category enables firms to structure, track, and manage month-end activities to ensure timeliness and quality.

Common features in these tools include month-end close dashboards, checklist templates, and a client portal.

The top tools in this category are:

• Financial Cents: close workflow coordination and client collaboration
• FloQast: close management & reconciliation
• Digits: AI-assisted accounting & reporting

v. Practice Management

Practice management platforms centralize bookkeeping and accounting operations and are essential for meeting deadlines, assigning ownership, and preventing work from slipping through the cracks.

Their features include:

• Workflow Management and automation
• Time tracking (in some platforms)
• Billing and invoicing
• Client management (CRM)
• Capacity management
• Reporting
• Etc.

With these features, practice management software will provide structure, visibility, and accountability across bookkeeping teams in a post-Botkeeper working environment, where automation gaps can increase manual workload.

vi. Reporting & Review

This category focuses on delivering accurate, client-ready financial reports while maintaining internal quality control that preserves accuracy and client confidence.

These platforms provide features like native financial reporting, variance analysis workflows, multi-entity (and consolidated) reporting, and AI-assisted insights.

Most general ledger platforms (such as QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Sage Intacct) provide these built-in reporting capabilities.

How to Transition Workflows Safely

A. Map existing workflows

Document your current workflows in detail before implementing your next platform, so you don’t carry inefficiencies forward or overlook opportunities to improve them.

Create a structured map for each core service you provide:

• Workflow triggers (what initiates the workflow)
• Step-by-step tasks (with their due dates)
• Manual vs automated actions
• Team members who are responsible for each step
• Review and approval points

This documentation preserves operational continuity during the transition and shows you where a new tool can improve your existing processes.

B. Reassign tasks and roles

If you’re one of those firms relying on Botkeeper for a significant portion of your bookkeeping work, those responsibilities must now be reassigned to your team members.

Start by listing every task Botkeeper previously handled. Then categorize them into tasks that:

• Can be fully re-automated in the new platform.
• Require partial automation (plus human review).
• Must now be handled manually.

For tasks that need reassigning, assign a primary owner, a reviewer, and define the expected turnaround time.

Clear task ownership prevents duplication, missed deadlines, and accountability gaps, especially when your team is still getting to grips with the operational changes.

C. Training internal teams

Training your internal team will enable your team to fully adopt the new tool, which can help your team recover from the Botkeeper situation sooner.

This training could take the direction of:

Vendor-led demos and explanation of key features. Your team members can also study the onboarding resources to know how the tool works.

Next, test the new tool with a few clients. Import their data that you exported from Botkeeper (transactions, rules, etc.) into the tool and have your team members complete your regular processes (month-end, for example) using that data.

If it all goes well, you can now import all clients and start serving them there.

D. Rebuilding recurring workflows

There are some processes you just have to rebuild in your new system. But when you approach this rebuilding in phases, you are more likely to complete them more efficiently.

Phase 1 can be focused on high-frequency transaction processing, like daily and weekly transaction workflows.

Phase 2 for reconciliations & exception handling workflows.

Phase 3 for Month-End Close & client reporting and communication processes.

At each stage, monitor processing time, error rates, and bottlenecks before moving to the next phase.

Phased rebuilding reduces overwhelm while your team works its way into stable operations.

E. Tracking transitional tasks

It’s common to find more gaps (than expected) during transitions, but a structured project management system can prevent tasks from falling through the cracks.

Using a centralized tool (like Financial Cents), you can manage every step effectively.

You can create a project for your transition with these steps:

• Export and securely back up all client data.
• Notify clients of the transition and next steps.
• Create a test client in the new tool and import sample data.
• Recreate and test reconciliation rules on live client projects.
• Complete a full month-end cycle for the test client.
• Confirm team members have completed training and demonstrated competency.
• Collect client feedback after the first full cycle post-Botkeeper.

With the Financial Cents workflow dashboard, you’ll gain maximum visibility to track these steps to ensure accountability and a smoother transition for your team and clients.

This is the Time to Act Quickly and Rebuild Very Intentionally

As Botkeeper winds down operations, its users are likely to fall into one of two camps: those who react defensively and prolong the transitional period, and those who will seize this moment to reassess their tech stack and emerge more productive and resilient.

The difference will depend on each firm’s ability to act quickly, but calmly (despite the frustration).

If you haven’t already:

• Export and back up your firm and client’s data.
• Notify your clients about the situation.
• Reach out to shortlisted replacement software vendors for expedited onboarding and migration support.

When it comes to replacements, you have two main options:

Option 1: Consider a direct Botkeeper alternative (such as Docyt, Zeni, or Pilot), which would effectively replace one workflow opacity with another.

The challenge? Each business and its accounting needs are unique, and the software providers that grow with bookkeeping and accounting firms aren’t trying to do the work of an accountant. They’re implementing tools that make accountants faster, more organized, and more accountable in their own processes.

Option 2: Adopt a hybrid stack that combines QuickBooks (or Xero) with practice management tools like Financial Cents to rebuild your stack with greater visibility and control.

This will be their fastest and least disruptive path back to stability for many firms. It keeps your core accounting system intact while enabling you to recreate, document, and improve your internal processes.

It also enables your firm to automate data entry, document collection, and task tracking within your own controlled environment, rather than outsourcing critical workflows to a vendor-controlled system.

If you’re ready to see how Financial Cents’ features provide visibility, control, and automation to meet deadlines and improve work quality, click here to request a Demo.