Why Our Members Switched
Amadae vs Collective
A $33,000 tax surprise
“After filing my 2024 taxes, I was hit with an enormous $33K tax bill... their payroll management did not properly withhold my federal taxes.”
BBB complaint, Oct 2025
You still check their work
“I have to double check most all of their work and they miss things like 25% of the time, stuff that if I didn't catch it would cost me thousands.”
Trustpilot, 2 stars, Dec 2024
Done-for-you becomes do-it-yourself
“The promise of a 'done-for-you' system quickly fell apart. I was expected to manually upload monthly documents and handle key tasks myself.”
Trustpilot, 2 stars, Jul 2025
The verdict
Collective vs Amadae: both do the same jobs. Formation, payroll, quarterly taxes, and filings. The difference is the experience. With Amadae, you text your accountant and hear back the same day. Not in 3 to 14 days. Your price is one number with nothing hidden under it. Your books are right the first time. You never have to check our work. That is the whole point of paying someone.
S-corp back office for solopreneurs · Updated 2026-08-19
Collective pricing vs Amadae
Amadae
All plans 100% deductible
$349/mo
S corp plan, payroll and the S corp return included. Flat, no hourly bills.
Collective
$349/mo
Flat monthly rate for the S corp back office
Collective pricing is as published as of August 2026. Both companies advertise average member tax savings around $10,000 per year, so total cost of ownership usually comes down to what else you can consolidate.
Feature comparison
| Amadae | Collective | |
|---|---|---|
| Automated bookkeeping on its own ledger | Bookkeeping team working in third-party accounting software | |
| Business and personal tax filing | Included with Amadae Accounting | Business and personal returns included |
| Quarterly estimated taxes | Calculated and scheduled for you | Quarterly estimates included |
| S-corp formation and election | Formation and S-corp election included | |
| Business banking and cards | Not offered, you keep your own bank | |
| Invoicing and payments | ||
| Intelligent Assistant (Mozart) | Included in every module | |
| Personal finance and forecasting |
Not sure if Collective or Amadae fits better? A 30-minute call tells you exactly where you stand.
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Pros and cons
Amadae
Pros
- Books, banking, invoices, and payments all in one place
- Mozart, the Intelligent Assistant, is included
- Text your accountant and hear back the same day
- Your personal money is covered too, not just the business
Cons
- You get your exact price on a call, not from a list
- A younger company than Collective
Collective
Pros
- A well-known name with thousands of members
- One flat price, payroll included
- You can ask their advisors business questions any time
Cons
- $349 a month even in months when you need very little
- Built on other companies' software
- No banking, no invoicing, no personal money help
What Collective accounting does well
Collective made S-corp-as-a-service a category. The Collective back office forms the entity, files the election, absorbs the Gusto payroll fee, keeps the books, files business and personal returns, and gives members unlimited advisor access. For a solopreneur clearing roughly $80,000 or more in profit, the S-corp payroll-tax savings usually cover the fee, which is why the model works.
Where Amadae is different
Amadae does the same S-corp work, formation, election, payroll, quarterly estimates, and filings, but the foundation is different: your books run on Amadae's own general ledger, your banking and cards are in the platform, and invoices and payments post straight to the books. Nothing is re-keyed between QuickBooks, Gusto, and a tax preparer, because they are one system.
On top of that, every Amadae module ships with Mozart, an Intelligent Assistant that books meetings, chases signatures, summarizes metrics, and answers questions about your numbers. Collective's answer to the same needs is humans on email, which is slower and caps how much the service can do per dollar.
How to choose
If you want the most established name in solopreneur S-corp services and you like your existing QuickBooks plus Gusto stack, Collective is a safe choice. If you would rather consolidate banking, invoicing, books, taxes, and personal finance into one AI-native platform, Amadae covers more surface for the money. The free financial review will quote your exact situation against Collective's flat rate.
After filing my 2024 taxes, I was hit with an enormous $33K tax bill... their payroll management did not properly withhold my federal taxes.
Collective customer
BBB complaint, Oct 2025
What you get with Amadae
One flat monthly price. Real accountants who know how creators get paid.
- Automated bookkeeping on its own ledger
- Business and personal tax filing
- Quarterly estimated taxes, calculated and scheduled
- S-corp formation and election
- Business banking and cards, built in
- Intelligent Assistant (Mozart) included in every module
Free 30-minute review. Transparent pricing.
Plans from
$249/mo
If you make $40K - $69K. Flat, no hourly bills.
- Monthly profit and loss reports
- Tax set-aside management
- Expense categorization
- Real-time financial dashboard
- Business bank account connections
- Individual tax return included*
Common questions
Collective vs Amadae FAQ
Is Amadae cheaper than Collective?+
They match on the headline: Collective is a flat $349 per month and Amadae's S corp plan is also $349 per month. The difference is what the number buys: Amadae includes native payroll and banking with no third-party markup, and a free financial review comes first.
Do both file my personal return along with the S-corp return?+
Yes. Both prepare the S-corp return and the owner's personal return. Amadae also generates K-1s and carries them through to the 1040 automatically.
Does Amadae absorb payroll fees like Collective absorbs Gusto?+
Amadae runs payroll natively as part of its accounting service, so there is no separate payroll subscription to absorb in the first place.
What if I have not elected S-corp status yet?+
Both will form the entity and file the election. Amadae also models whether the election actually saves you money first, since below roughly $80,000 of profit it often does not.
See how Amadae compares to Collective
Free 30-minute review. We tell you exactly what you would save.