Two different models
Inform Direct is software you operate. It imports your company details automatically, guides you through each form and updates your statutory registers when you submit. You do the work, with its wizard checking as you go.
SimpleFilings is a service. You tell us what has changed, we prepare the filing, you review it, and we file it once you approve. You do not keep your registers with us.
Neither model is right for everyone. The better choice depends on how many companies you run and how often you file.
What Inform Direct includes
Inform Direct's pricing page lists several free features. These include appointing and removing officers, adding and removing PSCs, updating officer and company details with the changes filed at Companies House, email reminders of key deadlines, full online company registers and managing up to 10 companies.
Pay-as-you-go prices cover single transactions. Beyond the filings in the table, it also prices dividend vouchers (£10), share splits (£40), share reorganisations (£40) and minutes or resolutions (£5), all plus VAT.
The subscription adds unlimited transactions, unlimited users at no extra cost and the option to get client approval before changes go to Companies House. Its support article says subscribers pay no Inform Direct fee for a confirmation statement.
Its dormant accounts page says the software calculates the balance sheet values. Its micro-entity accounts price includes preparation as well as filing.
What SimpleFilings includes
Each filing costs £4.99. There is no subscription, no monthly charge and no renewal.
We prepare the filing from your answers and file it only after you approve it. For a confirmation statement, we check whether the current 12 month payment period has already been paid before filing.
We do not prepare or file trading accounts. Our accounts service is for qualifying dormant companies. We also do not keep statutory registers, minutes or dividend vouchers for you.
Worked example: one company, one confirmation statement
Take a single company filing its yearly confirmation statement, with the £50 Companies House fee due.
- Inform Direct pay as you go: £15 + VAT at 20% = £18, plus £50 to Companies House. Total £68.
- SimpleFilings: £4.99, plus £50 to Companies House, so £54.99 in total.
- Inform Direct subscription: £10 + VAT a month for the first company is £120 + VAT a year, plus £50 to Companies House. This only makes sense if you use the other features or file often.
More worked examples1
Worked example: an accountant with 50 companies
From 1 January 2027, Inform Direct's subscription for 50 companies is £10 for the first plus £0.69 for each of the next 49. That is £43.81 a month, or £525.72 a year, plus VAT, with unlimited transactions.
With SimpleFilings, 50 confirmation statements cost 50 x £4.99 = £249.50. If each company also needs one more filing in the year, that rises to £499.00.
So for a practice filing several times a year per company, and using registers, reminders and client approval, the subscription can work out cheaper and does more.
Who each option suits
- Inform Direct suits accountants, company secretaries and people who run many companies and want registers, minutes, dividend vouchers and reminders in one place.
- Inform Direct also suits anyone who needs share reorganisations or accounts preparation for micro-entities.
- SimpleFilings suits a director with one or two companies who files a few times a year and wants each filing prepared for them.
- SimpleFilings suits anyone who does not want a subscription or to learn new software.
When another option may suit you better
- Inform Direct keeps full statutory registers and updates them when you file. SimpleFilings does not keep registers.
- Inform Direct produces minutes, resolutions, dividend vouchers and share certificates, and handles share splits and reorganisations.
- Inform Direct's micro-entity accounts price includes preparation. SimpleFilings offers qualifying dormant accounts only.
- Inform Direct's subscription gives unlimited transactions and unlimited users. For a practice with many companies and frequent filings it can cost less overall.
- Inform Direct lists appointing and removing officers, adding and removing PSCs, updating officer details and maintaining company details as free features. SimpleFilings charges £4.99 for each of these filings.
- Inform Direct offers free deadline email reminders and a dashboard of filing dates.
- Inform Direct lists phone and email support among its free features.
- You are an accountant or other Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) and want to run directors' identity checks in the same software. Inform Direct's pricing page lists ACSP identity checks at £4 + VAT per check, or £5 + VAT with an address check. Directors can also verify themselves through GOV.UK One Login, which is free.