Waltio scores 2 points above ZenLedger, led by your tax form and cost-basis method. Waltio ranks #7 and ZenLedger #8 of 11 published tax software. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
Waltio75
vs
ZenLedger73
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #7 and #8 of 11
Waltio scores 2 points above ZenLedger, led by your tax form and cost-basis method.
Waltio #7 of 1175
ZenLedger #8 of 1173
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termWaltio leads on 2 of 4 published criteria; ZenLedger on 1. The terms sum to the gap.
TermWaltioZenLedgerWeightPoints
Your tax form9/107/107.7+4.0for Waltio+2.0 of 32
Cost-basis method7/106/106.2+1.6for Waltio+0.8 of 32
Record portability4/107/104.8−3.7for ZenLedger−1.9 of 32
Net of the terms+1.9
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread−0.1
Reproduced gap+1.8
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below7573+2.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
WaltioScore 75The deepest named-form work in this category outside the US — Form 2086 and 3916-bis with boxes 8UU/3AN/3BN/3CN/5KU/5JG, Anlage SO with Zeile numbers and the ELSTER path, Italy's Quadro RT/RW and Spain's casilla 1804 — with the lot-matching rule enforced rather than offered as a picker in all five core markets; then it rents the record back, because the transaction export sits two tiers above the tier that produced the report, no new report can be generated once the calendar year ends, and a previous tax year can only be bought if you also hold an active subscription for the current one.Strength: Named form output — 9/10Watch-out: That the 39€ you paid buys a window, not a record — and all four sentences below were re-fetched and matched character-exact on 2026-08-19. Three served sentences compose into one trap: 'At the end of the subscription (end of calendar year), it is no longer possible to generate new reports.' (help.waltio.com/en/articles/4915779), 'To purchase access for a previous tax year, you must have an active subscription for the current year.' (.../5830168), and, on the transaction export, 'This feature is available only for Smart and Unlimited plans.' (.../6014877). So a Lite or Starter buyer who files, cancels, and is asked in 2028 to re-derive 2025 for an audit or an amended return cannot regenerate it, cannot buy 2025 on its own — they must first re-subscribe for whatever the then-current year is, then pay the 2025 tier fee on top, priced on 2025's own transaction count because 'each fiscal year is evaluated independently' (.../5444696) — and never had the raw transaction export at all, because that sits two tiers up at 249€. The article that looks like it should rescue the buyer does not: 'Obtaining a Tax Report for Previous Years' says 'If your subscription allows it, click "All documents" to download the tax documents for the selected year.' The Terms compound it: they are a 'seasonal subscription with automatic renewal' that says nothing about post-lapse access to a purchased year, and instead say 'The User must keep backups of their data.'ZenLedgerScore 73An unusually complete US form set — 8949, Schedule D, Schedule 1, Schedule C, FinCEN 114 and Form 8938 all named on served pages — plus a genuine second jurisdiction the prior pass missed entirely: a downloadable CRA Schedule 3 for Canada. What it is not is a filing kit, and ZenLedger says so itself: "We are not a full tax reporting software like TurboTax or TaxAct, so, you will need to combine what ZenLedger offers with a service like TurboTax or TaxAct to complete your tax return". Bolted onto a lot-matching layer that still defaults new accounts to HIFO; help articles dated 2026-08-29 and 2026-09-23 now document a shipped Rev. Proc. 2024-28 engine: By-Wallet tracking as the US default, allocation as of 1 January 2025 with two strategies, and a downloadable allocation report.Strength: Named form output — 7/10Watch-out: Four things a buyer only finds out after paying. (1) THERE IS NO FREE REPORT. The homepage (loaded 2026-08-19) says "Calculate your DeFi, NFT, & crypto taxes and generate free crypto tax reports.", "Industry-leading pricing with a free crypto tax software plan.", "Choose from our free crypto tax software or full-service plans to meet your needs." and buttons reading "Get Started for Free"; the pricing page's meta description still reads "ZenLedger pricing and cost breakdown. We have many competitively priced crypto tax software plans, including a free plan." — but the rendered pricing table has NO free tier and the word 'free' does not appear in its rendered body at all (Silver $49 is the floor). ZenLedger's own help centre states the real rule: "Creating an account is FREE. Use ZenLedger to import and aggregate your crypto transactions without paying a dime." followed immediately by "You only pay to view, download, and access tax reports each year." The free thing is data entry; every fileable artefact costs money. (2) THE 'ONE-TIME' PLAN AUTO-RENEWS. It is sold as a per-tax-year purchase ("Think of it as similar to TurboTax's business model") but: "When you sign up for ZenLedger and pay for your plan, we will automatically subscribe you to yearly auto-renewal of your subscription. This will automatically charge the card you paid with your first plan with towards the end of the calendar tax year for that next tax year. You will be notified via email 7 days prior to the renewal charge." (3) THE PRICING PAGE CARRIES THREE DIFFERENT REFUND WINDOWS. On one served page: "All plans offer a generous 1 year refund policy." (DIY header) and "All ZenLedger plans have a 14 day refund policy." (table footer) and "Tax Professional Prepared Plans have a 14-day refund policy." and "30 day money back guarantee" (the april filing product). Terms of Use §14 governs the software and says 14 days, adding: "If you request a refund after You downloaded any of the tax forms or CSV files, ZenLedger reserves the right to refuse your refund request or issue a partial refund." You cannot check whether the forms are right for you without forfeiting the refund right. The '1 year' line is not confined to the pricing page — it rides the global nav and is served on the Terms of Use page itself, directly above the clause that contradicts it. (4) IT IS NOT A FILING TOOL AND SAYS SO. The page that names the forms also says: "We are not a full tax reporting software like TurboTax or TaxAct, so, you will need to combine what ZenLedger offers with a service like TurboTax or TaxAct to complete your tax return (if you are filing without the services of a CPA). For more information on how to import your reports from ZenLedger into TurboTax (which we have direct integration with!) please review this article." — and the TurboTax walkthrough that sentence links to is HTTP 404.
Quick facts
At a glance
2 of 3 rows read the same for both.
FactWaltioZenLedger
Entry planSnapshothttps://www.waltio.com/pricing-2/ — fetched 29 September 2026, HTTP 200, plain curl (JSON-LD dateModified 2026-09-03T13:24:26+00:00). Header: "Your one-click tax return, at the right price." Five cards: Free "0€" "No credit card" ("Manual P&L", "Foreign accounts form"); Lite "39€" "per year" ("Up to 50 transactions", "Capital gains and losses report", "Tax certificate", "Documents export"); Starter "99€" "per year" ("Up to 1,000 transactions", "Step-by-step filing guide"); Smart "Popular" "249€" "per year" ("Up to 10,000 transactions"); Unlimited "999€" "per year" ("Unlimited transactions", "Repatriation of funds", "Tax audit document"). FAQ: "Pricing is calculated based only on transactions from the current tax year." | "However, you can also access tax reports for all previous years dating back to 2019. Since our pricing is based on the number of transactions per year, access to prior years is available for a fee." Billing rules from https://help.waltio.com/en/articles/5830168-billing-pricing-and-subscriptions (dateModified 24 September 2026, fetched 29 September 2026): "Each subscription covers a single tax year ." | "Automatic renewal takes place on October 1st of each year ." | "To purchase access for a previous tax year, you must have an active subscription for the current year." The transaction export (.xlsx) is limited to Smart and Unlimited (https://help.waltio.com/en/articles/6014877-exporting-your-transactions). Prices unchanged since 19 August 2026.https://zenledger.io/pricing/ — fetched 29 September 2026, HTTP 200, plain curl (page JSON-LD dateModified 29 July 2025; content identical to 19 August 2026). <title> "Crypto Tax Software Plans"; the meta description still says "including a free plan" but no free tier is rendered. DIY cards: Silver "$49" "Per year" "100 transactions or less"; Gold "$199" "Per year" "5,000 transactions or less" "Most Popular"; Platinum "$399" "Per year" "15,000 transactions or less", with "Unlimited Transactions +$600" and "*Unlimited also includes 1 hr of live support"; then "Save 10% when you purchase multiple years!". Comparison table: "Annual Fee" $49 / $199 / $399; "Transactions" "Up to 100" / "Up to 5,000" / "Up to 15,000"; "All Detailed Reports" and "DeFi / Staking / NFTs" on all three. "All plans also include:" "Audit Report", "Tax Pro Access", "HIFO/FIFO/LIFO", "TurboTax Integration" among ten items. Add-on: "Personal product consulting available per request at $150/hr as an add-on." Human-assisted: "Premium Support Consultation- with a ZenLedger Enrolled Agent" "$ 275" "60 minute consultation"; "Tax Pro Prepared Plan - Single Year" "$ 3500" struck to "$ 2800" "Per year"; "Tax Pro Prepared Plan - Multi Year" "$ 6500" struck to "$ 5200" "Per two years"; "Packages are based on time required; prices are estimated. The actual cost for your tax return may be higher depending on your unique situation." Separate product "State & Federal Tax Filing" "$ 30" "per year", "30 day money back guarantee", "No subscription required". Continuity and refunds, same page: "All ZenLedger plans have a 14 day refund policy. Access the report forever, so you can always update or add transactions to your crypto tax reports." — while the nav block on the same page still says "All plans offer a generous 1 year refund policy." (contradiction unchanged since August). Billing count, from https://support.zenledger.io/en/articles/2615544-what-do-you-count-as-a-transaction-for-billing-purposes (fetched 29 September 2026): "Any buy, sell, and trade transaction is counted as a transaction in ZenLedger for billing purposes." Prices unchanged since 19 August 2026.
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotglobalglobal
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
Waltio
75#7 of 11
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Waltio if your tax form matters most — it scores 9/10 to ZenLedger's 7/10 there (weight 32).
Strength
Named form output — 9/10
Tradeoff
That the 39€ you paid buys a window, not a record — and all four sentences below were re-fetched and matched character-exact on 2026-08-19. Three served sentences compose into one trap: 'At the end of the subscription (end of calendar year), it is no longer possible to generate new reports.' (help.waltio.com/en/articles/4915779), 'To purchase access for a previous tax year, you must have an active subscription for the current year.' (.../5830168), and, on the transaction export, 'This feature is available only for Smart and Unlimited plans.' (.../6014877). So a Lite or Starter buyer who files, cancels, and is asked in 2028 to re-derive 2025 for an audit or an amended return cannot regenerate it, cannot buy 2025 on its own — they must first re-subscribe for whatever the then-current year is, then pay the 2025 tier fee on top, priced on 2025's own transaction count because 'each fiscal year is evaluated independently' (.../5444696) — and never had the raw transaction export at all, because that sits two tiers up at 249€. The article that looks like it should rescue the buyer does not: 'Obtaining a Tax Report for Previous Years' says 'If your subscription allows it, click "All documents" to download the tax documents for the selected year.' The Terms compound it: they are a 'seasonal subscription with automatic renewal' that says nothing about post-lapse access to a purchased year, and instead say 'The User must keep backups of their data.'
ZenLedger
73#8 of 11
Pick it when
Pick ZenLedger if record portability matters most — it scores 7/10 to Waltio's 4/10 there (weight 20).
Strength
Named form output — 7/10
Tradeoff
Four things a buyer only finds out after paying. (1) THERE IS NO FREE REPORT. The homepage (loaded 2026-08-19) says "Calculate your DeFi, NFT, & crypto taxes and generate free crypto tax reports.", "Industry-leading pricing with a free crypto tax software plan.", "Choose from our free crypto tax software or full-service plans to meet your needs." and buttons reading "Get Started for Free"; the pricing page's meta description still reads "ZenLedger pricing and cost breakdown. We have many competitively priced crypto tax software plans, including a free plan." — but the rendered pricing table has NO free tier and the word 'free' does not appear in its rendered body at all (Silver $49 is the floor). ZenLedger's own help centre states the real rule: "Creating an account is FREE. Use ZenLedger to import and aggregate your crypto transactions without paying a dime." followed immediately by "You only pay to view, download, and access tax reports each year." The free thing is data entry; every fileable artefact costs money. (2) THE 'ONE-TIME' PLAN AUTO-RENEWS. It is sold as a per-tax-year purchase ("Think of it as similar to TurboTax's business model") but: "When you sign up for ZenLedger and pay for your plan, we will automatically subscribe you to yearly auto-renewal of your subscription. This will automatically charge the card you paid with your first plan with towards the end of the calendar tax year for that next tax year. You will be notified via email 7 days prior to the renewal charge." (3) THE PRICING PAGE CARRIES THREE DIFFERENT REFUND WINDOWS. On one served page: "All plans offer a generous 1 year refund policy." (DIY header) and "All ZenLedger plans have a 14 day refund policy." (table footer) and "Tax Professional Prepared Plans have a 14-day refund policy." and "30 day money back guarantee" (the april filing product). Terms of Use §14 governs the software and says 14 days, adding: "If you request a refund after You downloaded any of the tax forms or CSV files, ZenLedger reserves the right to refuse your refund request or issue a partial refund." You cannot check whether the forms are right for you without forfeiting the refund right. The '1 year' line is not confined to the pricing page — it rides the global nav and is served on the Terms of Use page itself, directly above the clause that contradicts it. (4) IT IS NOT A FILING TOOL AND SAYS SO. The page that names the forms also says: "We are not a full tax reporting software like TurboTax or TaxAct, so, you will need to combine what ZenLedger offers with a service like TurboTax or TaxAct to complete your tax return (if you are filing without the services of a CPA). For more information on how to import your reports from ZenLedger into TurboTax (which we have direct integration with!) please review this article." — and the TurboTax walkthrough that sentence links to is HTTP 404.
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
WaltioLeads
Choose Waltio if your tax form matters most
Your tax form: 9/10 against 7/10 for ZenLedger (weight 32)
Cost-basis method: 7/10 against 6/10 for ZenLedger (weight 26)
WaltioScore 75The deepest named-form work in this category outside the US — Form 2086 and 3916-bis with boxes 8UU/3AN/3BN/3CN/5KU/5JG, Anlage SO with Zeile numbers and the ELSTER path, Italy's Quadro RT/RW and Spain's casilla 1804 — with the lot-matching rule enforced rather than offered as a picker in all five core markets; then it rents the record back, because the transaction export sits two tiers above the tier that produced the report, no new report can be generated once the calendar year ends, and a previous tax year can only be bought if you also hold an active subscription for the current one.Strength: Named form output — 9/10Watch-out: That the 39€ you paid buys a window, not a record — and all four sentences below were re-fetched and matched character-exact on 2026-08-19. Three served sentences compose into one trap: 'At the end of the subscription (end of calendar year), it is no longer possible to generate new reports.' (help.waltio.com/en/articles/4915779), 'To purchase access for a previous tax year, you must have an active subscription for the current year.' (.../5830168), and, on the transaction export, 'This feature is available only for Smart and Unlimited plans.' (.../6014877). So a Lite or Starter buyer who files, cancels, and is asked in 2028 to re-derive 2025 for an audit or an amended return cannot regenerate it, cannot buy 2025 on its own — they must first re-subscribe for whatever the then-current year is, then pay the 2025 tier fee on top, priced on 2025's own transaction count because 'each fiscal year is evaluated independently' (.../5444696) — and never had the raw transaction export at all, because that sits two tiers up at 249€. The article that looks like it should rescue the buyer does not: 'Obtaining a Tax Report for Previous Years' says 'If your subscription allows it, click "All documents" to download the tax documents for the selected year.' The Terms compound it: they are a 'seasonal subscription with automatic renewal' that says nothing about post-lapse access to a purchased year, and instead say 'The User must keep backups of their data.'
ZenLedger
Choose ZenLedger if record portability matters most
Record portability: 7/10 against 4/10 for Waltio (weight 20)
ZenLedgerScore 73An unusually complete US form set — 8949, Schedule D, Schedule 1, Schedule C, FinCEN 114 and Form 8938 all named on served pages — plus a genuine second jurisdiction the prior pass missed entirely: a downloadable CRA Schedule 3 for Canada. What it is not is a filing kit, and ZenLedger says so itself: "We are not a full tax reporting software like TurboTax or TaxAct, so, you will need to combine what ZenLedger offers with a service like TurboTax or TaxAct to complete your tax return". Bolted onto a lot-matching layer that still defaults new accounts to HIFO; help articles dated 2026-08-29 and 2026-09-23 now document a shipped Rev. Proc. 2024-28 engine: By-Wallet tracking as the US default, allocation as of 1 January 2025 with two strategies, and a downloadable allocation report.Strength: Named form output — 7/10Watch-out: Four things a buyer only finds out after paying. (1) THERE IS NO FREE REPORT. The homepage (loaded 2026-08-19) says "Calculate your DeFi, NFT, & crypto taxes and generate free crypto tax reports.", "Industry-leading pricing with a free crypto tax software plan.", "Choose from our free crypto tax software or full-service plans to meet your needs." and buttons reading "Get Started for Free"; the pricing page's meta description still reads "ZenLedger pricing and cost breakdown. We have many competitively priced crypto tax software plans, including a free plan." — but the rendered pricing table has NO free tier and the word 'free' does not appear in its rendered body at all (Silver $49 is the floor). ZenLedger's own help centre states the real rule: "Creating an account is FREE. Use ZenLedger to import and aggregate your crypto transactions without paying a dime." followed immediately by "You only pay to view, download, and access tax reports each year." The free thing is data entry; every fileable artefact costs money. (2) THE 'ONE-TIME' PLAN AUTO-RENEWS. It is sold as a per-tax-year purchase ("Think of it as similar to TurboTax's business model") but: "When you sign up for ZenLedger and pay for your plan, we will automatically subscribe you to yearly auto-renewal of your subscription. This will automatically charge the card you paid with your first plan with towards the end of the calendar tax year for that next tax year. You will be notified via email 7 days prior to the renewal charge." (3) THE PRICING PAGE CARRIES THREE DIFFERENT REFUND WINDOWS. On one served page: "All plans offer a generous 1 year refund policy." (DIY header) and "All ZenLedger plans have a 14 day refund policy." (table footer) and "Tax Professional Prepared Plans have a 14-day refund policy." and "30 day money back guarantee" (the april filing product). Terms of Use §14 governs the software and says 14 days, adding: "If you request a refund after You downloaded any of the tax forms or CSV files, ZenLedger reserves the right to refuse your refund request or issue a partial refund." You cannot check whether the forms are right for you without forfeiting the refund right. The '1 year' line is not confined to the pricing page — it rides the global nav and is served on the Terms of Use page itself, directly above the clause that contradicts it. (4) IT IS NOT A FILING TOOL AND SAYS SO. The page that names the forms also says: "We are not a full tax reporting software like TurboTax or TaxAct, so, you will need to combine what ZenLedger offers with a service like TurboTax or TaxAct to complete your tax return (if you are filing without the services of a CPA). For more information on how to import your reports from ZenLedger into TurboTax (which we have direct integration with!) please review this article." — and the TurboTax walkthrough that sentence links to is HTTP 404.
Criterion by criterion
Scorecard
Published criteria · weight in points of 868 of 8 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology
Your tax form
by 2 of 10weight 7.7 of 86Waltio leads
Waltio9/10 out of 10
ZenLedger7/10 out of 10
Cost-basis method
by 1 of 10weight 6.2 of 86Waltio leads
Waltio7/10 out of 10
ZenLedger6/10 out of 10
Complex transactions
weight 5.3 of 86Tie
Waltio7/10 out of 10
ZenLedger7/10 out of 10
Record portability
by 3 of 10weight 4.8 of 86ZenLedger leads
Waltio4/10 out of 10
ZenLedger7/10 out of 10
Score dimensions
weights sum to 86
The published score is five dimensions, each weighted for the category. "Published criteria" is the criteria block above; the other four are the engine's own terms — availability, friction, trust record, measured data. Each bar is one side's points out of that dimension's maximum; the weight beside the name is its points of the 86-point weighted total. The published criteria above can fill 24 of the block’s 30. A weight marked “constant here” belongs to a dimension every ranked product in the category holds at the same value: it still counts in the total, and it orders nothing here.
Availabilityweight 20 of 86 · constant here
Waltio14/20ZenLedger14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Waltio16.9/30ZenLedger16.2/30
Waltio leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Waltio2.7/10ZenLedger2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
Waltio3.2/8ZenLedger3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
Waltio8.3/18ZenLedger8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Waltio unless the term ZenLedger leads on is the one you are buying.
Pick ZenLedger if record portability matters most — it scores 7/10 to Waltio's 4/10 there (weight 20).
The published order weighs every criterion the same way for everyone. To weigh them your way, run .
From the published order
Next best action
If this isn't your case
Other matchups worth comparing
How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
Regulatory failure: no licence where you are, or a forced market exit.
Scored by Which country's actual tax form comes out at the end — named, and for the year I am filing? · 32% (Waltio 9/10, ZenLedger 7/10)
Exit failure: you cannot get out at par, on time, or with what is yours.
Scored by Can my accountant take this without redoing it — and if I stop paying, does my per-lot basis still leave with me? · 20% (Waltio 4/10, ZenLedger 7/10)
Information failure: the number is wrong or bought, or your data leaks.
Scored by Which lot did it decide I sold, and does that method match what my tax authority actually requires? · 26% (Waltio 7/10, ZenLedger 6/10)
Scored by My history has DeFi, staking, NFTs, a rug and ten transfers between my own wallets — what does it do with each one? · 22% (Waltio 7/10, ZenLedger 7/10)
Every failure family that applies to this category is scored.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Waltio scores 2 points above ZenLedger, led by your tax form and cost-basis method. Published scores, out of 100: Waltio 75 (rank 7 of 11 tax software), ZenLedger 73 (rank 8 of 11).
Reviewed means both products compared here was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
Answer a few quick questions and get one clear recommendation based on how you actually plan to use crypto — with rationale, tradeoffs, and a path to monitor the decision.
No signup·Free first pass · Private·No spam · No account
Not financial advice · Independent · Always do your own research
Not financial advice · For informational purposes only · Always do your own research
Waltio #7 of 1175
ZenLedger #8 of 1173