Inkle vs Firstbase: Which platform supports your U.S. tax and accounting needs?

If you already have a U.S. company, or are evaluating tools to manage one, two names that often come up are Inkle and Firstbase.

This article explains how the two platforms differ, what each is designed for, and why many founders move to Inkle after incorporation.

What Inkle does

Inkle is built for ongoing operations. Once your company is formed, the real work begins: bookkeeping, tax, compliance, deadlines, and responding to notices. Inkle brings all of this together in one place so founders do not have to work across multiple tools or vendors.

With Inkle, founders can handle:

• Monthly bookkeeping
• Federal and state tax filings
• Registered Agent services
• Compliance tracking and reminders
• Scanned and digitised state notices
• Filing launch and payments from the dashboard
• AI and human support working together

Inkle’s goal is to give founders continuous clarity so their U.S. company stays accurate and compliant throughout the year.

‍What Firstbase does

Firstbase is primarily a formation platform. Their strength is helping founders create a U.S. company quickly with guided onboarding.

They help with early-stage essentials such as:

• Company formation
• Registered Agent services (as an add-on)
• Compliance reminders
• Business banking referrals
• Support during the setup phase

However, the ongoing work that follows formation, like bookkeeping, tax preparation, multi-state filings, and year-round compliance, typically requires additional tools or third-party services outside Firstbase.

Inkle vs Firstbase: A simple comparison

A neutral, side-by-side look at how both platforms operate.

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Summary

Inkle and Firstbase serve different but complementary parts of the U.S. company journey.

Firstbase is a helpful platform for founders who want to form a U.S. company quickly and get the basics in place. It simplifies early steps like incorporation and obtaining an EIN.

Inkle is designed for the long-term operations that follow,  bookkeeping, tax filings, registered agent responsibilities, state notices, and compliance tracking.
It provides founders with a unified system to keep their U.S. business accurate, compliant, and easy to manage throughout the year.

Choosing between the two depends on what stage you’re in:

• If you’re forming a company → Firstbase covers that well.
• If you’re running and maintaining a company → Inkle provides the ongoing operational tools.