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Comparison
Clarity vs Koinly
Koinly is stronger for standalone crypto tax filing—more cost-basis methods, more country-specific report formats, and deeper historical import. Clarity is better when you want crypto taxes inside the same product that tracks your banks, investments, spending, and net worth year-round.
- Feature-by-feature
- Public-source notes
- Switch guidance
Best fit for Clarity
Crypto cost basis next to your 401(k) performance, monthly spending, and total net worth—banks, brokerages, and wallets in one product.
What this comparison focuses on
crypto-holderstax-filersmulti-account-investorsinternational-users
Format
Feature-by-feature
Evidence
Source-linked notes
Refresh
Reviewed quarterly
Quick take
TL;DR
At a glance
Clarity vs Koinly
Koinly is stronger for standalone crypto tax filing—more cost-basis methods, more country-specific report formats, and deeper historical import. Clarity is better when you want crypto taxes inside the same product that tracks your banks, investments, spending, and net worth year-round.
crypto-holderstax-filersmulti-account-investors
Clarity
Crypto cost basis next to your 401(k) performance, monthly spending, and total net worth—banks, brokerages, and wallets in one product.
Koinly
Crypto traders who need localized tax reports across major jurisdictions and deeper tax-specific crypto tooling.
Feature comparison
Side-by-side facts on capabilities, pricing, and coverage — with sources.
| Feature | Clarity | Koinly |
|---|---|---|
| Account Coverage | Coinbase holdings, MetaMask wallet, Schwab brokerage, and Chase checking appear in one dashboard. Crypto cost basis shares the same data model as spending and investment performance. | Koinly's public materials emphasize broad exchange, wallet, and blockchain coverage. It remains crypto-specific rather than a banks-and-brokerages aggregator. |
| Sync Reliability | Proactive connection-health monitoring across Plaid, exchange APIs, and wallet indexing. When a connection breaks, the UI surfaces the issue and explains the fix. | Exchange API imports work well for standard spot trades. Complex DeFi activity can still require manual review before filing. |
| Pricing Predictability | Free tier, then Pro ($24/mo or $229/yr) and Wealth ($49/mo or $449/yr). Flat subscription — no AUM %. | Koinly's current pricing starts at $49 and scales upward by transaction count and plan level. Because plans are purchased per tax year, multi-year filing can add up faster than a flat annual subscription. |
| Data Freshness | Crypto prices update near real-time. Bank and brokerage balances sync on a scheduled cadence with on-demand refresh. Designed as an always-on dashboard, not a once-a-year tool. | Portfolio balances update on sync, but the product is architecturally a tax calculator that happens to show balances. Most users open Koinly once a year at tax time. |
| Historical Depth | Imports ~24 months of transaction history from connected institutions. Crypto history available from connection date forward. | Built to ingest full trading history across years. Users routinely import 5+ years of exchange data for accurate cost-basis calculations going back to their first crypto purchase. This is Koinly's core strength. |
| Export & Reporting | FIFO cost-basis tracking with wash-sale detection, CSV exports, portfolio performance, and spending analysis—crypto taxes inside a broader financial workflow. | Koinly supports Form 8949, Schedule D, international tax reports, TurboTax import, and multiple cost-basis methods including FIFO, LIFO, HIFO, ACB, and share pooling. |
| Privacy & Security | Read-only connections, encryption at rest, no advertising cookies, no data sales. Account closure triggers a full data purge — not archival. | API keys stored encrypted. GDPR compliant with data deletion on request. No known breaches. Uses standard analytics and cookies. Read-only exchange connections. Reasonable posture for a tax-focused SaaS product. |
Criterion-by-criterion notes
A closer look at each feature, with context for why it matters.
Deep dive
Export & Reporting
Your data should be portable. Tax season, accountant handoffs, and audits require clean exports.
Clarity
Clarity handles crypto cost basis with FIFO tracking and wash-sale detection, and those numbers live alongside your brokerage performance, monthly spending breakdown, and net-worth history. You can estimate your crypto tax liability with the [crypto tax calculator](/tools/crypto-tax) before connecting accounts, then get exact numbers once your exchanges and wallets sync.
Koinly
Koinly is a dedicated crypto tax engine—and it is genuinely better at the pure tax job. It supports FIFO, LIFO, HIFO, ACB, and share pooling. Its help materials say it supports over 100 countries globally, and it imports directly into TurboTax. If your only job is crypto tax compliance, Koinly goes deeper than Clarity does today.
Bottom line
Pick Koinly if crypto taxes are your primary concern and you need international report formats. Pick Clarity if you want crypto taxes inside a product you use year-round for your entire financial life.
Deep dive
Pricing Predictability
Hidden fees, usage tiers, and surprise price hikes erode trust.
Clarity
Clarity Pro is $24/month or $229/year (19.08/month when billed annually) and includes automated bank/brokerage/wallet sync, AI, exports, and the full workspace within plan connection bundles. A free tier is available for manual entry and BYO exchange keys.
Koinly
Koinly charges per tax year based on transaction volume. That structure can become materially more expensive than a flat annual subscription when you are catching up on multiple filing years.
Bottom line
Koinly can be attractive for a single low-volume filing year. Over multiple tax years, the per-year structure tends to widen the cost gap against Clarity Pro's flat $229/year subscription.
Deep dive
Historical Depth
Shallow history limits tax reporting, trend analysis, and cost basis calculations.
Clarity
Clarity imports ~24 months of bank and brokerage history from connected institutions and tracks crypto from connection date forward. Good for ongoing tracking, not designed for deep retroactive tax archaeology.
Koinly
This is where Koinly genuinely shines. Users routinely import 5+ years of exchange data, and Koinly reconstructs cost basis across every trade, transfer, and DeFi interaction. If you need to go back to 2017 and figure out the cost basis of tokens you forgot you bought, Koinly is built for that job.
Bottom line
Koinly wins on historical depth for crypto tax reconstruction. Clarity wins on breadth—your crypto history sits next to your bank, brokerage, and spending history.
Deep dive
Account Coverage
Your net worth is only accurate if every account is included — banks, brokerages, crypto exchanges, and wallets.
Clarity
Clarity connects your Coinbase holdings, MetaMask wallet, Schwab brokerage, and Chase checking account into one dashboard. Crypto cost basis shares the same data model as spending analysis and investment performance—your entire financial life in a single view.
Koinly
Koinly supports broad exchange, wallet, and blockchain coverage for crypto tax imports. It does not position itself as a bank-and-brokerage aggregator, so your broader household finances still live elsewhere.
Bottom line
Koinly covers more crypto sources. Clarity covers fewer crypto sources but adds banks, brokerages, and spending—the rest of your money.
Deep dive
Sync Reliability
Unreliable syncs mean stale data and manual workarounds — defeating the purpose of automation.
Clarity
Clarity monitors connection health proactively across Plaid, exchange APIs, and wallet indexing. When a connection breaks, the UI surfaces the issue and explains the fix. Automatic retries handle transient failures without user intervention.
Koinly
Koinly's exchange API imports work well for standard spot trades. Complex DeFi activity can still require manual review and correction before filing.
Bottom line
Clarity is more reliable for day-to-day syncing. Koinly handles standard trades well but struggles with complex DeFi activity that needs manual correction.
Deep dive
Data Freshness
Delayed data leads to budgeting mistakes and missed market movements.
Clarity
Clarity updates crypto prices near real-time and syncs bank and brokerage balances on a scheduled cadence with on-demand refresh. Designed as an always-on dashboard you check daily, not a seasonal tool.
Koinly
Koinly refreshes portfolio balances on sync, but the product is architecturally a tax calculator that happens to show balances. Most users open Koinly once a year at tax time. Freshness is adequate for tax purposes, not for ongoing portfolio monitoring.
Bottom line
Clarity is built for daily use with fresh data across all account types. Koinly is built for annual tax filing and treats live data as secondary.
Deep dive
Privacy & Security
Financial data is among the most sensitive personal information — security failures are catastrophic.
Clarity
Clarity uses read-only connections, encrypts data at rest, runs zero advertising cookies, and does not sell user data. Account closure triggers a full data purge, not archival.
Koinly
Koinly stores API keys encrypted and is GDPR compliant with data deletion on request. Read-only exchange connections and standard analytics cookies. No known breaches. Reasonable security posture for a tax-focused SaaS product, though it does not match the no-ad-tech commitments Clarity offers.
Bottom line
Both products take security seriously. Clarity goes further with a strict no-ad-tech policy. Koinly is solid but uses standard analytics tracking.
Trust, legal, and source notes
These notes call out source-backed privacy, terms, and incident details that matter during evaluation.
View the full claim-by-claim citations page for the source set behind the live comparison copy.
Per-tax-year pricing compounds for multi-year filers
Koinly charges separately for each tax year filed, with pricing that scales upward by transaction volume and plan level. Users filing multiple years can see cumulative costs rise faster than a flat annual subscription.
Koinly PricingKoinly says it supports over 100 countries globally
Koinly's current help materials say it supports over 100 countries globally. Older compare copy that caps Koinly at '20+ countries' is outdated or understated.
Koinly country supportWho should choose what
Clarity
When to choose Clarity
Crypto cost basis next to your 401(k) performance, monthly spending, and total net worth—banks, brokerages, and wallets in one product.
- Hybrid investors with both traditional and crypto assets
- Privacy-conscious users who want full data deletion
- Users who need a single net worth view across all accounts
- Crypto holders who need cost basis tracking for taxes
Koinly
When to choose Koinly
Crypto traders who need localized tax reports across major jurisdictions and deeper tax-specific crypto tooling.
- Crypto traders who need tax reports for multiple jurisdictions
- International users in the UK, Australia, Canada, or Europe
- Users with high transaction volumes across many exchanges and wallets
What users say
"I used Koinly for tax season but needed something for the other 11 months. Clarity tracks my banks, brokerage, and crypto in one place year-round."
"Koinly wanted $179 per tax year for my trading volume. Clarity Pro is $229/year for the full dashboard—including crypto cost basis next to banks and brokerages."
How to switch
easy15 minutes
- 1Create a Clarity account and connect your bank and brokerage accounts via Plaid — this is what Koinly does not cover.
- 2Add the same exchange API keys and wallet addresses you used in Koinly.
- 3Compare crypto balances and recent cost basis numbers between both products.
- 4Keep Koinly for historical tax filing if needed. Use Clarity as the daily financial dashboard going forward.
Frequently asked questions
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Sources are linked above, in each rubric row, and on the dedicated citations page.
Try the app these pages are about
Free tier, no credit card. Connect once and everything syncs — banks, crypto, investments — in one read-only workspace.