UltraTax vs Lacerte: Which Tax Software Fits in 2027

Pick by firm shape and quote path before brand

UltraTax CS is a Thomson Reuters product and Lacerte is an Intuit product. Neither name has been renamed, merged or discontinued in the pages I opened for this guide. A tax preparation package is the software a firm uses to prepare and e-file federal and state returns, and the choice affects licensing, hosting, training and renewal terms as much as the forms engine.

TL;DR: Lacerte publishes some dollar figures and UltraTax CS publishes none on the pages I opened, so you can start a budget with Lacerte now. Neither product wins for every firm. Decide on firm shape, hosting needs and whether each vendor will put a price in writing before a renewal date forces the choice.

If you need a number to plan against this budget cycle, start with Lacerte's published figures and request a written UltraTax quote to compare against them. If you expect to add preparers and the UltraTax quote fits your range, keep UltraTax on the shortlist rather than dropping it for lack of a public price. If ProConnect is also on your list, the three-way comparison puts it next to UltraTax.

US Tech Automations is not a third tax package in this comparison. It can configure a review layer around whichever package you choose, and that layer is covered below.

Key Takeaways

• Lacerte publishes some dollar figures, including an annual license for its pay-per-return route. UltraTax CS publishes no price on the pages I opened.

• UltraTax CS has the larger share of respondents in the 2026 AICPA-member survey. Lacerte's survey average ties for the top score among the brands the article reports.

• Most users of both products named price as a top dislike, so ask each vendor for the full renewal picture early.

• Automation figures from both vendors are self-reported with little method. Check them on your own return data before you put them in a budget.

• UltraTax CS e-file rules are narrower for some return types, so confirm in writing which versions you need.

• A review layer adds checks and logs, but your firm still owns sign-off and the renewal decision.

How we evaluated these two products

We weighted six criteria to match what an owner or operations lead has to settle before signing: firm fit, price visibility, hosting, automation evidence, support and training, and renewal risk. The weights are our own judgment rather than vendor or survey data, so change them if your priorities differ. Market shares and ratings come from the 2026 survey, and where a vendor does not publish a figure the table says so instead of filling in a number. I could not open the G2 or Capterra review listings for either product during this research, so review-site ratings are not used.

Who already uses each product, according to the 2026 survey

UltraTax CS market share: 22.3% according to The Tax Adviser (2026 survey), with Lacerte at 16.7% after gaining nearly one point, from 1,808 AICPA members who prepared 2025 returns for a fee, fielded June 1–19, 2026.

The same survey reports that UltraTax CS is used by 30.5% of firms with more than 500 preparers, though those firms make up only 8.9% of its user base. It also finds that Drake Tax and Lacerte each average 4.4 out of 5, that over 80% of users of Lacerte and UltraTax CS drew a top dislike tied to price, and that 41.2% of respondents received any software training, according to The Tax Adviser (2026 survey). The article text I read does not give UltraTax CS's overall average, so that cell is left blank rather than estimated. The sample is AICPA members, so it describes that group rather than every preparer.

Feature matrix: what each vendor documents

Each cell reflects a page I could open. "Not verified" means I did not find the item on a page I could read, not that the product lacks it.

The "Not verified" cells are the first questions to put to Thomson Reuters in writing, since a current product page would normally answer them.

What each vendor publishes about price

Pricing checked October 19, 2026. Lacerte publishes some dollar figures on its pricing page, while UltraTax CS publishes none on the Thomson Reuters pages I opened, so only one side of this comparison can be budgeted from public numbers.

Pay-per-return annual license: $599 per year according to Intuit (current page, tax year not stated). The Lacerte figures in the table below all come from that same pricing page, which says the annual license is required before you can buy returns on a per-return basis.

UltraTax CS is quote-based in this table. The Thomson Reuters webinar page I opened has a registration form and no pricing or quote language. Third-party sites quote UltraTax figures that conflict with each other, so I left them out rather than average them.

Lacerte's three-year offer is limited to new Lacerte users who did not use ProSeries or ProConnect in the tax year the offer names. It requires an auto-renewing contract, and the renewal increase cap is a percentage the page does not state, so read the contract before you sign.

Benchmarks: what the vendors publish, and on what basis

Intuit's Lacerte product page states a 99.86% e-file acceptance rate, measured on preventable rejections in TY24 federal filings as of December 31, 2025, and says K-1 automation saves an average of 5.6 hours per firm across 12,500 Lacerte firms in TY2024, according to Intuit (2025 data). The same page cites 25,000+ automated diagnostics, 7,200+ tax forms, and hosted backups kept on a rolling 90 days.

The UltraTax CS figures are Thomson Reuters' own numbers, and the UltraTax section below cites them. None of these figures has been independently audited.

Worked example: what the Lacerte time claim is worth

Take an illustrative two-preparer firm. The headcount is an assumption for this example, not a benchmark. Intuit's 5.6-hour K-1 figure is per firm, not per return. If that time is worth an assumed $100 an hour, the saving is $560 of staff time, which is $39 less than the $599 annual license on the pay-per-return route. At that hourly value, the time claim covers the license only at about $107 an hour ($599 divided by 5.6). The page does not say whether the $599 applies once per firm or once per preparer, so confirm that in writing before you use this math. Also count the setup time for any data you load: Intuit's Data Conductor help page says an imported spreadsheet must be saved comma-delimited with a .csv extension and shows a file name such as client.csv, so the two preparers would spend part of the 5.6 hours on file preparation rather than on review. For a fuller cost model on a related shortlist, see the ROI analysis.

UltraTax CS: best fit, limits and implementation

UltraTax CS fits firms that want to stay inside the Thomson Reuters product family and expect to add preparers. The survey's strongest signal is among larger firms, though those firms are a small slice of its base, so ask for a quote built on your own users and return volume rather than assuming the large-firm picture applies to you.

Thomson Reuters' UltraTax CS webinar page pitches automated document processing and says verified data can be exported into client returns automatically. Its headline claim is UltraTax vendor claim: eliminate 80% of manual data entry according to Thomson Reuters (2026 page), with a claimed 29% average cut in turnaround per return and no method given. Treat both as the vendor's claims until you measure your own intake.

Two limits matter most. Price is the main complaint the survey records for UltraTax CS users. Version rules also bite: on the Thomson Reuters help page for 5500 Beneficiary Plan filings, e-file is limited to UltraTax CS 2025, 2024 and 2023 from January 1, 2026, according to Thomson Reuters (effective January 1, 2026). Confirm the version rules for each of your return types, not only the 5500 one.

I could not open a current Thomson Reuters page that lists UltraTax CS hosting terms, onboarding or training hours. Ask for those in writing: the hosting model, migration help, training hours and the version rules for your return types.

Lacerte: best fit, limits and implementation

Lacerte fits firms that want a published starting figure and a pay-per-return option alongside bundles. A 2020 CPA Practice Advisor review described a tier aimed at firms that prepare fewer than 200 individual federal returns a year, according to CPA Practice Advisor (2020 review). Treat that as history, since I did not verify the current tier names.

Hosting is a monthly add-on run by Rightworks, and the page says concurrent users need Fast Path. Intuit Tax Advisor also requires Fast Path, which is sold separately. The three-year offer auto-renews, and its renewal cap is a percentage the contract states rather than the page. Electronic signatures are limited to individual modules under current IRS guidance. The desktop trial cannot e-file or print, so it shows the interface rather than a full filing run.

Intuit lists live agents, a resource library and Easy Start onboarding experts. The pricing page is inconsistent on whether standalone and bundled purchases cost the same, so get that answer in writing before you compare quotes.

Where a review layer fits

A proposed US Tech Automations workflow sits between intake and the tax package, and it does not replace the package itself. The two workflows below are configurable designs, not live deployments. Each names its prerequisites and the human review point.

Intake to review: a client uploads a W-2 or 1099 PDF to a shared intake folder. A configured extraction step reads the form and places each field, with its source file name, in a review queue. A preparer approves or corrects each field, and that approval is logged before anything is entered in UltraTax CS or Lacerte. Prerequisites are a document source you can export from and a confirmed import path into the package you pick, which I did not verify for either product. A named preparer signs off on every batch.

Diagnostics to tasks: a return is marked ready to e-file in your tracker. The workflow pulls that return's open diagnostics, if your version exports them, and creates one task per item for the assigned preparer. The output is a task list keyed to the return ID, with reviewer clearance recorded before any transmission. Prerequisites are a diagnostic export from the vendor product and access to your task system. A reviewer clears every item, and the workflow never transmits a return.

The usual alternative is stitching these steps together in Zapier, Make or n8n, or building them in-house. Those tools can support run histories, retries, error branches and audit evidence when they are configured. The buyer still has to design and own observability, idempotency (so a retried upload does not import the same W-2 twice), escalation, access controls and ongoing maintenance. A US Tech Automations design would configure the retry-safe import, the stop-on-error branch to a human queue and the per-run log for these two workflows, with the prerequisites above listed in advance. It would still need your team's sign-off on each import.

Who this is for

Who this is for: an owner or operations lead with two quotes or price sheets to compare, a renewal date within the next year, and a named person who will sign off on any automated step.

Red flags: you cannot get a written quote before the decision, your team has no time to learn a new package before the season starts, or nobody owns the renewal and version rules.

Decision checklist

1. Get written quotes for your return types, preparer count and state count.

2. Confirm hosting, backup and access terms in writing.

3. Confirm the e-file versions supported for each return type you file.

4. Ask whether the product exposes the export or import path your workflow needs.

5. Get the renewal increase cap and the auto-renewal term in writing.

6. Name the person who signs off on any automated data before it enters a return.

Common mistakes

• Treating aggregator prices as list prices. Third-party figures conflict, so none of them belongs in your budget.

• Comparing a bundle against a standalone price without confirming what each one includes.

• Reading vendor percentages as results on your own work.

• Signing a multi-year offer before reading the renewal clause.

Frequently asked questions

Which costs less, UltraTax CS or Lacerte?

Lacerte is the one you can budget from public figures, because UltraTax CS publishes no price on the pages I opened, so you need a written quote to compare the two.

Is UltraTax CS more widely used than Lacerte?

Yes. In the 2026 AICPA-member survey UltraTax CS had the larger share of respondents, but that survey covers AICPA members only.

Can I try Lacerte before I buy?

Yes, Intuit's pricing page describes a desktop trial. It cannot e-file or print, so it shows the interface rather than a full filing run.

Should I skip a workflow layer?

Skip it if one preparer files in one package with no handoffs, because a review layer adds setup and upkeep without removing a step you already do. US Tech Automations is the wrong buy in three cases. The first is a handful of returns with one preparer and no handoffs to other systems, where the vendor's own import and e-file screens are simpler. The second is an intake that already flows into the package through a document portal, where a second layer repeats work. The third is a firm with no one who can sign off on extracted data, where automation adds risk rather than removing it.

Can I switch products in the middle of the season?

Avoid it if you can. A mid-season move adds training and migration work during peak weeks, so plan the switch for the off-season and confirm what each vendor will import. For a related migration case, see the piece on firms moving off ProConnect for UltraTax.

What should a written quote include?

A written quote should list per-return prices, the hosting cost and its billing period, the license basis for each product, the renewal increase cap, and the version rules for each return type you file.

Bottom line

Start with your firm shape and the quote you can get in writing. Lacerte gives you more public numbers to plan with, and UltraTax CS is worth a full quote if you expect the team to grow, given its presence among larger firms. Before you sign, check the renewal clause, the hosting terms and the version rules for your return types. For the intake and diagnostics review steps described above, see how US Tech Automations configures this.