Our data promise

Your books are yours. We can’t hold them hostage.

Some bookkeeping tools lock you out of your own records when you cancel, or freeze your money for months. Count The Cost is built the opposite way: a complete copy of your books is one click away, always, in formats any accountant or app can read.

See how export works Read the promises

Named for Luke 14:28 — your books, done for you.

Why this matters

›Wave customers have reported being locked out of years of their own bookkeeping records after account and plan changes.

›FreshBooks and similar tools restrict or cut off access to your data once you stop paying.

›Some platforms hold your money for weeks or months, because they sit between you and your cash.

›Your financial records are the memory of your business. Losing access to them — or having them held for ransom — is not a risk you should ever have to take.

Four promises we put in writing

Every one of these is something Count The Cost does today — not a plan, not a slogan.

Full export, any time

Download a complete copy of your books whenever you want — chart of accounts, every journal entry and line, invoices, contacts, and bank activity. Not a summary or a teaser: the whole book, in one file.

Open, portable formats

Your export comes as plain CSV that opens in any spreadsheet and lossless JSON that another system can read back in full. No proprietary lock-in, nothing an accountant can’t use on day one.

It still works after you cancel

Your export does not get switched off when your subscription ends. We will never dangle your own records to keep you paying. If you leave, you leave with everything.

We never touch your money

Count The Cost keeps the books; your bank keeps the cash. We have no payment rails and never hold your funds, so there is nothing for us to freeze and no hold we could ever place on your money.

Getting your data out takes three clicks

No request forms, no waiting, no support ticket. Your whole book, whenever you want it.

Open Settings

From any screen, go to Settings. Under “Export your data” you’ll find your active business’s full book ready to download. Nothing to request, no waiting, no support ticket.

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Choose CSV or JSON

Download as CSV to open in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers, or as JSON for a complete, structured copy another system can import. Each download is the entire book of the business you’re viewing.

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Hand it to anyone

Give the file to your CPA, load it into another tool, or keep it as your own off-site backup. Your books stay CPA-ready and readable outside Count The Cost — because they were always yours.

What the promise means — and what it doesn’t

The export always reflects your posted, balanced double-entry books — the same numbers your reports and reconciliation use, never a different or trimmed version.
You can only export businesses you have access to. Your data stays isolated from every other customer, and an export can never reach across to someone else’s books.
Count The Cost is bookkeeping software, not a bank, a payment processor, or a tax or legal advisor. We record your finances; we never move your money.
If you ever need help getting your data out, that’s support’s job — not a reason we’d slow you down. Your records leaving is a feature, not a failure.

Questions people ask

Do I have to pay to get my data out?

No. Export is built in and available to every account, and it keeps working after you cancel. Your books are never held behind a paywall.

What exactly is in the export?

Your full chart of accounts, every journal entry and its lines, invoices, contacts, and bank activity for the business you’re viewing — as CSV for spreadsheets or JSON for a complete structured copy.

Can Count The Cost freeze my money?

No. We have no payment rails and never hold your funds. Your bank holds your cash; we only keep the books. There is nothing for us to freeze.

Will my accountant be able to use the file?

Yes. CSV opens in any spreadsheet and JSON is a complete structured copy, so your CPA or another bookkeeping tool can pick up exactly where you left off.

Bookkeeping you can walk away from — which is why you won’t want to

Start free, keep a full copy of your books whenever you like, and never wonder whether you could get your data back. One flat price. Your records, always yours.

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