Quick Start
This guide covers every Puzzle IO feature:
- Getting Started — Create your account and connect bank accounts
- How to Use Financial Insights — See cash burn, runway, and MRR on one dashboard
- How to Use Tax Compliance — Keep books clean and audit ready before filing season
- How to Use Bookkeeping Services — Add a professional bookkeeper without hiring anyone in house
- How to Use Partner Ecosystem — Connect banks, payroll, and billing tools in minutes
- How to Use Accrual Automation — Run cash and accrual accounting side by side
- How to Use Built-in Accrual Automation — Post prepaids and deferrals without manual journal entries
- How to Use Real-Time Insights — Check today’s numbers instead of waiting for month end
- How to Use Self-guided Onboarding — Generate draft financial statements in about 15 minutes
- How to Use Smarter Accounting — Set rules once and let the AI apply them
Time needed: 5 minutes per feature
Also in this guide: Pro Tips | Common Mistakes | Troubleshooting | Pricing | Alternatives
Why Trust This Guide
I have run my own company books inside Puzzle IO for eight months and tested every feature here.
This tutorial comes from real hands-on use, not vendor screenshots.
Puzzle IO is an AI-driven accounting software built specifically for startup founders.
Used properly, it gives you financial clarity without hiring a finance team.
Most people connect one bank feed and never explore the rest.
This guide shows you how to use every major feature.
Step by step, with screenshots and pro tips.
Puzzle IO Tutorial
This complete How to Use Puzzle IO tutorial walks you through the whole platform, from your first bank connection to advanced rules.
Puzzle IO
Stop losing hours to repetitive tasks every month. Puzzle IO syncs your bank accounts, categorises transactions, and gives startup founders real time insights into cash burn runway and MRR. Free for companies under $5k in monthly expenses.
Getting Started with Puzzle IO
Before touching any feature, finish this one-time setup.
It takes about three minutes.
Here is what my own workspace looked like on day one:
Now let’s walk through each step.
Step 1: Create Your Account
Go to the Puzzle IO website and click Get Started.
Enter your work email, then add your company name and entity type.
✓ Checkpoint: Check your inbox for the confirmation email.
Step 2: Connect Your Bank Accounts
Open the Integrations tab and pick your bank, card, and payroll tools.
Puzzle IO pulls historical transactions automatically once the connection is live.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: Your transactions list should populate within a few minutes.
Step 3: Finish Self-Serve Onboarding
Confirm your fiscal start date and pick cash or accrual accounting as your default view.
Map your current state honestly here so the books match your existing systems.
The app then drafts your first financial statements.
✅ Done: You are ready to use any feature below.
How to Use Puzzle IO Financial Insights
Financial Insights lets you pull cash burn, runway, MRR, and spending trends into one clean dashboard.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Open the Insights Dashboard
Click Insights in the left sidebar of your workspace.
The default view shows revenue insights for the current month.
Step 2: Pick Your Reporting Window
Switch the date selector to last week, last month, or a custom range.
Metrics recalculate instantly against live financial data.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: You should see burn runway plotted against your current cash balance.
Step 3: Pin the Metrics You Track
Star cash burn runway, gross margin, and payroll costs so they load first.
✅ Result: A single dashboard that shows your startup’s finances at a glance.
💡 Pro Tip: Check this dashboard every Monday. Ten minutes turns raw numbers into actionable insights and catches spending problems early.
How to Use Puzzle IO Tax Compliance
Tax Compliance lets you keep your books clean enough to ensure compliance at filing time.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Open the Compliance Checklist
Head to Close, then open the monthly checklist.
It lists every account you still need to reconcile.
Step 2: Clear Uncategorised Items
Work through flagged rows and assign each one a category and vendor.
Attach receipts directly to the transaction record.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: Every checklist row turns green once the period reconciles.
Step 3: Lock the Period
Close the month so nobody edits historical financial statements by accident.
✅ Result: Books your accountant can file from without a cleanup project.
💡 Pro Tip: Lock each month within ten days of close. Late edits are the number one cause of restated reports.
How to Use Puzzle IO Bookkeeping Services
Bookkeeping Services lets you invite a professional bookkeeper into your workspace without hiring one full time.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Open Team Settings
Click your company name, then choose Team and Access.
Step 2: Invite Your Bookkeeper
Enter their email and set the accountant role.
They get scoped access to transactions and reports only.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: Your bookkeeper appears in the team list with an accountant badge.
Step 3: Assign Ownership
Use responsibility cards to define who owns reconciliation, payroll, and vendor payments.
✅ Result: Clear accountability for every recurring bookkeeping task.
💡 Pro Tip: Give bookkeepers view access to bank accounts but keep payment rights with a founder. It prevents awkward mistakes.
How to Use Puzzle IO Partner Ecosystem
Partner Ecosystem lets you connect payroll, billing, and payment tools so data flows in without manual entry.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Browse Available Integrations
Open the Integrations directory and search by tool name.
Stripe, Gusto, Ramp, and Brex all connect natively.
Step 2: Authorise Each Connection
Sign in through the provider and approve read access.
Historical data backfills automatically.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: Each connected service shows a green sync status and a last sync date.
Step 3: Route Anything Missing Through Automation
Use Zapier or Make to sync tools that lack a native integration.
✅ Result: Your finance stack feeds one platform instead of five spreadsheets.
💡 Pro Tip: Connect billing before payroll. Revenue data makes the first accrual close far easier to review.
How to Use Puzzle IO Accrual Automation
Accrual Automation lets you see cash and accrual accounting side by side without keeping two sets of books.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Switch the Accounting Basis
Use the toggle above any report to move between cash and accrual views.
Step 2: Review the Difference
Compare both numbers for the same month to spot timing gaps.
Investors usually ask for the accrual version.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: The same month shows two different revenue totals, as expected.
Step 3: Export for Your Board
Download the accrual profit and loss as a PDF or CSV.
✅ Result: Board-ready reports without a manual rebuild every quarter.
💡 Pro Tip: Send investors accrual reports and run your own weekly cash monitoring on the cash view. Both audiences get what they need.
How to Use Puzzle IO Built-in Automation
Built-in Accrual Automation lets you post prepaids, deferrals, and depreciation without writing journal entries yourself.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Flag a Prepaid Expense
Open any annual invoice and mark it as a prepaid item.
Step 2: Set the Amortisation Schedule
Enter the service start and end date, then choose monthly spread.
Puzzle books the entries for every future period.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: Future months show the recurring entry already drafted.
Step 3: Review the Generated Entries
Open the journal to confirm the schedule before you close the month.
✅ Result: Annual contracts spread correctly with no spreadsheet tracker.
💡 Pro Tip: Flag prepaids the moment the invoice lands. Retroactive schedules are the fiddliest thing to fix later.
How to Use Puzzle IO Real-Time Insights
Real-Time Insights lets you check today’s numbers instead of waiting three weeks for a closed month.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Open the Home Dashboard
Your live cash position sits at the top of the workspace.
Step 2: Drill into Any Number
Click a metric to open the underlying transactions.
You can trace a total down to a single transaction.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: Clicking cash balance opens today’s synced bank feed.
Step 3: Share a Live Link
Send investors a view-only link instead of a stale PDF.
✅ Result: Real time insights you can act on mid-month, not after it.
💡 Pro Tip: Bookmark the drill-down view for your largest expense category. It is where most budget leaks start.
How to Use Puzzle IO Self-guided Onboarding
Self-guided Onboarding lets you get draft financial statements built for you in roughly 15 minutes.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Start the Guided Flow
New workspaces open the setup wizard by default.
Step 2: Answer the Business Questions
Confirm entity type, fiscal year, and whether you have revenue yet.
The AI uses these details to build your chart of accounts.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: Draft financial statements appear under Reports when the flow finishes.
Step 3: Book a Free Onboarding Call
Complex cap tables or multiple entities? Book the free call from the help menu.
✅ Result: A working set of books on day one instead of week three.
💡 Pro Tip: Do onboarding with your last bank statement open. Matching opening balances now saves an hour later.
How to Use Puzzle IO Smarter Accounting
Smarter Accounting lets you teach the AI your rules once so it categorises transactions the way you would.
Here’s how to use it step by step.
Step 1: Open the Rules Panel
Go to Transactions, then Rules, and click New Rule.
Step 2: Define the Condition
Match on vendor, amount, or description text.
Set the category and any note you want applied automatically.
Here’s what this looks like:
✓ Checkpoint: Matching rows recategorise and the uncategorised count drops.
Step 3: Bulk Apply to History
Run the rule across past transactions to clean up months of backlog at once.
✅ Result: Repetitive tasks handled by rules instead of your Sunday evening.
💡 Pro Tip: Review AI categorisations weekly for the first month. Correcting early builds far better accuracy than a big cleanup.
Puzzle IO Pro Tips and Shortcuts
After eight months inside the app, here are the tips that saved me the most hours.
Success with this platform comes from small weekly habits, not big cleanups.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Global search | Cmd / Ctrl + K |
| Jump to transactions | G then T |
| Categorise selected row | C |
| Select all filtered rows | Cmd / Ctrl + A |
Hidden Features Most People Miss
- Bulk classification: Filter by vendor, select every row, and categorise hundreds of transactions in one click.
- Free onboarding call: Sitting in the help menu, this gets a specialist to configure your workspace with you.
- Cost per step tracking: Tag which tools and services drive each cost so you can cut the ones with no value.
Puzzle IO Common Mistakes to Avoid
Mistake #1: Trusting Every AI Category Without Review
❌ Wrong: Connecting accounts and assuming the AI classified six months of data correctly.
✅ Right: Spend 15 minutes reviewing the first batch, then write rules for anything it got wrong.
Mistake #2: Skipping the Monthly Checklist
❌ Wrong: Only opening the app when investors demand reports.
✅ Right: Run the checklist monthly so reconciliation stays a 20-minute job.
Mistake #3: Using Only the Cash View
❌ Wrong: Reporting cash numbers to investors who expect accrual accounting.
✅ Right: Toggle to accrual before exporting anything that leaves your company.
Puzzle IO Troubleshooting
Problem: Bank Feed Stopped Syncing
Cause: Your bank expired the connection token, which most banks do every 90 days.
Fix: Open Integrations, click the failing bank, and reauthorise it.
Problem: Transactions Categorised Incorrectly
Cause: The AI matched a vendor name that appears in two different categories.
Fix: Correct one transaction, then build a rule from it so the fix sticks.
Problem: Reports Show Different Numbers Than Your Bank
Cause: Pending transactions post on a later date than your statement shows.
Fix: Match your closing balance to the statement date, not to today.
📌 Note: If none of these fix your issue, the help center and customer support team can dig into your workspace.
What is Puzzle IO?
Puzzle IO is AI-driven accounting software that automates bookkeeping for early stage companies.
Think of it like a bookkeeper who never sleeps and never loses a receipt.
One dashboard covers your whole financial health, so you stop juggling spreadsheets.
It was built specifically for startups, which is why it runs cash and accrual accounting together.
Watch this quick overview:
It includes these key features:
- Financial Insights: See cash burn, runway, and MRR on one dashboard
- Tax Compliance: Keep books clean and audit ready before filing season
- Bookkeeping Services: Add a professional bookkeeper without hiring anyone in house
- Partner Ecosystem: Connect banks, payroll, and billing tools in minutes
- Accrual Automation: Run cash and accrual accounting side by side
- Built-in Accrual Automation: Post prepaids and deferrals without manual journal entries
- Real-Time Insights: Check today’s numbers instead of waiting for month end
- Self-guided Onboarding: Generate draft financial statements in about 15 minutes
- Smarter Accounting: Set rules once and let the AI apply them
For a full review, see our Puzzle IO review.
Puzzle IO Pricing
Here’s what Puzzle IO costs in 2026:
| Plan | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting basics | $0/month | Companies under $5k in monthly expenses |
| Accounting plus Insights | $42.50/month | Funded startups tracking burn runway |
| Advanced Automation | $85/month | Teams needing accrual automation and rules |
| Accounting plus Scale | $255/month | Growing companies with multiple entities |
Free trial: Yes — the free tier runs indefinitely for small spenders, and paid plans offer a trial.
Money-back guarantee: No formal guarantee, but plans are monthly and cancel anytime.
💰 Best Value: Accounting plus Insights — it adds the revenue insights most founders open daily.
The upgrade helps you save time at close and keep more money in the bank.
Puzzle IO vs Alternatives
How does Puzzle IO compare? Here’s the competitive landscape:
| Tool | Best For | Price | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Puzzle IO | AI startups and founders | $0/mo | ⭐ 3.5 |
| QuickBooks | Feature depth | $38/mo | ⭐ 4.4 |
| Xero | Multi-currency books | $20/mo | ⭐ 4.3 |
| FreshBooks | Service businesses | $21/mo | ⭐ 4.4 |
| Zoho Books | Budget-conscious teams | $20/mo | ⭐ 4.4 |
| Wave | Solo founders | $0/mo | ⭐ 4.3 |
| Sage | Established companies | $25/mo | ⭐ 4.1 |
| NetSuite | Enterprise finance | $999/mo | ⭐ 4.0 |
Quick picks:
- Best overall: QuickBooks — the industry standard for feature depth and integration
- Best budget: Wave — free invoicing and bookkeeping for tiny businesses
- Best for beginners: Puzzle IO — self-serve onboarding drafts your books in minutes
- Best for startup founders: Puzzle IO — dual-basis accounting plus investor-ready metrics
🎯 Puzzle IO Alternatives
Looking for Puzzle IO alternatives? Here are the top options:
- 🚀 Dext: Receipt and vendor document capture that feeds clean data into your ledger.
- 💰 Xero: Strong multi-currency books with a huge app marketplace and clean reports.
- 🏢 Sage: Deep accounting capabilities for established companies with complex requirements.
- 🎯 Zoho Books: Affordable accounting that connects to the wider Zoho business suite.
- 🔧 Synder: Syncs e-commerce and payment platform data into your books automatically.
- ⚡ Easy Month End: Focused purely on making reconciliation and month-end close faster.
- 🧠 Docyt: AI bookkeeping with automated categorisation for multi-location businesses.
- 🌟 RefreshMe: Lightweight financial tracking for very small teams and side projects.
- 💼 Wave: Free invoicing and bookkeeping, ideal before you raise any money.
- 👶 Quicken: Personal and small business finances in one simple desktop app.
- 📊 Hubdoc: Automatic document fetching from banks and vendors, bundled with Xero.
- 🔥 Expensify: Expense reports and card spending controls your team actually uses.
- ⭐ QuickBooks: The industry standard, with unmatched integration and accountant familiarity.
- 🎨 AutoEntry: Extracts data from invoices and statements so nobody types them manually.
- 🔒 FreshBooks: Clean invoicing and time tracking built for service businesses and clients.
- 🏢 NetSuite: Full ERP with accounting, inventory, and reporting for larger companies.
For the full list, see our Puzzle IO alternatives guide.
⚔️ Puzzle IO Compared
Here’s how Puzzle IO stacks up against each competitor:
- Puzzle IO vs Dext: Dext wins on receipt capture; Puzzle wins as your actual accounting system.
- Puzzle IO vs Xero: Xero has more integrations; Puzzle gives faster startup metrics out of the box.
- Puzzle IO vs Sage: Sage suits established firms; Puzzle suits early stage companies with lean teams.
- Puzzle IO vs Zoho Books: Zoho costs less at scale; Puzzle needs far less accounting knowledge to run.
- Puzzle IO vs Synder: Synder is a sync layer; Puzzle replaces the whole bookkeeping workflow.
- Puzzle IO vs Easy Month End: Easy Month End speeds close only; Puzzle handles the full accounting process.
- Puzzle IO vs Docyt: Both automate categorisation, but Puzzle is built specifically for venture-backed startups.
- Puzzle IO vs RefreshMe: RefreshMe stays basic; Puzzle adds accrual accounting and investor-ready financial statements.
- Puzzle IO vs Wave: Wave is free forever; Puzzle offers real time insights Wave simply does not have.
- Puzzle IO vs Quicken: Quicken targets personal finances; Puzzle targets a startup’s finances and its investors.
- Puzzle IO vs Hubdoc: Hubdoc only fetches documents; Puzzle turns those documents into finished reports.
- Puzzle IO vs Expensify: Expensify manages spending; Puzzle records it and reports on it properly.
- Puzzle IO vs QuickBooks: QuickBooks has more depth; users flee its complexity and cost for Puzzle’s cleaner app.
- Puzzle IO vs AutoEntry: AutoEntry is data entry; Puzzle is the platform that data entry feeds.
- Puzzle IO vs FreshBooks: FreshBooks bills clients better; Puzzle tracks cash burn runway better.
- Puzzle IO vs NetSuite: NetSuite fits enterprises; Puzzle fits companies that want books running this week.
Start Using Puzzle IO Now
You learned how to use every major Puzzle IO feature:
- ✅ Financial Insights
- ✅ Tax Compliance
- ✅ Bookkeeping Services
- ✅ Partner Ecosystem
- ✅ Accrual Automation
- ✅ Built-in Accrual Automation
- ✅ Real-Time Insights
- ✅ Self-guided Onboarding
- ✅ Smarter Accounting
Next step: Pick one feature and try it now.
Most people start with Financial Insights.
It takes less than 5 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you play puzzles step by step?
Puzzle IO is accounting software, not a game. You connect bank accounts, review AI-categorised transactions, reconcile monthly, then export financial statements for your team or investors.
How to solve the puzzle easily?
If you mean the software, start with the free tier. Connect one bank account, let the AI classify a month, then correct anything wrong with rules.
Is puzzle an ERP?
No. Puzzle IO is accounting and bookkeeping software for startups. ERP platforms like NetSuite also handle inventory, procurement, and manufacturing across a whole company.
What is puzzle accounting software?
It is an AI accounting platform that automates bookkeeping, runs cash and accrual accounting together, and shows cash burn, runway, and MRR in real time.
Can you use AI to solve puzzles?
Yes. Puzzle IO uses AI to categorise transactions, apply your rules, and draft financial statements, cutting repetitive tasks that normally eat a bookkeeper’s week.
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