Dimension
AI Accountant
OnGravy
Verdict
System of record
Tally (or Zoho Books) — AI sits on top + syncs
Native ledger — Tally migration is a one-time import
Tied
Honest note: AI Accountant wins for established Tally CAs who don't want to migrate clients. OnGravy wins for CAs who want one tool that owns the data.
Audit-trail integrity
Standard database audit log
SHA-256 hash chain on every entry + Merkle period seal + Bitcoin OpenTimestamps anchor
OnGravy
Honest note: This is the wedge AI Accountant can't close in 12 months — it requires a ground-up data-model change. See /audit-grade for the proof modules.
AI hallucination control
Generic AI/ML (Claude / GPT under the hood)
6-layer hallucination defence (structural + multi-model + lexical grounding + confidence calibration + semantic grounding + adversarial probe). Every AI answer is citation-grounded.
OnGravy
Honest note: Open-source agent-kit at @ongravy/agent-kit — 14 modules, 221 unit tests. AI Accountant's AI is a black box; ours is auditable.
Jurisdiction coverage
India only
36 markets (IN + AE + SG + SA + GB + AU + US + 30 others) — full tax engines, compliance calendars, regulator e-invoice specs
OnGravy
Honest note: AI Accountant can add jurisdictions but the engineering takes ~6 months per market. We've been at this 2+ years.
Cross-border NRI client workflow
Not addressed
Single product, single login — switch jurisdiction with a sidebar dropdown. FX revaluation automatic. DTAA + FEMA modules built in for IN-side.
OnGravy
Primary partner-facing surface
Web app (typical SaaS workflow)
WhatsApp-native — partners approve / post / query / receive briefs without opening the web app
OnGravy
Honest note: Honest caveat: the web app is still where heavy data entry happens. WhatsApp is for the partner, not the entry-clerk.
Voice voucher entry
Not surfaced
Hindi / English / 8 Indian languages via Sarvam STT + Anthropic Claude
OnGravy
Positioning relative to the CA
"We automate 75% of accounting" — implies the CA's work is mechanical
"The CA still signs. We just take care of everything before it." — signature-respecting
OnGravy
Honest note: This is positioning, not feature. But it lands very differently in a CA partner room.
Two-person sign-off
Single-user approvals
Quorum-based sign-off on high-value vouchers + statutory submissions. Every approval hashed into the audit chain.
OnGravy
Honest note: Required for ICAI SQC-1 firm-level quality compliance.
GST workflows (GSTR-1 / 3B / 9)
Polished — leading feature
Polished — equal coverage including 9C audit reconciliation
Tied
GSTR-2B reconciliation
Polished — featured prominently
Polished — same workflow + AI categorise (learned rules)
Tied
TDS automation
All 100+ sections, blog-published workflow
TDS engine + TRACES upload agent (Anthropic computer-use beta — auto-fills the actual TRACES portal)
OnGravy
Honest note: TRACES portal agent is currently in beta. AI Accountant's TDS coverage is more battle-tested in production.
Income Tax Return automation
ITR-1 / ITR-4 (per their public blog posts)
ITR-1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 — all six forms with the FY 2024-25 rate changes (115BAA, 115BAB, capital gains 12.5%)
OnGravy
Annual filings (ROC / MGT-7 / AOC-4)
Not surfaced
Built-in — Form 3CD, 3CB, MGT-7, AOC-4, ADT-1, CSR-2, DPT-3, DIR-3 KYC, LLP forms
OnGravy
Pricing model
Likely per-CA-firm or per-client (not published)
Three tiers: ₹2,499/mo (individual CA) · ₹14,999/mo (5-20 person firm) · ₹49,999/mo (cross-border / multi-jurisdiction)
Tied
Honest note: AI Accountant doesn't publish pricing; check their site for live numbers. OnGravy publishes every tier up front.
Migration path FROM the other tool
You can't migrate FROM OnGravy yet (we own our format)
CSV / Excel / Tally Backup (.TBP) import. One-click for the common cases.
Tied
Honest note: Honest call: vendor lock-in cuts both ways. We provide one-click export to JSON + CSV (DPDP §11 right) so you can always leave.