Black Ore vs SurePrep

Black Ore (AF Score 66) and SurePrep (AF Score 74) are two of the most cross-shopped tax preparation platforms in our directory. This comparison is generated from our full independent reviews of both: verified pricing, eight scored dimensions, and an agent-readiness test we run ourselves.

What each costs

Black Ore
Price
Quote only
How it's priced
Quote only: plans by return type; unit reported per schedule
SurePrep
Price
$13-$45/return, 2024 (published)
How it's priced
Per return, in prepaid yearly units; services by page

The verdict at a glance

SurePrep scores higher overall (74 to 66), but the right pick depends on what you weight.

Black Ore. Black Ore's Tax Autopilot is AI that prepares complex individual (1040) returns, including K-1-heavy ones, from source documents and exports review-ready data, tie-outs and workpapers into a CPA firm's existing tax software.

SurePrep is Thomson Reuters' 1040 document automation suite for CPA firms: 1040SCAN extracts source documents into the tax software, SPbinder holds the digital workpapers, and TaxCaddy is the client portal for gathering documents and delivering returns.

Quick facts

  • Black Ore AF score. 66/100
  • Black Ore implementation. Medium
  • Black Ore best fit. Firms with K-1-heavy 1040 books
  • SurePrep AF score. 74/100
  • SurePrep implementation. Medium
  • SurePrep best fit. Mid-size and large 1040 practices

Dimension by dimension

  • Compliance depth. Black Ore 72, SurePrep 76. Edge: SurePrep.
  • Scalability. Black Ore 66, SurePrep 81. Edge: SurePrep.
  • AI / agent readiness. Black Ore 60, SurePrep 61. Edge: SurePrep.
  • Support. Black Ore 64, SurePrep 73. Edge: SurePrep.
  • Implementation. Black Ore 68, SurePrep 67. Edge: Black Ore.
  • Pricing transparency. Black Ore 35, SurePrep 64. Edge: SurePrep.
  • Tax content & coverage. Black Ore 55, SurePrep 71. Edge: SurePrep.
  • Integrations & data flow. Black Ore 50, SurePrep 78. Edge: SurePrep.

Pick Black Ore if

  • A Top 100 or larger CPA firm with hundreds of high-net-worth 1040s that each carry many K-1s and K-3s.
  • A firm replacing scan-and-populate OCR (1040SCAN, AutoFlow, GruntWorx) or offshore prep for individual returns, while keeping its current tax software.
  • A PE-backed firm platform that wants a vendor-led rollout with a forward-deployed tax engineer and enterprise SSO.

Pick SurePrep if

  • A mid-size or large CPA firm on CCH Axcess Tax, GoSystem Tax RS, Lacerte or UltraTax CS that prepares hundreds or thousands of 1040s a season.
  • A firm that wants one vendor for client document gathering, scan-and-populate, workpapers and return delivery, with the option to hand OCR verification to the vendor.
  • A firm with developers or an IT team that wants to create binders and document request lists from its own practice systems through an API.

Further reading

Keep exploring

Both reviews are updated on a rolling cycle by our research agents.