The Uku alternative with real AML screening and staff leave
Uku is a strong time-and-billing platform from Estonia used across Europe. ZenWorkflow matches it on workflows, time and invoicing, and adds PEP and sanctions screening, risk assessments, staff leave and multi-entity support, from €39 per user per month.
Choose ZenWorkflow if you want
- Built-in PEP and sanctions screening and risk assessments, not just AML fields
- Staff leave, balances and capacity in the same system
- Client ownership records for corporate and audit work
- Several firms or entities from one login
Uku is the better fit if
- Automated recurring billing from tracked time is the main problem to solve
- You want a client portal and e-signatures included
- A solo practitioner with up to 20 clients on the $19 plan
- Multilingual interface for a Nordic or Baltic team
ZenWorkflow vs Uku at a glance
Uku and ZenWorkflow are the two most similar tools in this series. The differences are compliance depth and people management.
| ZenWorkflow | Uku | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | From €39/user/month | From $19 solo, $38/user/month Team (yearly) |
| Free plan | Free plan for one user and 10 clients | |
| Workflow and job management | Templates, checklists, owners, budgets and approvals | Recurring tasks and templates |
| Client records and ownership | Contacts, directors, shareholders, ownership and history | Client database and budgets |
| Time tracking and timesheets | Weekly timesheets with submit-and-approve | Time tracking with timers |
| Invoicing, estimates and credit notes | Invoices, estimates, credit notes and receipts | Automated billing from time |
| AML/KYC screening and risk assessment | PEP and sanctions screening, risk assessments, document expiry | AML fields and expiry reminders; no screening |
| Staff leave and capacity | Requests, balances and a team leave calendar | |
| Multiple firms or entities | Several firms or entities from one login, fully isolated | One firm per account |
| Client portal | Secure magic-link sharing, no full client portal | Client portal and e-signatures |
| Integrated email inbox | Email templates | |
| Document storage | Per-client files, Google Drive sync | Document management |
| AI assistant | In-app assistant plus Claude and ChatGPT connection | Limited |
| Reporting | Capacity, profitability, compliance and billing reports | Analytics and profitability |
| Contract | Monthly or yearly, no minimum seats | Yearly for listed prices |
Uku details from its public pricing and feature pages and independent reviews, checked October 2026. Plans change: confirm on their site before deciding.
From €39/user/month (Practice) or €58/user/month with AML/KYC, billed monthly or yearly.
Everything is included at each tier: workflows, clients, time, billing, leave, reporting and the AI assistant, with AML/KYC on the Practice + AML plan. There are no per-module fees and no minimum number of users, and the free plan covers one user and ten clients.
Solo $19, Team $38, Elite $48 and Enterprise $88 per user per month, billed yearly.
Solo is capped at 20 active clients. Time tracking, automated billing, a client portal, document management and e-signatures are included, with free onboarding. AML is an app that adds fields and expiry reminders to the client record rather than performing screening, and there is no staff leave management.
Why firms move from Uku
Uku users like the design and the billing. The gaps show when regulation and headcount grow.
Fields are not screening
Uku records AML status; ZenWorkflow runs the PEP and sanctions check and the risk assessment itself.
No leave management
Time off and balances live elsewhere. ZenWorkflow plans work around the leave calendar.
Ownership structure
Directors, shareholders and beneficial owners are not modelled. ZenWorkflow keeps them on the client record.
One firm per account
Groups juggle logins. ZenWorkflow isolates each entity under one.
Screening and risk assessment, done in the app
Run PEP and sanctions searches on clients and their owners, complete a structured risk questionnaire and track identity-document expiry, with the evidence on the client record.
Time to invoice, with the controls
Weekly timesheets with submit-and-approve, budgets against actuals, and invoices built from approved hours and fixed fees, reviewed before they go out.
Leave and capacity beside the work
Requests, approvals and balances feed a team calendar that sits next to workload reports, so capacity is planned from facts.
Switching from Uku in three steps
Guided onboarding imports your data and validates it with you before go-live. Most firms are running within a few weeks.
Export clients and tasks
Export your client database and recurring task list from Uku to CSV.
Import into ZenWorkflow
Import clients and jobs, add directors and shareholders, and set billing rates per team member.
Templates and go live
Recreate recurring tasks as templates and run the next month from ZenWorkflow.
ZenWorkflow vs Uku: questions firms ask
Straight answers on pricing, migration and where each tool wins.
Yes for regulated firms that need actual screening and risk assessments, teams that want leave management, and groups with several entities. If automated recurring billing and a client portal are the whole brief, Uku is a very capable choice.
Solo is $19, Team $38, Elite $48 and Enterprise $88 per user per month billed yearly, with a 14-day trial and free onboarding.
Its client portal and e-signatures, and a multilingual interface aimed at Nordic and Baltic teams. ZenWorkflow shares with clients through secure links.
Yes. Export clients and tasks to CSV and import them with guided onboarding.
The Practice plan is €39 per user per month, or €390 per user per year. Practice + AML, which adds PEP and sanctions screening, risk assessments and KYC document tracking, is €58 per user per month or €580 per year. A free plan covers one user and ten clients, and every paid plan starts with a 14-day free trial. There are no module fees or minimum seat counts.
Yes. ZenWorkflow is built in the EU and is used by accounting, audit, tax, legal and corporate-services firms across Europe and beyond. It bills in EUR or USD, supports multiple entities from one login and includes the AML/KYC due-diligence that EU and UK regulated firms need, without a US-tax or Companies-House-only focus.
Yes. Start a free trial with no credit card, import a handful of clients and run one real engagement end to end. Book a demo if you would rather see your own workflows set up first.
See how ZenWorkflow compares with other tools.
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See ZenWorkflow next to Uku on your own work
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