Sharesight vs CGT Strategist is a comparison Australian share investors increasingly run at EOFY, and we get the question a lot. Bias warning, this is the CGT Strategist blog, so we built one of the two products. We'll give it to you straight anyway. Sharesight is a genuinely good product that has earned its place in the Australian investor toolkit, and there are situations where it's the right call over us.
Both tools handle capital gains tax for Australian investors. Both import broker data, both calculate CGT, both produce reports. But they were built to solve different jobs, and the right one depends on what you actually need.
The short version
Sharesight is a portfolio tracker. It runs in the background year-round, tracking holdings, dividends, performance, and corporate actions. CGT reporting is one of its features, alongside many others. It charges a subscription based on the number of holdings you track.
CGT Strategist is a CGT calculator and Evidence Pack generator. It does one job: take a broker CSV, work out your capital gains for a financial year, and produce an audit-ready Evidence Pack. It charges once per workspace per financial year, only when you choose to export.
If you already track your portfolio in Sharesight and only use CGT reporting at EOFY, you may be paying for tracking features you don't use. If you don't care about ongoing tracking and just want a clean CGT report once a year, a one-off purchase is probably a better fit.
What each product is actually built for
Sharesight: portfolio tracking with CGT included
Sharesight has been around since 2008 and has evolved into a comprehensive portfolio tracking platform. The core experience is logging into a dashboard that shows you, in real time, what your holdings are worth, how they've performed, what dividends you've received, and how the whole portfolio is tracking against benchmarks.
CGT reporting sits inside that broader product. When EOFY rolls around, Sharesight can generate a CGT report based on the same transaction data it's been tracking all year. It's a sensible design: if you're already tracking every dividend and corporate action, you may as well use that data for tax too.
CGT Strategist: CGT-first, scenario-driven
CGT Strategist takes the opposite approach. We assume you don't need yet another portfolio dashboard. Your broker has one. Your bank's investment app probably has one. What you need at EOFY is a clean way to work out your capital gains, model different parcel selection strategies, and produce something your accountant (or you) can defend if the ATO ever asks.
So the workflow is built around that. Upload your CSV, see every disposal with FIFO and specific parcel outcomes side by side, click on a disposal to manually allocate parcels, watch the year-level capital gain update live, then export an Evidence Pack with the full calculation trail.
The biggest functional difference: scenario modelling vs reporting
Before pricing, before features, this is the thing to understand. Sharesight's CGT report shows you an answer. CGT Strategist lets you change the answer.
Say you sold 50 shares this year and you have three separate parcels you could be selling from. In Sharesight, you configure how the sale should be allocated, run the report, and see your capital gain. To try a different allocation, you change the configuration, re-run the report, see the new number. The CGT report is the output of a workflow.
In CGT Strategist, the disposal screen shows all three parcels with their cost bases laid out side by side. Click any parcel to allocate it. The year-level capital gain at the top of the page updates live. Try the next parcel. Watch the number move. Mix and match. The CGT calculation is the workflow, not just the output.
For an investor with two or three disposals across simple parcels, this difference doesn't matter much. For an investor with a dozen disposals, multiple parcels each, and a real interest in legitimately minimising tax under ATO rules, it matters a lot. Loss harvesting, balancing gains with losses, choosing between high and low cost-base parcels for partial sells, all become an interactive exploration rather than a back-and-forth between report configuration and report output.
Where Sharesight wins
Worth being explicit, CGT Strategist isn't trying to replace Sharesight as a portfolio tracker. We don't track dividends, we don't sync with brokers live, we don't do performance reporting. There are several real areas where Sharesight is the better choice:
- Automatic broker sync. Sharesight can automatically sync trades from a wide range of Australian brokers, so you never have to manually upload anything. CGT Strategist works from CSV uploads only.
- Dividend tracking. Sharesight tracks every dividend payment, including franking credits, foreign tax paid on US dividends, and dividend reinvestment plans. CGT Strategist does not track dividends or income.
- Corporate actions. Stock splits, mergers, demergers, and bonus issues are handled automatically by Sharesight using their database of corporate events. In CGT Strategist, you currently need to model these manually.
- Performance reporting. Total return, dividend yield, currency-adjusted return, comparison against benchmarks. None of which CGT Strategist does.
- Long-term portfolio tracking. If you want a continuous record of your investments over decades, Sharesight is built for that. CGT Strategist stores your transactions but is not designed as a long-term portfolio tracker.
If you want a single tool that handles your entire investment record-keeping and produces a CGT report as part of that, Sharesight is the more complete product.
Where CGT Strategist wins
We built CGT Strategist because we found that doing CGT inside a broader portfolio tracker had some sharp edges. Here's where the CGT-first approach pays off:
- See your tax bill change in real time. Reassign parcels on any disposal and the year-level capital gain updates instantly. No saving, no re-running reports, no waiting.
- A PDF your accountant can hand to the ATO. Every disposal shows which parcels were allocated, the AUD cost base, the FX rate used, and the gain or loss. Year-level loss netting and the 50% discount applied at the right stage. Built to be readable by a tax professional, not just by the system that produced it.
- Every FX rate, cited per transaction. US share trades converted at the published ATO monthly rate, with the exact rate shown next to each transaction in the Evidence Pack. Estimated rates (where the ATO hasn't published the month yet) are clearly flagged.
- Past Evidence Packs are yours forever, no subscription required to view them. The ATO can audit five years back. If you stop using CGT Strategist next year, your previous Evidence Packs are still on your hard drive, still complete, still auditable, no login or subscription needed. Your records should outlive any vendor.
- $79.99 once, not a monthly fee forever. Pay only when you decide to export. Modelling is unlimited and free. No card on file, no auto-renewal, no recurring charge to remember to cancel.
A worked example, the same disposal in each tool
Let's make this concrete. Say you bought CBA shares in three parcels over the years, and you're selling 50 of them this financial year:
The setup
- 50 shares bought July 2018 at $73.00, cost base $3,650
- 50 shares bought March 2020 at $63.00, cost base $3,150
- 50 shares bought January 2022 at $98.00, cost base $4,900
- Sold 50 shares on 15 March 2026 at $135.00, proceeds $6,750
In Sharesight
Open the CGT report for FY2026. The default is FIFO, so the system disposes of Parcel 1 (2018, the oldest). Capital gain: $3,100 before discount. The general workflow to try a different allocation is: configure the sale allocation, run the report, see the number. To compare three options, you step through that loop three times.
In CGT Strategist
Open the disposal. All three parcels are visible at once with their cost bases and the gain that would result from disposing each. Click Parcel 2 (2020): year-level gain updates to $3,600. Click Parcel 3 (2022): year-level gain updates to $1,850. Click Parcel 1 (2018): back to $3,100. The decision happens through the screen, not through a configure-rerun loop.
Choosing Parcel 3 instead of FIFO is $1,250 less in net capital gain. Both parcels were held more than 12 months, so the 50% discount applies to either. After the discount that's $625 less in taxable gain. At a 47% marginal rate, roughly $294 in tax saved on this single disposal. The point isn't the saving on this one trade, the point is that exploring the option took ten seconds, not three report runs. Do it across a dozen disposals and you're looking at a meaningful difference, made deliberately rather than by accident.
Will my accountant accept the Evidence Pack?
Honest answer, every accountant is different, but the Evidence Pack is built specifically to be useful to them rather than to replace them. Sharesight has 17 years of accountant familiarity behind it, we don't. So here's what's in the Evidence Pack and what to say when you hand it over.
What's in the Evidence Pack
- A PDF report listing every disposal, with the parcels it was allocated to, the AUD cost base of each parcel, the AUD proceeds, the holding period, and the gain or loss before and after the 50% discount.
- An Excel workbook with the same data in spreadsheet form, plus a transaction-level log so anything can be traced back to the source CSV row.
- For US shares, every FX rate is shown next to the transaction it was applied to, with the source (ATO monthly rate, or estimated if not yet published).
- A year-level summary showing how losses were netted against gains and how the 50% discount was applied at the year level (not per disposal).
- A list of remaining open lots at the end of the financial year, with their cost base and acquisition date, so you can see exactly what's still on the books for next year's parcel selection decisions.
When you hand it to your accountant, you can say something like, “I've modelled the parcel selection and exported an Evidence Pack with the full calculation trail. The figures match my broker CSV, and the FX rates are ATO-published. Have a look and let me know if anything needs to change before lodgement.”
Most accountants will appreciate it. Doing parcel allocation by hand on a multi-parcel CGT calculation is fiddly work that they bill for, and a structured trail saves them time. If your accountant prefers their own software for the final calc, the Evidence Pack still works as a clean source-of-truth document for the underlying data. The point is that it isn't asking your accountant to trust a black box, it's showing every step.
Want to see what an Evidence Pack actually looks like before you decide? Real sample PDFs are on the examples page, no signup, no email required. Show one to your accountant before you buy if it helps.
See a real Evidence Pack before you decide.
No subscription, no card on file, no email required to download the samples.
Pricing models, side by side
This is probably the area where the two products diverge the most. Sharesight is a subscription product, CGT Strategist is a one-off purchase. The right choice depends on how you actually use the tool.
We're using Sharesight's Starter tier as the comparison point. It's the cheapest paid tier that includes tax reporting, covers up to 30 holdings, and is the realistic landing spot for most retail share investors with enough disposals to care about parcel selection. If your portfolio fits in the Free tier (10 holdings, no full tax reporting), neither product is doing CGT for you, so there's no comparison. If your portfolio needs the Standard or Premium tier, the gap to CGT Strategist is larger again.
| Sharesight Starter | CGT Strategist | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription, billed monthly or annually | One-off purchase per workspace per financial year |
| Billed annually (April 2026) | $19 AUD/month ($228/year) | $79.99 AUD, once per financial year, per workspace |
| Billed monthly (April 2026) | $25.33 AUD/month ($303.96/year) | $79.99 AUD, once per financial year, per workspace |
| Holdings included | 30 holdings, 1 portfolio | Unlimited transactions per workspace |
| 1 year cost (annual billing) | $228 | $79.99 (only if you export) |
| 5 year cost (annual billing) | $1,140 | $399.95 (5 exports), or less if you skip a year |
| If you stop subscribing | Lose access to historical CGT reports | Past Evidence Packs are PDFs you keep forever |
Verify Sharesight pricing on their site before relying on these numbers. Sharesight currently lists four tiers (Free, Starter, Standard, Premium) split by holdings, portfolios, and features. The headline figure above ($19 AUD/month, billed annually, for the Starter tier) reflects published pricing at the time of writing. Always check the Sharesight pricing page for the current number, tier names and pricing change from time to time. CGT Strategist Evidence Pack pricing is $79.99 AUD per workspace per financial year, including GST.
Both fees may be tax deductible
Worth knowing for either product. The ATO allows you to claim the cost of managing your tax affairs as a deduction against your assessable income, which can include software fees incurred for preparing your tax return. Both Sharesight subscriptions (where used for tax reporting) and CGT Strategist Evidence Pack purchases may qualify depending on your individual circumstances, with the deduction typically claimed in the same financial year you pay the fee.
As an illustration, if the deduction were allowed in full, at a 37% marginal tax rate (the bracket most active retail share investors land in) the Sharesight Starter tier ($228/year) would have an after-tax cost of around $144, and the CGT Strategist Evidence Pack ($79.99) would have an after-tax cost of around $50. The proportional gap between the two stays the same, but the absolute outlay could be smaller than the headline figures suggest. At a 47% top-bracket rate the figures fall further, to roughly $121 and $42 respectively.
Source: ATO, Cost of managing tax affairs. Whether and how much you can claim depends on your situation, talk to a registered tax professional before relying on this in your return.
The structural point: a tracker subscription is value if you use it year-round. If you only really care about CGT once a year, you're paying for ~11 months of features you don't use, year after year. Over five years that's the difference between $1,140 and roughly $400, for the same single job at EOFY. Your situation may legitimately call for the year-round tracker, just go in with eyes open.
Feature comparison at a glance
| Feature | Sharesight | CGT Strategist |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-sync from brokers | Yes | No (CSV upload) |
| Dividend tracking | Yes | No |
| Corporate actions handled automatically | Yes | No |
| Performance & benchmark reporting | Yes | No |
| FIFO CGT calculation | Yes | Yes |
| Specific parcel selection | Yes | Yes (centrepiece of the workflow) |
| Live side-by-side scenario modelling | Limited | Yes |
| FX conversion at ATO published rates | Yes | Yes (rate shown per transaction) |
| Audit-ready Evidence Pack PDF | CGT report | Evidence Pack with full calculation trail |
| 50% discount applied at year level | Yes | Yes |
| One-off purchase option | No | Yes |
Who should pick which?
Pick Sharesight if…
- You want a year-round portfolio dashboard, not just a tax tool.
- You receive lots of dividends and want them tracked automatically with franking credits.
- You have a complex portfolio with corporate actions that you don't want to model manually.
- You're happy paying a subscription in exchange for live broker sync and ongoing tracking.
- You want one tool that does record-keeping, performance, and CGT in one place.
Pick CGT Strategist if…
- You only really care about CGT once a year at EOFY.
- You don't want a subscription for a tool you use occasionally.
- You want to actively explore parcel selection strategies, not just view a finished report.
- You hold US shares and want clear, traceable ATO FX conversion in your Evidence Pack.
- You or your accountant want a self-contained PDF and Excel bundle to keep on file.
If you're an accountant or tax agent
Sharesight Pro is billed per client portfolio, starting at $14.85/month inc GST per portfolio for practices with 5 to 19 clients, scaling down to roughly $10/month per portfolio at 100+ clients. That's $178/year per client at the smallest tier, year-round, and includes ongoing portfolio tracking, dividend reporting, and corporate actions, not just CGT.
CGT Strategist is $79.99 per client workspace per financial year, only when you export their Evidence Pack. If you only need CGT modelling at EOFY for a particular client and don't need year-round tracking for them, it's roughly half the cost. If you want continuous portfolio oversight, dividend tracking, and CGT in one tool, Sharesight Pro is doing more work for the money.
One structural difference worth noting: Sharesight Pro charges per client portfolio year-round, whether or not the client has any disposals that year. CGT Strategist only charges when you export an Evidence Pack, so clients who don't dispose of anything in a financial year cost nothing. For practices with a long tail of buy-and-hold clients, that adds up over time.
Pick CGT Strategist for your practice if…
- You want interactive parcel-selection modelling on a client's real data. See FIFO and specific parcel outcomes side by side, click to reallocate, watch the year-level capital gain update live. Useful on multi-parcel disposals where the right allocation is worth working out deliberately.
- The use case is EOFY CGT, not year-round tracking. If a particular client doesn't need ongoing portfolio oversight, dividends, or corporate actions handled, you're paying for them twelve months a year inside Sharesight Pro and using them for one.
- You prefer one-off billing per client per FY. $79.99 only when you export, no recurring monthly subscription per client portfolio to maintain between engagements.
- Your clients want a deliverable they own. A self-contained PDF and Excel bundle they keep on file forever, no login or subscription required to view it again, even if they switch accountants or you stop using the tool.
- You run a mixed practice. Some clients legitimately need Sharesight Pro's full tracking, others only need EOFY CGT. Use both, charge each client through to the tool that fits their needs.
More detail on the accountant workflow is on the for accountants page.
Can you use both?
Yes, and many investors do. There's no conflict, the tools don't compete on the same job. A common pattern we see:
- Sharesight, year-round. Track holdings, dividends, performance, and corporate actions as they happen.
- CGT Strategist, at EOFY. Upload the same broker CSV, model parcel selection scenarios for each disposal, and export an Evidence Pack for the year. Hand the Evidence Pack to your accountant alongside your Sharesight dividend report.
The Evidence Pack's parcel-by-parcel breakdown and FX trail can also act as a sanity check against Sharesight's CGT report, especially in years with foreign currency or partial sells where edge cases tend to live.
Try it on your own broker CSV before you decide.
Modelling is free and unlimited. You only pay $79.99 if you choose to export the Evidence Pack at the end.
Frequently asked questions
Does CGT Strategist auto-sync with my broker?
No. CGT Strategist works from broker CSV uploads, not live broker feeds. This is a deliberate choice. CGT Strategist is designed to be used at EOFY, not continuously, so a one-time CSV import per financial year is all that is needed.
How does Sharesight pricing compare to CGT Strategist?
Sharesight uses a subscription model with tiers based on the number of holdings and portfolios tracked, billed monthly or annually. As of April 2026, the Starter tier is $19 AUD/month billed annually ($228/year) and is the cheapest tier that includes tax reporting. CGT Strategist uses a one-off purchase model, $79.99 per workspace per financial year, only when you choose to export an Evidence Pack. Modelling is always free.
Can I import a Sharesight report into CGT Strategist?
CGT Strategist works directly from broker CSVs (Superhero, SelfWealth, NAB Trade, and any broker via the custom mapping tool). You don't need an intermediary. If you already use Sharesight and want a second opinion or a one-off Evidence Pack, just upload your original broker CSV.