freee K.K. vs RAKUS Co., Ltd.
RAKUS holds the stronger position because it pairs rising profits with lighter competitive pressure, while freee faces heavier rival pressure from Money Forward and a sharp drop in net profit.
freee K.K.
Cloud accounting and back-office SaaS for Japanese small and mid-size businesses
RAKUS Co., Ltd.
Japanese SaaS maker of cloud expense management and business email tools for SMBs
Dimension by dimension
| Dimension | freee K.K. | RAKUS Co., Ltd. |
|---|---|---|
| Staying power of the core product | freee competes in a more evenly matched accounting and payroll software market, where its position could shift either way. | RAKUS shows steady demand for its Chatplus and Raku Raku Seisan tools among Japanese SMBs. |
| Exposure to AI | AI also partly touches freee's accounting and payroll tools, with similar exposure levels. | AI partly touches RAKUS products, but no major customer loss shows up in the evidence. |
| How easily a giant could copy them | A giant could also possibly copy freee, whose accounting and payroll tools offer less differentiation to deter entrants. | A giant could possibly copy RAKUS, though its established SMB customer base offers some resistance. |
| Pressure from rivals | freee faces heavier direct pressure than RAKUS, with Money Forward growing faster from a larger base in the same market. | RAKUS faces LayerX Bakuraku as the domestic AI-native threat to watch, but overall competitive pressure remains lighter. |
| Revenue growth | freee grew net sales 30.8% year over year to ¥33.27 billion in FY2025.6, with guidance for 26.0% growth to ¥41.93 billion in FY2026.6. | RAKUS grew consolidated net sales 23.3% year over year to ¥60.3 billion in FY2026.3. |
| Profitability | freee's nine-month net profit fell 67.5% year over year through March 2026, even as revenue kept rising. | RAKUS posted a 28.8% operating margin and net profit growth of 66.1% year over year in FY2026.3. |
Questions people ask
- Is freee losing money?
- freee is not losing money outright, but its nine-month net profit dropped 67.5% year over year through March 2026 even as revenue climbed. RAKUS, by contrast, grew both revenue and net profit sharply in its most recent fiscal year.
- Can AI easily replace RAKUS or freee's products?
- Both companies show partial AI exposure, meaning AI touches parts of their offerings but has not fully absorbed either product line. Neither RAKUS nor freee shows a clear sign of full replacement in the current evidence.
- Which company is growing faster, RAKUS or freee?
- freee is growing revenue faster, with 30.8% year over year growth in FY2025.6 compared to RAKUS's 23.3% in FY2026.3. However, RAKUS is converting that growth into stronger profit gains, while freee's profit has fallen sharply.
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