10 Best Accounting Software for Freelancers of 2026

QuickBooks Solopreneur ranks first because it covers the whole freelancer routine on one ladder of plans. The Free plan tracks income and expenses, runs profit and loss and balance sheet reports and manages one contractor, but caps you at 2 invoices, 2 receipt uploads and 5 mileage trips a month, unless you enable QuickBooks Payments for unlimited invoices. Lite, at $20 a month after a 3 month promotion, removes those caps, adds the mobile app, automated bill pay, instant deposit and app integrations, and connects to Expert Assisted Tax powered by TurboTax, where you pay only when you file. Simple Start at $38 a month adds accountant access, general reports, recurring payments and unlimited contractors. Customers can pay invoices by card, ACH, Apple Pay, PayPal or Venmo. The weak points are the tight free plan limits and the lack of accountant access on Lite, so freelancers who work with a bookkeeper should budget for Simple Start.

Wave is the strongest free option for freelancers whose main job is billing clients. Starter costs nothing and allows unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records, with a dashboard for cash flow and customers and a mobile app for invoicing on the go. Online card payments on Starter cost 2.9% plus $0.60 per transaction. Pro, at $19 a month or $190 a year, drops the fixed $0.60 part of the card fee, imports and categorizes bank transactions automatically, captures unlimited receipts and sends late payment reminders. Wave also sells Wave Advisors, a done-for-you bookkeeping service starting at $149 a month that includes Pro features and monthly statements. The trade-off is depth: there is no mileage tracker or tax estimate tool on the pricing page, and on the free plan you enter bank transactions yourself. For a freelancer who invoices a handful of clients and keeps simple books, Wave is hard to beat on price.

Zoho Books gives freelancers the most accounting for no money. The free plan, aimed at solopreneurs and micro businesses, lets you create invoices, quotes, expenses and journals, autoscan receipts, track mileage, accept online payments, open a self-service customer portal, automate payment reminders, reconcile the bank, set up recurring invoices and prepare and file 1099s, with profit and loss, balance sheet and more than 50 reports. It allows 1 user and 1 accountant. Standard, $15 per organization a month billed annually or $20 monthly, adds bank feeds, sales and use tax tracking, 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC e-filing, custom reports and 3 users. Professional at $40 adds multi-currency, timesheet billing and project profitability, which matters if you bill foreign clients by the hour. It scores lower on ease of use because it is real double-entry accounting with journals and period locking, so it takes longer to learn than a tax-focused app.

FreshBooks is built around getting paid, which suits freelancers who sell services. Every plan sends invoices and estimates, tracks expenses in real time, accepts card, ACH, Apple Pay, Google Pay and buy now, pay later payments and produces tax-time reports. Lite costs $23 a month after an 80% discount for the first 4 months, but it caps you at 5 billable clients. Plus at $43 raises that to 50 clients and adds proposals, client retainers, receipt scanning, financial and accounting reports and accountant access, and Premium at $70 adds unlimited clients, project profitability and custom email templates. Team members cost $11 per user per month and payroll is a $40 a month add-on. The interface is the easiest here for invoicing, and a 30-day trial needs no credit card. Value is its weak spot: most working freelancers will outgrow Lite, and Plus costs more than double Zoho Books Standard or Wave Pro.

FreeAgent keeps pricing simple: one plan at $27 a month, $13.50 for the first six months, or $270 a year, which works out to $22.50 a month. That plan covers estimates and invoices, expense capture from a phone photo, a built-in stopwatch and timesheets, bank feeds, projects with income, expense and profitability views, and a dashboard that shows cash flow and when tax bills are due. Sales tax reporting and multi-currency invoicing are included, which helps freelancers with clients abroad. Unlimited use of the Smart Capture receipt scanner is a $6 a month add-on, and other add-ons may cost extra. There is no free plan, but the 30-day trial needs no credit card, and there are no contracts or setup fees. FreeAgent is better known in the UK, where its support accountants are based, so US users should check that its tax tools match their filing needs before switching.

Keeper approaches freelancer accounting from the tax return backward. You connect unlimited bank and card accounts, and it tracks expenses and income automatically while AI finds and categorizes deductions, asking you to sort mixed transactions as business, personal or both. Standard, $199 a year or $16.58 a month billed yearly, includes year-round bookkeeping plus a federal and up to 2 state returns reviewed and signed by a tax pro. Premium at $399 a year adds audit protection, multi-state returns, rentals and K-1s, quarterly tax payments, tax pro meetings and amended or late returns. Business at $1,199 covers S-Corp and partnership filing. If you file with someone else, Bookkeeping Only costs $20 a month. Keeper does not send invoices or track time, so it works best next to a separate billing tool. For a contractor whose biggest worry is the Schedule C, it removes the most work for the money.

Xero is the most complete ledger on this list, but its entry plan is priced and limited for a small business rather than a solo freelancer. Early costs $27 a month after an 80% discount for the first 3 months and covers quotes and 20 invoices, 5 bills, bank reconciliation, Smart Document Capture, real-time reports, W-9 and 1099 management, sales tax and a 30 day cash flow forecast. Growing at $59 removes the invoice cap and adds auto-reconcile, budgets and performance dashboards, and Established at $97 adds multiple currencies, project time and cost tracking and expense claims. There are no per-user license fees, free expert setup help is included, and more than 1000 apps connect, including Xero Payroll powered by Gusto. Freelancers who send more than 20 invoices a month will hit the Early cap quickly, so Xero makes the most sense if you already work with an accountant who uses it.

Lili starts from the bank account rather than the ledger. Lili Core is a business checking account with a Visa debit card and no monthly fee. Pro, at $15 a month after a 3 month promotion, adds expense and tax management: transactions sorted into tax categories, receipts and notes on expenses, quarterly and annual expense reports and automatic allocation of money toward tax payments. Smart at $35 adds accounting software with predictive categorization by Lili AI, receipt capture, profit and loss and cash flow statements, unlimited invoices with reminders and payments, bill scanning and sync with external bank and card accounts. Because the bookkeeping runs on the same account where money arrives, there is little setup. The catch is that Lili works best when it is your main business account, and its reports are lighter than Zoho Books or QuickBooks, so it suits sole proprietors with simple finances.

Bonsai is a freelancer business suite more than a ledger, and it belongs here for people whose accounting is mostly invoicing and expense tracking. The cheapest plan, Basic at $9 per user a month billed annually or $15 monthly, covers time tracking, tasks, unlimited projects and a CRM, but not invoices. Essentials, $19 billed annually or $25 monthly, is the plan freelancers need: invoices and payments, proposals and contracts, forms, scheduling, a client portal and expense and income tracking. Premium at $29 adds profit and productivity reports, removes Bonsai branding and adds integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, Zapier, Calendly and Google, which is how you get a full set of books. The free trial is 7 days. Bonsai saves the most time for creative and consulting freelancers who otherwise juggle separate proposal, contract and invoice apps, but you will still want an accounting tool for tax-ready reports.

Hurdlr is a tracking app first. It records mileage automatically, captures business expenses and receipts, follows each income stream and keeps a live estimate of the taxes you owe, with reminders of when to pay. That makes it a good fit for drivers, delivery workers and other freelancers who spend the day moving between jobs. Hurdlr Premium covers expenses, mileage and taxes. Hurdlr Pro adds invoicing with credit card payments and collections, bank reconciliation, accounting designed for owners and their bookkeepers, and core reports including an income statement, balance sheet and trial balance. We could not confirm prices because the pricing page lists the plans without amounts, so it ranks last on value until that is clear. If you mainly need deduction and mileage records and already bill clients elsewhere, Hurdlr is worth a trial, but freelancers who want full books will get more documented features from QuickBooks Solopreneur or Zoho Books.