Accounting software for self-employed individuals has been an ongoing and complicated issue. Many popular programs require you to have a bank account, credit card, or some type of funding to make payments to use them. But there is now another opportunity that allows you to keep your finances private while still using accounting software.
Below you can find the list of best accounting software for self-employed available on the market with its pros and cons.
Top 5 Accounting Software For Self-Employed
Best Accounting Software For Self-Employed Reviews
1. Best Overall: QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed offers many features designed specifically for self-employed people that make running your business less stressful and more productive. Whether you’re an individual contractor or a freelancer with multiple side gigs to juggle, it’s never been easier to manage your finances with this intuitive digital tool.
For many small business owners, accounting and bookkeeping can be more trouble than it’s worth. And for self-employed people, managing their business finances can be intimidating. That’s where QuickBooks Online Self-Employed comes in — a service designed to help freelancers and individual contractors better manage their finances.
The main feature of QuickBooks Self-Employed is that it helps you manage your taxes and invoicing clients, and paying bills. Simply enter your transactions into the app or website, import them from accounts you link to (like banks), or snap photos of your receipts using Intuit Anywhere document scanning technology.
Pricing Plans
- Simple Start – $12.50/mo.
- Essentials – $20/mo.
- Plus – $35/mo.
- Advanced – $75/mo.
All Plans Include
- Income and expenses.
- Invoice and payments.
- Tax deductions.
- Powerful reports.
- Receipt capture.
- Mileage tracking.
- Cash flow.
- Sales and sales tax.
- Estimates.
- Contractors.
- Includes 25 users.
- Bill management.
- Time tracking.
- Customized access.
- Exclusive Premium Apps.
- Task management.
2. Best For Professional-looking Invoices: FreshBooks
FreshBooks is accounting software that lets me hold myself accountable to my clients and deposit my earnings with ease. It offers a hassle-free experience for any type of work and comes at an affordable price tag. With its straightforward interface, this software lets me efficiently manage my time to keep track of what I should allow myself to do each day.
As an accounting software product for the self-employed, FreshBooks is your ticket to financial freedom. It’s something anybody can pick up quickly and use without a hitch — even if you’re a first-timer to business.
FreshBooks Features
Easy To Use
FreshBooks has a simple, intuitive interface that doesn’t confuse or frustrate users. The software was created by people who understand the needs of small business owners and are passionate about helping them succeed, so they make it easy to do your accounting and get paid quickly.
Mobile
The software makes it easy to work on the go by giving you access to your account through your smartphone, tablet, or laptop. You can securely log in anywhere so that you don’t miss any work (or get behind on billing).
Designed For Small Business Owners
The FreshBooks team knows the struggles of being self-employed: it’s hard to get paid on time, there are up-front costs to register, and you don’t always have a reliable way to get your work done. FreshBooks fills in the gaps: it’s easy to use, mobile and accessible from anywhere.
Affordable
FreshBooks pricing is based on usage instead of many customers like almost all other accounting software. They offer you a free trial! So if you’re not sure what it can do for you, try it out first for free and then switch if you need more features or services.
Pricing Plans
- Lite – For professionals with basic needs – $7.50/mo.
- Plus – For owners looking for more automation and insights – $12.50/mo.
- Premium – For growing businesses that want to empower employees – $25.00/mo.
3. Best Complete Accounting Solution: Wave
Wave is accounting software for self-employed people, freelancers, and small business owners. The software allows you to create invoices, track your expenses and generate reports. Wave is a cloud-based solution, so all data is automatically synced across all your devices.
Wave Features
Wave is a cross-platform application. It’s available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. The application offers real-time data sync among multiple devices.
The software provides an option to send invoices directly from the app with integrated PDF support to attach your invoice to an email for easier tracking expenses. The software allows you to create invoices and track expenses with a drag and drop list of expenses, customizable templates for creating invoices, a dashboard that gives insights into your business performance over time, and networking options for connecting other app users.
All Plans Include
- Unlimited income and expense tracking.
- Track sales tax on income and expenses.
- Add unlimited partners, collaborators, or accountants.
- Fully functional double-entry system.
- Unlimited bank and credit card connections.
- Easily organize income and expenses into tax categories.
- Run multiple businesses in one account.
- Instantly see how your business is performing on your dashboard.
4. Best Easy-To-Use: Xero
Xero is a cloud accounting software that helps you manage invoicing, saving receipts, reconcile bank accounts, and more. In this post, we will list the features of Xero and how it can benefit your business.
The features include
- A complete set of financial reports in one place.
- Cloud-based system.
- Track sales invoices, expenses, and stock with ease.
- Capture photos of your receipts when filing expense claims or creating sales orders.
Pricing Plans
- Early – Good for sole traders, new businesses, and the self-employed – $11 per month.
- Growing – Good for growing small businesses – $32 per month.
- Established – Good for established businesses – $62 per month.
5. Best For Very Small Businesses: Zoho Books
Zoho Books is a software application designed to help you effectively organize your business finances. You’ll find a number of useful features that can help you keep track of your receipts, invoices, bills payments, and more. The account management feature takes the hassle out of accounting and makes it easy for you by providing you with automated tasks.
You’ll also be able to easily create reports for tax purposes, import your existing data from Quickbooks or Xero in just a few clicks, export data into Excel via CSV or PDF formats, and e-mail documents directly from the app without having to send them through email attachments first. It’s easy for you to update your account balances, find transactions using the search feature, add new transactions as soon as they’re completed, and create reports.
Pricing Plans
- Free – €0.
- Standard – €10.
- Professional – €20.
- Premium – €30.
Buyer’s Guide
There are various kinds of accounting software that you can choose from. The most popular choices are the software that is subscription-based or free.
Subscription-Based
With subscription-based software, you pay a set amount of money each month to have access to the program. You can update your data and information as many times as you want as long as you keep your subscription current. This option is a bit more expensive, but it will save you more money in the long run.
Free
The final option for accounting software is completely free. This program allows you to download it from the internet and use it with no monthly fees attached to it. But it does have some major disadvantages, as you are free to update your information as often as you want, but it doesn’t allow you to store information on your computer or account. It only stores it on their server and deletes it once they close your account.
Benefits Of Accounting Software For Self-Employed
There are many benefits to using accounting software for self-employed individuals.
Here are some of the main advantages to using an accounting software:
- You have more control over your finances.
- Your information is kept updated and secure with no risk of theft or damage.
- You can easily figure out how much money you can make in a certain time period just by calculating total sales for that month or year.
- You do not need to keep track of all the receipts and invoices, as they are automatically added to your accounting system through credit card purchases, payments, and other financial transactions.
It is also very easy to add multiple clients and business ventures into one program with a few simple clicks on your computer screen.
FAQ
What Is Accounting Software For The Self-Employed?
Accounting software for self-employed people is a great solution for those looking to simplify their taxes, track their time, or just keep up with what’s happening in the business.
What Is The Best Accounting Software For The Self-Employed?
The best accounting software for self-employed individuals or small business owners is a program that accurately records income and expenses while also making it easy for you to enter data from multiple sources. Some of the most popular programs include Quickbooks Self-Employed, FreeAgent Self-Employed Accounting Software, and Xero.
Is Quickbooks Good For The Self-Employed?
Yes, QuickBooks is accounting software that can help people run their successful small businesses. It is intuitive and easy to use, which makes it perfect for someone looking for an affordable option without spending hours learning how it works.