The Best Accounting Apps for the Self-employed

Whether you’re a freelancer, or run a solo business as a sole trader, the right accounting app will help you stay organised, by facilitating the tracking of income and expenses, helping you prepare for tax season.

We’ve tested and researched several accounting apps, and based on our findings, QuickBooks is the best accounting app for the self-employed. Its dedicated £10 per month Sole Trader plan gives users access to customised reports and financial budgeting tools, a rarity for starter plans, and allows for unlimited invoices and quotes.

If you own and operate your own business and manage a few employees, you might prefer our recommendations for the best small business accounting apps.

The Best Self-employed Accounting Apps: Summary

Here’s a quick summary of what the best accounting apps for the self-employed have to offer. The scores included in the table below are the overall scores awarded to the providers during our most recent round of accounting software research, which is targeted at small and medium-sized businesses. However, for this article, we’ve focused closely on features that would benefit self-employed individuals, which is why they’re not listed in descending order:

1. QuickBooks: Best for Financial Planning and Reporting

For the self-employed, we recommend QuickBooks’ £10 per month Sole Trader plan, or its £16 per month Simple Start plan if you’re VAT registered. Both starter plans give you access to the same level of customised reports and financial projection tools, making QuickBooks a great choice for ambitious entrepreneurs.

Why we recommend QuickBooks

On QuickBooks Sole Trader and Simple Start plan, you get access to custom reporting and a cashflow projection tool. Rivals FreshBooks and FreeAgent don’t offer custom report building on any of their plans, and ZohoBooks doesn’t offer cashflow protection on its £10 plan, unlike QuickBooks.

This makes QuickBooks a solid choice for entrepreneurs with an eye on future growth, who need an accounting app to help them manage their money. We were also impressed by QuickBooks’ data dashboard, which summarised key stats like revenue in easy-to-read charts and graphs.

Both of QuickBooks’ starter plans for the self-employed give you unlimited invoices and quote sends, which isn’t the case for rival ZohoBooks.  We also found the process of creating quotes, and converting them to invoices quite seamless in QuickBooks, since there was an obvious button for it. Sending payment reminders to clients was also a breeze, since we could do this directly from the overdue payments page.

Lastly, we love the fact that QuickBooks’ £10 Sole Trader plan has a tool for separating personal and business transactions with just a swipe. Not everyone who’s self-employed has a separate business bank account, so this feature can simplify tax submissions. QuickBooks is the only provider we’ve tested to offer this tool.

Our experience with QuickBooks

QuickBooks wasn’t the easiest platform to use that we tested. This was mainly because of unclear signposting and a slightly cluttered menu, as well as the fact that a lot of core processes, like expenses and tax rates, require manual set-up prior to using the platform.

However, once you’ve got the hang of the platform’s quirks, using it is a lot easier. QuickBooks also offers helpful tooltips and a clear setup guide that made getting started easier, and we liked the fact that the menu could be customised to optimise efficiency.

Are there any downsides to using QuickBooks?

As we’ve noted, QuickBooks’s main downside is that it comes with a steep learning curve. The platform has its quirks, and we found certain tasks, such as tax setup and expense creation, to be overly complex and time-consuming. More user-friendly alternatives include ZohoBooks and FreshBooks, which we’ll talk about in more detail later on in the article.

QuickBooks is also the only accounting app on this list, besides Sage, to not offer a time-tracking tool. This isn’t great if you’re the kind of person who likes to measure how long you spend on tasks in order to optimise your schedule, or if you need to track billable hours.

2. ZohoBooks: Easiest Accounting App to Use

For the self-employed, we recommend ZohoBooks’ free plan (which, believe it or not, is actually highly functional) or its £10 per month Standard plan. Both plans give you access to easy-to-use invoicing and expense tracking tools, and you can even manage VAT starting from the free plan, making ZohoBooks a great cheap accounting software.

Why we recommend ZohoBooks

Functional free plans are a rarity in accounting software, making ZohoBooks great value for money. It was also the easiest to use of all the accounting apps we tested, largely thanks to its clear menu and dashboard, which was free of jargon, and its smart invoice design, which had clear editing fields.

When it comes to features, on the free plan, users can track VAT and file returns, a feature not offered on QuickBooks’ starting plan. There are other tools you wouldn’t expect from a free software, such as a client portal, the ability to set up recurring invoices and payment reminders, and mileage tracking and receipt scanning for expenses. For comparison, Clear Books only allows for mileage tracking and employee submissions of expense claims on its £36 per month Large plan.

However, you are limited to 1,000 invoices and  1,000 expenses a year on ZohoBooks’ free plan, but upgrading to the highly affordable £10 per month Standard plan will give you more wiggle room, with invoices and expenses increased to 5,000 per year respectively.

Regardless of what ZohoBooks plan you’re on, you’ll also get access to one of the best mobile accounting apps on the market. While most competitors offer a mobile app, ZohoBooks’ app was the most comprehensive, allowing users to manage payments and view reports on the go, the same as they would from their desktop. A lot of competitors, including Sage and Xero, don’t let you view reports from their apps, while FreshBooks doesn’t let you process transactions.

Our experience with ZohoBooks

ZohoBooks was the easiest-to-use accounting platform that we tested, making it a great option for self-employed individuals with limited accounting experience. Features we liked include the sidebar dropdown menus, which were easy to interpret and free of jargon, and the email-inspired layout of quotes and invoices. We also liked that the system gave us prompts when an error was detected.

We did have trouble with a few tasks. For example, we struggled to create customised reminders for clients, since we couldn’t send out bulk reminders, and we found the search function on ZohoBooks unhelpful, since it required an exact match to come up with search results. This might slow down the learning process a little.

Are there any downsides to using ZohoBooks?

ZohoBooks has limited customer support availability compared to competitors like FreshBooks. Live support is only available from 9 am to 6 pm on weekdays, which isn’t ideal for self-employed people who work irregular hours. FreshBooks is a better option for support since lines are open until midnight all days of the week.

ZohoBooks also only integrates with around 12 third-party apps, and is geared towards businesses and individuals who plan on using Zoho’s ecosystem of software. If that’s not on the cards for you, you might prefer QuickBooks or Xero, since they integrate with 750 and 1,000 apps respectively.

3. FreshBooks: Best for the Newly Self-employed

The best FreshBooks plans for the self-employed are its £15 per month Lite plan, and its £25 per month Plus plan. Although FreshBooks’ pricing might be higher than the accounting apps we’ve looked at so far, it’s a great option for the newly self-employed who are unfamiliar with accounting, since FreshBooks offers great help and support and was the second most user-friendly platform we tested.

Why we recommend FreshBooks

FreshBooks is easy to use, and offers great help and support, plus it comes with all the core accounting tools self-employed people need. For example, on the £15 Lite plan, you’ll get access to VAT support, and budgeting tools for projects. You’ll also get access to unlimited quotes, invoices, and expenses, which isn’t the case with rival ZohoBooks.

Like ZohoBooks, the FreshBooks app has a clear layout that’s relatively jargon-free, making it easy to navigate. It’s also possible to edit most settings directly from the page you’re working on, something most rivals don’t offer, a feature that helped make FreshBooks highly intuitive.

However, since FreshBooks offers better options than ZohoBooks when it comes to help and support, we think it’s better suited to nervous first-timers. For example, FreshBooks’ phone line is open until midnight even on weekends and a 24/7 chatbot,  so you can get help outside of traditional working hours. ZohoBooks’ phone line is only open on weekdays.

FreshBooks’ knowledge centre is also very well stocked. Written guides covered a wide range of topics and were clear and up to date, a stark contrast to competitors such as ZohoBooks and ClearBooks, whose selection of guides we found to be quite limited.

Our experience with FreshBooks

We found FreshBooks very easy to use, especially when it came to its invoicing and quote tools. They had a clear layout, with obvious action buttons, and we could edit settings directly on the page we were working on. On other platforms, we had to go to a separate settings page, which was confusing.

The signposting was generally very clear, but we did think the term “estimates” to describe the quote creation tab was needlessly vague. This might have been done in an effort to reduce financial jargon, but it just made the initial exploration confusing. Our biggest issue was with FreshBooks’ emailing tool. There didn’t seem to be a button for sending messages to clients, and it was easy to accidentally resend invoices since there was little warning before hitting “send”.

Are there any downsides to using FreshBooks?

One of the biggest downsides to using FreshBooks is that there’s a 5-client limit on the £15 per month Lite plan, and a 50-client limit on the £25 per month Plus plan. You need to be on the £35 per month Premium plan for unlimited clients. If you’re self-employed and have a long list of established clients, you might prefer QuickBooks, since it doesn’t have client number limits on its cheapest plans.

FreshBooks also doesn’t have a great mobile app for on-the-go management. The app can’t be used to view reports or process transactions, unlike ZohoBooks’ app, limiting its usefulness.

4. FreeAgent: Best Value for Money

For the self-employed, we recommend FreeAgent’s £10 per month landlord plan (you don’t need to be a landlord to use it), or its £19 per month Sole trader plan. What sets FreeAgent apart from its rivals is that you can access any of its plans completely for free if you have a business bank account set up with one of four banks, including Natwest and Mettle.

Combine this with great tax support and financial planning tools available on all plans, and FreeAgent offers the best value for money.

Why we recommend FreeAgent

If you meet the criteria for a free FreeAgent account, then using it as a self-employed person is almost a no brainer, since besides reducing your monthly overheads, you’ll also get access to great accounting tools.

After FreshBooks and ZohoBooks, FreeAgent was the third most user-friendly accounting app we tested, making it highly suitable for those with limited experience. One example is FreeAgent’s invoicing tool, which came with a timeline feature, so we always knew how far along in the process we were. There’s also no limit on the amount of invoices, expenses, or clients you can track on all FreeAgent plans, unlike for ZohoBooks or FreshBooks.

After Clear Books, FreeAgent has some of the best tax support. The platform offers comprehensive end-of-year reports, and tax reminders telling what you owe and when it’s due, so you never miss a deadline. FreeAgent is also the only accounting platform on this list to offer tax forecasting, which helps you plan out your future budget in line with tax.

All FreeAgent plans also include a cashflow projection tool, a tool missing from FreshBooks and Clear Books, making FreeAgent a solid choice for sole traders or entrepreneurs planning out their growth.

Our experience with FreeAgent

As we’ve noted, FreeAgent was the third easiest-to-use platform that we tested, largely due to its clearly laid out templates for quotes and invoices, and its invoice timeline and tax reminder tools.

However, we had difficulty locating features like payment reminders, customisation options for invoice reminders, and currency settings, since they were located in places we didn’t find very obvious. The search bar also didn’t produce any results to help us find these features when we tested them.

Are there any downsides to using FreeAgent?

FreeAgent isn’t the best platform for reducing manual effort. It was one of the few platforms we tested that didn’t suggest options for frequently entered data, slowing down data entry, and you can only import contacts from CVS, invoices need to be entered manually.

For better importing capabilities and faster data entry, we recommend QuickBooks or ZohoBooks. However, if your accounting needs are quite simple, this may not be an issue.

Like ZohoBooks, FreeAgent also doesn’t offer any live support outside of traditional working hours. We also found the guides in the self-help centre a little vague. For more available support, FreshBooks is the way to go.

5. Xero: Best for Experienced Individuals with Established Clients

For the self-employed, we recommend Xero’s £16 per month Ignite plan, or its £33 per month Grow plan, with the latter offering better value for money with unlimited invoices and expenses. What Xero lacks in ease of use, it makes up for in number-crunching power, making it a great option for sole traders who have been in the game a while and have an established client list.

Why we recommend Xero

While Xero wasn’t the easiest platform to use, we were highly impressed by the high level of detail we could assign to quotes and invoices. We could include unique items or client IDs into quotes, as well as use a wide variety of tax codes, making Xero a great tool for individuals with a diverse portfolio. The one caveat is that you’re limited to 20 invoices per month on the £16 Ignite plan, a smaller allowance than on ZohoBooks’ free plan.

We were also impressed by Xero’s expense management tools, although these are only available from the £33 per month Grow plan. You’ll be able to upload receipt images, log mileage, and even link expenses to clients, something no other accounting app we tested let us do. It was also quite straightforward to add expenses, thanks to a clear layout and numerous options for assigning expenses to a category.

Xero, like QuickBooks, also has some impressive reporting and forecasting tools. Users get access to a cash flow projection tool, available even on the £16 Ignite plan, and custom reporting.

Plus, Xero has a client portal, the Xero Portal, which lets clients securely view or interact with their financial data, which is great for maintaining trust with long-term clients. It’s one of the few providers besides ZohoBooks to include a portal that’s this comprehensive.

Finally, Xero integrates with 1,000 third-party apps, making it a great choice for self-employed individuals who are keen on software, and want to integrate their accounting tool with CRM software, or an online store.

Our experience with Xero

We rated Xero as the most difficult to use out of all the accounting platforms we tested, but that doesn’t mean that everything was a struggle.

As we’ve noted, we were quite impressed with Xero’s invoicing and expenses tools, and found these quite easy to use overall. Our one complaint is that Xero seems to always place extraneous fields, like IDs, above vital ones like addresses, leading to a lot of scrolling. The bills function stood out to us, since we were able to create new clients and adjust currencies directly from the page we were working on.

That said, Xero’s dashboard was quite overwhelming, with a lot of key tools hidden in dropdown menus with extremely vague headings. Certain tools were also in odd places. The client import function wasn’t housed in the client tab, for example, leading to a lot of back and forth.

Are there any downsides to using Xero?

In terms of accounting features, Xero has a very complete kit. The main downside is that you have to pay at least £33 per month to access key tools like expense management and unlimited invoices. You can get these tools for less with competitor QuickBooks.

Xero can also be quite tricky to use, especially if you’re new to accounting. The overall design and structure of the platform seemed quite archaic to us, and not in line with modern usability standards. For a more beginner-friendly option with powerful tools, we recommend ZohoBooks.

6. Sage: Best for Maintaining a Strong Brand Image

If you’re self-employed, we recommend Sage’s £15 per month Accounting Start plan, or its £30 per month Accounting Standard. The Start plan is better for freelancers who offer services, while the Standard plan works best for sole traders dealing with suppliers and product purchases.

Why we recommend Sage

Whether you’re on the £15 Accounting Start plan, or the £30 Accounting Standard plan, Sage is a great option for self-employed individuals looking to curate a brand image for themselves or their budding business.

That’s because it offers a high level of customisation for quotes and invoices, as well as being able to send unlimited invoices. We found it very easy to change the layout, and could position the logo where we wanted instead of in an imposed spot. Sage also offers separate templates for products and services, so pre-existing templates match what you’re selling.

Sage isn’t just good for aesthetics, although it was one of the most modern-looking platforms we tested. It also has decent tools for reporting and analysis. Although you won’t get financial planning tools on Sage’s cheapest plan, unlike with QuickBooks, new users can get access to Sage’s brand new AI Copilot. The AI tool can suggest tips for optimising workflows, and help you understand data by summarising and interpreting reports.

The £30 Standard plan comes with more advanced reporting tools, including custom report building, and has a dedicated menu tab for profit and loss reporting. You’ll also get access to a cashflow forecasting tool, although we didn’t find it as easy to interpret as QuickBooks’ version.

Our experience with Sage

As we’ve noted, we liked Sage’s invoicing and quote tools, since we found them easy to customise. We felt the platform provided great tools for managing both services and products, and we were also impressed by some of its reporting tools, particularly its profit and loss statements, which were easy to interpret and customise.

That said, Sage wasn’t exactly an easy platform to navigate. We found it hard to locate core features like payment reminders, currency settings, and expense reporting. This was mainly due to vague menu signposting, and very unclear self-help resources.

Are there any downsides to using Sage?

Sage is missing a few key accounting tools, including a time-tracking tool and automatic payment reminders for late payments.

Besides QuickBooks, it’s the only accounting software we tested to not have a time-tracking tool. The lack of automatic payment reminders also means it’s not the best tool if you have a very long list of clients.

7. Clear Books: Great Tax Support for VAT

If you’re willing to pay £29 per month for Clear Books’ Medium plan, then you’ll get access to some great tax support for not only VAT, but other forms of tax. While self-employed people who aren’t VAT registered can get access to decent bank transfer integration and invoicing on the £13.50 Small plan, its not as good value as competitors’ starter plans.

Why we recommend Clear Books

With key tools such as VAT submissions and expense management reserved for Clear Books’ £29 Medium plan, the main appeal of the £13.50 Small plan is that it gives you access to an unlimited number of users, which most competitors’ starter plans don’t do.

When it comes to day-to-day accounting, Clear Books offers straightforward invoice and quote templates that we found relatively easy to customise. We also really liked its pop-up project creation tool, since this made it easy to create new categories for work.

What’s most useful with Clear Books are the tax support tools you get access to on the £29 Medium plan. You’ll get automatic tax calculations not just for VAT, but also for income, sales, and GST. Clear Books supports the largest variety of tax types of any provider on this list, so it’s a great tool if you sell diverse goods or operate internationally.

Like most accounting apps, Clear Books also integrates with HMRC, so you can submit tax returns directly through its portal, but what makes Clear Books unique is that it automatically updates tax on services and products when regulations change. Most other providers require manual changes.

We also thought Clear Books offered a great “Tax Projection” tool, which gives guidance on upcoming tax payments and can help you stay compliant.

Our experience with Clear Books

We found Clear Books slightly more difficult to use than its competitors, mainly because there were naming inconsistencies in the navigation, and the platform was quite cluttered overall, which made it difficult to see key buttons and tools.

That said, we really loved Clear Books’ search bar, since unlike the competitor equivalents, it actually offers results without an exact match. Creating a quote was also quite easy once we’d located where this tool was, although we found the customisation options quite limited.

Are there any downsides to using Clear Books?

Clear Books’ main downside is its price, since to get the most out of the accounting app you need to be on the £29 per month Medium plan.

Even at that price, Clear Books also doesn’t have great financial insights and prediction tools. It doesn’t allow for customised reporting, and it’s missing a cash flow projection tool, even on its most expensive plan. You can access these tools for much less on QuickBooks’ £10 plan.

Buying Guide: How to Choose a Self-employed Accounting App

If you’re self-employed and looking for the perfect accounting app, here’s what you should focus on:

Ease of use

Unless you’re a chartered accountant, you’re probably not overly familiar with accounting tools, and just need a simple app to help you submit accurate reports to HMRC. This is especially true if you’re new to being self-employed, so look for software that’s rated as being user-friendly. Choosing a provider with available help and support team, and a great knowledge centre with guides and advice is also useful.

If you do have prior experience and are looking to switch accounting software, then ease of use won’t count as much, especially if you’re focused on gaining access to more advanced features.

Features

How the features match up against your needs is probably the second most important aspect of choosing accounting software.

For example, some providers, like QuickBooks, offer starter plans that don’t include VAT support, but if you’re VAT registered, you need to make sure you choose a provider or plan that can calculate and track VAT for you.

You should ask yourself if you want to get more than simple bookkeeping and tax returns out of your accounting app. Some ambitious entrepreneurs are also looking for financial projections to help them plan future growth.

Costs

Cost is always going to be a factor when choosing software, especially when you’re self-employed and trying to maximise your income and reduce expenses.

Luckily, most accounting software providers have plans that start in the £10 to £15 per month range, but that doesn’t mean they’re all made equal. Some have invoice and client limits, for example, so make sure you evaluate features against price.

Mobility and accessibility

This probably isn’t the first factor to come to mind, but it’s important to consider how and where you work, and whether your accounting software adapts to you. If you’re busy and on the go, we recommend choosing software with a solid mobile app that has virtually all the features the desktop app has, so you can manage accounting from anywhere.

You should also think about your clients. Do you want/need to be transparent about your finances with them? If so, we recommend choosing accounting software with a client portal, where clients can view and interact with data.

Integrations

Accounting software probably isn’t the only type of business software you’ll be using. All your business software doesn’t need to integrate, but if you use technology such as an online store, choosing an accounting platform that can integrate with other systems will make sure no data gets lost, and you don’t have to spend time manually moving it between platforms.

Methodology: How We Test Accounting Apps