Best Accounting Software for Freelancers and the Self-Employed in 2026: Invoicing, Expenses and Tax

Accounting software for freelancers has to do three jobs well: send invoices and get paid, record expenses, and show what you will owe in tax. QuickBooks Solopreneur, FreshBooks and Wave are the general hosted picks for freelancers in the United States and Canada, and FreeAgent is built for UK freelancers and contractors. If invoicing is the main job, Zoho Invoice, Invoice Ninja and InvoiceShelf cover it at low or no cost.

Tax rules differ by country, so this guide includes country-specific tools alongside the general ones, and each section says where a tool stops being useful. Picks are grouped by job, and nothing here replaces advice from an accountant.

What freelancers need from accounting software

A freelancer is usually the owner, the salesperson and the bookkeeper at once, so the tool has to save admin time. Vendor pages for this audience keep naming the same needs:

• Getting paid. Invoices that clients can pay online, with reminders for late ones. FreshBooks, Xero, Drupd and Zoho Invoice all describe this.
• Expenses and mileage. Receipt capture and, in some tools, phone-based mileage tracking. QuickBooks Solopreneur and NorthOS both describe it.
• Tax readiness. FreeAgent files Self Assessment directly with HMRC, NorthOS maps expenses to the CRA's T2125 form, and Artur calculates how much to set aside for VAT, income tax and social security.
• Billable hours. FreshBooks, Bonsai and Zoho Invoice turn tracked time into invoices.

Which of these matters most depends on whether an accountant files your return, or you do.

How we picked

Each tool does a core freelancer job: invoicing, bookkeeping, tax preparation or client billing. For hosted products Enlisted reads the vendor's own pages and the pricing model, and for open-source and source-available projects it checks the licence, GitHub activity and self-hosting support. Several country-specific tools appear because tax rules decide the choice for many freelancers. For the method, see how Enlisted ranks tools, or browse the finance category.

Best all-in-one accounting software for freelancers

These hosted products keep a ledger as well as sending invoices. All four are closed-source with no self-hosted version.

1. QuickBooks: best for US sole proprietors who want a version sized for one person

QuickBooks is Intuit's accounting software family, and it includes QuickBooks Solopreneur and QuickBooks Self-Employed alongside QuickBooks Online. Intuit describes Solopreneur as built for single-owner businesses without employees, including sole proprietors who file Schedule C, with GPS mileage tracking, receipt capture, estimates and invoices that clients can pay online.

Because Intuit's product names have changed over time, check which freelancer edition is currently sold before you compare plans. Accountants commonly know QuickBooks, which helps when you hand over your books. See QuickBooks alternatives and the QuickBooks alternatives guide.

• Best for: US freelancers who want mileage, receipts and invoices in one app that their accountant recognizes.
• Watch out for: the product family is confusing, so confirm the edition, and it is a paid hosted product.

2. FreshBooks: best for turning billable hours into invoices

FreshBooks is cloud accounting and invoicing software aimed at freelancers and small businesses. Its pages describe invoicing with recurring invoices, automated payment reminders and online payments, a time tracker that pulls unbilled hours into a draft invoice, estimates and proposals, and expense and mileage tracking.

That makes it a fit for consultants and designers who bill by the hour. Enlisted lists it as a paid product with no self-hosted option, and the vendor offers a free trial before you pay. Browse the FreshBooks listing.

• Best for: service freelancers who bill time and want estimates, proposals and invoices together.
• Watch out for: there is no free plan, only a trial, and plan limits on clients or features should be checked on its pricing page.

3. Wave: best free starter plan for freelancers in the US and Canada

Wave is accounting and invoicing software with a free Starter plan. Wave's help pages say it is available only to businesses in Canada and the United States, and that the Starter plan includes invoices, estimates, bills, manual bank statement uploads, categorization, reconciliation, reports and a mobile app.

Automatic bank imports belong to the paid Pro plan, card payments carry a per-transaction fee, and payroll is separate. See Wave alternatives for options if you are outside those two countries.

• Best for: US and Canadian freelancers with simple books who want to start at no cost.
• Watch out for: bank connections need Pro, it is not available elsewhere, and there is no self-hosted version.

4. Xero: best for freelancers who want bank feeds and an accountant on the same books

Xero is cloud accounting software that connects to your bank, accountant and apps. Its page for sole traders and freelancers describes branded invoices with online payment and reminders, receipt capture with Hubdoc, automated bill entry, bank reconciliation and a mobile app.

Xero offers no free plan, only a trial, so it suits a freelancer who is willing to pay for bank feeds and for easy accountant access. Compare options on the Xero alternatives page.

• Best for: freelancers who earn from several clients and want transactions to flow in from the bank.
• Watch out for: it is more than a freelancer with a handful of invoices needs, and there is no free tier.

Best accounting software for the self-employed by country

Tax forms and deadlines decide the choice here, so each tool below is tied to a country.

5. FreeAgent: best for UK freelancers and contractors

FreeAgent is online accounting software designed for UK freelancers, contractors and small businesses. Its pages describe filing Self Assessment directly to HMRC, auto-populated sections of the self-employment form, a tax timeline of filing and payment deadlines, and a tax breakdown that lenders may accept for a self-employed mortgage.

Enlisted lists it as paid with a trial and no general free plan. The tax features are UK-specific, so it is not a general pick elsewhere. See the FreeAgent listing.

• Best for: UK sole traders and contractors who file their own Self Assessment.
• Watch out for: UK-only tax tools, and no free plan.

6. NorthOS Bookkeeping: best for Canadian sole proprietors

NorthOS is a Canadian bookkeeping app for sole proprietors that tracks GST/HST thresholds and remittance, works out Quick Method or Regular Method amounts, and maps expenses to the CRA's T2125 lines. It scans receipts from Google Drive and logs mileage in iPhone and Android apps.

It also shows tax set-aside and safe-to-spend figures as income arrives. It is a paid product, hosted in Canada, with free calculators and templates on its site.

• Best for: Canadian freelancers who want GST/HST and T2125 handled in the books.
• Watch out for: it is built for Canadian rules only.

7. Artur: best for freelancers in Portugal who invoice with recibos verdes

Artur is a Portuguese-language web and macOS app that shows how much to set aside for VAT, income tax and social security as invoices are issued, and tracks the related deadlines. It integrates with InvoiceXpress and Segurança Social Direta and has an AI assistant that answers from your own data.

It is a paid product with monthly and annual plans, so it suits freelancers who invoice in Portugal and read Portuguese.

• Best for: self-employed workers in Portugal who want to see their tax reserve.
• Watch out for: Portuguese-language and country-specific, with no free plan.

8. Factura: best for Swiss freelancers who need QR invoices

Factura is Swiss invoicing software, built and hosted in Switzerland, with QR invoices that follow Swiss standards, quotes, expense tracking, timers with per-project rates and reports for profit and loss and VAT by rate. Mac and Windows apps are offered for the timer.

It offers a free 14-day trial and paid plans, and it is invoicing-led rather than full double-entry accounting. Austrian freelancers may look at Contaro, a free-plan bookkeeping app for the DACH region with invoices, receipts and time tracking.

• Best for: freelancers invoicing Swiss clients who need compliant QR invoices.
• Watch out for: Swiss-focused, and it does not describe bank reconciliation.

Best free and self-hosted invoicing for freelancers

If a ledger is more than you need, these focus on billing.

9. Zoho Invoice: best free hosted invoicing with time billing

Zoho Invoice is an online invoicing and time billing tool from Zoho for freelancers and small businesses. It covers estimates, recurring invoices, expense tracking and billable time, and connects to other Zoho apps.

It is free within limits on users, projects and invoices per year, and invoices carry Zoho branding. The step up is Zoho Books, the full accounting product from the same company.

• Best for: freelancers who want free invoicing and might move to a fuller Zoho product later.
• Watch out for: free-plan limits and branding on invoices.

10. Invoice Ninja: best source-available invoicing you can host or rent

Invoice Ninja is a source-available invoicing app built with Laravel for invoices, quotes, projects, time tracking, expenses and payments, with desktop and mobile apps. GitHub lists its licence as Other, so read the licence before you modify or resell it.

You can use the hosted service, which includes a free plan capped by client count, or self-host the code on your own server. The README says the hosted app's Pro and Enterprise features are included in the source code.

• Best for: freelancers who want invoicing, projects and time tracking and may want to self-host later.
• Watch out for: it is source-available rather than a standard open-source licence, and it is not a ledger.

11. InvoiceShelf: best open-source self-hosted invoicing

InvoiceShelf is a self-hosted invoicing app under AGPL-3.0 for freelancers and small businesses. It creates invoices and estimates as PDFs, records payments and expenses, schedules recurring invoices, offers a customer portal and supports several companies with scoped roles.

A public demo with sample data lets you look around before installing. You run the server, so budget time for updates and backups. See the free accounting software guide for open-source ledgers such as Bigcapital and Akaunting.

• Best for: technical freelancers who want invoicing data on their own server.
• Watch out for: self-hosting only, and it is not a full accounting ledger.

For free hosted invoice makers, the catalogue also lists Drupd, which prints payment details on invoices and never handles the funds, and BillSlip, whose free plan covers unlimited itemized invoices.

Best for proposals, contracts and client work

12. Bonsai: best for proposals, contracts and invoices in one place

Bonsai is business management software for freelancers and small agencies that combines a CRM, proposals, agreements, a client portal, time tracking and invoicing, with expense tracking, bookkeeping and accounting integrations on the finance side. It is priced per seat on paid tiers with a trial and no free plan.

Bonsai's site also describes a tax product for 1099 workers that flags deductible expenses, so check where it is available. It sits between a client-management tool and a bookkeeping app. Compare it with project tools in the guide to project management software for freelancers.

• Best for: freelancers who want the paperwork from proposal to invoice in one system.
• Watch out for: no free plan, and per-seat pricing adds up if you add collaborators.

13. HoneyBook: best for creative freelancers managing bookings and payments

HoneyBook is client management software for freelancers and creative studios covering proposals, contracts with e-signature, invoices, online payments and project tracking. It is positioned as a CRM rather than an accounting ledger.

The vendor says it is available to business owners in selected countries, including the United States and Canada, so check your country first. It is paid with a free trial.

• Best for: photographers, designers and other creatives who sell through proposals and bookings.
• Watch out for: not a ledger, and country availability is limited.

Best free desktop accounting for freelancers

14. GnuCash: best free double-entry ledger for a technical freelancer

GnuCash is free double-entry accounting software licensed under the GNU GPL for Windows, macOS and Linux. It lists bank account and stock tracking, income and expense tracking and a checkbook-style register, and it has no hosted service.

It suits a freelancer comfortable with accounting concepts who wants a local ledger at no cost. Because it has no hosted service, there are no client payment links or portal as in hosted tools. Plain-text options for developers include hledger and Beancount, and Quicken's Business and Personal edition targets self-employed people separating business and personal money; see the Quicken alternatives guide.

• Best for: a freelancer who wants a free local ledger and does not need client-facing features.
• Watch out for: no online payments or client portal, and some accounting knowledge is expected.

What freelancers should check before buying

• Your country. Wave serves businesses in Canada and the United States, FreeAgent's tax tools are for the UK, and HoneyBook is limited to selected countries. Confirm the tool supports your tax forms.
• Ledger or invoices only. Invoice Ninja, InvoiceShelf, Zoho Invoice and Drupd bill clients but do not replace bookkeeping.
• What is paid. In Wave, bank imports need Pro, in Bonsai there is no free plan, and in Zoho Invoice free means limits and branding.
• How you are paid. Some tools process card payments with a fee, while others print bank or payment-link details on the invoice. Pick the one that matches how your clients pay.
• Who sees the books. If an accountant files your return, check that they can log in or receive exports.

Which accounting software should a freelancer choose?

• US sole proprietor wanting one app: QuickBooks Solopreneur.
• Hourly billing with estimates and proposals: FreshBooks.
• Simple books on a free plan in the US or Canada: Wave.
• Bank feeds shared with an accountant: Xero.
• UK, Canada, Portugal or Switzerland: FreeAgent, NorthOS, Artur or Factura.
• Free or self-hosted invoicing: Zoho Invoice, Invoice Ninja or InvoiceShelf.
• Proposals, contracts and invoices together: Bonsai or HoneyBook.
• A free local ledger: GnuCash.