What is the best accounting software for self employed workers and freelancers?

Quickbooks Self-Employed

If you're just starting out and have relatively simple needs, this might work best for you.

If you want to manage VAT, it's probably not the best option and it will be harder to move if your requirements change, which is worth considering if you think your business will grow or you're close to the VAT threshold.

Quickbooks Online

• Simple Start

• Essentials

Quickbooks Online Accountant

If you're a self employed bookkeeper or accountant, you should consider signing up to Quickbooks Online Accountant.

You won't have any charge to use all of the features, and you'll be able to get significant discounts for any clients you sign up.

These can either be billed to you & you the invoice your client, or you can bill it straight to them (but they'll get a smaller discount).

Xero

Xero is another cloud based online accounting solution which can work well for many businesses.

We love their marketing, however prefer to use Quickbooks in practice the majority of the time.

There's still a wide amount of support out there and plenty of professionals with experience using it, so its definitely an option worth considering if you're thinking of outsourcing your bookkeeping.

Zoho Books

Zoho produce a wide range of Business software solutions which integrate very effectively.

If you need a solution to manage Expense Reports, a Customer Relationship Managament system (CRM), Inventory and many more, you might consider this.

There's a totally free plan you can use for small businesses which you can upgrade when your business needs to.

Sage

Sage is another option which is widely used.

Less used than Quickbooks & Xero, it's still a popular accounting software with payroll etc. but is probably more suited to Limited Companies.

What about some of the other apps?

Lesser known apps are out there, such as Coconut, Wave, FreeAgent, FreshBooks, Crunch.

We wouldn't recommend these as the level of support isn't at the level of the major providers with a finance professional isn't as high.

This means when you need to hire in or outsource tasks, you might find this to be more difficult and cumbersome and this might cost you more in the long run than you think you might save.

So, what is the best accounting software for self employed workers and freelancers?

For us, Quickbooks Online is the best package for almost all businesses. There's a wide range of support & training materials online.

• Intuitive to learn

• Cloud Based - No chance of data loss

• 24/7 Support

• Plenty of training guides & dedicated YouTube channel to develop your skills

• Widely used by many finance professionals

• Easy to move up and down between packages as your needs scale.