QuickBooks Self-Employed replacement: 2026 options compared

QuickBooks Self-Employed is closed to new customers, and Intuit sends new self-employed users to QuickBooks Solopreneur. The best replacement depends on how many clients you invoice and whether an accountant works in your books. Solopreneur suits the simplest sole trader, Wave suits the tightest budget, FreshBooks suits invoice-heavy work and Xero suits anyone planning to grow.

What actually happened to Self-Employed

Intuit stopped taking new Self-Employed signups and replaced it with QuickBooks Solopreneur, which launched in February 2024. Existing subscribers can keep their plan, and the move to Solopreneur is not automatic. Community replies from Intuit staff say you cannot move back once you switch (TrustRadius listing for the discontinued product).

Reviews put Solopreneur at about $20 a month and note that it does not offer double-entry accounting (WinsCloudMatrix review; see also FitSmallBusiness). Intuit changes its pricing pages often, so read the figure on Intuit's own site before you buy. Everything below was checked against each vendor's pricing page in October 2026, and prices shown are standard monthly prices in US dollars before promotions.

If you are already on Self-Employed, you do not have to move today. Move when the tool stops doing a job you need: more clients to invoice, a partner who needs access, or an accountant who wants proper books.

QuickBooks Solopreneur

Solopreneur is the path of least resistance if you were happy with Self-Employed. It tracks income and expenses and handles the basics of a sole trader's taxes, and the setup is simpler than the old product.

Its limits are the reason people look elsewhere. Reviews report no double-entry accounting, which means no full ledger, and that matters the day an accountant or lender asks for real statements. If you need any depth beyond income, expenses and a basic invoice, you are shopping again within a year.

Pick it if you are one person, your records are simple and you value staying inside the Intuit ecosystem more than invoicing features.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is built around invoicing. Its pricing page lists Lite at $23 a month for 5 billable clients, Plus at $43 for 50 and Premium at $70 for unlimited, with each extra team member at $11 a month (FreshBooks pricing). It also shows an introductory discount for the first months, so the price you pay in month five is the standard one.

The client cap is the thing to read twice. Five billable clients on Lite is tight for any business with a regular book of customers, so most service businesses land on Plus. The tool is strong on recurring invoices, reminders and online payments, and weaker than Xero on bank reconciliation.

Pick it if you send many invoices to many clients and you care more about getting paid than about accounting depth.

Wave

Wave's Starter plan is free. It includes unlimited estimates, invoices, bills and bookkeeping records. Pro is $19 a month and adds automatic bank imports, unlimited receipt capture, late-payment reminders and extra user roles (Wave pricing).

The cost shows up in payments. Starter card processing is 2.9% + $0.60 per transaction, and Pro waives the fixed part only for the first ten transactions each month, after which the Starter rates apply. A business that takes many small card payments pays for that free software in processing.

Pick it if your income is variable, your bookkeeping needs are basic and you would rather pay per card payment than per month. A longer comparison of free invoicing tools is in Wave vs Zoho Invoice vs Invoice Ninja.

Xero

Xero is the accountant-friendly option. Its regular prices are $27 a month for Early, $59 for Growing and $97 for Established, with lower introductory prices for the first six months (Xero pricing). Early allows 20 invoices and 5 bills a month, so any business that sends more than 20 invoices needs Growing. The page says there are no per-user license fees, so adding a bookkeeper or partner does not raise the price.

It has a steeper learning curve than the others and more features than most sole traders use. It earns its place when you have staff or contractors, an accountant who wants real books, or plans to grow.

Pick it if you expect more than one person in the business within a year, or your accountant already uses it.

What the sticker price leaves out

The monthly price is only part of the bill. Three other costs decide which tool is cheaper in practice.

Client and invoice caps push you up a tier. FreshBooks counts billable clients, and Xero's cheapest plan counts invoices. A business that grows from four clients to nine on FreshBooks moves from $23 to $43 a month the same week. Look at your busiest month of the last year, not your average one, and pick the plan that covers it.

Payment processing is a cost on top of the subscription. Wave charges per card payment, and the other tools pass through the fees of whichever gateway you connect. If most of your clients pay by bank transfer, processing fees barely matter. If most pay by card, compare the per-payment rate before the monthly price.

Extra people cost money on some tools and nothing on others. FreshBooks lists $11 a month per extra team member. Xero lists no per-user license fees. A bookkeeper who logs in twice a month changes the arithmetic.

Promotions also distort the picture. Several vendors discount the first months heavily, so write down the standard price and ask whether you would still buy at that figure.

How to choose

Two questions settle most cases.

How many invoices do you send a month? Under five, mostly to the same client: Solopreneur or Wave Starter is enough. Five to twenty across several clients: FreshBooks Plus. More than twenty, several currencies or retainers: Xero Growing.

Does anyone else need to work in your books? If an accountant, partner or bookkeeper does, rule out Solopreneur and look at Xero or FreshBooks.

For tax rules that depend on your structure (sole trader, LLC, S-corp election), ask your accountant before you choose. The right tool for a sole trader can be the wrong one once you incorporate.

Moving off Self-Employed without losing a year

Moving is less painful than it looks if you keep it small. Export your transactions and profit and loss reports from the old product before you cancel. Connect the same bank account in the new tool and categorise the last 90 days. Do not try to import three years of history, because most people spend more time fixing a big import than the history is worth. Keep the old account readable until your tax return is filed. Tell your accountant a month before you switch, because their time relearning your books is the biggest hidden cost.

Bookkeeping tools also run alongside your sales tools, not instead of them. A solo business that wants proposals, contracts and a client portal as well will often add something like Bonsai or a similar all-in-one, or compare options in the best invoicing software roundup.

How Delivvo fits next to your accounting tool

Delivvo does not replace your bookkeeping software. It handles the part before the books: getting the work agreed, delivered and paid, and giving you clean invoices to record.

1. An inquiry form collects the lead and drops it on your lead board.
2. You send one link with the quote, the contract and the deposit invoice. The client signs and pays on the same page.
3. Invoices get sequential numbers in your own format, carry the tax details you enter, and can be voided or corrected with credit notes. Payment schedules can split a project into up to 12 payments, and recurring invoices cover retainers.
4. The client pays through your own gateway (Stripe, PayPal and others), so the money goes straight to you. Delivvo takes 0% and is never the merchant of record.
5. The client portal keeps files, approvals and messages with the project, so the work behind each invoice is easy to find. Clients open it with a one-time code, so nobody has to remember a password.
6. Automations send late-payment reminders at 7, 14 and 30 days and stop once the invoice is paid, which saves the awkward chasing email you would otherwise write by hand.

One thing a bookkeeping tool will not do: every Delivvo invoice, receipt, contract and quote carries a verification code, so a client or your accountant can check a document on the verify page.

Delivvo is not an accounting product and does not connect to QuickBooks or Xero today, so keep your ledger in whichever tool you pick above and record Delivvo's invoices and payments there. See how the invoicing side works on the invoicing page.

For the wider picture, see how Delivvo compares with FreshBooks and the CRM for service businesses.

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