Best Bookkeeping Services for Solopreneurs (2026)
Outsourcing your bookkeeping can save hours per month and ensure accurate books for tax time. We evaluated the top online bookkeeping services for solopreneurs and one-person businesses on price, quality, tax support, and ease of working with the team.
Affiliate Disclosure: We may earn a commission from our partners. Our editorial team independently evaluates all tools based on features, value, and user experience.
Our Top Picks
Bench
Best overall online bookkeeping service for small businesses.
QuickBooks Self-Employed
Best DIY bookkeeping for tax-focused freelancers.
Wave
Best free bookkeeping software for solopreneurs.
The Bottom Line
Bench is our top pick for solopreneurs who want to completely outsource their bookkeeping to professionals. For those who prefer DIY, QuickBooks Self-Employed is best for US freelancers, while Wave is unbeatable at zero cost.
Outsource, Software, or Spreadsheet
For a one-person business there are really three options, and the honest way to choose between them is to price your own time rather than compare feature lists.
Full-service bookkeeping — Bench, from $299/month — means a real person reconciles your accounts monthly and hands you finished financial statements. You are buying back several hours a month and, more importantly, the certainty that the books are right when something depends on them.
DIY software — QuickBooks Self-Employed at $15/month, Wave at nothing — means the categorising is yours. Bank feeds and rules do most of the repetitive work, but the judgment calls and the monthly reconciliation stay with you.
A spreadsheet is a defensible answer below roughly $30,000 of revenue with few transactions, and it stops being one the moment you have a business bank account, several clients and any volume of card expenses.
## How to Work Out Which One You Are
Time the work honestly for one month. A solopreneur with one business account and 40–60 transactions a month typically spends two to four hours on bookkeeping. At a $60/hour rate that is $120–$240 of billable time, which brackets the gap between DIY software and full service almost exactly. Full-service pays for itself when your rate is high, your transaction count is high, or the hours come out of client work rather than evenings.
## What to Check
Tax filing is usually separate. The most common surprise in this category is discovering in March that the bookkeeping fee covers the books and not the return. Ask whether filing is included, an add-on, or not offered, and get the annual total rather than the monthly one.
Catch-up costs extra. If you are behind, prior-year cleanup is quoted separately from the monthly fee, and it is often the largest single invoice you will receive. Get it quoted before you sign.
Cash vs accrual. Most solopreneurs are on cash basis, which is simpler and matches how a freelancer actually experiences money. If a service defaults to accrual, ask why — the answer should be specific to your situation.
Your data on the way out. Confirm you keep your ledger in a portable form if you leave. Books you cannot export are books you cannot hand to a CPA.
Quarterly estimates. A bookkeeper who reconciles monthly but never tells you what to set aside has solved half the problem. Either the service projects your quarterly payments or you need something that does — our [quarterly tax calculator](/calculators/quarterly-tax) covers it.
## Price Comparison for 2026
- Wave: free. Full double-entry accounting, no bookkeeper.
- QuickBooks Self-Employed: from $15/month. Adds quarterly tax estimates and Schedule C categories.
- Bench: from $299/month. A dedicated bookkeeping team and monthly financial statements.
The Cheapest Real Improvement
Before spending anything, open a separate business bank account and run every business transaction through it. Commingled accounts are what make bookkeeping expensive — they force someone to sort personal from business line by line, whether that someone is you or a service billing by the hour. Separating accounts cuts the work roughly in half and costs nothing; [our banking picks](/banking) are all free for freelancers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do solopreneurs need a bookkeeper?
Not always. Below roughly $50,000 of revenue with a modest transaction count, DIY software plus a separate business bank account is usually enough. A bookkeeper earns their fee once transaction volume makes monthly reconciliation a multi-hour job, once you have an S-corp election or payroll, or once the books need to be reliable for something external — a loan, an accountant, or a buyer. The test is whether bookkeeping is displacing billable work.
How much does bookkeeping cost for a one-person business?
Full-service online bookkeeping for a solopreneur starts around $299/month, which is Bench's entry pricing. DIY software costs $0 to $15/month — Wave is free, QuickBooks Self-Employed is $15/month. A local independent bookkeeper typically charges $40–$80/hour and a small business often needs three to six hours a month. Prior-year catch-up work is quoted separately in every case.
Does a bookkeeping service also file my taxes?
Usually not in the base price. Bookkeeping produces accurate books; filing a return is a separate service, sometimes offered as an add-on and sometimes not offered at all. Ask before you sign, because a bookkeeping subscription plus a separate tax preparer is a materially different annual cost from a bundled service. If you file yourself, clean books make the return straightforward — the categories map to Schedule C lines directly.
Is bookkeeping software tax deductible?
Yes. Bookkeeping software subscriptions and bookkeeping service fees are both ordinary and necessary business expenses, deductible on Schedule C — software under office or software expense, a bookkeeper's fee under legal and professional services. The same applies to the tax preparation portion attributable to your business return.
What is the single best thing I can do to make bookkeeping easier?
Open a dedicated business bank account and run every business transaction through it, with no personal spending mixed in. Commingled accounts are the main reason bookkeeping becomes expensive: someone has to sort personal from business line by line, and that someone bills by the hour. Separating accounts costs nothing, roughly halves the monthly work, and makes the business side of your finances defensible if it is ever questioned.
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This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Tax laws change frequently. Always consult a qualified CPA or Enrolled Agent for your specific situation.