With many of the accounting solutions on the market today geared toward growing businesses or large enterprises, some self-employed individuals may be struggling to find software that works for them. QuickBooks Solopreneur aims to fill that gap, offering basic bookkeeping capabilities at an affordable price.
We at the MarketWatch Guides team have thoroughly researched QuickBooks Solopreneur. We tested its platform and scored it against our rating system, giving it 4.3 stars out of 5 stars. Keep reading for more information on how the software works and who it is best for.
QuickBooks Solopreneur at a Glance
Below are the scores we gave QuickBooks Solopreneur for the individual metrics in our rating system. We averaged these scores together to get the overall rating of 4.3 stars.
Flip Card
QuickBooks Solopreneur
QuickBooks declined to provide a comment about its scoring.
What Is QuickBooks Solopreneur?
QuickBooks Solopreneur has undergone several transformations since its inception. It started as QuickBooks Self-Employed, catering to freelancers, contractors and other self-employed individuals. Intuit began rebranding the product as QuickBooks Solopreneur to better reflect its target audience of solo entrepreneurs, slowly rolling out the change into early 2024.
Along with the name change, new features also emerged to help solopreneurs manage their finances more effectively. Mainly, improvements were made to the expense tracking, invoicing and tax preparation features.
Who Is QuickBooks Solopreneur Best For?
QuickBooks Solopreneur is built for individuals who are running their business on their own without other team members. Below is a list of the types of individuals that might fall into that bucket:
- Freelancers
- Independent contractors
- Consultants
- Gig workers
- Solopreneurs
Benefits of QuickBooks Solopreneur
QuickBooks Solopreneur provides simplified business accounting for small business owners. Below, we highlight some of its top advantages to consider.
- Solopreneur-specific features: The software has the basics, including invoicing, expense management, tax preparation and mileage tracking. It doesn’t have extras, such as payroll processing, that solopreneurs don’t need, which keeps the platform affordable and easy to navigate.
- Affordable pricing: QuickBooks Solopreneur is $20 per month, though there are usually deals running to make it even more affordable.
- Ease of use: QuickBooks Solopreneur provides the user-friendly interface that QuickBooks products are known for, making onboarding easy for business owners who are new to accounting software.
- Profitability and growth features: QuickBooks Solopreneur helps users plan for the future. You can set goals for what you want your profits to look like and track your progress toward those goals.
Drawbacks of QuickBooks Solopreneur
While QuickBooks Solopreneur offers many benefits, there are some limitations that are important to consider before you choose it as your accounting software.
- No free version: While QuickBooks Solopreneur is affordable and has a free trial, it doesn’t offer a free plan. Many other business accounting products on the market do, including Wave, which is another basic platform for freelancers.
- Lack of scalability: This product is designed specifically for solopreneurs who run one business. If you start another side hustle or your business grows to the point of needing to hire employees, you won’t be able to continue using this software.
QuickBooks Solopreneur Pricing Plan
QuickBooks Solopreneur is a single paid plan, though you can take advantage of the free trial to get familiar with it before making a financial commitment.
Solopreneur Plan
The QuickBooks Solopreneur plan is priced at $20 per month. It comes with basic accounting capabilities, including:
- Receipt capture: Photograph and categorize receipts for tax deductions and expense tracking.
- Mileage tracking: Keep track of miles driven and gas used for expense reporting.
- Invoicing: Create and send customized, professional invoices to clients.
- Profitability and growth tracking: Set profit and growth goals, and run reports to see how you’re tracking against them.
- Expense management: Separate business and personal expenses to maximize deductions.
Free Trial
QuickBooks Solopreneur offers a free 30-day trial, but it requires credit card information. With the free trial, you have access to all of the plan’s capabilities. If you decide that you want to continue using the platform after the 30 days are up, your card on file starts getting charged the plan amount automatically.
How To Use QuickBooks Solopreneur
In this section, we give some tips on how to set up and use the QuickBooks Solopreneur platform. It’s important to note that Intuit is still transitioning from the Self-Employed name to the Solopreneur name, so some media we show may have the old branding.
Getting Started
Once you sign up, you can set up your bank account and untangle your business and personal expenses. The “Home” tab will give you an overview of everything you have done and tell you if you have anything left to do.
The “Home” tab of the QuickBooks Solopreneur dashboard
Using the Mobile App
You can get an overview of your finances on the go with the QuickBooks mobile app. The app is especially useful for tracking mileage and capturing receipts.
The “Home” screen of the QuickBooks Solopreneur mobile app
Creating and Sending Invoices
You can create an invoice by clicking the “New” button at the top left of the home page. Once you select “Invoice,” this screen appears.
Creating a new invoice in the QuickBooks Solopreneur dashboard
From there, you can fill in the blank boxes. For example, there are boxes for the customer’s name, email, address and more.
Tracking Expenses
In the “Transactions” tab, you can see all of the transactions from your bank account. You can categorize them as either business, personal or split expenses. There’s also a spot for subcategories (e.g., office supplies underneath the business umbrella).
The “Transactions” tab of the QuickBooks Solopreneur dashboard
Capturing Receipts
The easiest way to capture receipts is by using the mobile app. There’s a green button in the bottom right corner (shown in the screenshot below). Click that button to use your phone’s camera to take a picture of the receipt.
The receipt capture button in the QuickBooks Solopreneur mobile app
Tracking Mileage
The mobile app is also the best place to track mileage. Open the app, navigate to the “Mileage” tab, and turn on auto-tracking. As you drive, the app logs your miles. After the fact, you can go back into the app to categorize the miles driven as business or personal.
The “Mileage” tab in the QuickBooks Solopreneur mobile app
QuickBooks Solopreneur Alternatives
It’s important to compare QuickBooks Solopreneur to other accounting software to ensure that you select the right product for your business needs. The chart below compares QuickBooks Solopreneur to QuickBooks Online and Xero.
QuickBooks Solopreneur vs. QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Solopreneur and QuickBooks Online both use the same QuickBooks platform, but they unlock access to different accounting features within it. QuickBooks Solopreneur has a single affordable plan and essential features for the basic needs of small business owners. On the other hand, QuickBooks Online offers four plans that increase in price and functionality to cater to the needs of growing mid-sized businesses.
QuickBooks Solopreneur vs. Xero
Both QuickBooks Solopreneur and Xero offer an affordable plan with basic capabilities to suit small business owners. Solopreneur stops there, though, while Xero has two more plan tiers. These additional plans offer multi-currency support, advanced analytics and other features that growing businesses might want to take advantage of.
Frequently Asked Questions About QuickBooks Solopreneur
Yes, QuickBooks works for self-employed individuals. In fact, the QuickBooks Solopreneur product is specifically designed for them.
QuickBooks Solopreneur is built for solo entrepreneurs, so it gives access to only the basic accounting features that self-employed individuals need. QuickBooks Online Simple Start is the starter plan for the QuickBooks Online product. It contains a few more features, such as vendor payments, to suit small businesses with a few employees.
Yes, QuickBooks Solopreneur caters to self-employed individuals, so it is a good software solution for independent contractors.
Yes, QuickBooks Solopreneur offers live chat and phone customer support. The hours are Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Time and Saturday, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific Time.
Methodology
We at the MarketWatch Guides team spent over 100 hours researching and testing 15 accounting software providers. We looked at all-in-one tools, such as QuickBooks, as well as specific tools for mileage tracking and expense management.
We conducted a survey in 2024 of 200 professionals who were currently using accounting software or had used accounting software within the past year. We analyzed the results of this survey to determine the following rating criteria:
- Reputation and Reviews (15%)
- Features (63%)
- Pricing (10%)
- User Experience (7%)
- Customer Support (5%)
Visit the full accounting methodology page for more details on our rating system.
If you have feedback or questions about this article, please email the MarketWatch Guides team at editors@marketwatchguides.
