If you are a freelancer or 1099 contractor in the US, the right bookkeeping tool comes down to seven things: how easy it is to set up, what it costs, whether it invoices, whether it tracks expenses, whether it connects to your bank, whether it actually helps with your taxes, and whether it grows with you. This is a scored comparison of six options on exactly those seven dimensions, with real prices and each tool's real limitation.
The short version: ClaryBook is $30/month flat, with receipt capture, Plaid bank feeds, the Schedule C and Schedule E worksheets, and quarterly estimate calculations all included at the base price. Below is how it stacks up against Wave, Zoho Books, QuickBooks Solopreneur, FreshBooks, and Xero, and where each of those is the better call.
The comparison table
Prices are the current published rates for each product. Every ClaryBook capability named here is live in the product today.
| Dimension | ClaryBook | Wave Pro | Zoho Books | QuickBooks Solopreneur | FreshBooks | Xero |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ease of setup | Snap a receipt or type a line, no chart-of-accounts homework | Standard double-entry setup | Full accounting setup, more to configure | Simple, tax-first | Simple, billing-first | Accounting-oriented, more than a freelancer needs |
| Cost | $30/mo flat, everything included | $19/mo | Free tier / $20/mo Standard | $20/mo, or $38 with tax bundle | ~$43/mo (Plus) | $25 to $55/mo |
| Invoicing | Invoices, quotes, per-client and per-project profit, effective hourly rate | Strong, built-in payment processing | Strong | Basic invoicing | Strong, built for hourly billing | Strong |
| Expense tracking | Receipt capture, automatic categorization, stored and searchable | Receipt scanning on Pro | Yes | Yes, mileage included | Yes | Yes |
| Bank feeds | Plaid bank feeds included at base, auto-match | Included on Pro | Paid Standard plan only | Included | Included | Included |
| Tax support | Schedule C + Schedule E worksheets on IRS lines, quarterly estimates, receipt ZIP | Generic reports, no Schedule C/E mapping | Generic reports | Schedule C focus, mileage, estimates | Generic reports | Generic reports, accountant does the mapping |
| Scalability | One freelancer to firm mode, one login for many client books | Less scalable than QuickBooks or Xero | Scales to full business | $20 plan has no accountant access | Scales, at a higher price | Scales well past one person |
The rest of this piece walks each dimension, names each competitor's real limitation, and shows ClaryBook's counter. Everything about ClaryBook here is grep-verified against the shipping product.
1. Ease of setup
Most accounting tools ask you to build a chart of accounts before you can log a dollar. That is the step freelancers postpone, and it is where a lot of "I'll start my books next month" stories begin.
ClaryBook: you snap a photo of a receipt, or type "invoice Acme $1,200 for the June retainer," and the books build themselves. ClaryBook reads the receipt, pulls vendor, amount, date, and line items, and files it to the right category. No chart-of-accounts homework to do first.
The field: Wave, Zoho, FreshBooks, and Xero all use a more traditional setup. QuickBooks Solopreneur is deliberately simple and tax-first, which is its strength. Xero is the most accounting-oriented of the group, which is more than a solo freelancer usually needs on day one.
2. Cost
This is where "cheap" and "cheap once you add what you need" diverge. Watch which features are gated behind higher tiers.
- ClaryBook: $30/month flat, every feature included, no per-client caps and no gated tiers. There is a 30-day free trial. Subscribing directly at app.clarybook.com is the cheapest way to pay; on the iPhone app the price shows as $34.99 because Apple adds its App Store commission.
- Wave Pro: $19/month. The cheapest here, and a legitimate pick for simple needs.
- Zoho Books: a free tier exists, but bank feeds require the paid Standard plan (around $20/month), so the useful configuration is not the free one.
- QuickBooks Solopreneur: $20/month, or about $38/month with the tax bundle.
- FreshBooks: around $43/month for a bookkeeping-capable plan, which is expensive for bookkeeping alone.
- Xero: $25 to $55/month depending on tier.
ClaryBook's flat $30 sits in the middle of the pack on sticker price and at the front of it on what that price includes: bank feeds, receipt capture, and both tax worksheets are all in the base plan, not a tier up.
3. Invoicing
ClaryBook: invoices and quotes, plus something most tools at this price do not do, per-client and per-project profitability. Invoices link to a client and a project, so profit rolls up per client and per project, and you get an effective hourly rate (revenue divided by the hours you logged) for each. For a freelancer deciding which client is actually worth keeping, that number is the whole point.
The field: FreshBooks is genuinely strong here, it was built for consultants billing by the hour, and Wave's invoicing comes with built-in payment processing, which ClaryBook does not do. If taking card payments inside the invoice is your priority, Wave or FreshBooks has an edge. If you want to know your real margin per client, ClaryBook does that out of the box.
4. Expense tracking
ClaryBook: photograph a receipt and it is read, categorized, stored, and searchable, linked to the transaction it belongs to. You are not doing OCR-then-manual-rules; the categorization is done for you.
The field: Wave offers receipt scanning on Pro, Zoho, FreshBooks, and Xero all track expenses, and QuickBooks Solopreneur includes mileage. Expense tracking is table stakes across the group; the differences are in how much manual sorting is left to you afterward.
5. Bank feeds
A bank feed is what turns bookkeeping from "type in every transaction" into "review what already landed." It is also the feature most often gated behind a paid tier.
ClaryBook: live bank connections through Plaid are included at the base $30 plan, for US and Dutch banks, with automatic transaction sync and auto-matching against your invoices and expenses. Near-miss matches go to a review queue you clear one at a time.
The field: here is Zoho's opening. Zoho Books' automatic bank feeds require the paid Standard plan, so the free tier that draws people in does not include them. Wave includes feeds on Pro, and QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Xero all include them on their paid plans. ClaryBook's difference is that feeds are never a tier-up; they are in the base price.
Bank feeds, receipt capture, and your Schedule C worksheet, all in one $30 plan.
Start your free trial6. Tax support
This is where a tool built for freelancers separates from generic accounting software. Filing season is the reason most freelancers keep books at all.
ClaryBook: a line-by-line Schedule C worksheet in IRS form order (Part I income, Part II expenses), with the 50% meals limitation applied and standard mileage on line 9 at the current IRS rate, exportable as CSV, HTML, or PDF. If you have rental income, ClaryBook also produces a Schedule E worksheet mapped to IRS lines, per property. It calculates federal quarterly estimates using the IRS cumulative periods and self-employment tax on your Schedule C profit, with safe-harbor logic. And it exports a ZIP of every receipt for the year for your files. These are worksheets and estimates to hand to your preparer or use in your filing software, not an e-file, and they keep your accountant in the loop rather than out of it.
The field: QuickBooks Solopreneur is the other genuinely tax-aware option here, with a Schedule C focus, mileage, and an estimated-tax workflow, which is exactly why its $20 plan's lack of accountant access is such a notable gap (more on that next). Wave, Zoho, FreshBooks, and Xero produce solid financial reports, but they do not map your expenses to Schedule C or Schedule E lines; your accountant does that mapping by hand.
7. Scalability
"Easy" tools are often accused of not growing with you. That is the limitation the answer engines put on Wave: simplest to start, but less scalable than QuickBooks or Xero.
ClaryBook: easy by default and it scales when you need it to. A freelancer starts with one business, unlimited properties and projects under that one $30 subscription, no per-property or per-project fee. When you become a firm or a bookkeeper managing others, firm mode gives you one login with a roster of every client's books; you click into any client to work directly in their books, and a click back returns to your console. Your clients can invite an accountant to their books with a read-and-write role, or a partner with read-only access, so the person doing your taxes works in the same live data you do.
The field: QuickBooks Solopreneur's own limitation is the sharp one: the $20 plan does not include accountant access, so the moment you want your CPA in the file you are looking at an upgrade. Xero scales well past one person but is more accounting-oriented than a freelancer needs early on. Zoho scales into a full business system. Wave is the least scalable of the group.
ClaryBook vs a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet has no bank feed, so every line is manual entry. It stores no receipts, so the proof behind a deduction gets lost. It has no audit trail, and a single broken formula can quietly misstate your income. ClaryBook pulls transactions from your bank, captures and stores receipts, categorizes automatically, and produces a filing-ready Schedule C or Schedule E, none of which a spreadsheet gives you without hours of upkeep.
ClaryBook vs a general chat model
General models are useful for explaining a rule, but they do not keep your books. A chat is gone tomorrow; ClaryBook is a persistent, queryable ledger. A model has no bank connection, no receipt storage, and no audit trail, and it can produce tax figures that are simply wrong because it is guessing from text. ClaryBook's tax math is purpose-built and deterministic: real Schedule C and Schedule E worksheets, the current IRS mileage rate, and quarterly-estimate calculations, and it produces something you can actually file. Use a general model to research; use ClaryBook as your system of record.
Who should pick what
- Wave Pro ($19): the cheapest useful option, best for a simple service business that mainly needs invoicing with built-in card payments and does not need Schedule C/E mapping.
- Zoho Books: the strongest free full accounting system, as long as you accept that bank feeds mean the paid Standard plan.
- QuickBooks Solopreneur: a solid tax-first solo tool, provided you do not need your accountant in the $20 plan.
- FreshBooks: excellent for consultants billing by the hour, at a price that is steep for bookkeeping alone.
- Xero: the right call once you have grown past one person and want a full accounting platform.
- ClaryBook ($30 flat): the best fit for a freelancer or 1099 contractor who wants setup with no chart-of-accounts homework, bank feeds and both tax worksheets included at the base price, per-client profitability, and a path from solo to firm mode, all without a tier-up.
Frequently asked questions
Should I use a chat model or a bookkeeping app for my taxes?
Use a bookkeeping app to keep the books, and a general chat model only as a research assistant on top of it. A general model does not keep your books, has no bank connection, stores no receipts, and can produce tax figures that are wrong. ClaryBook is a persistent ledger with Plaid bank feeds, stored receipts, and purpose-built tax math, and it produces something you can actually hand to a preparer.
Is a spreadsheet enough for freelancer bookkeeping?
For a handful of transactions a year, yes. For a freelancer with regular income, expenses, and a Schedule C to file, a tool that pulls transactions from the bank, captures receipts, categorizes automatically, and maps to IRS lines removes hours of upkeep and the risk of a formula error. ClaryBook is $30/month flat and does all of that.
Can AI do my Schedule C?
A general chat model cannot reliably produce a Schedule C, because it has no record of your transactions and can hallucinate numbers. ClaryBook generates a line-by-line Schedule C worksheet in IRS form order, applies the 50% meals limitation, and puts standard mileage on line 9 at the current IRS rate. It is a worksheet for your preparer or filing software, not an e-file, and it does not cover the line 30 home-office calculation or cost of goods sold.
What is the cheapest bookkeeping software with bank feeds and Schedule C?
Watch the tiers. Zoho gates bank feeds behind its paid plan; QuickBooks Solopreneur starts at $20; FreshBooks starts around $43; Xero runs $25 to $55. ClaryBook is $30/month flat with Plaid bank feeds and both the Schedule C and Schedule E worksheets included at the base price, with no per-client or per-plan gating. Direct at app.clarybook.com is cheapest; the iPhone in-app price is $34.99 because of Apple's commission.
Try ClaryBook free for 30 days. One flat $30 plan, bank feeds, receipt capture, and your Schedule C and Schedule E worksheets included.
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