What are QuickBooks Self-Employed users saying about the software?
Read what people like you have said about using QuickBooks Self-Employed software through verified user reviews
User Review Highlights
3.9
63 Reviews
Ease-of-use
out of 5Customer Support
out of 5Value for money
out of 5Functionality
out of 5"Quickbooks Self-Employed is very easy to use. It has simplified my accounting significantly."
"Ease of use and good interface and integrated with my bank account pretty well."
"Fantastic software for any independent contractor."
"Appalling error rate with importing bank transactions - missing transactions, some duplicated."
"There is a slight delay on tracking purchases, this makes it harder for up-to-the-minute finance tracking."
"It's difficult to configure it and make any changes. Customizing your invoices can be a real pain."
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Showing 1 - 25 of 63 reviews
Holly
Company size: 2 - 10 employees
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
March 2022
Your Business Needs This

Amy
Verified reviewer
Company size: 2-10 employees
Industry: Management Consulting
Time used: Less than 12 months
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
August 2021
Sticken with Quicken
My overall experience with QuickBooks self employed is I am completely satisfied and enjoy the use of the software currently as my bookkeeper. It has been an asset to my small business
Pros
The thing I am most fond of with QuickBooks Self-Employed version is the ease of use. The software offers a user the functions that cover all necessary withholding categories that are required on a state and federal level. It inputs the correct taxes, insurance, fees etc. required by law within your area. And if you are not within regulation it notifies you and offers the user direction into making sure you are financially in accord to the law.
Cons
What I like least about the software is the exporting IOC information can get tricky sometimes depending on how it will be opened by the receiving device.
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
It has the most functions in it that completely cover my needs
Reasons for switching to QuickBooks Self-Employed
Zoho just was not working for me. It is a little less detailed in expense reports and categories to expense, just not as many features as this

Justin
Verified reviewer
Company size: 2-10 employees
Industry: Consumer Goods
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered
April 2022
Good for the Money, QB still lacks features...
I think QB is really positive overall. The simple truth is that an accountant knows way more than I do. I did my taxes all wrong for 2+ years using QB. I probably could have gotten a lot more refund had I had more tax knowledge. Taxes are deep. That's why people specialize in it. I am a salesman and entrepreneur. I HATE doing taxes. After my carpal tunnel episode, (I was crunching and cursing QB and the IRS,) I realized how to actually do my taxes the right way. The best thing I can say is that QB gives a good overall picture and the reporting is good as long as you tag everything correctly. But that doesn't work easily if you have thousands of micro-transactions, such as myself. So I had to go through every line item and tag it for the appropriate enterprise. I have finally figured out how to do taxes... Use a program like QB and then deliver the reporting to a good accountant who can really find the tax breaks. They simply can't do it over the phone like an in person accountant. And I had to find a good one who was recommended to me by a friend. Not any accountant will do. DO your research on taxes!!! You can get a good refund if you have a good accountant and also do the prep work which QB is capable of but only for one company at a time. Tagging things one by one is terrible!!!
Pros
I like the account integrations, however, I could not get my Home Depot credit card to connect, so that was disappointing. I also thought the general ease of use was good. It did give me a good picture of my small business and that helped me with running my business better. I also really liked the reporting. The Profit and Loss statements were the most important report that I generated because I would use that to deliver it to my accountant and then do my taxes from there. QuickBooks can really only take you so far. Which is good. I would generally recommend it to all small business owners, like myself. I am not an accountant and truly suck at accounting. So I decided to give it a shot, and then realized that even with super detailed entry, I still needed a professional accountant to get the extra tax breaks that automation simply could not perform. Yes, I know they offer further services, like a live professional, but that just didn't work for me. I tried it one year and then compared it to a year when I hired an accountant and provided the reports and was able to get more refund. So overall, it is a good beginners tool.
Cons
I hated the fact that it asked me every time there was a new entry if I wanted to make a rule for that entry. I wanted QB to be fast as possible because I loathe accounting. I need to focus on selling my items. However, I understand how important accounting is, thus why I put such a focus on it in my business. I also hated the fact that I could not batch "Tag" items. For example, I actually have 3 companies and did my accounting ALL wrong... I had to go back and do it all over. I realized that I needed to "Tag" and "categorize" properly in order to separate the companies transactions so I could get accurate reporting. Basically, I had to manually tag each and every transaction, which SUCKED!! I have an e-commerce business with thousands of line items and I had to do it one by one, which ultimately made me want to cancel QB. Be it as it may, it was my fault. I did not do it properly from the start. I didn't realize how to separate different companies with one QB account. I tried to have 3 separate accounts but that was too costly and thought I could easily do it with one swift click of a button, and BOY was I wrong. I probably developed carpal tunnel from this years taxes. And then decided to close down 2 of the 3 companies because I realized how to actually run my entire enterprise better. I still have one LLC. I closed another LLC and an S Corp as a result of better understanding my taxes and how to be a better small business owner.
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
Financially speaking, it was the best option for me and gave me the most options. I do believe I made the right choice in using QB. It allowed me to get a better picture of my overall business ventures and for that I am grateful!
Jane
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Accounting
Time used: Less than 12 months
Review Source
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered
March 2022
Quickbooks Self Employed Is The Single Worst User Experience Of My Career
I continue to receive an error message that my free trial has expired despite my purchase of an annual subscription in August. I have an email receipt, but Intuit appears uninterested in fixing my problem. I have been passed from one inept rep to the next and asked the same questions without resolution. I would LOVE a refund at this point, but Intuit points me to Apple since I purchased the product with Apple Pay.
Pros
I initially thought the functionality would be handy, however, I have changed my mind. I am unable to create an invoice due to a glitch in Intuit’s billing.
Cons
I have spent over 20 hours in the last two weeks trying to access the product I paid for 6 months ago. Customer Service is inept at best and I have yet to receive the promised callback from anyone I have spoken with.
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
I believed the ease of use would be helpful.

Response from Intuit
We'd like to ensure that you get the support you need to get your billing issue resolved! You can reach our support team via phone or chatting with them directly by following the steps listed here (https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/manage-intuit-subscriptions/contact-quickbooks-self-employed-support/00/185820). Wishing you the best. -Kristina, The QuickBooks Team
Replied March 2022

Sarah
Verified reviewer
Company size: 10,000+ employees
Industry: Hospital & Health Care
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
April 2022
Its pretty self explanatory
I use this to balance accounts and to enter deposits and withrawls from these accounts that require balancing each month, quarter, and year.
Pros
Ease of use, the ability to balance a multitude of accounts within one system. It is easier to use than other available programs and easier to understand entered data.
Cons
There are not many cons, at times it does freeze and you have to wait to reenter the information.
Reasons for switching to QuickBooks Self-Employed
Changed services and needed new accounting
Abby
Verified reviewer
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Marketing and Advertising
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
December 2020
ONLY worth it if you need auto-mileage tracking
If you need mileage tracking and expense tracking, this is a great option for you. If you need recurring or auto invoicing though - this version of QB isn't for you.
Pros
To have it automatically track all of my mileage for me is just amazing. However, now that I'm not traveling, it's almost worthless, and certainly not worth the $16/mo I'm paying. I know you can scan receipts and stuff too, but I connected my bank accounts so I just select what's business and what's personal through there. It's free to have clients pay invoices through ACH Debit though, so that's awesome. You also get your money way faster than through other means.
Cons
You can't do recurring, automatic invoicing. That's the main sticking point for me. So I end up doing 90% of my invoicing in PayPal and then I'm only using QB for expense tracking and the occasional ACH Debit invoice. It's just annoying. I'm also not crazy about the user interface sometimes it's just not intuitive.
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
I wanted mileage tracking and expense tracking. Thought I could use this in place of PayPal for invoicing too, but I'm still invoicing in PayPal.
Nick
Company size: 2-10 employees
Industry: Entertainment
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
December 2021
Solid product but lacking some features
QuickBooks Self-Employed has been the most cost-effective tool for tracking expenses that we have found so far for the Sole-Proprietor's small business. While it has its flaws, it is still better than the alternative...having no tools to help record business expenses. Still keeping our eyes open for other options. Thinking about moving up to QuickBooks Online if our profits go up and can justify the price tag.
Pros
This product was built for the person running a sole propriety. It is very easy to track business expenses. It takes less than a minute to enter an expense and upload a receipt. The mobile app can also track your mileage put on a vehicle for business purposes all year long. Its integration with TurboTax makes it very easy to file taxes as it pulls in all the business expenses and categorizes them for you. You can create and send basic invoices.
Cons
As far as I've been able to tell it has no way of tracking or entering Income unless a customer pays through the QuickBooks portal. Checks or other forms of payment (outside of QuickBooks) will not show up as income. Therefore, the running "Profit/Loss" number at the top of the screen is pretty inaccurate. You can only clear this up when filing taxes through Turbo Tax and entering W2s, other tax documents, and manually enter income. This feature may work just fine if you connect a bank account. We do not. So, it might pull in deposits automatically for you to mark as business or personal transactions.
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
Price. Our business is so small right now that the alternative cost much more due to including features we cannot yet take advantage of. However, it does include all the features we wish Self-Employed had.

Response from Intuit
We definitely appreciate your business, and your feedback regarding QuickBooks Self-Employed. To make sure you're getting full use out of the app we'd like to give you the link on how to enter your income or expense transactions without having to connect your bank account (https://tinyurl.com/2p962kfw) Wishing you continued success -Kristina, The QuickBooks Team
Replied January 2022
Bakari
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Online Media
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
December 2020
Useful For Tax Purposes
Pros
I’ve been using QuickBooks Self-Employed for over five years now, and I can definitely say that it has grown and improved over time. I mainly use it to get an estimation of my quarterly taxes, but I also use it for sending invoices and tracking business-related mileage. I like that the web application includes rules for setting up automation so that I don’t have to approve every transaction that appears in my Self-Employed account. QuickBooks makes it very easy for me to export the documents I need for my accountant, and also forgetting the report of my overall income, spending and profits.
Cons
Because QuickBooks imports all my income and pending transactions, I don’t understand why it’s not set up to be used as a budgeting application, like Mint or YouNeedABudget. Except for sending out invoices and keeping track of mileage, I don’t use application on regular basis.
Mark
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Information Technology and Services
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
July 2021
Great product that saves a lot of time
I'm very happy with the software and it almost suits all of my needs bar the lack of quotations.
Pros
QBSE is very easy to setup and use. It links directly to any bank accounts that you use so it's always pulling through transactions for you to check and allocate as necessary. You can customise the invoices easily and use your own branding. It quickly and easily calculates your taxes and estimates your year end liability. I use the app on my android phone as well as the desktop version and both are very good. It's great to be able to raise invoices whilst with a client.
Cons
The one thing that bothers me is that you can't raise quotations in the software without upgrading the package to a tier that's overkill for what I need.
Reasons for switching to QuickBooks Self-Employed
Took advantage of a discount to trial it alongside Sage and found that I much preferred QBSE.
Colleen
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Design
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
April 2021
Highly recommend for all small business owners
Great. Very happy I am using it. QB SE is a trusted and affordable resource for keeping my business and tax items in check.
Pros
I love the different features QB Self-Employed has: Auto-mileage tracking, invoicing, tax checklist, it tells you when an invoice has been viewed and payed, transaction tracking, business reports, and it syncs with TurboTax
Cons
I wish the invoicing feature was more sophisticated. For example, I wish I could send estimates instead of an "invoice" at times, but I have another program I use outside of QB that can do that for me. It's probably in a more expensive QB service but I wish it were available for Self-Employed.
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
Price, features, user-friendly
Rebecca
Company size: 11-50 employees
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
February 2019
Great product for those who know what they are doing.
It took me time, but I was able to use the program. I had to start over fresh 2 times before I could get my info in correctly to start working
Pros
The product allows you to be completely self sufficient, cut down costs and customize based upon your business. You can use preloaded categories or create your own.
Cons
If you are not familiar with using this type of software you may run into issues. There is help, but you can get very confused. Research is best before using the program for actually use.
Kevin
Company size: 2-10 employees
Industry: Health, Wellness and Fitness
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
September 2020
Intuitive User Interface
Overall, definitely worth using when it comes free with TurboTax.
Pros
This comes free when filing with TurboTax Self Employed, so it did not cost anything to set up. It's pretty intuitive and makes it easy to categorize transactions and spending.
Cons
Invoicing is not the greatest. It's difficult to configure it and make any changes. Customizing your invoices can be a real pain.
Steve
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Research
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
May 2022
Easy solution for self-employed but could be better
Overall, the Self-Employed version of QuickBooks has been easy to set up and use. In year's past, the same software was much cheaper than it is now. I think they more than doubled the price per month for the same versions. Their mileage tracker is very limited. Because of this limitation, I pay for MileIQ to track and categorize mileage and trips. Then, I export the data from MileIQ and import into QuickBooks.
Pros
I like that I can manage both my personal and self-employed business accounting within a single account.
Cons
The mobile app seems kind of buggy. It's very slow to register taps (3 seconds).
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
I chose QuickBooks Self-Employed over Wave and FreshBooks because it allowed me to manage my personal and business expenses within a single account.
Savannah
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Consumer Services
Review Source
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered
February 2022
Misleading UX Ease of Access Claim & Terrible Customer Service
My overall experience from sign-up, account setup, attempted input of expenses, and the whole cancellation proces was a 0-star rated experience. I was beyond floored, having only had it for 2 weeks, that canceling all of these things and getting a refund has proved impossible for a company so highly rated.
Pros
I thought the user interface looked great and seemed easy enough, it claimed to have all of the add-ons/plug-ins and apps I could need for my small business. It was highly rated on most SaaS review sites so I trusted it.
Cons
First, the customer service for a company of this size with so much critical acclaim for its software is below subpar. The customer service phone line rarely works or understands what you're saying/asking for; the chat option simply leads to the service representative telling you they aren't able to help with that then sending a link to the right team followed by a disclaimer that the links are usually down or not currently working so you should save the link and continue retrying. The actual QB Self-Employed is not easy to use and not straightforward at all. Downloading a complicated spreadsheet has proved easier than navigating this. The final nail in the coffin is that in order to use QuickBooks Payments, you are required to open a QuickBooks Checking account with a debit card, whether you like it, use it or not.
Alternatives Considered
Xero, Zoho Books and FreshBooks
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
It was a consistently high-rated and cost-effective option for a single-person small business.
Jeffery
Company size: 1 employee
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
May 2018
Okay Basic Software For Small Businesses or Self-Employed However, There Are Better and Free Alternatives
Overall, not worth the cost to me. Especially with those who are self-employed or have small businesses.
Pros
This does what it is supposed to do and only that which is track money. It also can track mileage automatically and gives you an overview of the distance you have traveled each day.
Cons
It is basic, it lacks functionality that should be considered 'basic' such as being able to categorize expenses and income. You can also not utilize many needed integrations for other software which basically forces double entry. It is expensive considering there are other free alternatives that have way more features and integrations
Nasser
Company size: 2-10 employees
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
February 2019
Great app with a few glitches
This is a great tool for people starting their small business. A few more features would make it the perfect choice.
Pros
-Links to bank accounts and credit cards and categorizes transactions automatically. -Milage tracking is a great feature. -Send invoices to clients.
Cons
- When the milage tracking is turned on, it kills my phones battery and drains it in less than 10 hours. I turned it off and the result is shocking. - Invoice processing takes up to 3-4 day, and then I have to wait for the bank processing for another 2 days.
Andrew
Company size: 2-10 employees
Industry: Marketing and Advertising
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
May 2018
QuickBooks for the Win!
I highly recommend QuickBooks Self-Employed!
Pros
I absolutely LOVE QuickBooks self-employed. It is convenient, easy to use and even tracks mileage! That’s huge as most of my business is conducted on the road. I also love how I can invoice and accept payment right from the mobile app.
Cons
One of the reasons I selected QuickBooks was its integration with TurboTax. However, I was disappointed to realize that it only adjusted for Federal Taxes, not State. I would love to see State taxes added in future versions.
Freddie
Company size: 501-1,000 employees
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
December 2018
Great software for self employed
Pros
installed app in the iPhone, and link to the bank and credit card accounts, it automatically track your travel distance for business or personal, and expense for tax purpose.
Cons
need to spend time to identify the travel and expense either for business or personal usage manually, hopefully these's a way to do it automatically.
Tina Marie
Company size: 2-10 employees
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
January 2019
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a star!
I love they have so many options and ways of showing users to add transactions.
Pros
Extremely easy to use. As all of intuit's products, Self-Employed guides you through the uses. Self-Employed is so accurate and easy to use.
Cons
I don't have a con about this one. It's saved me so much on my taxes. I'm blown away on how intuitiveness.
Signe
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Writing and Editing
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
April 2021
Simplifies my Accounting
I highly recommend QBSE to self-employed individuals who are looking for an affordable, intuitive, user-friendly way to do their accounting. I've been using it for 5+ years and it hasn't let me down yet.
Pros
Quickbooks Self-Employed is very easy to use. It has simplified my accounting significantly. I can track receipts, import transactions from my bank account, pay my federal quarterly taxes, create invoices, export all of my info to Turbo Tax, and do so many other key business functions from within the software.
Cons
While I love QBSE, I do wish there was an easy way to calculate and pay quarterly state estimated taxes. That would make the experience even better.
Takyla
Company size: 2-10 employees
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
February 2019
Good Value
If you simply want to be able to keep up with the your expenses and mileage this is a good place to have it all together at an affordable price
Pros
Very easy and convenient for categorizing business versus personal and attaching receipts. I liked that you could put rules in that would help with time management.
Cons
Had tracking issues on several occasions where it was stop tracking. And it tracked rather short trips that weren't really trips.
Karim
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Computer Software
Time used: Less than 12 months
Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered
January 2021
Nice accounting software
Quickbooks is very good accounting software with all accounting solutions and also cost effective.
Pros
Quickbooks is a very good accounting software for SMES sectors business industry for their daily use of keeping financial records and reporting purpose. The best thing is to keep record of sales, inventory, baking and daitors creditors also reporting option is good and cucustomized
Cons
As for as I concern there is issues in this software
Reasons for switching to QuickBooks Self-Employed
Low budget good accounting software for startup and small businesses
Ishtiaq
Company size: 2-10 employees
Industry: Design
Time used: More than 2 years
Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered
December 2021
Needs a lot of improvement and better customer service
Pros
It helps me do billing, accounting, and sending invoices to clients.
Cons
The website times out before you can save an invoice. This happened many times and I lost hours of work. There is no way to change it! My invoices have many items and it takes me time to go through my notes and my calendar to compile it. If the designers of the software did billing, they would actually know that. Please add a feature to not get timed out. Also their customer service is not available on weekends. Like many self employed I do my billing on weekends and I cannot get any help. However their homepage has customer service available for new customers 24/7. It seems new business is more important that paying customers.
Reasons for choosing QuickBooks Self-Employed
I chose it to help with billing but frankly I have lost a lot of time being timed out of work. I am very disappointed.

Response from Intuit
Hi there, Ishtiaq. Thank you for leaving us a review. We'd love to lend a hand to help the time out issues you're experiencing. If you haven't already try signing into your Self Employed app. Then, tap the top-left corner and swipe down. Tap "Touch ID and Passcode". Assuming the TouchID is toggled on, there'll be a "Require" setting. Tap on it to adjust this to a longer timeframe to cut down on sign-outs. Hope this helps! -Kristina, The QuickBooks Team
Replied December 2021
John
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Computer Software
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
November 2018
Quick books self employed saves me so much time.
Pros
I love the simple workflow for most things invoices, quotes, expenses, time, etc. I hate accounting, and book keeping so to be able to add these rapid fire with little effort makes me very happy. It also is very handy come tax time b/c I can easily grab all the information and hand it off to turbo tax or an accountant for them to deal with. I also really like the dashboard so I can quickly view the status of my freelance accounts.
Cons
Somethings feel almost buried. I wish there was some customization for more commonly used tasks. I'm more inclined to generate a bunch of quotes versus invoices so I wish I had a way to remove some drill down for more commonly used tasks.
Jennifer
Company size: 1 employee
Industry: Civic & Social Organization
Time used: Less than 2 years
Review Source
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.
January 2018
Excellent program
Pros
Easy to use, all information in one place and the price is great. Also I do not have to have a separate mileage tracker which is great.
Cons
My bank no longer connects so I have to do a separate download which takes some time. This causes some issues when not done correctly as there can be duplicates.
