If you work for yourself, you've probably come across QuickBooks Self-Employed. For years it was the default answer to "how do I keep track of my freelance money?" It sorts expenses, estimates quarterly taxes, and connects to TurboTax. Things have changed, though. Intuit has been winding the product down and moving users toward other QuickBooks plans, and plenty of freelancers have started asking whether they need a $15-a-month cloud subscription at all. This comparison is for those people. We'll cover what QuickBooks Self-Employed does well, where it falls short for simple solo work, and where Stintly, a free app that works offline, makes more sense.
We make Stintly, so you should read this with that in mind. We've tried to keep it fair. QuickBooks Self-Employed is a capable product, and for some freelancers it's still the better choice. We'll tell you who those people are.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Stintly | QuickBooks Self-Employed |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $15/month |
| Works Offline | Yes, 100% offline | No, needs an internet connection |
| Account Required | No | Yes, an Intuit account |
| Best For | Solo operators and small businesses that want simple time, client, and money tracking | U.S. sole proprietors who want bank feeds, tax estimates, and TurboTax filing |
| Platform | iPhone (App Store) | Web, iOS, Android |
| Key Features | Time tracking, invoicing, expense logging, client records, income overview | Bank and card sync, expense categorization, mileage tracking, quarterly tax estimates, Schedule C prep |
| Data Privacy | Data stays on your device | Data stored on Intuit's cloud servers |
Pricing
QuickBooks Self-Employed has usually been priced at about $15 a month. Intuit often discounts the first few months, but the regular price comes back after that. The TurboTax bundle, which some freelancers relied on to file their Schedule C, cost more. Fifteen dollars doesn't sound like much on its own, but it repeats every month, including slow months when you've barely billed anything.
Stintly is free. There's no trial that runs out, no feature locked behind a paid tier, and no card to enter. You download it and use it. Since it runs on your phone instead of a server, we don't have hosting costs that would push us to charge a subscription.
Here's what each costs over time:
| Time Period | Stintly | QuickBooks Self-Employed |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 | $15 |
| 1 Year | $0 | $180 |
| 3 Years | $0 | $540 |
That $540 over three years could pay for a good chunk of a new laptop, a few months of emergency fund contributions, or a deposit toward a retirement account. To be fair, QuickBooks Self-Employed is a business expense, so it's tax-deductible. A deduction only gives back part of the cost, though. It doesn't make the app free.
Save money. Try Stintly free today. Download Stintly for Free — no account needed, works 100% offline.
Features
These two apps take different approaches. QuickBooks Self-Employed starts from your bank account and focuses on taxes. Stintly starts from your work and focuses on what you do every day. Here's what each one does well.
Where QuickBooks Self-Employed is strong:
- Bank and card sync. It imports transactions automatically, so you swipe left or right to mark them business or personal. If you buy a lot of small things on one card, that saves real time.
- Quarterly tax estimates. It works out a running estimate of what you owe in federal estimated taxes. That's useful if you've ever been caught off guard in April. (Our guide to quarterly tax payments covers how to do this yourself.)
- Automatic mileage tracking. It uses your phone's GPS to log trips, which helps if you drive to clients a lot.
- Schedule C categories and TurboTax export. Expenses go straight into IRS categories, and filing can be close to one click.
Where Stintly is strong:
- Time tracking built in. QuickBooks Self-Employed was never really a time tracker. If you bill hourly, or you want to know your effective rate per project, Stintly treats time as the core of the app instead of an add-on. That matters if you're trying to price by value or catch scope creep before it eats your margin.
- Invoicing tied to your work. Turn tracked hours into an invoice without retyping anything. You can see what's been billed, what's outstanding, and which clients pay late.
- Client records. Keep notes, rates, and history for each client in one place. That makes client profitability analysis straightforward.
- Simple expense logging. Record a business expense in seconds without going through a categorization queue.
- Fast to learn. No onboarding wizard or bank linking. Most people log their first entry in under a minute.
Stintly doesn't sync with your bank, track mileage by GPS, or file your taxes. If those are must-haves, keep that in mind. Many solo operators find that a clean record of time, invoices, and expenses, handed to an accountant or entered into tax software once a year, covers what they actually need.
The same idea applies if your work is more specialized. If you run a crew instead of working alone, a tool made for your industry will fit better than any general app. LawnBook handles routes and recurring visits for lawn care and landscaping businesses. ShineBook is built for residential and commercial cleaning companies. TrestleBook covers job costing and contractor billing for construction work. If you also own rental properties on the side, KeyLoft keeps tenants, rent, and maintenance separate from your freelance books, which is good practice for separating your finances anyway.
Want to try Stintly for free? Download Stintly for Free — no subscription required.
Offline & Privacy
This is where the two apps differ most.
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a cloud service. Your data is on Intuit's servers, and you need a connection to see it or change it. Usually that's fine. It stops being fine when you're on a plane, at a client site with bad signal, traveling abroad without a data plan, or dealing with an Intuit outage. It also means your financial history depends on an account, a password, and a company decision. If Intuit retires the product, which is happening now, you're the one who has to export years of records and move them somewhere else.
Stintly works 100% offline. Everything is stored on your iPhone. You don't create an account, you don't hand over an email address, and your data doesn't leave your phone unless you export it. That gives you three practical benefits:
- It always works. Start a timer in a basement studio or log an expense on a flight, and it saves immediately.
- Your data stays private. No third party is holding your client list, rates, or income. For freelancers under NDAs or working with sensitive clients, that matters.
- No forced migration. Nobody can sunset your data. It's on your device, so it's under your control.
A good rule for any business tool: if the company behind it disappeared tomorrow, could you still get to your records? With an offline app, you can.
The trade-off is real. Local data means you're responsible for backups, and you don't get automatic access from a desktop browser. Keep your iPhone backups turned on and export your records regularly, ideally as part of a weekly money routine.
Who Should Use QuickBooks Self-Employed
QuickBooks Self-Employed, or whichever QuickBooks product Intuit moves you to, is a reasonable choice if:
- You're a U.S. sole proprietor with a lot of card transactions and you want them imported and categorized automatically.
- You drive to clients often and want automatic GPS mileage logs for the standard mileage deduction.
- You already file with TurboTax and want the most direct path from your books to a finished Schedule C.
- You want running quarterly tax estimates and don't mind paying for that convenience.
- You work across several devices, including desktop and Android, and need cloud sync.
If that describes you and $180 a year is worth it, that's a sensible decision. Just remember that Intuit is phasing out QuickBooks Self-Employed. Check which product you'll be moved to and what it will cost before you commit. Some replacement plans are more expensive.
Who Should Use Stintly
Stintly fits best if:
- You're a freelancer, consultant, designer, developer, writer, or tradesperson who bills by the hour or the project and wants time tracking and invoicing in one app.
- You don't want another monthly subscription, especially in your first year or during an uneven income stretch.
- You work in places with weak or no signal, or you just want an app that opens instantly.
- You care about privacy and don't want your client list and income history stored on someone else's servers.
- Your finances are fairly simple: a few clients, moderate expenses, and an accountant or tax software you use once a year.
- You're leaving QuickBooks Self-Employed because of the sunset and want something you'll never be forced to migrate away from again.
Plenty of freelancers find they were only using about 20% of QuickBooks Self-Employed anyway: logging income, recording a few expenses, and checking whether they're profitable. If that's you, a simple profit and loss view and good time records will probably serve you better than bank feeds you rarely review.
The Bottom Line
QuickBooks Self-Employed is a solid tax-focused tool. Its bank sync, mileage tracking, and TurboTax connection are useful, and freelancers with a lot of transactions to categorize may find the $15 a month worth paying. It also costs $540 over three years, doesn't work without a connection, keeps your data in Intuit's cloud, and is being phased out.
Stintly takes a different approach. It's free and works 100% offline. It's built around tracking your time, billing clients, and seeing where your money goes, with no account and nothing to migrate later. It doesn't file your taxes or sync with your bank, and we won't claim it does. For most solo operators with fairly simple finances, it covers what matters every day for $0.
Our recommendation: if you rely on automatic bank categorization and TurboTax filing, stay with Intuit's ecosystem and check the replacement plan's pricing. If you mainly need to track time, send invoices, log expenses, and keep your data private, try Stintly. It's free, so testing it costs you nothing.
Ready to switch? Download Stintly for Free — it takes 30 seconds and costs nothing.