Quits vs QuickBooks Self-Employed: which one do you actually need?
Last updated 28 September 2026
Most freelancers who go looking for QuickBooks actually just want to send an invoice and get paid, which Quits does for free. QuickBooks Self-Employed is also being retired and replaced by QuickBooks Sole Trader, a paid, full accounting suite: tax prep, mileage tracking and expense categorisation, with invoicing bundled in at £10 a month. Unless you need that tax and mileage side handled too, you don't need to pay a monthly accounting subscription just to invoice a client.
Side by side
| Quits | QuickBooks | |
|---|---|---|
| What it actually is | Invoicing only, and it's free: send an invoice, get paid, chase what's overdue. | A paid, full accounting suite: tax prep, expenses and mileage, with invoicing bundled in. |
| Starting price | Free for 5 invoices a month, forever. | £10/month for Sole Trader (often £1/month for the first 6 months, then £10/month for as long as you use it). |
| Bank transfer fees | Always zero, on every plan. | No bank transfer option. Card payments only, via QuickBooks Payments, with its own processing fees. |
| Card / Apple Pay | Yes, on Pro and Max, via Stripe. Small card fee applies. | Yes, via QuickBooks Payments. |
| Self Assessment prep | Not built in. | Included on the Sole Trader plan. |
| VAT on invoices | Yes, free on every plan: switch on VAT registration and issue HMRC-compliant VAT invoices with the right rate per line. | Yes, included. |
| VAT returns (MTD) | Not built in. | Not included on the £10/month Sole Trader plan. Needs Simple Start at £16/month or above. |
| Mileage tracking | Not built in. | Included, via the mobile app. |
| Free plan | Yes, forever, no card or trial required. | No. 30-day free trial only, then it's a paid plan for good. |
QuickBooks pricing and features as published by Intuit; check their site for current terms, since accounting software pricing and plan names change more often than this page does.
When Quits makes more sense
If you just need to get an invoice out and get paid, Quits does it in two minutes, for free, with bank transfer at zero fees on every plan. You're not learning a bookkeeping dashboard, tracking mileage you don't need, or paying £10 a month indefinitely for accounting features that sit unused. For most freelancers, especially early on, this is the whole job done, for nothing.
Send your first invoice freeFree for 5 invoices a month, no card required.
When QuickBooks makes more sense
Only if you actually need your Self Assessment prepared, mileage logged automatically from your phone, and personal and business spending separated out for you. QuickBooks Sole Trader covers that, invoicing included, for £10 a month indefinitely. If you don't need the tax and mileage side, that's £10 a month for a feature set you're not using.
Questions
- Is QuickBooks Self-Employed still a thing?
- Not for much longer. Intuit is retiring QuickBooks Self-Employed and moving existing customers to QuickBooks Sole Trader, which carries over your data, bank feeds, mileage and tax figures automatically and adds MTD Income Tax filing on top of what Self-Employed did. If you're comparing tools right now, Sole Trader is the one you'd actually be signing up for, and it's £10 a month indefinitely, not a one-off cost.
- Why not just use QuickBooks for invoicing too, since I'd already be paying for it?
- You can, but you'd be paying a monthly accounting-suite subscription to do a job Quits does for free. If tax prep and mileage tracking are the reason you're on QuickBooks, fine, use it for those; there's no need to also route your invoices through it just because it's already open. Quits sends the invoice, gets you paid by bank transfer with zero fees, and costs nothing to try.
- Is Quits a replacement for QuickBooks Self-Employed or Sole Trader?
- Only if invoicing is the only part you actually use. Quits sends invoices, takes payments and chases overdue ones, for free. It doesn't prepare your Self Assessment, track mileage or separate personal and business transactions. If you genuinely need those, keep QuickBooks (or an accountant) for that side, and let Quits handle the invoice for free instead of paying QuickBooks to do it too.
- Which is cheaper?
- Quits, by a wide margin. It's free for up to 5 invoices a month, forever, with bank transfer always free on every plan. QuickBooks Sole Trader looks cheap at £1 a month for new customers, but that's a 6-month introductory price: it settles at £10 a month indefinitely, with no free plan once the trial or promo ends.
- Does Quits track mileage or prepare my tax return?
- No, and it's not trying to. Quits does one job, invoicing, and does it free with zero-fee bank transfer. If you're VAT-registered, it can add VAT to your invoices and issue a proper VAT invoice, but it doesn't track mileage, prepare a Self Assessment or file a VAT return; that's what QuickBooks is for. There's no reason to pay a full accounting subscription just to also get your invoices sent.
- Can I use Quits and QuickBooks together?
- Yes, and it's often the cheaper setup: Quits for the invoice a client actually sees and pays, free, and QuickBooks (or an accountant) only for the mileage, expenses and Self Assessment side you can't get elsewhere for free. Neither locks you into the other.
Comparing a different tool? See how Quits compares to FreeAgent.