Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover accounting & tax and creator finance. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| Keeper | Xero | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $199 | From $25 |
| Pricing model | One-time purchase | Paid subscription |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Billing | One-time purchase | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Not stated |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web, iOS, Android | Not stated |
| Covers | Accounting & Tax, Creator Finance | Accounting & Tax, Creator Finance |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | None right now |
Tax filing that hunts for freelance write-offs
Keeper connects to the accounts a freelancer actually spends from and proposes deductions transaction by transaction, then files the return at the end of it. A tax professional reviews and signs what gets sent. The pricing is per filing rather than per month, so it is bought once a year and the deduction hunting is what you are paying for in between.
Our note
Priced per filing rather than per month, which is the whole comparison against Wave or FreeAgent. Two hundred dollars once a year suits anybody whose Schedule C is the only return they file. It is poor value for somebody who also needs the books kept in between, and that is a different purchase.
Accounting a freelancer can run without help
Xero covers the parts of bookkeeping a creator actually meets: invoices, bank reconciliation, expenses and the reports an accountant asks for in January. Nothing in it assumes you have taken an accounting class. There is no free plan, and the cheapest tier stops at twenty invoices a month, which a busy freelancer clears by the third week.
Our note
Pick Xero over Wave when you have contractors to pay and a real filing to make, and Wave over Xero when you mostly need invoices to look professional. The invoice cap on the entry plan is the thing people hit and get annoyed by, so count last year's invoices before choosing it.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.