Keeper Review [2024]: Is It the Right Option for Freelancers?

What is Keeper?

Keeper (formerly Keeper Tax) is a full-service tax filing software that helps independent contractors track work-related expenses that may qualify for tax deductions. The company was co-founded in 2018 by Paul Koullick and David Kang and is headquartered in San Francisco. According to its website, has helped over 700,000 customers find tax savings since then.

Besides helping you track work-related expenses throughout the year, Keeper can handle your tax filing. The Keeper app is available for iOS and Android. At the time of writing, it has an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars from customers in the App Store and a 4.5-star rating in Google Play.

How does Keeper work?

Freelancers, gig workers, self-employed professionals, and small business owners must set aside money to pay state and federal taxes, as tax isn’t withheld by an employer. On top of income tax, self-employed workers usually have to pay self-employment tax, which can take a sizable bite out of their earnings.

Tracking your work-related expenses and claiming them as deductions can help you keep more money in your pocket. Keeper aims to take the hassle out of storing receipts and tracking and monitoring transactions. Here’s a breakdown of its features:

• Expense scans: After you link your credit card or bank account to the app, Keeper will automatically monitor your bank statements to find tax-deductible expenses. The app can connect to more than 10,000 financial institutions.
• Bookkeeping by text: A Keeper bookkeeper will send you text messages up to once a day to ask if purchases are work-related. You text back yes or no to have your purchases categorized as an expense to write off.
• Tax filing: State and federal tax filing are included in your Keeper subscription.
• Export your data: Instead of filing your taxes with Keeper, you can choose to export your data into a spreadsheet if you have an active subscription.

Besides the actual service, Keeper offers some free tax tools. There’s a tax calculator you can use to estimate your quarterly tax payments and a tax bill calculator that can estimate how much you’ll owe for the entire year. These calculators can help you figure out how to manage your money each month so you don’t get surprised by an unforeseen tax bill.

The website also has guides that discuss self-employed tax tips, such as how to qualify for home office and car-related deductions.

Keeper: products and pricing

Here’s a rundown of the Keeper product offerings and how much they cost:

Keeper: pros and cons

Pros

So we’ve covered what Keeper is, how it works, and who it’s for. What are the pros?

• Potential tax-bill reductions: Keeper connects to your financial accounts and scans your transactions to identify possible tax write-offs that could save you money.
• Easy record keeping: Recording what is and isn’t tax-deductible is simple; you just tell Keeper through text which purchases are work-related or not.
• Free resources and tools: Keeper offers free tools like quarterly tax calculators. Estimating your tax payments early in the year could help you avoid making costly quarterly tax mistakes.

Cons

As for the cons, here are some drawbacks to keep in mind when considering Keeper.

• Limited accounting features: Managing your expenses with Keeper will cost you $192 per year. However, the service doesn’t come with accounting features and reports you could get with a system like Quickbooks. That said, Quickbooks doesn’t appear to offer the convenience of purchase categorization through text. If you like that feature, Keeper, despite being limited in its accounting features, could be the better choice.
• May not be the most affordable option: Filing your federal and state taxes with Keeper is included in the $192 per year subscription, but people who make less than $69,000 per year are able to file for free with IRS partners, so weigh your options and determine what would be best for you. 

FAQs about Keeper

Bottom line

Keeper is a service that can take the stress out of tax filing for freelancers and gig workers. Instead of scrambling to find all of your receipts at the end of the year, you can use the Keeper app to monitor your work-related purchases all year round.

Reducing your tax responsibility with potential tax deductions found by the app means you could start the year thinking about what to do with your tax refund instead of trying to pull money together for your IRS tax bill. This can be handy whether you've recently figured out how to start a business or you have an established client roster.

It’s worth noting, however, that the app does come at a price. There’s a monthly subscription fee and a fee to export your information. Before signing up for Keeper, consider the price tag and compare it to other expense-tracking and tax-filing services to find the best option for you.

Learn More

on Keeper’s website

Potential tax-bill reductions

Easy record keeping

Free resources and tools

Author Details

Taylor Medine

Taylor Medine is a freelance writer who's covered all things personal finance for the last seven years. She enjoys writing financial product reviews and guides on budgeting, saving, repaying debt, and building credit.