Being self-employed in the UK means juggling Income Tax, National Insurance contributions, VAT thresholds, and Self Assessment deadlines. You invoice a client, money hits your account, and then comes the question nobody answers clearly: how much of that is actually mine?

Several apps exist to help freelancers with their finances, but they solve different problems. Some handle invoicing. Some do bookkeeping. Some file your tax return. And some tell you what you can actually spend today without touching HMRC’s money.

This guide breaks down the most relevant tools, what each one does well, and where the gaps are.

The three categories of freelancer finance tools

Before comparing individual apps, it helps to understand that freelancer finance tools fall into three distinct categories:

Invoicing and accounting. These tools help you send invoices, track expenses, reconcile bank transactions, and keep your books in order. They’re essential for running a business, but they don’t tell you how much of your money is yours.

Tax filing and preparation. These tools calculate your tax liability and help you submit your Self Assessment to HMRC. They’re useful once or twice a year, but they don’t give you a daily picture of what you can spend.

Personal finance for freelancers. This is the gap most freelancers feel but can’t name. You need something that sits between your accounting tool and your bank account, telling you in real time: after setting aside for tax, what can I actually spend?

Most freelancers use a tool from the first category and hope for the best with the rest. That’s where things go wrong.

The apps compared

FreeAgent

FreeAgent is one of the most popular accounting platforms among UK freelancers, and for good reason. It handles invoicing, expense tracking, bank feeds, and can file your Self Assessment directly with HMRC. The tax timeline feature gives you a rolling estimate of your tax liability throughout the year.

It’s particularly strong for freelancers who want a proper accounting setup without hiring a bookkeeper. The interface is clean, the bank integration works well, and the HMRC filing is genuinely useful. Where it falls short is on the personal finance side. It tells you what you owe, but not what you can spend. There’s a difference.

Best for: Freelancers who want solid accounting and Self Assessment filing in one place. Price: From 14.50 GBP/month (discounted first year, then 34.50 GBP/month).

Coconut

Coconut takes a different approach by combining a business bank account with built-in bookkeeping. Every transaction that comes in gets categorised, and Coconut automatically moves a percentage into a tax pot. It’s a clever idea: separate HMRC’s money from yours at the moment you get paid.

The simplicity is its strength. If you’re a sole trader with straightforward finances, Coconut handles the basics without you having to think about it. The limitation is that the tax pot uses a fixed percentage rather than calculating your actual liability based on your full annual picture. For some freelancers, that’s close enough. For others, it means either saving too much or too little.

Best for: Sole traders who want a simple all-in-one banking and bookkeeping solution. Price: Free plan available, premium from 7 GBP/month.

QuickBooks Self-Employed

QuickBooks Self-Employed is the lighter version of Intuit’s accounting platform, designed specifically for sole traders and freelancers. It handles expense tracking, mileage logging, receipt scanning, and gives you basic tax estimates based on your income and expenses.

It’s part of the broader Intuit ecosystem, so if you already use QuickBooks for anything else, it integrates well. The tax estimation is straightforward, though it’s more of a snapshot than a live, real-time figure. It does the job for tracking what comes in and what goes out, but it won’t proactively tell you what’s safe to spend after tax.

Best for: Freelancers who want simple expense tracking and are comfortable in the Intuit ecosystem. Price: From 10 GBP/month.

Xero

Xero is a full accounting platform used by businesses of all sizes. It’s powerful, flexible, and has an enormous app marketplace. For freelancers working with an accountant, Xero is often the tool the accountant recommends because it gives them direct access to your books.

The trade-off is complexity. Xero is built for businesses, not individuals. If you just want to know whether you can afford a new laptop this month without eating into your tax money, Xero is overkill. It’s an accounting tool, not a personal finance tool.

Best for: Freelancers with complex finances or those who work closely with an accountant. Price: From 15 GBP/month.

Nett

Nett approaches the problem from the opposite end. Instead of starting with invoices and bookkeeping, it starts with the question freelancers actually ask themselves every day: how much money is actually mine?

You log your income, and Nett applies your tax configuration (Income Tax bands, National Insurance classes, VAT if applicable) to calculate the reserve you need to set aside. What’s left after that reserve and your expenses is Your Nett. It updates in real time with every invoice and every expense, so you always know where you stand.

Nett isn’t an accounting tool. It doesn’t send invoices or file your Self Assessment. What it does is fill the gap that accounting tools leave: the gap between knowing what you earned and knowing what you can spend. Many freelancers use it alongside their accounting software.

Best for: Any freelancer who wants to always know what they can actually spend after tax. Price: Free with core features, premium from 4.99 GBP/month.

Quick comparison

App	What it solves	Best at	Price from	What it lacks
FreeAgent	Accounting + tax filing	Self Assessment + bookkeeping	14.50 GBP/mo	Doesn’t show what’s safe to spend
Coconut	Banking + bookkeeping	Automatic tax pot separation	Free	Tax pot uses fixed %, not actual liability
QuickBooks SE	Expense tracking	Simple receipt and mileage logging	10 GBP/mo	No real-time “safe to spend” figure
Xero	Full accounting	Powerful for complex businesses	15 GBP/mo	Too complex for personal finance needs
Nett	Know what’s yours	Real-time safe-to-spend after tax	Free	Not an accounting or invoicing tool

Each tool solves a different part of the puzzle

There is no single app that does everything perfectly for every freelancer. The best setup depends on what you need most.

If your priority is solid bookkeeping and filing your Self Assessment without an accountant, FreeAgent is hard to beat. If you want the simplicity of a bank account that separates tax automatically, Coconut is worth a look. If you need full accounting power and work with an accountant, Xero makes sense.

But if the question that keeps you up at night is “can I actually spend this money, or does some of it belong to HMRC?”, that’s the problem Nett solves. It’s the piece that sits between your accounting tool and your daily spending decisions, making sure you never accidentally spend money you’ll need in January.

Many freelancers find that the best setup is a combination: an accounting tool for the books, and Nett for the daily reality of knowing what’s theirs.

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