Best Self-Employed Admin Apps UK 2026 | TradeTally Comparison

Last updated: August 2026. You're a UK sole trader. You've tried at least one accounting app, gone back to a spreadsheet, and you're doing your books in a panic every January. This post is the honest version of "which app should I actually use" — what each one really does, what it doesn't, and what it costs in 2026.

I built TradeTally, so my view is biased. But I've used every app on this list for at least two weeks of real work, and the prices below are what I actually paid (or what the public pricing pages say in August 2026).

What a sole trader app needs to do

After surveying a couple of hundred tradespeople, the must-haves shrink to six things:

Invoice from your phone in under a minute, with a payment link.
CIS deduction if you sub to contractors (20% / 30%).
Snap a receipt, have it file itself with a category.
SA103F export when Self Assessment time comes around.
Share with your accountant via a single read-only link.
Free to try without handing over a card.

If an app does all six, it's on this list.

The short list

App	Price (sole trader)	CIS	Receipt OCR	SA103F export	Free trial
TradeTally	Free 2 invoices/mo · Pro £12/mo or £120/yr	Yes (subcontractor side)	Yes — 50 scans/mo on Pro	Yes (Pro)	14 days, no card
Xero	£37/mo (Growing)	Manual workaround	Yes (Hubdoc paid add-on)	Manual prep	30 days, card
QuickBooks Essentials	£55/mo	Manual workaround	Yes (in-app)	Manual prep	30 days, card
FreeAgent	£18/mo standalone (free with NatWest/RBS business account)	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days, card
Sage Accounting Start	£14/mo	Manual workaround	Yes	Manual prep	30 days, card
Wave	Free	No	Limited	No	Free forever

Two things drove the table. I only list prices I can verify on a public pricing page in August 2026, and I only say "Yes" for a feature if it's genuinely built-in (not "available with a third-party add-on").

TradeTally in detail

TradeTally is built only for UK sole trader tradespeople — plumbers, sparks, plasterers, glaziers, decorators, joiners, roofers, the lot. Every feature was built because a tradesperson asked for it.

What it does today

CIS deductions — turn CIS on, mark a line as labour, TradeTally deducts 20% (or 30% if the contractor isn't registered). Net the contractor pays is shown clearly. Year-end CIS suffered is in the SA103F export.
Parts and labour split — every line has a labour toggle. Reports separate supply from fit.
Certificate references on every invoice — EICR, EIC, Minor Works, PAT, Fire Alarm, Emergency Lighting, FENSA, CERTASS, or Other. Cert number, type, issue and expiry dates print on the PDF.
Receipt OCR — snap a receipt from your phone. TradeTally reads merchant, amount, date in the background, suggests a category, files it. Pro plan: 50 scans a month.
SA103F export — turnover, expenses, mileage, CIS suffered pre-mapped to the supplementary pages. CSV download. Pro plan.
Accountant link — read-only URL your accountant can use. Revoke any time. No per-accountant fee.
Free tier — 2 invoices a month, 10 expenses. Pro trial 14 days, no card required.

What it doesn't do

It's not a job management or scheduling tool. No diary, no route planner, no staff rota.
It doesn't integrate with NICEIC, NAPIT, ELECSA, FENSA or CERTASS portals. Copy the cert number from the portal into TradeTally.
It doesn't file your tax return. It exports the data; you (or your accountant) submit it.
The full CIS contractor workflow (verification, payment & deduction statements, monthly CIS300 return) is on the roadmap, not built.
No card payments, no direct debit, no mileage tracker, no time tracking. All on the roadmap.

Pricing

Free — 2 invoices a month, 10 expenses. For when you're starting out.
Pro, £12/month — unlimited invoices, 50 receipt scans a month, SA103F export, accountant link.
Pro, £120/year — same as monthly, two months free.
14-day Pro trial — every feature, no card required to start.

Xero

Xero is industry-leading for limited companies with staff. The sole trader tier (£37/mo) is solid but expensive for one person, and it doesn't have CIS built in. Receipt OCR is through Hubdoc, which is a paid add-on. Bank feeds, beautiful UI, accountant ecosystem, MTD compliant.

For a sole trader spark on £60k/yr who needs invoicing + CIS + SA103F export, Xero is overkill.

QuickBooks

QuickBooks Essentials is £55/mo. Same generalist positioning as Xero, similar limitations for trades. Stronger in inventory and payroll than trades, weaker on CIS and parts/labour.

FreeAgent

FreeAgent is MTD-first, accountant-friendly, and often free with a NatWest or RBS business account (which is a good reason to pick it). CIS works. SA103F export works. Receipt OCR works. What it doesn't do is job management, certificate references, or anything trade-specific.

For cash-light trades that mostly need an MTD-friendly accounting app and have a NatWest account, FreeAgent is the right answer. For trades that need certificate fields on invoices, it's incomplete.

Sage Accounting Start

Sage is the UK heritage brand, MTD compliant, decent mobile app. £14/mo. What you mostly pay for is the name — for trades-specific work, FreeAgent and TradeTally are better value.

Wave

Wave is genuinely free, but it's Canadian-built and the UK compliance gaps bite. Not HMRC-recognised for MTD, no CIS, no mileage rates. Fine for a side hustle under £1k/mo, risky for a full-time trade.

Which one to pick

Three questions:

Are you a sole trader in a building trade? Use TradeTally. Built for exactly your situation, half the price of Xero, has CIS and SA103F export out of the box.
Are you a sole trader consultant or designer? Use FreeAgent (free with NatWest) or Xero if budget allows.
Do you do less than £1,000 a month on the side? Use Wave (free) or the TradeTally free tier.

Frequently asked questions

Do I actually need an app as a self-employed person?

Legally, you need to keep records for 6 years. Practically, you can do it on paper, but you'll spend 10+ hours at tax time and risk missing legitimate expenses. A £12/month app pays for itself in the first missed receipt.

What's the cheapest app that handles CIS?

TradeTally at £12/mo is the only app with built-in CIS at that price. FreeAgent at £18/mo (or free with NatWest) also handles it. Xero and QuickBooks require manual workarounds.

What's the best free option?

Wave is genuinely free but UK compliance gaps make it risky for full-time trades. TradeTally's free tier (2 invoices/month, 10 expenses) and Starling Bank's free business account tools are the most useful zero-cost options for UK sole traders.

Can I switch apps without losing data?

Yes, mostly. Most apps let you import clients from CSV and export historical invoices and expenses. Start your new app, import the past 6 months of data, and run both in parallel for a month.

Do any of these handle subcontractors and CIS deductions automatically?

TradeTally and FreeAgent. Xero and QuickBooks require manual entries or third-party add-ons.

What if I'm not VAT registered yet?

All apps work fine below the VAT threshold (£90k from April 2026). When you cross it, flip a setting in TradeTally and historical data stays intact. Same for Xero, FreeAgent, and QuickBooks.

Get started

TradeTally costs £12/month. No setup fee. No annual contract. Cancel anytime.

14-day free trial (no card required)
Import existing clients from CSV in 2 minutes
Free accountant access
UK-based support (actual humans, not bots)
Built by a plasterer who still gets dusty

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