People searching for a TurboTax alternative have usually reached the point where the Free Edition asked them to upgrade, or where the price on the checkout screen differed from the price on the front page. Most want a flat, visible total for a return they could mostly do themselves. They move to flat-rate or free federal filers, to a government form tool, or to a person who does the work.
Short answer: The first three alternatives to TurboTax in our tax preparation software ranking are OLT.com, Cash App Taxes and 1040.com. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Choose OLT.com if you want a free federal return with complex forms and are happy to do it without an expert. All 11 alternatives below are ranked products from Best Tax Preparation Software in 2026, and each says where it differs from TurboTax.
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Pricing: Priced per product tier, ranges published; state return extra
Established in: United States
Built for: Filers who want guided software and may want an expert to step in
Not for: Filers who need a fixed all-in price known before they start
01
Why buyers look past TurboTax
01
The price is a range until your forms are known
The TurboTax page lists Do It Yourself at $0 to $139 and Expert Assist at $59 to $209, with the state return additional on paid products. Your own price only appears after you tick the boxes describing your year, so a comparison made on the home page tells you little about the total.
02
The Free Edition covers a narrow slice of returns
The vendor limits the Free Edition to simple Form 1040 returns with few schedules, and its own terms say investment sales are not covered. Someone who starts there and later reports a stock sale is asked to upgrade, which is the moment many filers begin searching for something else.
03
Paying out of the refund costs extra
TurboTax lets you settle its fees from your federal refund, and the page states that this service carries an additional fee. Several rivals publish a plain card price instead, and a few cap the whole bill at a figure you can read before you enter a single form.
Pay-per-return or bundles; price on organisation quote; trial offered
Forms-based Intuit preparer software with optional cloud hosting
you have started preparing returns for clients and want to stay with Intuit's calculation engine
#8
03
What each one does differently
1
OLT.com
United States · Federal $0; state $9.95; Premium edition $7.95 federal
Sets the federal return at $0 even with self-employment, rental and crypto sales, and charges $9.95 for each state. A Premium tier at $7.95 adds phone and chat support. It publishes a comparison table against TurboTax, but that table is its own, and it has no expert-filing tier.
Switch from TurboTax if you want a free federal return with complex forms and are happy to do it without an expert.
United States · Free for federal and state returns; Cash App account required
Charges nothing for federal or state, including returns with 1099 income and stock or bitcoin sales. The price of that is an account inside the Cash App, which you must install to sign in. It offers no live preparer to hand the return to.
Switch from TurboTax if you have no objection to the Cash App and want state filing at no charge too.
United States · $34.99 flat for federal and state; optional extras
One price of $34.99 covers federal and state for every filing situation, with Schedule C included and several states for the same fee. You can preview the finished return before paying. Optional extras such as paying from the refund cost $29.95 and audit assistance $34.95.
Switch from TurboTax if you would rather know the final fee on day one than watch it climb with each form.
Not stated by the vendor · Free federal tier; paid tiers priced per return, state filing extra
Offers a free federal tier for W-2 and unemployment income, with Deluxe at $59.99 and Self-Employed at $109.99 and state filing added on top. It puts its own comparison against TurboTax on the page. Its tiers rise with your forms in much the same way TurboTax's do.
Switch from TurboTax if you want the familiar tiered structure from a cheaper list price.
United States · Free federal e-file at any income; no state return
The government's own electronic forms, free at any income, with no questions to guide you and only limited arithmetic checking. It prepares a federal return only, and the account needs a US mobile number that can receive text messages. You decide which forms apply.
Switch from TurboTax if you already know exactly which forms you owe and want no commercial product involved.
United States · Priced per engagement; no price on the home page
A marketplace, not software: you are matched with a US CPA or enrolled agent from a pool of more than 7,200. The home page shows no price, so cost emerges after you begin. It suits people who want to hand the return over entirely.
Switch from TurboTax if you want a credentialed professional to take the return from start to finish.
United States · Online filing from a stated price; office fees set locally
Built around local offices, most of them independently owned franchises, with an online option the home page lists at $25. Refund advances come through a partner bank. You pay for a person across a desk in an office near you, and fees there are set locally.
Switch from TurboTax if you want to sit with a preparer in person and may need to amend a late return.
Canada · Basic pay what you want; Plus $40 plus tax; Pro $80 plus tax
For Canadian residents only, filing with the CRA or Revenu Quebec. The Basic plan lets you pay what you want, even nothing, for up to two returns; Plus at $40 plus tax adds audit protection. It cannot file a United States return.
Switch from TurboTax if you live in Canada and the real need is a CRA return rather than an IRS one.
Canada · Free online edition; paid products priced on the vendor site
Canadian software from Thomson Reuters, NETFILE certified, with a free online edition, free telephone support and a page comparing itself with TurboTax. It auto-fills slips from the CRA. It files Canadian returns, so it is irrelevant for an IRS filing.
Switch from TurboTax if you file in Canada and want an Auto-fill from the CRA, plus the option of a desktop edition.
United States · Published per-user and per-return prices; trial offered
Aimed at people preparing returns for others: the first user costs $299.99, extra users $99, and each individual return $49.99. A solo filer would spend more here than on any consumer product. It earns its place only when you file for a family or a few clients.
Switch from TurboTax if you now prepare returns for other people and want browser access without installing software.
United States · Pay-per-return or bundles; price on organisation quote; trial offered
Intuit's own professional package, which means you stay inside one company's tax engine but pay an annual licence fee plus per-return or bundle charges. The desktop trial cannot e-file or print. It is built for preparers, with forms-based entry rather than an interview.
Switch from TurboTax if you have started preparing returns for clients and want to stay with Intuit's calculation engine.
TurboTax stays the sensible choice when you want guided software and may need an expert to step in mid-return, because it sells everything from a Free Edition to Expert Assist and Full Service under one login and one set of prior-year data. If your return is likely to change shape as you enter it, or you value being able to hand it to a person without starting again, the higher and less predictable price buys continuity that most flat-fee rivals do not offer in the same product.
05
What moving off TurboTax involves
01
Bring last year's figures with you
Download or print your prior-year return before you leave, because adjusted gross income, carried-over losses and depreciation schedules are the numbers a new product asks for first. Several of the alternatives import a prior-year return or W-2 data, but none can read your TurboTax account directly, so keep the PDF.
02
Check the free tier against your actual forms
Each vendor limits its free offer differently: simple returns only, W-2 income only, a particular income ceiling, or a required app account. Run your forms through the preview or the form list before entering personal details, and compare the state fee, because that is where free federal filers most often charge.
03
Treat a half-filed return as a reason to wait
If you have already started in TurboTax, you do not have to finish there. Nothing is filed until you pay and transmit, and the vendor says you pay only when you file. Compare the totals of two products on identical inputs before committing to either.
06
Questions about replacing TurboTax
6 answers
Is TurboTax Free Edition really free?
For simple Form 1040 returns it is, and the vendor lists it as $0 federal, $0 state and $0 to file.
It does not cover investment sales or most schedules, and the page says you may be asked to upgrade if your return turns out to need them.
Which alternatives are free for both federal and state?
On their own pages, Cash App Taxes states that federal and state returns are free. OLT charges $9.95 for state, TaxAct adds state to every tier, and 1040.com includes state in its single $34.99 fee. Check each vendor's list again before you start.
Can I still file for free through the IRS?
IRS Free File has closed for now and the IRS page asks users to return in January 2027.
Guided software was limited to adjusted gross income of $95,000 or less, while Free File Fillable Forms ran at any income. We have not verified the status of any other government filing tool.
What if I need a person to do the return?
Taxfyle matches you with a CPA or enrolled agent, Jackson Hewitt works through local offices, and TurboTax itself sells Full Service from $129. Online do-it-yourself products from the other vendors listed here do not hand the return to a preparer.
Do any of these suit Canadian filers?
Wealthsimple Tax and UFile both file Canadian returns with the CRA and neither files with the IRS. If you owe returns in both countries, you will use a separate product for each, and the Canadian vendors' pages describe only Canadian filing.
Why are H&R Block and FreeTaxUSA not listed?
Their sites refused our automated checks on 29 October 2026, so we could not confirm prices or limits on the vendors' own pages. We would rather leave a product out than quote figures from a source we do not accept.
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Sources
Checked 29 October 2026
TurboTax, tax filing options and pricing: Do It Yourself $0 to $139, Expert Assist $59 to $209, Full Service from $129, state additional, Free Edition limits, upgrade warning, refund-payment fee.
OLT.com, home page and pricing: Free federal at $0, state $9.95, Premium $7.95, form coverage, On-Line Taxes, Inc in St. Joseph, Missouri.
1040.com, pricing: $34.99 flat rate for federal and state, optional $29.95 refund payment and $34.95 audit assistance, preview before paying.
1040.com, about us: 100 percent US-based, 1040.com is a Taxwell company.
ezTaxReturn.com, home page: Free simple federal, $44.99 federal, state $45.99, add-on prices, Jersey City address, Spanish option.
IRS, Free File: IRS Free File closed until January 2027, $95,000 AGI threshold, Fillable Forms any income, no state, ezTaxReturn as Spanish partner.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Written, edited and fact-checked by Sebastiaan Smits. Last reviewed
29 October 2026. How we review.
