Free tax software, comparedTax software with a free federal plan, compared on what the free plan really covers, whether the state return is free too, and where the price shows up.
Independent research. Every number is checked against the provider's own page and dated. Some links may earn us a commission, which never changes a ranking. How we make money
7 free tax software products compared; 7 of 7 in the main list were re-read in the last 14 days (newest read Oct 14, 2026). Ranking rule: We weigh what a typical filer pays for the plan that covers them, how plainly the price is shown before you start, how honest the free offer is, and what happens to your refund. It is an editorial order, not a score, and ease of use is not scored. Every price is read on the vendor's own pricing page, dated, and shown with the tax year it applies to. A commission never changes the order. How we rate
Each pick wins a specific rule, written on its label, and is chosen from the numbers on its own page. They are listed in the order of our ranking, and who pays us has no say in it.
Free federal return for every situation, $15.99 per state, with optional paid support. Prices for tax year 2025.
Free federal return, freelance income included; a state return is $15.99.
1 other we list also qualify; this one ranks first in our order.
Free federal and state filing, including freelance and investment income, if you use a Cash App account. Tax year 2025.
Free federal return, freelance income included; the state return is free too.
Free for simple returns, then $65 to $130 federal plus $49 per state, with unlimited expert help on paid plans. Tax year 2025.
Free federal and state for a simple return. Freelance income moves you to a paid plan.
1 other we list also qualify; this one ranks first in our order.
Seven of the eight products we track have a free federal plan, but "free" does not mean the same thing at each. At FreeTaxUSA, Cash App Taxes and Credit Karma Tax the federal return is free even with freelance or investment income. At TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxAct and TaxSlayer it is free only for a simple return, and the rules differ: TurboTax says roughly 37% of taxpayers qualify and H&R Block says approximately 52%. The state return is where free usually stops. It costs $15 at Credit Karma Tax, $15.99 at FreeTaxUSA and $54.99 at TaxAct, while Cash App Taxes, TurboTax's Free Edition and H&R Block's Free Online include it. These are tax year 2025 prices, read on each vendor's own site on October 14, 2026. The IRS also runs its own free options, with income limits, covered on our IRS Free File page.
| Free tax software | State return | Free plan covers | Paid plans | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15.99 each | Everyone. The federal return is free for every situation… | None | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Free | Anyone with a Cash App account who is a U.S. resident aged 18… | None | Oct 14, 2026 |
 | $15 each | Everyone with a free Credit Karma account. No income limit… | None | Oct 14, 2026 |
| Free | Simple Form 1040 returns: W-2 pay… | From $65 | Oct 14, 2026 |
 | Free | Simple Form 1040 returns only: W-2 pay… | From $79 | Oct 14, 2026 |
 | Unclear | Simply Free: single or married filing jointly, no dependents… | From $44.99 | Oct 14, 2026 |
 | $54.99 each | Simple returns on a bare Form 1040: W-2 pay… | From $59.99 | Oct 14, 2026 |
Each date is when we last checked the provider's own page. Rates and terms can change, so confirm with the provider before you apply.
“Free” almost always means a free federal return for a simple situation. The state return and anything beyond the basics is usually where the price shows up.
Everyone. The federal return is free for every situation FreeTaxUSA supports, from a simple W-2 to investments, rental income and self-employment.
State: $15.99
Anyone with a Cash App account who is a U.S. resident aged 18 or older and whose return uses only forms it supports. There is no income limit and no paid plan.
State: Free
Everyone with a free Credit Karma account. No income limit and no form restrictions are stated: all IRS forms and schedules are included at no cost.
State: $15
Simple Form 1040 returns: W-2 pay, up to $1,500 of interest and dividends, unemployment income, the standard deduction, the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits, student loan interest and taxable retirement distributions. H&R Block says approximately 52% of filers qualify.
State: Free
Simple Form 1040 returns only: W-2 pay, a small amount of interest or dividends, the standard deduction, the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits, student loan interest, the new tips, overtime, car loan interest and seniors deductions, and taxable retirement distributions. Intuit says roughly 37% of taxpayers qualify.
State: Free
Simply Free: single or married filing jointly, no dependents, both of you under 65 and not blind, the standard deduction, and taxable income of $100,000 or less from wages, tips, unemployment and up to $1,500 of interest. Free federal also for active-duty military on a separate plan.
State: see site
Simple returns on a bare Form 1040: W-2 pay, unemployment or retirement income, the standard deduction, dependents, student loan interest and the Earned Income and Child Tax Credits. Any side income, investment income, rental income, itemizing, an HSA or childcare costs needs a paid plan.
State: $54.99
In ranking order. Each one lists the numbers that decide the choice, its main strengths and its main catches.
Free federal return for every situation, $15.99 per state, with optional paid support. Prices for tax year 2025.
FreeTaxUSA is a web-based tax filing service from TaxHawk, Inc. Its pitch is simple: your federal return is free no matter how complicated it gets.
Watch out
Free federal and state filing, including freelance and investment income, if you use a Cash App account. Tax year 2025.
Cash App Taxes is a free tax filing service run by Cash App Taxes, Inc., part of Block, Inc., the company behind Cash App. It used to be Credit Karma Tax and was renamed in October 2021.
Watch out
Free federal filing for every form, $15 per state, powered by TurboTax. Needs a free Credit Karma account. Tax year 2025.
Credit Karma Tax is a tax filing service inside Credit Karma, the free credit-score site owned by Intuit. It is powered by TurboTax technology.
Watch out
Free for simple returns, then $65 to $130 federal plus $49 per state, with unlimited expert help on paid plans. Tax year 2025.
H&R Block's online do-it-yourself filing has four plans: Free Online, Deluxe, Premium and Self-Employed. Free Online is for simple returns, and H&R Block says approximately 52% of filers qualify.
Watch out
Free for simple returns, $79 or $139 federal for the rest, $64 per state, plus paid expert help. Prices for tax year 2025.
Watch out
Free for the simplest returns, $44.99 federal for everything else, $47.99 per state. Prices for tax year 2025.
TaxSlayer is an online tax filing service from TaxSlayer LLC in Augusta, Georgia. It sells a very narrow free plan and then, unusually, one mid-priced plan that handles everything.
Watch out
Four online plans from free to $109.99 federal, with the state return extra on every plan. Prices for tax year 2025.
TaxAct is an online tax filing service with four do-it-yourself plans that step up with how complicated your year was: Free Federal, Deluxe, Premier and Self-Employed.
Watch out
The only product here whose federal return is free whether you are a simple W-2 filer or a landlord with stock sales and a side business, with no income limit. The state return is $15.99 per state. It is also an IRS Free File partner: with adjusted gross income of $51,000 or less (or $89,000 if you are active military) both the federal and the state return are free if you start from irs.gov.
Genuinely free for federal and state, including freelance and investment income, if your return fits. You need a Cash App account, it covers one state for full-year residents in 40 states, and a list of forms is not supported. It is not part of IRS Free File. Its audit defense is free through a third party, and its guarantees pay out as gift cards.
A free federal return with every IRS form, using TurboTax technology, once you have a free Credit Karma account. The state return is $15. Getting your refund up to 5 days early is free into a Credit Karma Money account and $35 into your own bank account. Audit defense and expert review are paid extras.
Free Online covers W-2 pay, unemployment income and up to $1,500 of interest and dividends, with a free state return, and H&R Block says approximately 52% of filers qualify. It does not include live expert help, and the paid plans that do start at $65 federal plus $49 per state.
Free federal and free state for simple Form 1040 returns, now including the new tips, overtime, car loan interest and senior deductions. Intuit says roughly 37% of taxpayers qualify, and itemizing, unemployment income, freelance income or stock sales move you to a paid plan starting at $79. TurboTax is not an IRS Free File partner.
Free federal for single or married-filing-jointly filers with no dependents, both under 65, taking the standard deduction, with wages, tips, unemployment and a little interest. Anything else moves you to Classic at $44.99. Whether the state return is free on Simply Free is unclear on the vendor's own pages. It is an IRS Free File partner for people with adjusted gross income of $19,000 to $89,000 who are 67 or younger, or who qualify for the Earned Income Credit.
Free only for a bare Form 1040 with no schedules, and the state return is $54.99 even then. TaxAct says about 40% of its filers qualified last year. It is an IRS Free File partner for people with adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less who are 20 to 60, with free state returns in some states.
Free is a good deal when you know where it ends. Four checks take a few minutes and can save you the surprise at the last screen.
Every free plan has a rule about forms and situations. TurboTax's covers simple Form 1040 returns without itemizing or unemployment income. H&R Block's also covers unemployment income and up to $1,500 of interest and dividends. TaxSlayer's Simply Free excludes anyone with a dependent or anyone 65 or older. TaxAct's covers only a bare Form 1040 with no extra schedules.
FreeTaxUSA, Cash App Taxes and Credit Karma Tax say the federal return is free for every situation they support, with no income limit. The catch is practical: Cash App Taxes needs a Cash App account and handles one state, and Credit Karma Tax needs a Credit Karma account. FreeTaxUSA's state return is not free.
A free federal return is only half of the cost for most people. Federal plus one state is $0 at Cash App Taxes, and at TurboTax and H&R Block if you stay on the free plan. It is $15 at Credit Karma Tax and $15.99 at FreeTaxUSA, and $54.99 at TaxAct. TaxSlayer's pages disagree on whether Simply Free includes a state return, so confirm it at checkout.
Free plans rarely include a person. H&R Block's Free Online has no live expert help, and TurboTax's product specialist help is a paid upgrade on the free plan. Audit protection is an add-on almost everywhere ($29 at Credit Karma Tax, $19.99 at FreeTaxUSA, $39.99 at TaxSlayer), and Cash App Taxes is the exception, offering it free through a third party.
IRS Free File is free guided software for people whose adjusted gross income was $89,000 or less in 2025, and Free File Fillable Forms is free at any income if you are comfortable doing the work yourself. Both are the IRS's programs for tax year 2025, and the IRS reopens them for each filing season. IRS Direct File, a separate IRS-run service, is closed. Our IRS Free File page lists each partner's rules.
Most of these products let you start free and ask you to upgrade when you enter something the plan does not cover. If you start in TurboTax's Free Edition and then enter stock sales, it asks you to upgrade. After an FTC order in 2025, H&R Block must let you downgrade without contacting customer support. It is cheaper to check the free plan's list first.
We weigh what a typical filer pays for the plan that covers them, how plainly the price is shown before you start, how honest the free offer is, and what happens to your refund. It is an editorial order, not a score, and ease of use is not scored. Every price is read on the vendor's own pricing page, dated, and shown with the tax year it applies to. A commission never changes the order.
Providers cannot pay to change this order. If a paid placement ever appears in a list, it is labeled Sponsored and never carries a “best for” label.
Federal plus one state for an employee and for a freelancer, at the cheapest plan that covers the situation, using the vendor's posted prices.
Whether the price is a number or a "starting at", whether the state return is spelled out, and what is set only at checkout.
What the free plan covers, who is moved to a paid plan, and whether the state return is free too.
The fee to pay from your refund, what audit help and expert help cost, and any regulator action we can confirm on an official page.
Tax year 2025 prices, read on each vendor's own site
Often yes, for a simple return. 7 of the 7 products here have a free federal plan (FreeTaxUSA, Cash App Taxes, Credit Karma Tax, H&R Block, TurboTax, TaxSlayer and TaxAct), but each one defines "simple" differently, and the state return is usually separate. These prices are for tax year 2025, the returns filed in 2026.
It depends on the product: it is free on the free plan at Cash App Taxes, H&R Block and TurboTax; it costs extra at FreeTaxUSA ($15.99), Credit Karma Tax ($15) and TaxAct ($54.99); TaxSlayer does not say clearly, so check at checkout. The free plan at several of them also moves you to a paid plan the moment your return needs something it does not cover. These prices are for tax year 2025, the returns filed in 2026.
At the cheapest plan that covers a simple W-2 return, the lowest total here is $0 at Cash App Taxes, and the highest is $54.99 at TaxAct (tax year 2025, the returns filed in 2026).
Self-employment income needs a plan that handles Schedule C (the form for freelance and business income). The lowest total here is $0 at Cash App Taxes, and the highest is $203 at TurboTax (tax year 2025, the returns filed in 2026).
Not yet. They are the prices posted for tax year 2025, the returns filed in 2026. Vendors usually post new-season prices around December or January, and we re-check every product when they do. Until then, treat these as a guide to how the plans compare, not a quote.
No. Financeradar is an independent research site, not a tax professional. For a complicated situation, check the IRS instructions or ask a qualified preparer.
Best Free Tax Software was last updated in October 2026 and uses rates and fees we verified against each provider's own page. Spot something out of date? Tell us.
