Most TurboTax versus TaxAct pages compare feature lists. Feature lists do not decide anything, because both products will file the same return. What decides it is the shape of each company's ladder, the state fee one of them prints and the other does not, and whether your bookkeeping is already inside Intuit. So this page walks one concrete return through both.
The Return Being Priced
One filer: freelance income reported on a 1099-NEC, a Schedule C with real expenses, one state with an income tax, no rental property, no stock sales, no dependents. That is the median return this site writes for, and if yours has a rental or a K-1 in it, the tier you would buy is a different one and this comparison is not yours.
Everything below was read from both companies' own product pages on September 27, 2026, and the sources are listed at the end.
Choosing a Tier, Which Is Where They Stop Matching
TaxAct names a tier for this filer. Self-Employed costs $109.99, and its page says it carries full support for Schedule C income and expenses, walks through the expense categories, and includes audit alerts. The tiers below it are labelled for other people: Deluxe for homeowners, childcare and health savings accounts, Premier for investors and landlords.
Intuit does not name a tier for this filer any more. The Self-Employed product was retired and the job moved to Premium, $139, described on its own page as covering self-employed and investor returns. The trap for the unwary is one tier lower: TurboTax Deluxe, $79, lists Schedule C with the qualifier "Income only". Income can go in; expenses are where that tier stops, which is the wrong place to discover it.
So the first decision is not a feature comparison, it is a naming one. TaxAct asks the filer to pick the tier called Self-Employed. Intuit asks the filer to know that Premium is the self-employed tier now, and that Deluxe is a dead end for a business return.
The State Return, and the Number One of Them Will Not Print
TaxAct prints its state price: $64.99 per state filed, on the same page as the federal price. One state puts this filer at $174.98 for the year, a number that can be verified before starting.
TurboTax prints "State additional" on every product page and no number at all. The federal price is $139 and the state charge appears later, in their pricing flow, once the filer has described their situation. The asymmetry matters for the decision because it means the two options cannot be compared like for like from the pages alone: one total is $174.98 and the other is $139 plus something.
Both companies run promotions. Intuit's product pages carry a line reading "File by 3/31 to save", and TaxAct's prices are printed as "Starting at". Promotional prices are the reason to check both again in January rather than trusting a page read in September.
If You Want a Person Involved
The two companies sell different things here, and the prices show it. TaxAct Xpert Assist is $45 and opens unlimited sessions with their credentialed experts: questions answered, not a return prepared. TurboTax Expert Assist Basic is $59 for advice on a simple return, and Expert Assist Premium is $209 for an expert who reviews the return before it is filed.
For this filer, the honest read is that $45 buys access and $209 buys a review. If the goal is a second opinion on a business return, the thing being sold at $209 is closer to that, and it is also in the range where a local preparer starts being a real alternative. If the goal is having someone to ask about one confusing form at 11pm, $45 is the cheaper way to get it.
If Your Books Already Live in Intuit
This is the one thing TaxAct cannot match, and it is why some freelancers pay Intuit more for the same two forms. QuickBooks Solopreneur carries "Expert Assisted Tax powered by TurboTax, pay only when you file", which means the year's categorized expenses and mileage move into the return without being typed again.
Whether that is worth the difference depends entirely on what your books look like. A year of clean, categorized transactions is worth retyping only if the alternative is hours with a spreadsheet; for a filer with a handful of expenses and one mileage figure, the import saves minutes and does not justify a premium.
For a QuickBooks subscriber the pipeline is also a switching cost, not just a feature. Leaving means either retyping the year or exporting it, and that friction is part of what the subscription buys Intuit.
When the Answer Changes
The comparison above is for one clean return, and four changes move it. Each one is priced from the pages read on September 27, 2026.
Add a rental property or stock sales. Nothing changes on the TaxAct side, because Self-Employed includes everything in Premier: rental income, capital gains, crypto, the foreign bank account report. Intuit covers the same ground in Premium, which is the tier already being priced here. So a filer who is both a freelancer and a small investor pays $109.99 at TaxAct and $139 at Intuit, and the gap survives the added complexity.
Two states instead of one. TaxAct's side is arithmetic: $109.99 plus two state returns at $64.99 is $239.97. Intuit's side is $139 plus two charges that are not printed, which is the point where "state additional" stops being a curiosity and starts being the largest unknown in the decision.
Add a marketplace or a small business. Neither product is built for this. If a partnership or an S-corporation appears, TaxAct moves off the online tiers and Intuit moves to the 1120-S and 1065 products, which is beyond the range this page prices, in the same territory as Keeper's $1,199 Business plan and a local preparer.
Your books move into QuickBooks. This is the switch that can flip the answer, because the Intuit pipeline is the one thing priced on the other side. A freelancer who subscribes to QuickBooks Solopreneur at $215 a year for the bookkeeping is already paying for the handoff, and switching to TaxAct means giving that up to save $29 on the federal return.
What These Documents Cannot Settle
The interview itself. How each product asks its questions, how quickly it becomes clear where a home office deduction goes, whether the language assumes you have done this before: none of that is in a pricing page, and it is what most arguments about these two products are really about.
Both companies let you find out for nothing. TaxAct's Free tier and TurboTax's Free Edition both start a return at $0, and the useful test is to enter a real Schedule C with a real expense in each and see which one makes you look something up. That experiment costs an evening and settles the part of the question this page cannot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper, TurboTax or TaxAct, for a freelancer with one state?
TaxAct, on the numbers that are printed. Its Self-Employed tier is $109.99 and its state fee is $64.99, so the total for one state is $174.98. TurboTax Premium is $139 and its state fee is not printed anywhere on the product pages, only the words "State additional", so the comparison has one known side and one unknown one.
Does TurboTax still have a Self-Employed product?
No. Intuit retired the name and the job moved to Premium, whose own page is titled "Self-Employed & Investor Tax Software". TaxAct still sells a tier called Self-Employed at $109.99, so this is not a tier-for-tier comparison any more: it is a named product against a general one.
Which tiers can actually file a Schedule C?
TaxAct: only Self-Employed, at $109.99. Its Deluxe and Premier tiers are labelled for homeowners, investors and landlords. TurboTax: Deluxe lists Schedule C as "Income only" and Premium covers the expenses, so a filer can start a business return in the $79 tier and be stopped partway through it.
What if I want a tax professional involved?
The two companies sell different things. TaxAct Xpert Assist is $45 for unlimited sessions with their experts, which answers questions. TurboTax Expert Assist Premium is $209 and includes an expert reviewing the return before it is filed. One is advice, the other is a review, and they are priced accordingly.
Do I lose anything by leaving TurboTax?
One thing: the books to tax handoff. QuickBooks Solopreneur carries "Expert Assisted Tax powered by TurboTax, pay only when you file", which moves a year of categorized expenses into the return without retyping them. TaxAct has no bookkeeping product attached, so that year gets typed in again unless your books are already outside Intuit.
Sources
Prices, tier names and quoted wording were checked against these pages on September 27, 2026.
- TaxAct Self-Employed, for the $109.99 price, the $64.99 per state fee, the Schedule C description and the $45 Xpert Assist price
- TaxAct Deluxe and TaxAct Premier, for what the lower tiers are labelled for
- TurboTax Premium, for the $139 price and the self-employed and investor description
- TurboTax Deluxe, for the $79 price and the "Schedule C (Income only)" line in the form table
- TurboTax Expert Assist Premium and Expert Assist Basic, for the $209 and $59 prices
- QuickBooks Solopreneur, for the tax handoff wording and the "pay only when you file" term
For the full reviews behind this comparison, see TaxAct Self-Employed and TurboTax.
