Best Tax Software: Five Products Compared
The right tax software is decided by the complexity of your return and by the total cost including the state filing, not by the free federal headline. Cash App Taxes is free on both federal and one state; FreeTaxUSA is free federally even for self-employment and charges a flat state fee; TurboTax, H&R Block and TaxAct gate schedules behind tiers and charge per state.
Pricing observed August 2026 · Think Bigger Today editorial team
The same criteria, side by side
Prices shown were read from the vendor's public pricing page on the observation date below. Filing-season prices usually rise as the deadline approaches — confirm the current price on the vendor site before you pay.
| Product | Free federal | State cost | Support | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TurboTax | Yes, simple 1040 only | Per-state add-on in paid tiers | Paid expert review and full service | Investors wanting the smoothest flow |
| H&R Block | Yes, simple returns | Per-state add-on in paid tiers | Online help plus physical offices | Wanting in-person backup |
| FreeTaxUSA | Yes, all supported situations | $15.99 per state (observed August 2026) | Online; paid Pro Support add-on | Complex returns on a budget |
| TaxAct | Yes, simple returns | Per-state charge, often on free tier too | Online; paid expert add-on | Guided filing below premium prices |
| Cash App Taxes | Yes, plus free state | $0, one state only | Self-service only | Simple single-state returns |
How to choose in two questions
First: does your return contain a schedule beyond wages and the standard deduction? If not, a genuinely free product files it, and paying more buys convenience rather than a different result. If yes, the question becomes which product includes that schedule without an upgrade.
Second: how many state returns do you file? Per-state pricing is where tiered products get expensive, and one of them — Cash App Taxes — cannot handle more than a single state at all.
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Think Bigger Today keeps its editorial standards independent of commercial relationships. This review was written by our team using publicly available information, including regulatory filings and published rate sheets. the companies named on this page did not review, approve or endorse it, and is not responsible for its accuracy. Companies that work with us commercially get no preferential coverage, scoring or placement. This page may link to our free matching service, for which we can be paid a referral fee — that fee never decides what we publish, and you may or may not be matched with the companies named on this page. Figures can change without notice; always confirm the current terms with the provider. Nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice.
How we built this comparison
- Content and methodology updated
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- Think Bigger Today editorial team
Data sources and observation years
- Vendor public pricing pages (TurboTax, H&R Block, FreeTaxUSA, TaxAct, Cash App Taxes) — observed August 2026. Prices change during filing season
- IRS annual inflation adjustments (revenue procedure) — observed tax year 2026
We do not claim to be licensed advisers and we publish no anonymous expert reviews. What we do commit to is method: where a figure comes from an ingested dataset we name that source and show when it was observed, and where we cannot verify it we leave it out. See how we source our data.