Keeper Review 2026: Pricing, the 14-Day Trial, and Who Should Skip It

Disclosure: the Keeper links on this page are affiliate links. If you start a Keeper free trial through one, we earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That is the only thing we are paid for, and it did not decide what is written below. See our affiliate disclosure. Editorial placement is decided on merit and is not for sale.

By Lennit Herrera, founder and editor  ·  Last updated September 20, 2026

The verdict: Keeper is a paid, annual tax product with a free trial, not a free app. As of September 20, 2026 its own site lists Standard at $199 a year and Premium at $399 a year, with a 14-day free trial — and Keeper’s FAQ says plainly that to submit a return to the IRS you have to pay for the annual subscription. For that money you get two things in one place: year-round software that scans up to 10 linked bank and card accounts for possible business write-offs, and federal plus state filing where a tax professional reviews and signs the return.

That bundle is sensibly priced for a freelancer or 1099 contractor who would otherwise pay separately for an expense tracker, tax software and some human help. It is poor value if you have a single W-2, take the standard deduction, and only want to file: FreeTaxUSA files a federal return for $0 and a state return for $15.99, and IRS Free File is open to anyone with an adjusted gross income of $89,000 or less. Before you start the trial, read Watch out for: the auto-renewal, the refund wording, and an inconsistency in how Keeper describes audit protection.

Prices, plan features, trial length, and refund and cancellation terms were read from Keeper’s own pricing page, homepage, feature pages and Terms of Use (last modified July 29, 2026) on September 20, 2026. Comparison prices were read from FreeTaxUSA’s and Everlance’s own pricing pages and from IRS.gov the same day. Software pricing moves — check the vendor’s page before you buy.

This article is information and education, not financial or tax advice. Keeper is a tax-preparation and expense-tracking product, not a bank, broker or adviser. Whether a particular expense is deductible for you is a question for a qualified tax professional or the IRS’s own guidance.

On this page

• What Keeper actually is in 2026
• Keeper pricing: every plan, and what the trial includes
• Standard vs Premium: what the extra $200 buys
• How the deduction tracking works
• What we like
• Watch out for
• Who it is for, and who should skip it
• What Keeper does not do
• Cheaper alternatives worth pricing against
• How we assessed it
• FAQ
• Bottom line

Keeper at a glance

• Starting price: $199 a year (Standard); Premium $399 a year; Business $1,199 a year
• Free tier: none. A 14-day free trial; filing with the IRS requires the paid annual subscription
• Platforms: iPhone (iOS 15.1 or later), Android, and a web dashboard
• Notable limit: Standard excludes quarterly tax payment support, returns covering three or more states, rental property and K-1 income (Schedule E), amendments and prior-year returns

Start Keeper’s 14-day trial → (paid plan from $199 a year after the trial)

What Keeper actually is in 2026

Keeper — the company is Keeper Tax, Inc., based in San Francisco, and many people still search for it as “Keeper Tax” — is best known as an expense tracker for freelancers, and that is how many older reviews still describe it. It is a broader product now. Its homepage describes “intuitive tax filing software backed by tax pros and powered by AI,” and its Terms of Use describe the company as an electronic return originator that submits federal and state income tax returns.

The product has two halves. One runs all year: you link accounts, say what kind of work you do, and it flags transactions that may be business expenses. The other happens at tax time: confirmed deductions carry into a federal and state return, which Keeper says a tax professional reviews and signs before e-filing.

Keeper’s site also lists pieces that are not live yet. As of September 20, 2026 its navigation labels mileage tracking, income tracking and LLC formation as “Coming soon.” If automatic mileage logging is the main thing you want today, that matters — see the alternatives section below.

Keeper pricing: every plan, and what the trial includes

These are the figures on keepertax.com as of September 20, 2026. The homepage describes the pricing as “one flat fee for all your tax needs,” and every plan is billed by the year.

The trial. Keeper’s FAQ reads: “Try Keeper absolutely free for 14 days! You can start tracking your deductions, get unlimited tax help, and begin filing your taxes. If you’d like to submit your taxes to the IRS & State, you’ll need to pay for the annual subscription.” The trial shows you what the scanner finds; it does not get a return filed for nothing.

What happens when it ends. The Terms of Use say that if you signed up to a free trial, “we will automatically bill your payment method on the first day of your first Subscription Term after the free trial period expires,” and that subscriptions then renew automatically for terms of the same length until you cancel. The trial rolls into a $199 or $399 annual charge unless you cancel first, then renews yearly.

Older prices you may see elsewhere. Several reviews ranking for this query, one last updated in March 2026, still list a roughly $20-a-month tracking plan or a cheaper filing-only tier. Neither appears on Keeper’s pricing page or homepage as of September 20, 2026; treat those figures as out of date.

Standard vs Premium: what the extra $200 buys

Keeper’s pricing page compares the two personal plans across 40 rows. Thirty are identical, including federal and two-state e-filing, tax pro review and signature, Schedule C deductions, stock and cryptocurrency reporting, the AI deduction finder and up to 10 linked institutions.

The rows marked “Not included” on Standard and “Included” on Premium are:

• Quarterly tax payment support (Standard still lists quarterly tax payment calculation)
• Multi-state returns covering three or more states
• Property management and K-1s (Schedule E)
• EV credits
• AMT taxes
• Foreign income exclusion
• “Hundreds of other uncommon credits & deductions”
• Audit protection
• Filing prior-year returns
• Amending prior returns

Corporate filing (Form 1120, S-corp) is marked “Not included” on both, which is what the $1,199 Business plan is for.

The practical reading: a sole proprietor with 1099 income, one home state and ordinary business expenses fits Standard. A rental property, a K-1, several states, or a need to fix last year’s return pushes you to Premium — worth knowing before the trial converts. Keeper’s tax pro page says one-on-one meetings run up to four times a year.

How the deduction tracking works

Per Keeper’s expense-tracking page, there are three ways to get transactions in: connect up to 10 bank accounts and credit cards for automatic import, upload past statements or spreadsheets (PDF or CSV), or add cash purchases by hand. You tell the app what you do for work, and it suggests which transactions look like business expenses and which category they belong in. You confirm or change each suggestion, can set a rule so a given merchant is always treated the same way, and can scan receipts to match against transactions.

The account connections run through Plaid, which Keeper’s Terms of Use name as a third-party service you may be required to register with.

Two honest caveats. First, the software suggests; you decide, and you are the one who signs the return. The terms state that you have “final responsibility for ensuring the completeness and accuracy of all tax returns.” A flagged purchase is a prompt, not a ruling. The IRS’s own Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center is the primary source on what counts. Second, Keeper’s marketing figures — “$1.2B in tax savings uncovered,” “1M+ users helped” — are the company’s own claims. We cannot verify them, and they say nothing about what it would find for you.

What we like

• The price list is short and public. Three annual prices, no per-form or per-state add-ons on the pricing page, and state filing for up to two states is inside the $199 plan.
• A human signs the return on every plan. Review and signature by a tax professional is on Standard, not held back for the expensive tier. Keeper’s tax pro page says every one of its pros is a CPA or IRS enrolled agent.
• The tracking runs all year. For self-employed people the hard part of a Schedule C is reconstructing twelve months of expenses in April.
• Its public record is decent. The Better Business Bureau lists Keeper as an accredited business since April 30, 2019 with an A+ rating, as of September 20, 2026. App store ratings the same day were 4.8 from about 13,000 ratings on Apple’s App Store and 4.5 from about 5,660 reviews on Google Play.

Watch out for

• The trial converts to an annual charge, and it auto-renews. This is the term to read before anything else. The BBB profile shows 17 complaints closed in the last three years as of September 20, 2026; we could not read the individual complaints, so we make no claim about what they were about. What the terms do make clear is how billing works: cancellation must happen in the app under Settings > Manage subscription “at least 1 day before the start of the next Subscription Term,” or by emailing support. Put the trial end date in your calendar the day you start.
• The refund language is discretionary. The terms say Keeper “may grant you a refund” if you cancel “no later than one (1) months after the start of your first Subscription Term.” “May” is not “will,” and outside that window the terms say you receive no refund for unused time. Separate, conditional guarantees cover a return filed incorrectly because of a software error or a preparer’s failure.
• Keeper describes audit protection three different ways. On September 20, 2026 the homepage’s Standard plan card listed “Audit protection.” The pricing page’s comparison table marked audit protection “Not included” on Standard and “Included” on Premium. And the Terms of Use say Keeper “does not provide assistance, representation, or protection in the event of an audit,” adding only that it may, at its discretion, answer questions about IRS inquiries on returns filed through it. If audit help is a reason you are buying, get the scope in writing from Keeper support first, and assume the terms are what would govern.
• Disputes go to arbitration. The terms contain a mandatory individual arbitration clause and a class-action waiver, with an opt-out procedure. The service is limited to U.S. residents.
• Your financial data is used for more than tax prep. Apple’s App Store privacy label for Keeper lists usage data as “used to track you” across other companies’ apps and sites, and Keeper’s privacy policy (last modified February 13, 2024) says it participates in interest-based advertising. Read both before linking accounts.

Who it is for, and who should skip it

Best for: freelancers, gig workers and sole proprietors with business spending mixed into personal accounts, who have been under-tracking expenses and would otherwise pay separately for a tracker and for tax filing with human review.

Skip it if:

• You have one W-2 and take the standard deduction. You would be paying $199 for a filing job that free options cover.
• Your main need is automatic mileage logging today. Keeper marks that feature “Coming soon.”
• You want month-to-month billing. Every listed plan is annual.
• You are uncomfortable linking bank accounts to a third-party app. The automatic scanning is the product; without it you are paying for manual entry.

What Keeper does not do

It does not decide what is deductible — it suggests, and the legal responsibility stays with you. It does not, per its own terms, represent you in an audit. It is not full bookkeeping software: the homepage routes needs like profit-and-loss preparation to “additional bookkeeping services” via a contact form. It does not file corporate returns below the $1,199 Business plan. And it is not a budgeting tool; if what you actually want is control over day-to-day spending, our guide to zero-based budgeting apps is the better starting point.

Cheaper alternatives worth pricing against

None of these is a like-for-like replacement, which is the point: check whether you need the whole bundle before paying for it. All prices were read at each provider’s own site on September 20, 2026.

If you want the wider field rather than just the cheaper ones, we compared six of these apps head to head in the best tax deduction tracking apps of September 2026 — including which free tiers are actually usable and where each one stops.

Sources: FreeTaxUSA pricing, Everlance pricing, IRS Free File.

How we assessed it

We compared Keeper’s 3 published plans and the 40 feature rows on its pricing page against its homepage, 5 feature pages, its Terms of Use and its privacy policy, and priced it against 3 alternatives at their own sites, all on September 20, 2026. We read its app store listings and Better Business Bureau profile the same day. We do not test tax software ourselves and have not filed a return with Keeper; nothing here is a claim about how accurate its deduction suggestions are. Descriptions of what the product does come from Keeper’s own published pages; where those pages disagree, we have said so.

Prices and terms re-verified against provider pages on September 20, 2026 — L.H.

Frequently asked questions

Is Keeper free?

No. There is a 14-day free trial, after which the plans are $199, $399 or $1,199 a year. Keeper’s own FAQ says submitting a return to the IRS or a state requires the paid annual subscription. The apps are free to download, which is a different thing.

How do I cancel Keeper before the trial ends?

Keeper’s Terms of Use say to use the cancellation button under Settings > Manage subscription in the app at least one day before the next subscription term starts, or to email support@keepertax.com. Do it before day 14 and keep the confirmation.

Can I get a refund from Keeper?

Possibly, not certainly. The terms say Keeper “may grant” a refund if you cancel within one month of the start of your first subscription term. After that the terms say there is no refund for unused time.

Is Keeper legit and safe to link a bank account to?

It is a real company — Keeper Tax, Inc., a BBB-accredited business since 2019 with an A+ rating as of September 20, 2026, and an electronic return originator per its terms. Account links run through Plaid. “Safe” is a separate judgment: Apple’s privacy label shows usage data used for tracking and financial information linked to your identity for app functionality, analytics and personalization. Read the privacy policy and decide whether that trade is acceptable to you.

Is Keeper the same company as Keeper Password Manager?

No. Keeper Tax, Inc. makes the tax app reviewed here. Keeper Security makes the password manager. They are unrelated.

Bottom line

Keeper in September 2026 is a fairly priced bundle for the person it was built for: a self-employed filer with messy, mixed accounts who wants expenses caught during the year and a professional’s signature on the return, for $199. The 14-day trial is a fair way to see what the scanner finds in your own transactions before paying.

Go in with clear eyes: it renews annually, the refund wording favours Keeper, mileage tracking is not live yet, and its own pages disagree on what “audit protection” means. If your taxes are simple, a free filing option does the job for nothing. If you try it, set a reminder for day 13 and decide on purpose.

Try Keeper free for 14 days → (then $199 a year for Standard unless you cancel)

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