Last tax season, the IRS’s free filing system, Direct File, expanded to 25 US states, with more than 296,000 people submitting a tax return through the service, according to NextGov. The program was widely seen as a success, but in March the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated the tech unit that helped develop Direct File, and in November the IRS announced it would discontinue the system.
That leaves a lot of paid tax prep services quite happy, but there are still a few ways for people to file their taxes without paying extra. Those include using a service that partners with the nonprofit Free File Alliance. (Find the software via freefilealliance.org rather than at the sites for each app, as even alliance members might steer you toward a paid version.) Or simply find a service that won’t charge you.
However, sometimes free isn’t fully free. “Although many tax prep services let you complete your federal taxes for free, some still charge an extra fee for each state return you need to file,” says PCMag managing editor Ben Moore, who manages our tax prep software coverage.
If you’re in need of a little extra help, Moore recommends paid services, which typically come with extra resources to guide you through the filing process and may even present the option to get live help from a tax expert.
This is our second annual survey on tax prep software, and our overall winner is the same as last year. One thing you’ll notice this time around is that the big-name brands rank lowest with our tech-savvy readers. If you’ve been using one of them, maybe it’s time to take a look at something new.
Want to contribute to next year’s story and rate the tax software you’re using right now? While it’s fresh on your mind, take our current tax prep survey, which runs through April 28, 2026. Enter the sweepstakes at the end for a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift card.
The Top Tax Prep Apps and Services for 2026
The app or service you pick to do your taxes each year might come down to what you used last year. 80% of our survey respondents said they’d be using the same program this year. However, there’s a lot more to picking a tax app than inertia. Always consider reliability, ease of use, the simplicity of making payments or receiving refund disbursements, and, perhaps most importantly, how accurate returns are.
In our inaugural survey on tax prep software, FreeTaxUSA won handily, standing out for its price, reliability, and trustworthiness. This year, FreeTaxUSA wins again, scoring even higher on those criteria. It offers completely free federal filing—it charges only for priority support, access to a tax professional, or state filing. For the last option, the cost is capped at $15.99. That’s cheaper than the state support found in most other paid tax services. Qualified users can even file their state returns for free (just be sure to log in via a state site, like tax.ny.gov or ftb.ca.gov, for that option).
Free or paid, FreeTaxUSA dominates in almost every category. It earns an incredible 9.5 out of 10 scores for cost, desktop/web access, refund disbursement options, and tax payment options, and a 9.6 for both federal filing and tax return accuracy. The only subcategory where FreeTaxUSA doesn’t win is for state filing, where it comes in a very close second.
One survey respondent hails FreeTaxUSA as a near-perfect tax time solution. “Total cost: zero dollars and 30 minutes of my time,” they write. “No upsells, pitches, or unwanted, unneeded advertising or marketing.”
“I have used several apps in past years and find FreeTaxUSA to be equal to all others at a lower cost,” says another reader. “I especially appreciate that it does not exclude more complicated returns, unlike its competitors.”
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Moore cites FreeTaxUSA’s “snappy user experience.” “FreeTaxUSA does a good job of moving you through the filing process as quickly as possible,” he says. “Especially compared with other free tax services, it offers good help resources and support add-ons for a reasonable price.”
Top State-Filing Tax Prep
Most services will offer basic free federal filing, but still want to make some money, so they charge for the state side. Cash App Taxes, meanwhile, is completely free to use, whether you file federal, state, or both. (Cash App Taxes, a sister app to the Cash App online and mobile payments service, is owned by Block Inc., which used to be called Square, and shouldn’t be confused with H&R Block.)
Cash App Taxes scores even higher than FreeTaxUSA for state filing, earning it a Readers’ Choice award. One reader comments that the app’s options “for advanced tax prep are amazing.”
Top Paid Tax Prep
Among paid providers, TaxAct outperforms better-known names like H&R Block and our previous paid-tax-prep winner, Intuit’s TurboTax, in most subcategories. It ties with H&R for best desktop access, federal filing, and refund disbursement.
Recommended by Our Editors
Additionally, TaxAct is part of the Free File Alliance, allowing select users to use it for free, provided they qualify. As of this filing year, that means your adjusted gross income (AGI) has to be $89,000 or less. Access your tax app via the IRS site to avoid other fees.
“TaxAct is extremely thorough when it comes to tax topics, making it better than some competitors at answering users’ questions,” Moore says. “The service’s mobile site works well, too, letting you navigate your taxes just as you would with the desktop browser version.”
The one category where H&R Block and TurboTax both outperform TaxAct and even Cash App Taxes is for the interview process user interface, which guides filers. The number isn’t extremely high (8.1 out of 10), but it is higher than that of the other paid apps. However, still not as high as FreeTaxUSA’s interview interface.
For our own expert in-depth testing and analysis, read The Best Tax Software.
The PCMag Readers’ Choice survey for Tax Prep Software was in the field from Feb. 3 to April 28, 2025. For more information on how we conduct surveys, read our methodology.
PCMag Readers’ Choice: How Our Surveys Help You Find the Best Products
About Our Expert
Eric Griffith
Senior Editor, Features
Experience
I’ve been writing about computers, the internet, and technology professionally since 1992, more than half of that time with PCMag. I arrived at the end of the print era of PC Magazine as a senior writer. I served for a time as managing editor of business coverage before settling back into the features team for the last decade and a half. I write features on all tech topics, plus I handle several special projects, including the Readers’ Choice and Business Choice surveys and yearly coverage of the Best ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs, Best Products of the Year, and Best Brands (plus the Best Brands for Tech Support, Longevity, and Reliability).
I started in tech publishing right out of college, writing and editing stories about hardware and development tools. I migrated to software and hardware coverage for families, and I spent several years exclusively writing about the then-burgeoning technology called Wi-Fi. I was on the founding staff of several magazines, including Windows Sources, FamilyPC, and Access Internet Magazine. All of which are now defunct, and it’s not my fault. I have freelanced for publications as diverse as Sony Style, Playboy.com, and Flux. I got my degree at Ithaca College in, of all things, television/radio. But I minored in writing so I’d have a future.
In my long-lost free time, I wrote some novels, a couple of which are not just on my hard drive: BETA TEST (“an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale,” according to Publishers’ Weekly) and a YA book called KALI: THE GHOSTING OF SEPULCHER BAY. Go get them on Kindle.
I work from my home in Ithaca, NY, and did it long before pandemics made it cool.
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