TurboTax vs. TaxSlayer: How the online tax-filing services compare

• Software is the market leader in tax preparation but comes with a premium price.
• Tax Software is a smaller tax prep service that offers a similar product at a lower cost.
• TurboTax is best for those who need more help, while TaxSlayer is great for those who are familiar with taxes.
• See Personal Finance Insider’s picks for the best tax software »

TurboTax and TaxSlayer both offer popular online products for doing your taxes. While TurboTax is a recognized market leader, it isn’t the cheapest option and may not be perfect for everyone.

After doing my personal taxes with Credit Karma, TurboTax, and H&R Block over the last few years, I decided I’d try TaxSlayer as a low-cost option that I’ve seen recommended when browsing online forums on taxes and other financial topics. I also like doing my taxes twice to make sure the results match, which they should regardless of which tax software you use.

Here’s how TurboTax and TaxSlayer compare on costs, user experience, and refund or tax bill results.

Which is better: TurboTax or TaxSlayer?

If your focus is on doing your taxes as quickly and efficiently as possible with the smoothest user experience, TurboTax is definitely a better choice. For those who don’t mind doing a little more manual entry to save money on their tax return, TaxSlayer does the job just fine.

Before trying both platforms, I expected a fairly similar user experience. I was surprised to find that TurboTax did save me quite a bit of time compared to TaxSlayer due to document upload capabilities and its connections to banks and investment companies.

I found the TurboTax experience superior enough that I would be willing to pay more for it than TaxSlayer. But, if cost is your top concern, TaxSlayer is the winner.

How does TurboTax work?

Editor’s rating	4.6 / 5
Review summary	TurboTax is the most expensive option for filing taxes online, but offers a high-quality user interface and access to experts. It’s especially valuable for self-employed filers who use QuickBooks integration.
Cost of DIY filing	$0 – $119 +$49 per state return
Details	4 ways to file taxes Completely free option for simple tax situations at any income level Mobile-friendly Upgradeable for instant access to a tax expert
Free version covers	W-2 income; unemployment income; retirement distributions; interest and dividend income; earned income tax credit; child tax credit

The first software I tried was market leader TurboTax. I’ve used this software myself and typically find it to offer a great overall experience. I have had some less-than-stellar experiences with the low-level customer service and some less-common parts of preparing my tax return as a small business owner with an S-Corp. Overall, however, I would still recommend it to family or friends without hesitation.

TurboTax is made by Intuit, a giant in financial software. Intuit also owns Mint and QuickBooks, among other offerings. It processed over 40 million tax returns in 2020 for the 2019 tax year.

Outside of regular do-it-yourself tax prep, TurboTax added a feature called TurboTax Live. With TurboTax Live, you can upgrade to get live access to a tax professional or even hand off your tax return completely to have someone else do it for you. It’s not the cheapest option, but its sleek online interface and reputation are hard to beat.

How does TaxSlayer work?

Editor’s rating	4.1 / 5
Review summary	TaxSlayer is cheaper than competing tax prep services. It’s best for people who either have a simple tax situation or are comfortable with the tax-filing process.
Cost of DIY filing	$0 – $54.95 +$39.95 per state return
Details	4 different plans  Completely free option for simple tax situations at any income level Interface isn’t as intuitive as H&R Block or TurboTax Requires attention to detail
Free version covers	For AGI above $72,000: W-2 income; unemployment income; tuition and fees deduction; student loan interest deduction For AGI below $72,000: everything

The first place I saw serious recommendations of TaxSlayer was on a personal-finance forum on Reddit. Several well-reasoned people explained that they recently switched to TaxSlayer to save money compared to higher-priced competitors. They all said the experience was practically flawless.

The tax code is identical regardless of what software or accountant you use, so you should get a result that’s within a few dollars (it could vary a little due to rounding) no matter where you do your taxes. TaxSlayer is cheaper than most others for the same thing.

While it’s a smaller tax software provider than the titan Intuit, it has been around for more than 50 years and has plenty of experience handling tax returns. TaxSlayer completed more than 10 million returns in 2020.

TurboTax vs. TaxSlayer: costs and fees

The bottom line: TaxSlayer is cheaper than TurboTax. There’s no way around that.

Both TurboTax and TaxSlayer offer free and paid versions depending on the complexity of your tax situation. Based on my income and where it comes from (I’m self-employed) I have to jump right to the top of the pricing chart.

Below are the prices for each company’s DIY service: 

DIY filing package	Software	Tax Software
Deluxe/Classic	$59	$24.95
Premier/Premium	$89	$44.95
Self-Employed	$119	$54.95
Additional state return cost	$49	$39.95

Both products come with free versions if you have simple needs. As you add things like homeownership, investments, self-employment or side-hustle income, and rental properties, you may have to upgrade to more expensive versions.

A great benefit of these and most other tax programs is the ability to try them out for free without paying anything until you file. If you’re a tax nerd like me, you could try both without paying until you’ve compared your results.

TurboTax vs. TaxSlayer: user experience

The bottom line: Software is the stronger offering here. While the user interfaces are somewhat similar, slightly quicker navigation, automated importing of data from financial companies, and the ability to upload 1099s and other forms are all great features that set TurboTax apart from TaxSlayer.

When logging in and starting with Software, it pulled in prior-year information to help me get started, a benefit of sticking with the software you’ve used in the past. I checked a few boxes and was directed into the tax process.

The initial process with TurboTax goes through entering or varying details about your household and dependents. There’s an upsell right in the middle of doing your taxes to add MAX for $60, which gets you priority customer service, audit representation, identity theft insurance, and other benefits. I didn’t think this was worth $60 for me, but it could be useful to some people.

Entering tax forms on TurboTax is a breeze. You can choose between importing from supported banks, uploading 1099 forms for automatic processing, or manually typing in the details. The import process isn’t always perfect, so you should still take time to review your results either way, as the app suggests.

The few times I got stuck or had questions, there were links to help documents around those particular boxes or tax forms. I had to calculate my prior year’s alternative minimum tax (AMT), for example, and TurboTax told me exactly how to do that.

With Tax Software, I started by uploading my prior-year tax return from H&R Block with a simple drag-and-drop. With two attempts, the site eventually gave me an error and was unable to process the return. That meant I had to enter all of my information from scratch. Not a great start, but not a complete necessity for a successful tax prep experience.

TaxSlayer offers features that are useful to more savvy filers. That includes a starting option to choose and fill in the forms you need instead of going through the wizard. I just jumped into the forms I needed, which came with a familiar visual layout to enter my information. I had to do a little more scrolling on each page to enter my information, such as Form W-2, but it was all easy enough to handle.

In addition to more compact forms, which I prefer for quick navigation, TurboTax offers the ability to import bank and investment 1099s from a long list of institutions. You can also upload a 1099 and TurboTax will parse out the details. At TaxSlayer, it’s all manual entry.

TurboTax vs. TaxSlayer: final results

Based on the information I had available when I tried both platforms, my results — aka my tax liability — at Software and Tax Software were nearly identical.

As you would expect using any tax software or preparer, there is only one correct answer when it comes to your annual income taxes. Both programs did a good job for me this year when comparing the results based on my W-2 income, 1099 forms, donation records, and anything else I had handy.

If you have more complex needs, you may find TurboTax makes them slightly easier to navigate to a correct return. But overall, there isn’t a big difference between the two when it comes to results.

Both come with a maximum refund and a 100% accuracy guarantee. As long as you enter everything correctly, you should come out even.