Keeper Alternative for Tracking Platform Income, Not Just Write-Offs
Gross
Fees
Take-home
...
Next month Estimate
Payout calendar
Sample data for illustration
The honest read
Keeper, once called Keeper Tax, is built to do one job well: find the tax write-offs a 1099 worker misses. You link your accounts, its software scans transactions for deductible expenses, and at tax time you can file directly or hand a clean deduction export to a CPA. The tracking-only plan, Only Deductions, runs $20 a month, and the annual filing plans run from about $99 to $399 depending on how much expert help you want, with the top tier adding amendments, prior-year returns and quarterly calls with a tax pro, as published in July 2026. If your main problem is that you are leaving deductions on the table and dread filing, Keeper is a genuinely good answer and this page is not trying to change your mind. What Keeper does not do is show you what you actually earn across the platforms you sell on. It treats a Twitch payout, an Etsy deposit and a Gumroad transfer as generic bank inflows, with no record of the fee each platform skimmed first and no sense of when the next deposit is due. Earnly is the alternative for that side of the ledger: twelve platforms on one board showing gross to fees to take-home per source, a payout calendar that knows Twitch pays around the 15th while Gumroad pays every Friday, and a next-month forecast band that is always labeled an estimate. The honest split is that Keeper answers what can I deduct and how do I file, while Earnly answers what did I really make, after fees, and when does the money land. Many creators run both, Keeper at tax time and Earnly all year for income clarity. Earnly is an informational analytics tool; it is not a bank, and it does not give accounting or tax advice or find deductions.
Side by side
Where the boards differ
| What you get | Earnly | Keeper |
|---|---|---|
| Per-platform gross -> fees -> take-home view | Yes | No |
| Payout calendar with expected pay dates | Yes | No |
| 12+ creator and seller platforms on one board | Yes | No |
| Next-month income forecast (labeled estimate) | Yes | No |
| Finds tax-deductible expenses automatically | No | Yes |
| Files your federal and state taxes | No | Yes |
| Read-only; never files or touches your money | Yes | Scans linked accounts for write-offs |
| Pricing model | Flat, $12 to $79/mo | $20/mo tracking; $99 to $399/yr to file |
Comparison reflects published pricing and feature descriptions as of July 2026; both products change. Pick the tool that fits how you earn. See what the board looks like on the income tracker homepage, or start with the revenue dashboard.
Questions people actually ask
How much does Keeper cost?
Keeper has two shapes. The tracking-only plan, called Only Deductions, is $20 a month and gives you the expense scanner plus an export you can take to TurboTax or a CPA. To file with Keeper you move to an annual plan, roughly $99 to $399 a year depending on how much tax-pro support you want. Prices as published in July 2026; confirm current numbers on keepertax.com.
Is Keeper the same as an income tracker?
Not really. Keeper is a deduction finder and tax filer: it looks at money going out to spot write-offs. An income tracker like Earnly looks at money coming in, and specifically at what each platform paid you after its cut. They sit on opposite sides of the same profit-and-loss line, which is why plenty of creators use one for taxes and the other for income.
Does Keeper show fees from YouTube, Etsy or Twitch?
No. Keeper records a platform payout as a plain deposit and does not break out the fee the platform took before paying you. If you want to see that a Gumroad Discover sale cost 30% while a direct one cost about 13%, or line up gross against take-home per platform, that is the gap Earnly fills.
Can I use Keeper and Earnly together?
Yes, and it is a common setup. Keeper handles deductions and filing at tax time, while Earnly tracks what you earn across platforms all year, with fees and expected pay dates. Earnly does not find write-offs or file taxes and does not pretend to; it is the income half of the picture.