QUICK ANSWER
Lili is a banking app built specifically for solo business owners, and its pitch is unusual: checking, bookkeeping, tax savings buckets, and tax-form prep in one $0–$33/month app. The free Basic tier is a competent fee-free checking account; the value story really starts at Pro (about $9/month), which adds automatic expense categorization and the Tax Bucket that sets aside a percentage of every deposit for quarterly taxes. For freelancers and single-member LLCs who hate juggling three apps, Lili genuinely delivers. Multi-owner businesses, cash-heavy operations, and anyone needing to write paper checks should look at Bluevine, Relay, or a traditional bank instead.
Key Takeaways
- Banking plus taxes is the differentiator — automatic tax withholding buckets and pre-filled Schedule C expense reports live where the money already is.
- Four tiers: $0, ~$9, ~$21, ~$33/month — Basic, Pro, Smart, and Premium, with bookkeeping and invoicing unlocking as you climb.
- Built for one owner — no joint accounts, no multiple users, and no paper checkbooks; deposits are FDIC-insured through partner banks.
- Cash deposits cost money — Green Dot retail deposits run about $4.95 each, so cash-heavy businesses should pass.
What Is Lili?
Lili is a fintech (not itself a bank — accounts and FDIC insurance come through partner banks) aimed squarely at freelancers, gig workers, and single-member LLCs. The core account has no monthly fee on Basic, no minimum balance, no overdraft fee, early direct deposit up to two days ahead, a Visa business debit card, and fee-free withdrawals across a large ATM network. Where Lili departs from Novo, Found, and other neobanks is how deeply the tax workflow is wired in: transactions get swiped business or personal, expenses map to Schedule C categories, and the app generates quarterly estimate suggestions and year-end expense reports your tax software or preparer can consume directly.
Lili Pricing in 2026
Basic (free) is banking only. Pro (~$9/month) adds the Tax Bucket and Emergency Bucket auto-savings, expense categorization, receipt capture, and cashback on debit spend. Smart (~$21/month) layers on full bookkeeping — invoicing with payment links, mileage-friendly reports, and monthly profit-and-loss statements. Premium (~$33/month) adds priority support, advanced invoicing, and Lili’s accountant-ready tax package. Annual billing shaves roughly two months off each paid tier. Compare that stack honestly: Pro costs less than a QuickBooks Self-Employed-style subscription alone, and Smart is cheaper than separate banking, bookkeeping, and invoicing tools — provided you actually use the bundle.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Tax Bucket automation — set a percentage (25–30% is typical for self-employment) and every incoming payment quietly funds your quarterly estimates.
- No overdraft, monthly, or minimum-balance fees — on Basic, the account is genuinely free to hold.
- Fast onboarding — sole props can open with an SSN in minutes; LLCs add formation documents and an EIN.
- Schedule C-ready reporting — the year-end expense report alone saves hours against a shoebox of receipts.
Cons
- Single-user only — no partners, no employee cards, no accountant login with separate credentials.
- Cash is awkward — deposits go through Green Dot retailers at ~$4.95 a time with daily limits.
- No paper checks and limited wires — you can pay billers electronically, but some landlords and vendors still want checks.
- Best features are paywalled — the tax tooling that defines Lili starts at Pro, so the honest comparison is $9/month, not free.
Who Should Use Lili?
Lili fits the freelancer, consultant, rideshare or delivery driver, creator, or single-member LLC whose bookkeeping currently consists of a personal checking account and dread. If your income arrives digitally, your expenses fit on a debit card, and your April problem is “where did the money go and how much tax do I owe,” Lili’s Pro or Smart tier replaces two or three subscriptions competently. Skip it if you have co-owners or staff (Relay handles multi-user banking well), deposit cash weekly (a local bank or credit union wins), want interest on idle balances (Bluevine pays high yield on checking), or run inventory that needs real accounting software behind it.
| Plan | Price (2026) | Standout Features | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lili Basic | $0/mo | Fee-free checking, early direct deposit, debit card | Trying Lili out |
| Lili Pro | ~$9/mo | Tax + Emergency Buckets, categorization, cashback | Most freelancers |
| Lili Smart | ~$21/mo | Invoicing, bookkeeping, monthly P&L | Solo businesses replacing multiple apps |
| Lili Premium | ~$33/mo | Priority support, accountant-ready tax package | Higher-volume solopreneurs |
Recommended Resources
TurboTax Home & Business 2025 — Lili’s year-end expense report drops almost line-for-line into a Schedule C here, making filing season the easy part.
QuickBooks Online for Beginners 2026 — the natural next step if your solo business outgrows Lili’s built-in bookkeeping and needs full accounting software.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Lili safe, given that it is not actually a bank?
Structurally, Lili works the way most banking fintechs do: Lili builds the app and the card experience, while a chartered, FDIC-member partner bank actually holds your deposits. Your money carries pass-through FDIC insurance up to $250,000 through that partner institution, the same legal protection a direct account would have, provided the deposits are properly titled and recorded — which is the detail worth understanding. The practical risks with any fintech are less about losing insured deposits and more about operational friction: if the fintech or its banking-as-a-service middleware has record-keeping failures (the 2024 Synapse collapse froze customer funds at multiple unrelated fintechs for months), access to your money can be disrupted even though it is technically insured. Sensible precautions cost you nothing: confirm the current partner bank in Lili’s disclosures before opening, keep your own monthly statement downloads, avoid parking large reserves in any single fintech account, and keep a second account at a traditional institution so payroll-critical payments have a fallback. For a freelancer holding one to three months of operating cash, Lili’s structure is a normal, widely used arrangement — not a red flag — but it is fair to treat any app-only account as your working wallet rather than your vault.