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Alternatives · Tax-residency day trackers · 2026

Best TaxBird alternatives

TaxBird is the snowbird's residency tracker at $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, with an account, a server and no visa days at all. Here are the eight alternatives worth your time, Stretch first. Every price checked and dated.

By David Toniolo, Do a Stretch · Updated 2026-08-29 · Prices and facts checked 2026-08-17 · 10 min read

Who this is for

You are paying TaxBird, or about to, and something is nagging: the account, the trial with no free tier under it, the days its GPS misses, or that it cannot tell you how many Schengen days you have left. Here are the eight alternatives — TaxBird still wins one.

Start with how tax-residency days are counted →. Counting days is the easy half; knowing your threshold is the rest.

TL;DR

Need Winner Runner-up Why
Best overall Stretch Country Days Tracker Visa days and tax days from one log
Best free Stretch Nomad Tracker Counter and reminders never withdrawn
Best for US state days TaxBird Domicile365 Its states, provinces and NYC model
Best evidence for an audit Domicile365 Country Days Tracker Signed PDFs, $19.99 a month
Best on Android Stretch Domicile365 Only three apps here ship on Android
Best privacy Stretch Country Days Tracker No account, no server

TaxBird has done one job since 2017 and does it properly: if your year is Naples and Long Island and the number that matters is 183 in New York, its thresholds and yearly report are the right shape, and its 3.9★ from 239 US ratings carries a lot of "set it and forget it". What sends people looking is the account, the trial and the missing visa days.

Why people look for a TaxBird alternative

  • An account, on someone else's server. TaxBird wants an email and a password before it counts anything, and its App Store privacy label lists precise location, contact info and identifiers as data linked to you (checked 17 August 2026).
  • "Misses my location." The promise is set-and-forget background GPS; the reviews say it forgets. "The app stopped regularly updating locations a few months ago… The developer reached out and suggested I delete and reinstall it" (TLane1983, US App Store, 14 May 2025). Patching the gaps by hand is no better: "in some cases, it just spins around" (StillNotWorking, 20 March 2025).
  • A 30-day trial, not a free tier. After it, the subscription is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and history, alerts and reporting lock. If your card expires in the year you moved twice, nothing counts on underneath.
  • No visa days. It counts countries, US states, provinces and New York City against thresholds you type in, and does not know Schengen is a rolling 90-in-180 or that your e-visa dies on a date.

Quick comparison

Tool Platforms What it counts Price (every tier)
Stretch iPhone, Android Visa days everywhere on your passports; tax days in Stretch+ Free; Stretch+ $49.99/yr
TaxBird iPhone, Android Countries, US states, provinces, NYC; no visas 30-day trial; $4.99/mo or $39.99/yr
Country Days Tracker iPhone, Mac 183/365/custom, UK ILR; Schengen 7 days free; Pro $5.99–$6.99/mo or $34.99/yr
Bounded iPhone only 100+ presets, Schengen and 183-day Free logging; $5.99/mo; annual $19.99–$149.99
iReside iPhone only 183-day, Substantial Presence Test; Schengen 30-day trial; $3.99/mo or $34.99–$39.99/yr
Domicile365 iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows UK SRT, US SPT, Act 60, Monaco 60-day trial; $19.99/mo (~$219.89/yr annual)
Flamingo Compliance iPhone only UK SRT, US tests, NYC; Schengen 30-day Discovery; $11.99/mo or $119.00/yr
Spreadsheet + official rules Anything Only what you calculate Free

How we evaluated

  • Whether one log serves both clocks — visa days allowed and tax days counted
  • Whether the free tier is a safety net or a trial that ends
  • Platforms, because TaxBird users are on both phones and most rivals are not
  • Price at each tier, and what the reviews say (17 August 2026)

1. Stretch — the only one with a free floor

My own app. Log the day you land — two taps — and it gives you the days left, the date you must be out and reminders at 14, 7, 3 and 1 days, for rolling windows like Schengen's 90-in-180 and limits that reset when you leave, from the log that also feeds your tax-day tallies. Every rule shows its source and checked date, published at doastretch.com/visa, and there is no account. But it counts days per country: if your problem is 183 days in New York, TaxBird is better. It is new, not on the stores yet (waitlist).

Price. Free forever: counter, exit date, reminders, documents. Stretch+ $49.99 a year, or $149 once, adds tax-day tallies, GPS you confirm at each border, travel PDFs and the Visa Desk, which prepares your entry forms for you to review.

2. Country Days Tracker — the deepest rule set

Andrey Solovyev's day counter (App Store since 2022, 4.0★ from 73 US ratings) counts days per country over 183, 365 or any range you set, with a Stay Limit Manager, a Schengen calculator, custom areas for US states, and since 7.5 absence rules for UK indefinite leave. It rebuilds history from photo metadata, imports flights from Flighty, and needs no account. But the free tier shows seven days, there is no Android, and the rules are your own.

Price. Pro $5.99 or $6.99/month, or $34.99/year (checked 17 August 2026).

3. Bounded — the fastest way to rebuild history

Wasl Apps' 2026 breakout, listed as "Country Days Tracker: Bounded" (4.7★ from 214 US ratings) logs your country by GPS, rebuilds past years from your photos, and runs 100+ presets on the device. One reviewer checked six months against flight confirmations and found one error. But when the backfill fails it invents your year — "It showed dozens of trips that never happened" (phurnbeats, 23 June 2026) — and there is no Android.

Price. Free manual logging. Premium $5.99/month; annual tiers of $19.99, $29.99, $49.99, $69.99, $99.99 and $149.99 (checked 17 August 2026) — nearly four times TaxBird at the top.

4. iReside — the closest swap, and cheaper

A GPS day tracker for people splitting time between US states, provinces and countries — 183-day rules, the US Substantial Presence Test — which added visa tracking in 2026 (4.8★ from 50 US ratings). It exports audit-ready PDFs and is pitched at TaxBird's weak spot: "sometimes the app would miss tracking days and I would have to fix manually" (Ryan Dubos 67, 7 January 2026). But it is iPhone only, with an account and a server.

Price. $3.99/month; yearly listed at both $34.99 and $39.99 (checked 17 August 2026).

5. Domicile365 — the forensic option

Manchester Financial Group's tracker (both stores since 2019, plus Mac, Windows and web) records your location continuously — 15-minute GPS polling, per its Play listing — uploads it, and counts days by country and US state against named tests: the UK Statutory Residence Test, the US Substantial Presence Test, Puerto Rico Act 60 and Monaco. Its exports are signed PDFs a tax authority can verify. But it is five times TaxBird, and its own FAQ concedes "a level of battery drain that is not acceptable".

Price. Individual $19.99/month; the annual plan advertises one month free, about $219.89 a year. 60-day trial, no card (checked 17 August 2026).

6. Flamingo Compliance — tax test plus visa expiry

AccuraSoft's "Tax Residency & Visa Tracking" (London, 2022; 4.4★ from 47 US ratings) builds a timeline of countries, US states and New York City, and counts it against thresholds you set, including the UK Statutory Residence Test and the US presence tests. On top sit a Schengen tracker, visa expiry alerts and an IATA-synced passport index, kept in iCloud. But it is iPhone only, and the tiers bite: "I paid $30 and cannot even use the core features I expected" (Harharhar19, 23 November 2025).

Price. Settler $2.99/month or $29.99/year; Resident $5.99 or $59.99; Globetrotter $11.99 or $119.00 (checked 17 August 2026).

7. Nomad Tracker — the most generous free tier

Gotzon Zabala's iPhone and iPad counter (version 3.7) logs days by hand or background GPS and runs four engines over the log: Schengen 90/180, a 183-day count with a configurable tax-year start, the FEIE 330-day test and US states. It is local-first, and most of that is free. But the alerts are Pro, so the free counter counts and never warns you, and one US rating is not a track record. Despite the name, no relation to Stretch.

Price. Free tier. Pro $3.99/month; yearly $14.99 or $29.99; lifetime $69.99 or $129.99 (checked 17 August 2026).

8. A spreadsheet plus the official rules

A column of entry dates, a column of exit dates, and the primary sources: the European Commission's short-stay calculator, the IRS's Substantial Presence Test page, HMRC's RDR3. It is the most private option here. But it never tells you the day, it goes stale when a rule changes, and it holds no proof. The EU calculator's own warning applies to your sheet: it "is a helping tool only; it does not constitute a right to stay".

Price. Free (checked 17 August 2026).

What decides it

Price for the counting

TaxBird is $39.99 a year with a 30-day trial and no free floor. Country Days Tracker, Bounded and Flamingo cost more at the top, iReside and Nomad Tracker less, Domicile365 five times as much. Stretch's counter and reminders are free forever, and its paid plan is $49.99 against the $39.99 you pay now.

Winner Split — TaxBird's ceiling is $10 lower; Stretch's floor never drops out.

Both clocks from one log

TaxBird counts presence against thresholds you type in and says nothing about visas; the others bolt visa counting onto a tax tracker as presets. Stretch runs both off one entry: exit date, rolling 90-in-180 window and 183-day tally all move together.

Winner Stretch — one log, two clocks, no double bookkeeping.

Sub-national residency

This is the one where we lose. TaxBird splits the United States into states, Canada into provinces and carves out New York City, with thresholds and a yearly report shaped for that argument.

Winner TaxBird — for a state audit at a consumer price, nothing here beats it.

Accounts, servers and automatic logging

TaxBird needs an account and backs your history up on its servers, and iReside and Domicile365 also hold your timeline. Stretch has no account, and asks you to confirm every border.

Winner Stretch — nobody, including us, holds your year; Domicile365 for the machine's word.

Quick verdict

If you want… Choose
Visa days and tax days from one log Stretch
A counter and reminders free forever Stretch
No account holding a year of your location Stretch
US state, NYC or province residency cheaply TaxBird
Signed evidence for an audit Domicile365
TaxBird's job cheaper on an iPhone iReside

Choose TaxBird if you…

  • need days counted by US state, Canadian province or New York City for a state audit;
  • want a reversed count for establishing residency ("reach 183 in Florida");
  • never cross a border with a day limit, and accept an account and background location.

Choose Stretch if you…

  • cross borders as well as state lines and want the visa clock and the tax clock from one log;
  • want the counter, the alerts and your documents free, forever;
  • want no account and no server, and are on Android or move between both phones.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to TaxBird?

Stretch is the best alternative for anyone who crosses a border: visa days for every destination on your passports and tax days from one log, no account, $10 a year more at the top ($49.99, or $149 once), a counter free underneath. For US state residency, TaxBird is hard to beat.

Is there a free alternative to TaxBird?

Yes. Stretch's counter, exit dates, reminders and documents are free forever. Nomad Tracker's free tier includes GPS, Schengen, 183-day and FEIE counters, though its alerts are paid; Bounded's manual logging is free.

Does TaxBird track visa days or the Schengen 90/180 rule?

No. TaxBird counts days present per country, US state, province and New York City against thresholds you set; it implements no visa rules, rolling windows or e-visa expiry. Stretch counts those from the same log as your tax days.

Which TaxBird alternative works on Android?

Stretch and Domicile365 — everything else here is iPhone-only, which is why so many TaxBird users find the shelf empty. Domicile365 covers Mac and Windows too.

Do I need an account to use these apps?

Not for most. TaxBird, iReside and Domicile365 require one and hold your history on their servers; Country Days Tracker, Bounded and Flamingo keep it on the device, and Stretch has none.

Can I move my history from TaxBird to Stretch?

Yes — export your TaxBird yearly report if you want the record, then log those stays in Stretch with real dates; the windows and tallies correct themselves.

Sources

Count it, don't carry it

Do a stretch. Don't snap.

The counter, the alerts and your documents are free, forever. Coming to the App Store and Google Play — one email when it lands.

Recommended reads

Prices, ratings and features are as published by each product on the date shown; they change — check the store listing before you buy. Stretch is a tracker, not legal advice.