Absolutely agree about checking out other reviews, etc.
For what it's worth, I tried H&R Block first, because of online reviews. For my particular case, it didn't work because it miscalculated my taxes in one spot. However, chances are that specific issue doesn't affect most people - in particular it wouldn't affect anyone who wasn't in danger of paying AMT.
On the positive side for Block, they do have people on staff that (I assume) know something about taxes, since they have brick-and-mortar tax stores. I am not interested in involving other humans, but for those who are, that might be a major differentiator between Block and the others. They charge extra for that, of course.
I don't know about the reported pricing issue. TaxAct, Block, and TT are all roughly the same price. I suspect, but do not know for sure, that the TaxAct price is set when you pay for it, not when you file, just as the others are. It does sound like TaxAct raises their prices as the deadline gets closer - I think TT used to do that also, don't know if they've stopped.
I used only the online versions of all three - I prefer that. But if you want the software on your computer, then that is certainly something you have to take into account.
