The Best Receipt-Tracking Apps for Professionals

Best receipt-tracking apps

Numerous receipt-tracking apps are available; they range from free ones with limited features to advanced solutions requiring monthly subscriptions. After asking business owners for recommendations, we’re highlighting six options with features and functionality to suit various business types and professionals. [Read related article: Learn the Different Accounting Types]

1. Expensify is a popular all-in-one receipt-tracking solution.

Pricing: Starts at $5 per user per month

In our conversations with small business owners, Expensify was the name that popped up most consistently.

“Expensify does a great job of pre-organizing receipts, but you can organize them to your liking in the app as well,” noted Tawnya Schultz, financial freedom coach at The Money Life Coach. “It does a lot of the heavy lifting for me, and it’s super simple and quick to use — so I’m not up for days doing expense reports or taxes.”

The service starts at $5 per user per month for teams of up to 10 employees. For larger teams, Expensify costs $9 per user per month. All plans have high-powered features, like automatic expense reporting and company credit card monitoring. Most professionals we polled considered it a worthwhile investment because of its automated functionality.

“Manual entry is a thing of the past for users of Expensify because of the software’s SmartScan technology that automatically scans, inputs and tracks business expenses,” explained Yaniv Masjedi, chief marketing officer at Nextiva. “However, its unique selling proposition is that it can automate any possible expense tracking as long as it’s within the software’s current capabilities, including an estimated mileage usage for your vehicle using the wonders of GPS.”

2. Rydoo is an inexpensive cloud-based receipt-tracking option.

Pricing: Starts at $10 per user per month

Brian Patrick, home expert and CEO of Pest Strategies, relies on Rydoo for his company’s expense-tracking needs.

“Rydoo is the best receipt-tracking tool because it is cloud-based, inexpensive, feature-rich, has OCR [optical character recognition] scanning capabilities, and allows enterprises to limit access according to employees’ roles and responsibilities,” Patrick said.

Plans are billed annually and start at $10 per user per month for the Essentials plan, which allows five users. The Pro plan costs $12 per user per month; there’s custom pricing for Business and Enterprise plans. All plans include OCR scanning and mileage expense reporting to ensure accurate mileage reimbursements. The Pro plan also includes features such as expanded expense policy rules and per diem capabilities. [Read related article: Defining Accounting for Business]

3. AutoEntry simplifies receipt scanning and organization.

Pricing: Starts at $12 per month

Glen Wilde, CEO and founder of Diet to Success, said AutoEntry, which syncs with many of the best accounting software platforms, more than meets his company’s receipt-tracking needs. 

“I currently use AutoEntry for managing and organizing all of my receipts,” Wilde said. “It syncs well with the most popular accounting software programs. I can scan receipts and invoices and have a digital copy in my phone in seconds. Once [it is] uploaded, the system automatically extracts the numbers and inputs [them] into the system. There is no manual input required. This is a huge plus because even the smallest human error can completely compromise accuracy and snowball into huge errors. It’s a major benefit for someone like me who isn’t a strong number-cruncher.”

AutoEntry uses a credit-based pricing model that’s billed as a monthly subscription. That means you pay for credits to use for invoices (one credit), bills with line items extracted (two credits), bank statements (three credits per page) and so on. Unused credits roll over to the following month, but only for three months. 

Plans range from the Bronze tier, which costs $12 per month for 50 credits, to the Sapphire tier, which costs $450 per month and includes 2,500 credits.

4. Shoeboxed adds data analytics to its receipt-tracking features.

Pricing: Starts at $18 per month

Shoeboxed takes an all-encompassing approach to loading, organizing and using receipt data. You can send paper receipts in the mail or use the phone app to upload them digitally. Either way, Shoeboxed will run professional analytics on your receipt information.

Additionally, you can use Shoeboxed tools to catalog and organize your receipts. You can stick with default recommendations or personalize the experience.

Shoeboxed runs on a subscription model. The lowest tier starts at $18 per month. You can add services and capacity through two additional tiers, topping out at $54 per month. 

While Shoeboxed is competitively priced, it’s not the cheapest service available. [Read related article: The 7 Best Small Business Accounting Apps]

5. Smart Receipts puts receipt tracking in the palm of your hand.

Pricing: Free

Most receipt software packages come with a smartphone app. However, Smart Receipts turns your phone into a mobile scanner. With the ability to create CSV, PDF and ZIP reports, you can organize your receipt data according to your preferences. You can load your data into expense-tracking apps, accounting reports and more, all from your phone.

The app is available for free in the Google Play store and the Apple App Store. Some features are behind a paywall, but all things considered, a free app that lets you digitize and track receipts has much potential.

6. Wave Receipts simplifies expense tracking.

Pricing: $8 per month or $72 per year ($6 per month)

Wave Receipts focuses on a narrower range of functions than other receipt-organization tools do. With Wave Receipts, you can scan receipts anywhere with your phone. The mobile app’s built-in tools make it easy to track expenses.

However, you won’t find advanced analytics. Wave Receipts caters to startups and small businesses. The app aims to simplify expense tracking to make it more accessible, not to provide granular financial data. You can pair Wave Receipts with other Wave apps, like Wave Financial, to create a complete software suite. Wave also offers payroll software to help you automate your federal and state payroll tax filing.

Why should you use a receipt-tracking app?

Over the course of a year, your small business will make many purchases, such as computers, phones, office supplies and business travel. Documenting these transactions matters for several financial and tax reasons. [Read related article: Picking the Best Invoice App for Your Business]

In addition, careful receipt organization makes your life as a business owner much simpler. Here are some of the most important things you can do with a receipt-tracking app:

• Track transactions: Receipt-tracking apps help you quantify transaction costs and understand your employees’ expenses.
• Streamline employee reimbursements: The right receipt-tracking app can make reimbursing employees for business expenses more manageable.
• Integrate with your accounting software: One of the biggest benefits of a receipt-tracking app is its integration with your accounting software. This feature simplifies transaction itemization and gives you a high-level view of your business’s costs.

“The primary purpose of receipt-tracking software is to streamline budgeting and ease the burden of financial responsibility,” Masjedi explained. “An intuitive and straightforward design is vital in making things easier for every professional handling money.”

Which features should you look for in receipt-tracking apps?

When choosing a receipt-tracking app for your company, you should consider multiple criteria, including your must-have features. 

However, what you value in an app may differ from other business owners’ needs. For Gian Moore, owner and editor of MellowPine, features that automate the receipt-tracking process are key.

“Receipt-tracking software should be able to organize, name and arrange the files quickly and efficiently,” Moore said. “After you scan thousands of receipts, you often get confused whether you did scan it or not.”

Here are some typical features and functions receipt-tracking solutions can provide:

• Employee mobile apps: Every receipt-tracking service we evaluated has an app employees can use to scan their receipts. Apps use smartphone cameras to scan receipts and attach the corresponding photo to an expense report. Once generated, mobile expense reports can be sent to a manager or accountant for approval on their own app. Employees can track their expense reports to see if they were approved and when to expect reimbursement.
• Optical character recognition: Many receipt-tracking apps have OCR technology, which pulls data from the scanned receipt and automatically adds it to an expense report. This makes it quick and easy to create and submit expense reports.
• Simple data categorization: One of the biggest benefits of digitizing your company’s receipts is the ability to dig deep into the receipt data. Using a receipt-scanning app, you can easily link receipts, invoices and expense data to specific accounts, projects or categories.
• Easy storage: Before there were receipt-tracking apps, businesses had to physically store documentation on-site in a box or filing cabinet. This storage method took up space and could be unreliable, as some ink fades over time. By digitally saving each receipt, you no longer have to store your receipts or worry about deciphering a faded one.
• Support for multiple accounts: A small business may have multiple bank accounts. Over time, sorting receipts for each account can become unwieldy. Most receipt-tracking apps have a built-in dashboard that allows you to select the account associated with the receipt. These dashboards also make it easy to access all receipt-associated data for each account.
• Compatibility with mobile devices: Your receipt-tracking app must be compatible with your devices. Desktop computers are a natural choice, but iOS and Android apps are incredibly handy. These apps make receipt scanning effortless; you just take a photo. Mobile apps also make it easy to create and submit expense reports.

Best receipt app alternatives

If you want to digitize receipts but prefer not to use a receipt-tracking app, you have several options. 

Phone camera

Consider taking photos of your receipts on your mobile phone. Then, instead of uploading them to an app, you can store them in a digital filing system, like Dropbox. However, the downside to this method is that it’s more challenging to track purchases later.  

Google Drive

You can also create a Google Drive folder for your receipts. Here’s how it works:

1. Download the Google Drive app on your smartphone.
2. Create a new folder labeled “Receipts.” 
3. Select the plus sign on the bottom right.
4. Choose “Scan document.” 
5. Take a photo of the receipt.
6. Upload it to your Google Drive folder. 

For some business owners, this method may be a simpler alternative to a receipts app.

Paperless receipts

A final option is to switch to paperless receipts wherever possible. For instance, you can greatly minimize customer receipts by using a credit card reader that works with your smartphone or tablet. From there, you can text or email receipts to customers. 

The best receipt-tracking tools live right on your phone

Because many of the best receipt-tracking tools are mobile apps, most are easy to use by default. After all, there’s only so much space on your phone screen. Chances are, you’ll intuitively understand and be happy with whichever app you try. If not, it’s just as easy to switch to another one.

Max Freedman and Jamie Johnson contributed to this article. Source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.