Most people know the importance of keeping business receipts in case they’re audited. The problem with paper receipts is that they're easy to lose. By immediately uploading these into an expense tracker app, you save space and time instead of having to dig through a shoebox full of receipts at tax time.
We reviewed 30 different options to determine the best expense tracker apps, based on price, features, reviews, and accessibility. The apps we picked have the ability to sync and categorize account transactions, are reasonably priced, and offer reporting tools to track your personal and business financial health.Best Expense Tracker Apps for May 2024
- Best for Small Businesses: QuickBooks Accounting
- Best for Investors: Empower (Formerly Personal Capital)
- Best for Receipt Saving: Expensify
- Best for Reimbursement and Mileage: Everlance
- Best Free Option: NerdWallet
Best for Small Businesses : QuickBooks Accounting
- Price: $30 and up - 50% off for the first three months on each plan
- Platform: Android, iOS
- Receipt scanner: Yes
- Automatically track mileage and snap pictures of receipts
- Send and track invoices in multiple currencies
- Link bank and credit card accounts
- One of the more expensive expense tracker apps
- E-signature is available only on the app
- No chat support
Owned by Intuit, QuickBooks is a leader in business accounting and bookkeeping. Its app helps small businesses track expenses, send invoices, and manage most financial aspects of a business.
QuickBooks Accounting offers a free 30-day trial with no credit card or commitment required. And, if you have QuickBooks online, the Accounting app is free. Otherwise, choose from a variety of plans starting at $30 per month and get 50% off of each plan for the first three months.
Some popular features for small business owners include:- Integrations with over 750 apps, like inventory management and advanced CRM
- Give your accountant access
- Customize invoices with your logo and business info
- Create and track invoices in multiple currencies
- Generate profit and loss reports
- Photograph receipts and attach them to expenses
- Track sales and customers on-the-go
- Categorize expenses
- Mileage tracking uses GPS without draining the battery
- Forecast cash flow over 90 days and use Envelopes to set aside money for business payroll and taxes
- Connect bank and credit card accounts to track revenue and expenses
Best for Investors : Empower (Formerly Personal Capital)
- Price: Free
- Platform: Android, iOS
- Receipt scanner: No
- Reporting tools make it easy to see the asset allocation and performance of your investments
- Offers strategies to lower your tax burden
- Recession simulator shows how your investments would’ve performed in historical recessions
- No account reconciliation
- Some financial institutions won’t sync with the app
- Must have over $100,000 in investable assets for advisory services
Empower is a personal finance and wealth management company founded in 2009. This app is free and gives you a clear snapshot of your financial health.
If you have over $100,000 in investable assets, you’re eligible for advisory services with Empower. After linking your accounts, receive a free initial consultation with one of their financial advisors.
Compared to similar companies, its annual fee for investment management is high. You pay an annual fee is 0.89% for the first $1 million in assets, 0.79% for the next $3 million in assets, 0.69% for the next $2 million, 0.59% for the next $5 million, and 0.49% for assets over $10 million.
You can take advantage of this app even if you don't have $100,000 in investable assets. Use the investment management tools to link accounts, plan your retirement, set a budget, and see your cash flow. Each of these services is free with the app or its web interface.
Best for Receipt Saving : Expensify
- Price: Free for up to 25 scans, then $5–$9 per month
- Platform: Android, iOS
- Receipt scanner: Yes
- Automatically reads and imports receipt details for you—even if it’s foreign currency
- Categorize, tag, and group expenses into a report
- Automatic mileage tracking using GPS
- Uploading PDF receipts can be difficult to do
- Automatic receipt reading sometimes takes longer than it would to manually type in the info
Expensify was launched in 2008 to manage receipts and expenses. It allows 25 scans per month for free—beyond that, you’ll need a paid account. Expensify offers two plans at $5 for smaller companies and $9 per month for larger companies with greater tracking needs.
This app is targeted toward business users because it has tools to submit receipts directly to a manager or accountant. From there, they can approve or reject expenses right from the app. Expensify even offers a corporate Visa card and a corporate travel assistant.
Integrate accounting apps like QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and Sage Intacct. Next-day reimbursement is a favorite feature of Expensify because employees get their money back quickly.
One of the best features for international travelers is how Expensify works with global currencies and taxes. An app that’s globally compatible makes month-end closing seamless.Best for Reimbursement and Mileage : Everlance
- Price: Free for 30 trips, then $10 per month and up
- Platform: Android, iOS
- Receipt scanner: Yes
With Everlance, create an IRS-compliant mileage log and sync your bank accounts and credit cards for expense and receipt tracking. This app is particularly popular with those who are self-employed.
- GPS used to create an IRS-compliant mileage log
- Syncs to bank or credit card for expenses and receipts
- Export mileage and expense reports in PDF, CSV, or Excel formats
- The app creates a new trip if you’ve stopped for 10 minutes
- Premium features cost far more than other expense tracker apps
- Notifications are cumbersome if manually tracking trips
Founded in 2015, Everlance is an app designed to track mileage, expenses, and receipts. When you download the app, you automatically start a seven-day Premium trial. At the end of the trial, you’ll revert to a free account unless you choose to upgrade.
To track expenses, sync your credit cards and bank accounts. With one swipe, you can categorize business and personal expenses. For recurring expenses and transactions, users can set custom expense rules. With Everlance, tracking revenue is easy, too—even if you have income from multiple sources.
Everlance uses GPS technology to automatically chart your trips. However, you can also turn that feature off and manually track trips. While the app does advertise you can set it and forget it, user reviews suggest it’s best to double-check that your trip is recorded, as GPS errors have caused the app to miss some trips.
There are three packages available with Everlance:
Free | CPM Program: $12 billed monthly or $10 per month billed annually | FAVR Program: $33 per month billed annually |
---|---|---|
30 automatic trips per month | Unlimited automatic detection | Unlimited automatic trip detection |
Unlimited manual start and stop trip tracking | Automatic expense tracking with bank and credit card sync | Automatic expense tracking with bank and credit card sync |
IRS-compliant reports | Deduction finder | Deduction finder |
Expense tracking with unlimited receipt uploads | Trip auto-classification with work hours and commute | Trip auto-classification with work hours and commute |
Advanced PDF and Excel reports | Custom Excel & PDF data exports | |
Customized 1x1 training and VIP customer support |
Best Free Option : NerdWallet
- Price: Free
- Platform: Android, iOS
- Receipt scanner: No
- Track income and expenses
- Monitor your credit and net worth
- It’s completely free
- Limited transaction management
- Credit score is only provided by one bureau—TransUnion
- Must link your account to reconcile transactions, rather than it pulling from your credit report
NerdWallet is a personal finance company founded in 2009. Its app gives a complete look at your personal finances and tools to help manage your money. It’s completely free and doesn’t offer in-app purchases.
Link your accounts and categorize your transactions to get a picture of how you spend your money every month. From there, set goals to help pay down debt, invest in your future, and save money.
When you link a debit or credit card, you can receive offers from retailers to get points and other rewards. NerdWallet also offers calculators and editorial content to help you make smart financial decisions.
The app offers tips based on your personal situation. For example, if you're using a high amount of credit on a credit card, the app tells you to make multiple payments per month on that specific card to keep your balance low.The Bottom Line
The best expense tracker app will depend on your needs. If you're looking for small business expense tracking, go with QuickBooks. If you're an investor, Empower may work well for you with its ability to house your investment and bank account info in one place. If you need receipt scanning capability, Expensify will work well for you.Compare Expense Tracker Apps
Expense Tracker Apps | Why We Picked It | Key Benefit |
---|---|---|
Best for Small Businesses | Send and track invoices | |
Best for Investors | Investment tools, advice, and management | |
Best for Receipt Saving | Automatically reads and imports receipt details for you | |
Best for Reimbursement and Mileage | Automatically create an IRS-compliant mileage log and sync accounts to track expenses | |
Best Free Option | It’s completely free and helps you monitor your credit and expenses |
In the News
The Federal Reserve has aggressively increased the federal funds rate since February 2022. These rate increases have caused business and consumer loan rates to increase significantly, making it harder to find affordable financing. For those focused on managing their money in the wake of rising rates, expense tracker apps can help simplify the process of tracking spending and saving for specific goals.
Guide to Choosing Expense Tracker Apps
What Is an Expense Tracker App?
Expense tracker apps are tools designed to help you manage your money and track your spending. They allow you to sync bank accounts and credit cards to record your expenses so you can see how much you spend each month and where. After you've inputted all the data, you can review your financial details and decide where to make any changes and adjustments so you can save money.Alternatives to Expense Tracker Apps
- Digital spreadsheets: For those who’d rather not rely on expense tracking apps, digital spreadsheets are a useful alternative. Consider setting up spreadsheets using Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. You can customize your spreadsheet to meet your needs and modify it over time as needed.
- Paper expense tracking: Some people prefer tracking their expenses on paper. If this sounds like you, your best option is likely keeping receipts and reconciling them against your checkbook, credit card, and bank statements each month. Consider creating an easy-to-track filing system in case you need to go back and review certain expenses.
- Reconciling online statements: You could also track your spending by reconciling your online statements once a week (or more often if you prefer). This way, purchases will be fresh in your mind and you should be able to confirm that both vendors and amounts on your statements are correct.
- Digital calendars: If your primary goal is to track monthly payments, relying on your phone’s digital calendar could be a helpful and no-cost option. Review your monthly bills, and set up reminders on your phone so you don’t miss any payments or pay late.
Pros and Cons of Expense Tracker Apps
- Can simplify financial management
- Free options are available
- May help you budget and improve credit
- May help you meet money goals
- Certain apps cost money
- Features vary
- Not all financial institutions connect
- Requires some upfront and ongoing work
Pros Explained
- Can simplify financial management: Expense tracker apps may make it easier to manage your money, separate business and personal expenses, and track your monthly spending.
- Free options are available: Certain apps are free, and you can find a good tracker without worrying about any added monthly costs.
- May help you budget and improve credit: If you commit to using an expense tracker app, it could help you establish and stick to your budget. It may also help you improve your credit score, as many apps have helpful features like monthly payment alerts; these can help you avoid missed or late payments. Your payment history has a big effect on your credit score.
- May help you meet money goals: Certain apps let you set savings goals and track your progress toward those goals. If used consistently, a personal expense tracker app could help you save for a down payment or take that vacation you’ve been putting off.
Cons Explained
- Certain apps cost money: While some expense tracker apps are free, this isn’t the case with all of them. But, it’s worth considering the money you may save by using a paid tracker app, which may have more/better features than free apps.
- Features vary: Financial features vary across apps, so there isn’t one right option for everyone. You’ll need to do some research to find an app that works well for your situation.
- Not all financial institutions connect: Some banks or credit unions may not sync with certain expense tracker apps, meaning you won’t be able to easily track your spending. If you have a question about whether your financial institution will connect to an app, contact the app’s customer service team to confirm.
- Requires some upfront and ongoing work: To get the most out of a personal expense tracker app, you’ll need to do some work upfront and commit to using the app moving forward. While most apps don’t require any heavy lifting, there’s a time commitment involved.
Why You Should Trust Us
We looked at 30 of the best expense tracker apps available and narrowed it down to the best options based on several features and considerations. We considered pricing, features, reviews, and accessibility. In each case, we evaluated how robust the features were for day-to-day and power users and whether the app was easy to use. Investopedia launched in 1999 and has been helping readers find the best expense tracker apps since 2021.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What Does an Expense Tracker App Do?
An expense tracker app allows you to monitor and categorize your expenses across different bank and investment accounts and credit cards. Some of these apps also offer budgeting tools, credit monitoring, mileage tracking, receipt keeping, and advice to grow your net worth. -
Do Expense Tracker Apps Work?
That depends on you. Expense tracker apps only work if you put in the time and effort to make them work. It may seem daunting and difficult to sit down and review your finances, but these tools are only helpful if you are honest about your spending and track your expenses consistently. -
How Do I Track Daily Personal Expenses?
You can track daily personal expenses on your mobile device using an expense tracking app for iPhone or Android, or you could opt for paper tracking while reviewing and reconciling your online credit card or bank statements regularly. Your personal preferences will dictate which option is best for you.
Some expense tracker apps are tailored for personal use, while others are designed for small business use. If you need to track business expenses, opt for an app like or . -
How Do I Keep Track of My Monthly Payments?
An expense tracking app could help simplify the process of tracking your monthly payments. If you’re interested in doing so for your small business, an app like may be a good choice.
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How Much Does an Expense Tracker App Cost?
Expense tracker apps vary in cost, although many are free. Paid apps are typically less than $10 per month, although if you want business features like invoice creation and management, you’re more likely to pay well above that. Before paying for an expense tracker app, check to see if there’s a free trial. A lot of apps offer 30 days to test drive all of their features. -
Is an Expense Tracker App Worth the Cost?
Many expense tracker apps are free or low cost, so explore your options and decide if you need a paid app. These apps can help you gain control of your finances, pay down debt, and grow your net worth. Some even allow you to upload receipts, track mileage, and send invoices, which are all helpful if you run a business. -
What Is the Best App to Track Personal Expenses?
The best app for tracking personal expenses is one that lets you track and categorize your spending while also seeing your overall financial picture. It should be affordable, with the features you need to stay in control of your budget. -
What’s the Best Expense Tracker App for iPhone?
The best expense tracker app for iPhone depends on your individual needs. What’s right for someone else won’t necessarily work for you. For instance, if you’re more focused on tracking your investments, may be a better choice.