Expense trackers offer an easy and efficient way to monitor your spending, create budgets, and boost your financial management. Forget about those days of keeping boxes filled with paper receipts. A good expense tracker allows you to upload, categorize, and track your expenses all in one place. This article will explore 9 of the best free expense tracker apps available in 2024, comparing their features and prices. We’ll also delve into how expense trackers function and help you find the best fit for your personal and business needs.
1. FreshBooks (Best Overall)
FreshBooks is designed especially for small business owners who want to track their expenses quickly and easily. This cloud-based system allows for seamless collaboration with partners and employees and integrates smoothly with other popular software like Gusto for payment processing and bookkeeping. Whether you’re at your desk, browsing on the web, or on the go, FreshBooks offers desktop, browser, and mobile options to fit your lifestyle. With the mobile app, you can track mileage and upload receipts, eliminating the need to carry piles of paper receipts. FreshBooks also simplifies expense organization and categorization, ensuring a stress-free tax season.
Features:
- Automatically imports bank account and credit card expenses
- Integrates with payment processors like Gusto
- Offers desktop, mobile app, and browser options
- Allows you to track mileage from the mobile app
- Enables mobile receipt scanning
Pricing:
- Free 30-day trial available to find the best plan for your small business
- Lite: $19/month
- Plus: $33/month
- Premium: $60/month
- Custom plans available upon consultation
2. EveryDollar
EveryDollar is an excellent choice for users looking for an easy-to-use personal finance tracker. It provides custom budgeting and generates reports to help you understand where every dollar of your spending goes. While the free plan offers basic custom budgeting and a savings fund, the Premium plan includes additional features like bank connectivity, goal setting, and budget reports. However, EveryDollar is better suited for personal finance tracking than business expense management, as it lacks receipt scanning and reimbursement capabilities.
Advantages:
- Create customized budgets
- Connect to your bank account to import expenses
- Generate custom reports for your budget
- Access to group financial coaching
Drawbacks:
- Some complaints about the user interface
- Most features are only available on the paid plan
Pricing:
- Free basic version
- 14-day free trial for Premium
- Premium: $17.99/month
3. YNAB
You Need a Budget, or YNAB, is a versatile and robust personal budgeting app. It offers a wide range of features for tracking your spending through imported bank transactions and provides easy-to-understand expense charts. While YNAB is perfect for managing personal finances, it may not have all the tools necessary for small business expense tracking. It lacks receipt scanning and reimbursement features, making it less suitable for professional use.
Advantages:
- Subscription sharing with family and friends (up to 6 people)
- Goal-setting and tracking
- Loan planner tool for calculating and managing debt
- Automatically imports bank transactions
Drawbacks:
- No receipt scanning feature
Pricing:
- 1 year free for registered college students
- 34-day free trial
- $15/month
4. Expensify
Expensify is an excellent choice for medium to large businesses due to its robust receipt and expense tracking features. It offers corporate card integration, foreign currency reimbursement, and GPS mileage tracking to streamline your expense tracking and employee reimbursement process. However, Expensify’s extensive feature set may present a challenging learning curve for smaller businesses. Additionally, the free version offers limited features primarily suited for personal spending.
Advantages:
- Integrates with corporate credit cards
- Mileage tracking app includes GPS tracking
- Analyze spending trends
- Reimbursement for domestic and foreign currencies
Drawbacks:
- User interface can be a challenging learning curve
- Limited features on the free plan
Pricing:
- Basic free plan
- Collect: $5/month per user
- Control: $9/month per user
5. Simplifi
Simplifi is a versatile tool for users looking to create a custom personal budget. It goes beyond standard budgeting tools by offering customized reports for your spending and saving, with an easy-to-use dashboard for navigation. Simplifi also integrates seamlessly with your bank account and credit cards to quickly import transactions. However, Simplifi lacks the receipt scanning and organization options necessary for business expense tracking. This limitation may not be ideal for small business owners with multiple accounts and a need for expense categorization and employee reimbursement.
Advantages:
- Bank account and credit card syncing for quick imports
- Create customized reports for spending and savings
- Intuitive user interface
- Real-time spending alerts
Drawbacks:
- No integrated credit score reporting
- Doesn’t offer auto-entry receipt scanning
Pricing:
- No free trial, but a full refund is available within 30 days
- $3.99/month
6. Digits
The Digits app aims to help users build their savings accounts effortlessly. It syncs your data to your checking and savings accounts and automatically transfers small amounts of money according to your custom saving goals. However, the lack of alerts in Digits may make some users feel the need to frequently check their accounts. While Digits primarily focuses on savings, it offers very few features in terms of expense categorization, receipt uploads, and other elements essential for business expense tracking.
Advantages:
- Set custom short and long-term savings goals
- Automatically saves your money for you
- Offers overdraft protection features
- Syncs with investment systems
Drawbacks:
- Doesn’t offer notifications on automatic savings
- Minimal features aside from savings goals
Pricing:
- 30-day free trial
- $5/month
7. QuickBooks
QuickBooks is an accounting software that includes an expense and receipt tracking feature for an all-in-one experience. While it comes with a slightly higher price tag, QuickBooks provides automatic recurring expenses, synced accounts, and cash flow statements to help you track your spending. However, QuickBooks only allows for reimbursements through payroll, which can be frustrating for businesses looking for more efficient expense tracking and reimbursement methods.
Advantages:
- Option to automate recurring expenses
- Sync bank accounts and credit cards for automatic expense importing
- Built-in cash flow statements
- Includes a mobile app for receipt scanning and uploading
Drawbacks:
- Only offers reimbursements through payroll
- Limited users on basic plans
Pricing:
- 30-day free trial period
- Simple Start: $30/month
- Essentials: $60/month
- Plus: $90/month
- Advanced: $200/month
8. Rocket Money
Rocket Money is a unique expense tracker geared more toward personal finance management than business reimbursement. It offers features like tracking down and canceling unused subscriptions, as well as the ability to negotiate bill rates on recurring payments (available on higher-paid plans). Although Rocket Money may not be the standard business expense tracking and reimbursement system, it has great potential for small business owners looking to stay on top of their finances. The notifications feature ensures you never miss an important bill payment or bank alert.
Advantages:
- Features bill negotiation services on recurring bills
- Tracker to find and cancel unused subscriptions
- Notifications for upcoming renewals and other expense events
Drawbacks:
- Bill negotiation is only available on more expensive plans
Pricing:
- Free basic account
- Premium subscription with a sliding scale from $4/month to $12/month
9. Shoeboxed
Shoeboxed stands out for its excellent receipt scanning and organization capabilities. Users can upload receipts, and the app will automatically scan and digitize them. You can search through those receipts and convert them into expense reports directly in the app. However, Shoeboxed has receipt limits. The most expensive plan offers 300 digital and 300 physical receipts per month, making it less suitable for larger companies. Nevertheless, Shoeboxed is a good option for smaller businesses looking to organize receipts for tax time.
Advantages:
- Unlimited users
- Automatically imports receipts sent through Gmail
- Effective receipt scanning and digitization
Drawbacks:
- Maximum of 600 receipts per month (300 digital, 300 physical)
- Cannot reimburse through the app
Pricing:
- Free 30-day trial
- Start Up: $23/month
- Professional: $47/month
- Business: $71/month
What Is an Expense Tracker?
Expense trackers are tools that help users monitor their personal or business expenses for better financial management. Personal expense trackers focus on savings goals, tracking where money is spent, and paying down debt. Business expense trackers offer more features like receipt scanning and spreadsheet organization, corporate card integration, and preparation for tax filing. Most expense trackers integrate with your bank account, making it easier to track spending. It’s important to explore expense tracking features to determine if an app is suitable for personal or business finances.
How Do Expense Trackers Function?
Expense trackers function by importing all your expenses, allowing you to keep track of how much you spend and where that money goes. Simple expense trackers integrate with your bank account to import transactions, while more comprehensive ones offer additional options like credit card syncing and receipt scanning. A good expense tracker not only tracks your spending but also organizes it into categories, making it easier to create a clear budget. Look for automatic receipt scanning and analysis features if you need to reimburse employees. It’s also beneficial to choose an expense tracker that can generate reports to provide a quick overview of your personal or business finances.
Streamline Your Expense Tracking with FreshBooks
An expense tracker is a great tool to streamline your financial management, create clear budgets, set savings goals, and track your spending. There are various free expense trackers available, each with different features for personal and business tracking. FreshBooks offers an excellent expense tracking solution for small businesses, allowing you to effortlessly upload receipts for quick reimbursement, track mileage with the app, and categorize expenses for stress-free tax filing. Try FreshBooks for free and start tracking your expenses to save money today.