10 Best Business Expense Tracker Apps

Fyle is a convenient solution if you already have a corporate card program using Visa or Mastercard. If your card is affiliated with either of these two payment networks, all transactions will automatically reflect in Fyle. This real-time card feed enables you to track and review expenses as they are incurred.

Your transactions are reported automatically in the system the moment you use the card—you won’t have to wait for bank feeds that take several hours to fetch from your card provider. After using the card, the cardholder will receive an SMS requesting them to send a picture of the receipt.

Standout Features

• Send receipts via email: Get convenient expense tracking on Gmail, Slack, and Outlook. Fyle can recognize expenses and receipts sent through these platforms and pick them up automatically for recording.
• Send receipts via SMS: Use an enrolled card in Fyle for payments, and Fyle will send an SMS asking you to capture the receipt and send it. This feature helps employees send receipts right away after the transaction occurs.
• Approvals through email or communication platforms: Enjoy the outstanding approval workflow system within the web app, but approvers can also approve expenses on Gmail, Outlook, Slack, and Microsoft Teams.

Use Cases

• Remote teams: Remote team members won’t ever forget to submit receipts because Fyle will send an SMS asking them to do so right after the transaction. This feature ensures that remote employees always attach receipts for documentation purposes.
• Expense monitoring and compliance: Fyle has extensive approval workflow features and automation that allow small businesses to review submitted expenses. With these workflows in place, you can ensure that all submitted and approved expenses are within company allowable limits and policy.

In my scoring, Fyle stood out in expense tracking because of its flexibility. I’m impressed that it lets users record, submit, and attach receipts in multiple ways, while admins benefit from customizable approval workflows that help verify expenses efficiently. This adaptability ensures the process is smooth for both submitters and approvers.

The software also excels in ease of use. Its intuitive interface makes navigation a breeze, and users have access to various support channels, including email, live chat, and a robust knowledge base. Whether troubleshooting or simply exploring features, help is always within reach.

However, Fyle falls a tad short in card programs since it doesn’t offer prepaid cards, relying instead on integrations with third-party corporate cards. However, I don’t find this a deal-breaker for most, as its real-time Mastercard, Visa, and American Express feeds fill the gap effectively.

If prepaid cards are a priority, Emburse may be a better fit, as it provides both real-time expense tracking and company-issued prepaid and credit cards.

I recommend Zoho Expense for Zoho Books users because of its seamless integration with the accounting software. Zoho Expense will handle the expense processing and transmit via an integration link to Zoho Books for recording. Users of other Zoho products like Zoho CRM or Zoho Mail can also enjoy direct integration for expense processing and single sign-on (SSO) features.

Standout Features

• Batch recording of expenses: Create entries one by one or by batch and upload receipts from suppliers when managing expenses. Bulk-adding expenses is a great feature because it saves a lot of data entry time and helps the bookkeeper enter similar expenses in one window.
• Workflow rules: Track reimbursable expenses from employees and apply approval workflows to ensure that all reimbursement requests are legitimate or allowable expenses. You can either use simplified approval or make custom approvals.
• Approval presets: Enjoy approval presets that you can use right out of the box for simple approvals.

Use Cases

• Zoho users: If your business is currently using Zoho services, you can use the seamless integration with other Zoho products.
• New freelancers: Zoho Expense’s free plan is perfect for individuals who have just started working as freelancers. The plan comes with 5GB of receipt storage and 20 receipt autoscans. As a single user, the free version is enough for a freelancer’s expense needs.

Zoho Expense scored well in my assessment, trailing just behind Fyle, which I consider the best overall option. Its expense tracking features took a slight hit because it doesn’t let employees submit expenses via SMS. Its card programs, meanwhile, scored above average, as Zoho Expense lacks real-time card feeds—something Fyle offers. On top of that, Zoho Expense doesn’t issue prepaid cards.

If real-time Mastercard and Visa feeds are essential to you, I suggest taking a closer look at Fyle. But if prepaid cards are more your style, Emburse might be the better fit since it offers both prepaid card issuance and real-time feeds.

I picked Rydoo for assisted expense processing because it offers controller services, which are available as an add-on. Its team of experts can do the repetitive work of checking if all expense submissions are complete. This means that approvers can focus on reviewing expense submissions, not on checking if required attachments or documents are present. With the help of Rydoo, all approvers need to do is check if the expense is within company policy.

Standout Features

• Multiple card options: Integrate with third-party corporate card programs for expense tracking, but Rydoo also issues Rydoo Cards that are charged separately. This feature offers a lot of flexibility to companies that have existing third-party corporate programs but want to also issue prepaid cards through Rydoo Cards.
• Real-time expense tracking: With Rydoo, users don’t need to consolidate all expenses in an expense report. They can submit expenses right away and receive feedback or approval from approvers.

Use Cases

• Local compliance for a global workforce: Rydoo’s system can address local rules and regulations in different countries and jurisdictions. If you have employees working outside the US, Rydoo’s features can help ensure that expenses comply with local laws.
• Giving per diem to employees: Rydoo has a dedicated per diem management module that allows managers to issue per diem to employees based on country- or region-specific rates. This module ensures that your company follows per diem laws in certain countries and regions.

I gave it the second-highest score in pricing, right behind Zoho Expense, because Rydoo offers small businesses unmatched flexibility. It allows users to choose between monthly or annual billing, and all plans operate on a pay-per-user basis. For organizations with specific needs, Rydoo even offers custom-priced packages, making it adaptable to various business sizes and requirements.

That said, Rydoo’s card program features took a hit in my evaluation. The Rydoo Cards are separate from the expense management platform, which could be a drawback for some users. Still, Rydoo compensates by integrating third-party corporate cards, allowing seamless tracking of card transactions.

If cost-efficiency is your top concern, Expensify might be worth considering. You can even get it for free if over 50% of your business expenses are paid using Expensify cards. On the other hand, Fyle could be a great alternative if you already have a corporate card program. Its real-time Mastercard and Visa feeds make expense reporting quicker and more efficient.

Expensify is the only standalone business expense tracker on our list that offers unlimited prepaid cards without strict requirements. This feature alone makes it a standout choice for self-employed individuals.

While Ramp is another free option, it doesn’t cater to self-employed users because it only accepts established businesses (e.g., corporations, LLCs) with at least $25,000 in any US bank. That’s why I believe Expensify is the best option for freelancers and other independent professionals who need a flexible, budget-friendly expense management tool.

Standout Features

• Ability to integrate third-party corporate cards and issue prepaid cards: Expensify is the only provider listed here that accepts third-party corporate cards and issues prepaid cards. Some expense trackers in this guide either accept third-party cards or issue prepaid cards. I like this feature because it provides more flexibility to users. For instance, corporate cards can be given to managers, while prepaid cards can be issued to employees for allowances.
• Tracking expense statuses: Easily see expense status based on colors. This feature enables you to visually identify expenses that need to be reported, approved, or reimbursed without reading the details. Aside from that, it allows you to filter out expenses based on the particular status that you want to see.

Use Cases

• Self-employed individuals and sole proprietors: Expensify accepts self-employed individuals and sole proprietors without requiring them to have specific bank account balances.
• Issuing unlimited prepaid cards: In the free plan, users can already issue unlimited Expensify cards.

Expensify nearly nailed my assessment of expense tracking because it includes most of the features I expect in a solid expense tracker. That said, I noticed a few gaps, like the inability to submit receipts via SMS or restrict certain vendors in reimbursements. While these aren’t deal-breakers, having them would make the platform even better. Fyle provides these two features, so I recommend picking it if those are important to your workflow.

I didn’t rate Expensify’s card program as highly. To qualify for the free plan, businesses need to route at least 50% of their expenses through Expensify Cards. If you don’t meet that threshold, you’ll have to pay the regular monthly fee. I find this requirement a bit restrictive, especially for small businesses already tied to existing corporate cards. If most of your spending isn’t on Expensify Cards, then you’d have to pay for the full monthly price.

I like Ramp because it’s a free expense tracker for established businesses. Corporations or LLCs can qualify easily, as having at least $25,000 in any US bank won’t be a struggle for them. Additionally, Ramp is highly scalable and can accommodate the fast-changing environment of startups. You don’t have to worry about paying more as your startup grows because Ramp doesn’t limit the number of users in the system.

If you’re not qualified because you’re a sole proprietor or self-employed individual, consider Expensify. Like Ramp, it allows you to issue unlimited Expensify cards in the free plan but doesn’t impose strict requirements.

Standout Features

• Multiple integration options: Integrate with over 1,000 solutions for accounting, expense automation, productivity, and security. This makes Ramp easy to integrate into your business processes and systems.
• Discounts: Enjoy discounts and additional rewards if you use the provider’ card to pay for subscriptions or purchases from its partner companies, like Slack and Amazon Web Services. Read our Ramp Card review to learn more.
• Spending limits per card: Set spending limits and approval thresholds to control all spending that gets charged to Ramp cards. In case employees pay out-of-pocket, Ramp allows electronic and manual reimbursements to employees, provided the reimbursement is within the expense policies set by the company.

Use Cases

• Startups that are corporations and LLCs: Ramp is free software that captures all essential startup needs in a single platform. You get card issuance, expense tracking, bill pay, and cash back rewards. The up to 1.5% cash back rewards can help startups save money on every purchase made using Ramp cards.
• Established small businesses with large teams: Small businesses with a large workforce will benefit most from Ramp’s free plan because they don’t have to pay per active user, unlike other options on this list.

Ramp took the lead among all providers on this list for expense tracking features. The only thing it’s missing is the ability to restrict certain vendors in expense reimbursements. While I don’t see this as a critical feature, adding it could improve the overall user experience.

When it comes to card programs, however, Ramp didn’t fare as well. It only offers prepaid Visa cards and doesn’t support real-time card feed transactions. If that’s a deal-breaker, I’d suggest looking into Expensify. You can use it for free if at least 50% of your business expenses go through Expensify cards, and it’s also more flexible with its registration requirements.

BILL Spend & Expense is my best pick for small businesses because it’s free. As a free option, it makes it accessible to small businesses who can’t yet commit to paid subscriptions. On top of that, BILL Spend & Expense seamlessly integrated within the BILL platform, and I highly recommend that you subscribe to BILL as well. The fact that it’s free adds even more value to its accounts payable tracking capabilities.

One of its standout features is the BILL Divvy Corporate Card program, which allows businesses to issue corporate cards to employees. If you’d rather not use credit cards, BILL gives you the option to issue prepaid cards as well, offering flexibility based on your needs.

Standout Features

• Virtual card: Issue as many virtual cards as you need. You can freeze individual cards, adjust spending limits, and manage recurring payments per card. Aside from virtual cards, physical cards are also issued.
• Budget management: Create spending budgets; BILL matches expenses with budgets so that you don’t go over budget.
• Approval workflows: Create multilevel or simple workflows. Depending on the process complexity, users have the flexibility to design workflows for reviewing and approving expenses.

Use Cases

• Small businesses using BILL: Since it’s integrated within BILL, I recommend BILL Spend & Expense for tracking expenses. This app is a good addition to BILL’s A/P tracking.
• Issuing credit cards: The BILL Divvy Corporate Card can offer business credit cards to companies. Credit can help speed up business spending and allow for later repayment.

In my review, BILL Spend & Expense aced pricing and scored high in expense tracking features. It lets users create expense policies, set up approval workflows, and handle reimbursements efficiently. However, it falls short on a few nice-to-have features, like mileage tracking and per diem allocations.

Where it really took a hit was in card programs. It only offers virtual cards, which might not work for everyone. Plus, the cards are limited to the Visa network; adding Mastercard cards would offer better flexibility for those who prefer it. If physical cards are a priority, I suggest checking out Fyle. It lets you issue physical cards that work with either Visa or Mastercard.

Emburse Spend is one of the few providers I’ve reviewed that offers real-time expense reporting, similar to Fyle. What sets Emburse Spend apart is its real-time corporate card reconciliation. This feature makes it easier to track and match transactions, streamlining the entire reconciliation process. Another thing I appreciate is that it offers both credit and prepaid cards, which provides more flexibility in managing cash flow.

Standout Features

• Credit cards: Issue credit cards to finance business expenses, as opposed to having to prefund debit cards, which can help you better plan out cash flow. These cards are also controllable, and you can set credit limits to different cards.
• Application programming interface (API) feature: Create customized solutions for expense tracking and card issuance that are tailor-fit to your processes.
• Real-time card reconciliation: Whenever you use an enrolled card in Emburse Spend, it will show in the platform automatically and possibly route it to specific approvers if it matches routing conditions. Approvers can approve expenses right away after they review each item.

Use Cases

• Real-time expense tracking: You don’t need departments or teams to submit expense reports to review expenses. Every employee can submit expenses right away, and approvers can review them as they enter the system. This process makes it faster to approve expenses and easier to address problems with expense submissions.
• Businesses wanting credit cards: Emburse credit cards are controllable to enforce company spending limits and policies. With limits in place, Emburse Spend can automatically spot out-of-policy transactions and alert you of these instances. Moreover, cards can be shared with a group, department, or team, so you can budget on a granular level.

Emburse Spend’s pricing score is just above average because it doesn’t disclose fees upfront. I always appreciate transparent pricing since it helps users make quicker decisions. If you’re a small business working with a tight budget, I recommend looking into Zoho Expense as a more affordable expense tracking solution. Though it doesn’t issue Zoho-branded cards, it allows third-party card integration, which makes it a good alternative for Emburse Spend.

QuickBooks Online, our best small business accounting software, has robust expense tracking features. It can automatically categorize expenses from card feeds, saving you time on manual entries. Plus, you can easily add more expenses directly within the platform. Another feature I find useful is the ability to assign expenses to specific classes and locations, which makes allocating costs to particular items or projects much more straightforward.

Standout Features

• Automatic feeds: Sync corporate cards and bank accounts for automatic feeds. These automatic feeds make bank reconciliation easier as QuickBooks Online will fetch them from your card provider automatically.
• Built-in expense tracking: Since expense tracking is part of QuickBooks Online’s accounting system, all expense entries are recorded in the accounts once you hit save.
• Access to US-based ProAdvisors: Take advantage of the vast network of ProAdvisors, one of QuickBooks Online’s advantages. You can either find a bookkeeper via QuickBooks Live or look for independent ProAdvisors within your area. See our guide on how to find a QuickBooks ProAdvisor or read our review of QuickBooks Live.

Use Cases

• Businesses looking for a complete bookkeeping solution: QuickBooks Online is the most complete bookkeeping solution in this guide. It is versatile and can be used in many industries, such as nonprofits, construction companies, and retail businesses.
• Businesses with inventory: QuickBooks Online can track inventory costs and COGS, making it a good pick for businesses selling inventory. Its expense tracker also helps you track how much you spend on inventory-related expenses, such as shipments and packaging.

QuickBooks Online’s scores aren’t as high as other options on this list. Its expense tracking and card program scores fell short, which makes sense since it’s not designed as a standalone expense tracker. However, its built-in expense tracking works well for small businesses with minimal employee expenses.

The only downside that I can see is that QuickBooks Online isn’t a dedicated expense tracking solution, making it hard to facilitate self-service submission of expense reimbursements from employees. If that’s what you’re looking for, I suggest going with Fyle. It integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks Online, making it easy to enhance QuickBooks’ expense tracking capabilities.

There’s nothing fancy in Wave since recording expenses is straightforward. The free Starter plan allows you to upload transactions from a bank statement and quickly categorize them. The Pro plan goes a step further and has bank and credit card feeds that automatically import transactions. I chose Wave for simplicity because it’s a good pick for users with a small volume of expenses to process.

Standout Features

• Free expense tracking, accounting, and invoicing: Enjoy the free plan that doesn’t skimp on accounting features. It can even record recurring expenses, which is a feature often present in paid software. But in Wave, you get that for free.
• Receipt scanning: Scan receipts in Wave’s free plan for only $8 monthly. You also have the option to upgrade to the paid tier for $16 a month—it already includes unlimited receipt scanning.

Use Cases

• Gig workers: Wave’s free version is ideal for gig workers who want a simple expense tracking app. Given that they have fluctuating incomes, going for Wave is a cost-effective solution.
• Occasional sellers: If you join bazaars or similar events, you can use Wave to track all expenses for that particular event. You don’t need advanced features like approval workflows because you’re just tracking expenses for a single event—and Wave is more than enough for that.

Wave fell short in certain areas of my assessment. Its expense tracking features are somewhat limited, lacking advanced functionalities like approval workflows and email integrations. Additionally, when reviewing its card programs, I noted that connecting to bank and card feeds for reconciliation requires upgrading the paid tier.

If Wave doesn’t meet your needs, I recommend considering QuickBooks Online for more robust accounting and expense tracking features. Alternatively, if you’re looking for standalone software, Expensify’s free plan is a solid choice for expense tracking, especially since it allows issuing unlimited cards.

FreshBooks is an excellent choice for freelancers and solopreneurs, thanks to its project accounting features and intuitive interface. I like how it simplifies accounting, even for those unfamiliar with the basics.

Its expense tracking capabilities let you categorize expenses, record them in multiple currencies, and import credit card transactions effortlessly. Plus, FreshBooks made my list of the leading mobile accounting apps, especially for service-based businesses needing to stay on top of their finances on the go.

Standout Features

• Project accounting: FreshBooks is suitable for project-based freelancers and solopreneurs because of its outstanding project accounting module. Its expense tracking features are also in this module, where you can add project-related expenses and have the option to bill them to clients.
• Easy-to-understand interface: The platform’s highlight is simplicity and ease of use. FreshBooks’ design is straightforward and has no significant learning curve.

Use Cases

• Freelancers with no background in accounting: If you want to DIY accounting, FreshBooks is the best pick. You don’t need experience in accounting software because you can easily navigate around FreshBooks to access all its features.
• Service providers: With the help of FreshBooks’ project accounting module, service providers can track time and expenses for the services they provide. If ever they incur expenses on behalf of clients, they can add them as billable expenses and then add them to invoices.

FreshBooks’ expense tracking features scored decently in my evaluation. It covers all the basics and even includes some advanced features like managing project costs and workflows. However, it falls short on approval workflows, automatic approval limits, and per diem rules. In my opinion, these omissions won’t impact freelancers much since they’re unlikely to need these features for day-to-day bookkeeping.

If you’re planning to grow your business, FreshBooks might not be the best fit, though, and I recommend QuickBooks Online instead. It offers approval workflows and serves as a more comprehensive accounting solution. Plus, it integrates smoothly with other dedicated expense trackers from this list, making it a solid choice for scaling businesses.