5 Best Receipt Scanner Apps for 2025

Neat leads this roundup because it offers unlimited scans and seats, making it an excellent choice for comprehensive document management. I find its system for organizing files and archiving documents particularly effective, especially with its keyword search feature. If you’ve ever had to dig through folders to find receipts from years ago, this feature is a real time-saver.

That said, Neat’s robust capabilities might feel like overkill for freelancers or self-employed individuals who only manage a handful of receipts or documents. For them, an accounting software with built-in receipt scanning like Wave and FreshBooks might be a better fit.

Features

• Multiple ways to import documents: Upload directly, send through email, or use the mobile app to upload documents. Moreover, classify these documents immediately before uploading them.
• Item filters: Look for files quickly based on item type or any filter category on the dashboard. There’s no need to go over each item one by one.
• Invoicing: Enjoy NeatInvoices features with a NeatFiles subscription. It has invoicing capabilities, plus invoicing reminders to remind customers to settle their obligations.
• Item management: Save and manage other items, such as contacts, documents, statements, checks, invoices, and mileage. Restaurants can even use Neat to manage recipes.

Use Cases

• Businesses needing to scan documents regularly: It offers unlimited scans of receipts and documents, and it has multiple ways of scanning. If your office has a TWAIN-compliant scanner, you can connect that to Neat so that you can easily scan documents at high resolution, which is more convenient than mobile app scanning.
• QuickBooks Online users: It offers a smooth and direct integration with QuickBooks Online. After signing in to QuickBooks Online through your Neat app, you can map your Neat expense categories to QuickBooks. Once set up, all your transactions, receipts, and invoices will automatically transfer to QuickBooks.
• Extensive document management: It offers a better document management system compared with Shoeboxed because Neat can track status, item types, categories, folders, and amounts.

Neat aced my assessment of basic features because it offers everything I was looking for, including receipt scanning, manual receipt uploading, OCR, and document categorizing and tagging. Neat also has many advanced features like organizing documents, file sharing, and expense tracking. At $200 a year for unlimited storage, it’s undeniably a steal for businesses with significant document management needs.

That said, not all businesses—especially freelancers or smaller operations—may find it easy to pay the full amount upfront. For those seeking more flexible pricing, Zoho Expense offers a great alternative with its four scalable monthly subscription plans.

Because Wave offers a free version for accounting and invoicing, it’s excellent for small companies with tight budgets or home-based businesses, like those selling homemade goods. Its use of OCR technology to read receipts and suggest proper accounting and categorization makes it a handy tool for basic needs.

I recommend upgrading to Pro instead of purchasing the receipt scanning add-on in Starter. The small $8 difference gives you access to unlimited users, bank connections, and additional accounting features, making it a better overall value.

Standout Features

• OCR for receipt capturing: Enjoy OCR capabilities that can help extract information from receipts automatically.
• Recurring invoices: Generate invoices automatically for recurring invoices to save time in the billing process. Use this for customers paying a standard monthly fee.
• Payroll: Outsource payroll to Wave and comply with tax regulations for an affordable price; read our review of Wave Payroll for more details.
• Integrations: Integrate with third-party apps like Shopify, Mailchimp, and Slack through Zapier. However, you’ll have to subscribe to Zapier first and then create Zaps for every integration you need, which requires much setup.

Use Cases

• Those looking for free bookkeeping software: Wave offers a free accounting software solution for freelancers and businesses with no intention of upgrading to paid software. Additionally, you can add receipt scanning for only $8 monthly or use it for free when you upgrade to the paid tier.
• Basic expense tracking: Expense tracking in Wave lets you attach receipts to expense entries and set dates and amounts for more efficient tracking.

In my rubric, Wave scored the lowest overall because its main strength is being a free bookkeeping solution. That said, it’s still a solid option for freelancers who don’t deal with a high volume of receipts, as it’s budget-friendly.

However, its receipt scanning features are limited, missing advanced functionalities like autoforwarding receipts from email or creating custom tags and categories. For those needing more advanced accounting software with enhanced receipt scanning, I recommend FreshBooks. If a dedicated receipt scanning tool is your priority, Neat stands out with features like autoforwarding and customizable tagging and categorization.

Shoeboxed made this roundup because it helps businesses save time by simply mailing in envelopes full of receipts to be scanned. It’s an ideal solution for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees that handle a high volume of receipts and documents. Its assisted receipt scanning feature is unique compared with other options I’ve reviewed, and Shoeboxed can significantly lighten the workload for an in-house bookkeeper by removing the time spent scanning receipts.

Standout Features

• Magic Envelope™: Enjoy this special service where Shoeboxed employees perform scans on your behalf. It’s included in all plans—you simply place your receipts in the Magic Envelope™ and mail them to Shoeboxed. Then wait for your documents to appear on your Shoeboxed account. You can also choose to have the paper receipts returned after processing.
• Business card scanning: Scan business cards and extract information from them. This way, you can search for contacts effortlessly without going over physical cards.
• Mobile app: Scan receipts and submit them for processing through the app, which is available on the App Store and Google Play.
• Document processing: Upload documents and have them processed in one to five days, depending on your subscription. Once your documents are scanned, you can access them from your account.

Use Cases

• Businesses going paperless retroactively or with a limited workforce: If you have years of receipts to scan to go paperless, stuffing a Magic Envelope™ full of receipts will be a huge time and money saver. You can have Shoeboxed handle receipt scanning, which allows your few employees to focus on more important tasks.
• QuickBooks Online users: You can export expense reports to QuickBooks Online directly from Shoeboxed without using CSV files. This direct export makes it easy to transfer data from Shoeboxed to QuickBooks Online.
• Online document management: Shoeboxed is not a typical cloud storage provider wherein you just save scanned documents in folders. It has document management features that let you put tags and categories on documents so that you can easily search or filter them out.

Shoeboxed performed exceptionally well in my evaluation of basic features, offering nearly everything I’d expect—though it lacks receipt scanning compatibility with TWAIN-compliant scanners. It also stands out as the only tool on this list that provides assisted receipt processing, a feature that adds real value for busy businesses.

That said, it lost points for its pricing, which is on the higher side, and limited number of scans. For unlimited scanning without per-user fees, I recommend Neat as a more cost-effective option.

Zoho Expense is a powerful expense tracker with receipt scanning capabilities that grows alongside your company. Its pay-per-user pricing model allows you to easily scale by adding users, enabling them to submit expenses and scan receipts seamlessly. Each user gets their own account, letting them scan receipts via the mobile app, attach receipts to expense reports, and request reimbursements effortlessly.

Additionally, Zoho Expense offers advanced features that go beyond basic expense tracking, including customizable approval workflows, travel request management, and per diem automations—making it a comprehensive solution for businesses with evolving needs.

Standout Features

• Expense approval: Enjoy the expense approval flow, one of Zoho Expense’s best features. It simplifies collection and tracking through corporate cards and reimbursements while incorporating approval workflows to add a layer of security and prevent unauthorized expenses from slipping through. You can review submitted expenses and approve those allowed under company policies. Receipt scanning comes in handy here because the approver can reject reports without receipts attached.
• Security: Get peace of mind as Zoho uses secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption and multifactor authentication (MFA) to prevent any unauthorized access. If you have a Zoho account, there’s no need to create a new one because it has a single-sign-on (SSO) feature.
• Mobile app: Track mileage and record and report your expenses from your smartphone. You can download the app on Google Play or App Store.

Use Cases

• Growing teams: With pricing based on the number of users, growing teams can get as many seats as they need as they expand. This pricing structure is flexible for companies with many team members needing receipt scanning and expense tracking.
• Zoho Books users: The tool works well with native Zoho apps like Zoho Books. You can easily import and export data to and from Zoho Expense. And since these are native Zoho apps, the user interfaces are similar, making it easier to use.
• Expense tracking: Zoho Expense is primarily an expense tracking software with commendable receipt scanning features. Users can use its receipt scanning feature to easily capture and attach receipts when submitting expenses and reduce rejected expense submissions due to missing receipt attachments.
• Freelancers: Though it scales well with growing teams, freelancers and self-employed individuals can enjoy its free plan to scan receipts, track expenses, and manage payments. The free plan is perfect if you have minimal receipts that won’t exceed 5GB.

Compared with others on this list, Zoho Expense leads in customer support, offering a wide range of support channels. The absence of 24/7 support cost it points in my assessment.

Its pay-per-user pricing model is fair and scales well as you add users, keeping the total cost manageable. This affordability places Zoho Expense just behind Wave, the top pick for an inexpensive solution, in terms of pricing.

However, Zoho Expense took quite the hit in advanced features, lacking key functionalities like document organization, file sharing, and line-item extractions. While these might not be essential for every user, they are invaluable if you need better receipt management.

Shoeboxed is a great option here. It has robust receipt scanning paired with document organization, file-sharing capabilities, and the ability to group receipts into folders—features Zoho Expense doesn’t currently provide, as it stores receipts within individual expense entries.

FreshBooks is my top choice for service-based businesses preferring to handle the accounting themselves. Its robust project accounting features allow you to seamlessly track costs, revenue, billable hours, and client invoices—all within a single platform. The intuitive interface is perfect for freelancers without an accounting background, making it easy to get started.

In addition to its user-friendly setup, FreshBooks includes a receipt scanner through its mobile app, which ranks as one of our best mobile accounting apps. Freelancers working remotely or in coworking spaces can quickly capture receipts for daily expenses using their smartphones and upload them directly to FreshBooks.

Standout Features

• Email receipts to FreshBooks: Directly forward receipts to FreshBooks with a unique email handle.
• Receipt autocapture: When FreshBooks receives a receipt, it automatically creates an entry in the system.
• Smartphone receipt scanning and uploading: Upload or scan receipts, as well as track time, through your smartphone.

Use Cases

• Service-based businesses: FreshBooks has an excellent project accounting module that helps service-based companies create quotes and estimates and track project income and expenses. With its receipt scanner, you can scan receipts, attach them to project expenses, and bill clients.
• Freelancers wanting to DIY accounting: The design of FreshBooks puts DIY freelancers in mind. Its straightforward and intuitive UI makes DIY accounting less intimidating and difficult for freelancers with no accounting background.

FreshBooks performed well in my rubric for basic receipt scanning features. It beats Wave by offering helpful functionalities like autoforwarding receipts from email and cloud drives. However, FreshBooks falls short in advanced features, as it lacks file-sharing and organization tools. This limitation is understandable, given that FreshBooks is primarily designed as accounting software.

If advanced features like file sharing and receipt organization are important to you, Neat would be a better fit. As a dedicated receipt scanner, it’s specifically built to handle those tasks with ease. If you’re looking for an affordable, dedicated tool for receipt and expense tracking, I recommend Zoho Expense instead. Zoho Expense starts at just $5 per active user, while FreshBooks is $11 per registered user.