MileIQ Review: Features, Pricing & Alternatives 2023
Tim is a Certified QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) Pro, QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and CPA with 25 years of experience. He brings his expertise to Fit Small Business’s accounting content.
Eric is a staff writer at Fit Small Business and CPA focusing on accounting content. He spends most of his time researching and studying to give the best answer to everyone.
This article is part of a larger series on Accounting Software.
MileIQ is a cloud-based mileage tracking software that tracks your drive and mileage automatically and then classifies your trips as personal or business. The platform is free for the first 40 drives each month, and you can upgrade to the Unlimited plan at $5.99 monthly if you need to go beyond 40 trips. MileIQ is accessible through a mobile app and web dashboard.
Overall Score:
3.70 / 5
Pros
- Simple mileage tracking solution
- Monthly billing is excellent for short-term projects
- Excellent reporting features for tax compliance
Cons
- Doesn’t integrate with bank or credit card accounts to track expenses
- No route planning features
- No clock-in/clock-out timesheet for employees
- Individuals who only need to log mileage for taxes or expense reimbursements: MileIQ’s focus is automatic mileage tracking, making it a great fit for self-employed individuals who want to save money on their taxes as well as company drivers who wish to be properly reimbursed for mileage. MileIQ is one of our choices for the best mileage tracking apps, particularly for those who want a simple solution to log their drives.
- Drivers with the same routes: The app recognizes frequent trips, which is a useful feature for drivers with frequently driven routes.
- Company drivers with irregular working hours: MileIQ’s Work Shifts feature allows you to set multiple working shifts for a single day or across multiple days.
- Drivers who need route planning features: MileIQ doesn’t allow you to plan your routes on future trips. Our pick for the overall best mileage tracking app, TripLog, has a route planning feature, which is great for company delivery drivers.
- Self-employed individuals who require tax and tracking reporting: While MileIQ’s reports can be used for tax compliance, Hurdlr is more beneficial for self-employed individuals because it estimates your quarterly tax payments by tracking your income and tax deductions.
- Companies looking for accounting and expense tracking features: QuickBooks Online has a mileage tracking feature embedded in the software, and it tracks your mileage via GPS, classifies your expenses, and generates detailed reports. QuickBooks has an advantage over MileIQ because of its expense tracking and bookkeeping features, making it our best small business accounting software.
MileIQ Deciding Factors
Supported Business Types | Small businesses that aren’t engaged in courier or delivery services |
Pricing | For Teams:
|
Free Trial | None |
Standout Features |
|
Customer Support | Self-help library, live chat, email, and contact form |
MileIQ Alternatives
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
Best for: Companies that want route planning features | Best for: Self-employed individuals or rideshare drivers who need a mileage tracking app with tax tracking | Best for: Companies looking for accounting software with mileage and expense tracking features |
Starting at: $0 | Starting at: $0 | Starting at: $30 per month |
MileIQ vs Competitors
We compared MileIQ with TripLog and Hurdlr. TripLog is our overall best mileage tracking app while Hurdlr is our best mileage tracker for rideshare drivers.
MileIQ vs Competitors FSB Case Study
Touch the graph above to interact Click on the graphs above to interact
-
MileIQ
-
TripLog
-
Hurdlr
MileIQ leads in pricing over TripLog and Hurdlr because it offers more tiers for businesses. But in terms of mileage tracking, TripLog gets a perfect score because it contains all the features we’d like to see in mileage trackers. However, MileIQ is still a good choice for businesses that don’t need complex trackers.
In related app features, MileIQ needs third-party integrations to work with accounting software or expense trackers. Hurdlr leads in the area because it has accounting and bookkeeping capabilities included in the plan. Overall, MileIQ is a decent mileage tracker for businesses that aren’t engaged in courier or delivery services.
MileIQ Pricing
MileIQ offers separate packages for personal and team use. With MileIQ’s Personal package, you can test out MileIQ for free for 40 drives per month and upgrade to the Unlimited plan if you need unlimited mileage tracking. Those interested in the For Teams package can subscribe to MileIQ’s Lite plan for $50 per driver, per year.
If you want a premium solution, MileIQ is launching a new plan called Teams Pro―$100 per driver, per year. On top of what’s offered in its other plans, it also provides simple invoicing, custom reimbursement rates, multiple admins, and personalized support.
MileIQ Features
While not as comprehensive as other mileage tracker apps like TripLog and Hurdlr, MileIQ offers many useful features that can help you automate your mileage tracking workflows. Below is a list of some of MileIQ’s most notable features.
Classifying drives is an essential feature for a mileage tracker as you wouldn’t want a business trip classified as a personal trip. In MileIQ, you can classify trips via the mobile app or through the web dashboard.
There are three ways to classify drives on the app.
1. Business or personal classification: Swipe right for business, or swipe left for personal.
Swipe right for Business or left for Personal (Source: MileIQ)
2. Custom purpose classification: You can add a custom purpose based on the category with either a long swipe to the left or right. For iOS users, a grid will appear. For Android, you’ll see a list instead:
- Subcategories for Business
- Between offices
- Customer visit
- Meeting
- Errand/supplies
- Meal/entertain
- Temporary site
- Airport/travel
- Subcategories for Personal
- Commute
- Medical ($)
- Charity ($)
- Moving
3. iPhone and iPad exclusive: For iOS users, MileIQ has an exclusive widget that can help you classify drives without even opening the app. Users of iPhone 7 and above can classify drives from their notifications.
You can personalize MileIQ in many ways, including vehicles, drive detection, and stuck in traffic. You can add several vehicles in MileIQ, whether the vehicle is personal or company-owned. Additionally, you can add information to help you identify the vehicle, such as the make, model, and year, and assign it a nickname.
Adding a Vehicle through the MileIQ Mobile App (Source: MileIQ)
You can also add a vehicle to your account via the web dashboard. Go to the MileIQ web dashboard and click Settings. From there, go to Vehicles & Odometer, then click Add New Vehicle.
Adding a Vehicle on MileIQ Web Dashboard (Source: MileIQ Support)
MileIQ reports and recognizes a new trip if you travel at least a half-mile from your current location. The variance for drive detection is less than a mile. MileIQ may occasionally disregard drives shorter than a mile, depending on your last known location.
MileIQ has a 15-minute grace period before it stops tracking your trip. If you’re stuck in traffic, MileIQ will continue recording your trip unless you’ve been idle for more than 15 minutes. In that case, the system will record a new trip once you start moving again.
The MileIQ web dashboard is another way to manage your company’s drivers and driving history. Unlike on the mobile app, you’ll see a detailed history of your past driving, and you can generate detailed reports as well.
The Drives View on MileIQ Dashboard (Source: MileIQ Support)
The Drives View in the MileIQ dashboard can help you review, classify, and edit your drives. You can enter changes individually or in bulk. You’ll see the Drives View by default once you log in. If you want to see driving history, you can click the drop-down menu in the upper left corner to see the calendar. To filter the classification, click the drop-down menu beside the date filter to see classification categories.
In addition to date and category, you can also filter by purpose. On the Drives Summary panel, you can see the data represented in a pie graph with the custom categories on the boxes beside it. This information can help you see how drives are classified and the purpose of the drives.
Filtering by Purpose on the MileIQ Dashboard (Source: MileIQ Support)
While in the MileIQ dashboard, you can continue classifying drives. However, it works differently from the mobile version. Click the suitcase icon for business drives and the home icon for personal drives. If you want to make changes, click on a driving record and a window will appear on the right side of the screen. From there, you can edit your drive by changing the distance traveled, adding a parking or toll fee, selecting a vehicle, and including some notes about the drive.
Classifying and Editing Drives on the MileIQ Dashboard (Source: MileIQ Support)
In case you forgot to add a drive before the trip, you can make a catch-up record through the MileIQ dashboard. Click on “Add a drive,” and a pop-up window will appear. Enter the starting point and destination, and MileIQ will compute the miles traveled and their corresponding value automatically.
Adding a Drive on the MileIQ Dashboard (Source: MileIQ Support)
From the Drives View, go to Reports View to make and review reports. You can find MileIQ’s report builder in this view, which can help you generate accounting or tax compliance reports:
Create a Report from the Report Builder (Source: MileIQ)
If you want to create a report, adjust the parameters (such as date filter, category filter, and vehicle filter). Once everything is set, click “Create this report” to generate the report. A window will appear prompting you to complete the following:
- Name your report.
- Send the report to email, Concur, or Freshbooks.
- Send a copy to an email address.
- Name of the submitter.
- Name of the project.
- Name of the client or customer.
- Business rate.
Don’t forget to toggle the “Mark as reported” button to “yes.” Then, click “Create Report” to generate your new report.
The MileIQ mobile app tracks your mileage automatically, eliminating the need to start and stop recording manually. It allows you to classify your drive with a single swipe—right for business and left for personal. After tracking your drives, you can obtain the results you need quickly for taxes or expense claims. The app is available on Google Play and the App Store.
MileIQ classifies your trips automatically with its Frequent Drives feature. This feature is useful for drivers who take the same route or locations for their commute. The app will detect and remember the routes you take frequently and assign the same tag in the future on your behalf. You can view the details or reclassify a trip if needed from the web dashboard.
When you classify a drive and MileIQ offers to classify it for the second time in the future, you’ll receive a notification on your app noting its potential to be a frequent drive.
Notification of Potential Frequent Drive in MileIQ (Source: MileIQ)
With the Work Hours feature, MileIQ will classify those hours outside of your working shift as personal automatically. All you need to do is to set your normal business hours, and only trips within those hours will be recorded in the app as business. The rest of the drives are classified as personal automatically. You can always review your drives from the web dashboard and reclassify them if needed.
To enable work hours in the mobile app, go to Account Settings from the Menu tab, click on Work Hours, and toggle the slider to the right.
Enabling Work Hours from the MileIQ Mobile App (Source: MileIQ)
To activate Work Hours from the web dashboard, go to Settings and then click on the Auto-Classification tab to display the Work Hours section. Slide the toggle switch to the right to activate Work Hours, adjust the time based on your schedule, and click the Save button.
For those who have irregular working schedules, Work Shifts allows you to set multiple working hours for the same day or multiple days. For instance, if you’re a rideshare driver in the morning and evening, simply turn on Work Shifts and your personal drives will be classified automatically. You can add shifts when setting your schedules with the Working Hours feature.
Using the classifier widget in MileIQ, you can view and classify your trips without opening the app. All you have to do is to add the MileIQ widget to your Today View on your iOS device. To activate the widget, swipe right on your home screen, notification screen, or lock screen. Click Edit and then tap on + MileIQ Drive Classifier under More Widgets:
Adding the MileIQ Widget to your Today View on iOS Device (Source: MileIQ)
MileIQ User Reviews
Users said that they find the MileIQ app easy to use and like being able to set multiple filters to classify data. However, others have noticed that the platform forgets to record trips, and some pointed out that MileIQ needs to keep running in the background, which can deplete smartphone batteries.
Here are the scores of the MileIQ on app stores and a user review website:
- App Store: 4.7 out of 5 stars based on around 43,200 reviews
- Play Store: 4.5 out of 5 stars based on around 62,100 reviews
- G2: 4.1 out of 5 stars based on around 40 reviews
How We Evaluated Mileage Tracker Apps
We evaluated MileIQ based on six major categories that should be present in mileage tracker apps.
20%
Pricing
30%
Mileage Tracking Features
10%
Related App Features
20%
Ease of Use
10%
User Reviews
10%
Expert Score
20% of Overall Score
Affordability is a primary concern for small businesses. Hence, we’re giving pricing a significant percentage to give more points to mileage tracker apps with a more affordable price point.
30% of Overall Score
In this area, we’d like to see basic mileage tracking features including income and expense tracking and trip categorization. Aside from these major features, it would be a plus to see features like receipt capturing, route planning, scheduling, and other minor features.
20% of Overall Score
Ease of use score measures how easy and convenient for users to use the web or mobile app. Part of this is customer service in case customers want technical assistance.
10% of Overall Score
We considered the ratings of actual users from review websites. This score helps us gauge feedback from current users of the software.
10% of Overall Score
Our expert score is a summative measure of all app features as whole. We look at the harmony of its features, accessibility, ease of use, reporting, and popularity.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is MileIQ really free?
Yes, MileIQ is free to download and use. It offers 40 free drives per month, and if you go beyond that, you can get a premium subscription or wait for the next month’s free drives.
Is MileIQ still included in Microsoft 365 subscriptions?
MileIQ has no longer been associated with Microsoft since 2021, and the inclusion of MileIQ in Microsoft 365 Business accounts ended in March 2022.
Bottom Line
If you’re looking for an automatic mileage tracker for mileage reimbursement or tax purposes and don’t need accounting or expense tracking, then MileIQ is right for you. It can be easy to forget to log your business drives from time to time, so it’s nice to have a simple automatic mileage tracker like MileIQ.
With a single swipe, you can classify your trips instantly as personal or business. The free version tracks up to 40 trips per month, which should be enough if you make one trip per day. If you’re concerned that you might go beyond 40 trips, then you can sign up for any of the paid plans, which are generally more affordable than those from similar providers.
