Do I Need an Expense Tracker?

You may think tracking your expenses is a cumbersome experience. Or that you have a good handle on your finances. But, an expense tracker can be a very useful tool for anyone—even people who are well aware of where their money goes. Tracking your expenses can help you determine where your money goes and where you can make cuts. It may even help you identify things you didn't even know you're spending your money on, such as forgotten subscriptions that you may not use (like streaming video and monthly deliveries), and areas where you may find excessive spending, such as that daily coffee run.

Do Expense Tracker Apps Work?

Yes, expense trackers work as long as you put in the work and are honest about your spending. If you're determined to make changes and improve your financial situation, an expense tracker can be a valuable tool. For trackers to work, you have to be honest about your spending. This means logging every dollar you spend (some trackers will do this automatically if you sync up your bank account), whether the money goes through your account or you pay for something in cash. It may seem daunting at first, but it will get easier once you get into a routine.

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 QuickBooks Accounting or Expensify .

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 Quickbooks Accounting may be a good choice.

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.

We independently evaluate all of our recommendations. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation.

Best Expense Tracker Apps for September 2024

Kathy Haan

Updated August 29, 2024

Reviewed by

Samantha Silberstein

Fact checked by Fernando Flores

Keeping track of your expenses is just as important for consumers as it is for businesses. The problem with paper receipts is that they're easy to lose or you may put off logging them. By uploading these immediately into an expense tracker app, you save time and space instead of having to dig through a shoebox full of receipts at tax time. You may also sync your account to an expense tracker app to make your life easier.

We reviewed 30 different options to determine the best expense tracker apps, based on price, features, reviews, and accessibility. The apps we picked can sync and categorize account transactions, are reasonably priced, and offer reporting tools to track your personal and business financial health.

QuickBooks Accounting is our top choice for expense tracking apps because of its ability to send and track invoices and mileage tracker.

Best Expense Tracker Apps for September 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

Why We Chose It

We chose QuickBooks Accounting as the best expense tracking app for small businesses because users can send and track invoices and automatically track mileage. It also has a built-in photo tool to snap pictures of receipts—all on-the-go.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Automatically track mileage and snap pictures of receipts
Send and track invoices in multiple currencies
Link bank and credit card accounts

Cons

One of the more expensive expense tracker apps
E-signature is available only on the app
No chat support

Overview

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

Empower is currently offering a free portfolio review and analysis by a financial professional. Learn more here or schedule your call here.

Why We Chose It

The best expense tracker app for investors is Empower because you can view all of your investment and bank accounts in one app. It gives investment tools, advice, expense categorization, and helps you stay on top of upcoming bills.

Pros and Cons

Pros

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

Cons

No account reconciliation
Some financial institutions won’t sync with the app
Must have over $100,000 in investable assets for advisory services

Overview

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

Why We Chose It

When looking for an app for receipt saving, go with Expensify because its app automatically scans, reads, and imports receipt details for you. It also works great for travel—get trip reminders, flight delay notifications, and change notifications sent right to your phone.

Pros and Cons

Pros

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

Cons

Uploading PDF receipts can be difficult to do
Automatic receipt reading sometimes takes longer than it would to manually type in the info

Overview

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

Why We Chose It

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.

Pros and Cons

Pros

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

Cons

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

Overview

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

Why We Chose It

If you want to get a handle on your personal finances for free, download the NerdWallet app. With it, you can see all of your accounts and their transactions in one place, keep tabs on your credit and net worth, and get helpful reports on your cash flow.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Track income and expenses
Monitor your credit and net worth
It’s completely free

Cons

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

Overview

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
QuickBooks Accounting	Best for Small Businesses	Send and track invoices
Empower	Best for Investors	Investment tools, advice, and management
Expensify	Best for Receipt Saving	Automatically reads and imports receipt details for you
Everlance	Best for Reimbursement and Mileage	Automatically create an IRS-compliant mileage log and sync accounts to track expenses
NerdWallet	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.

Factors to Consider for Expense Tracker Apps

Choosing the right expense tracker app depends entirely on you. But, you should take a look at the features to determine which one makes sense. The following is a list of common features that may be offered by expense tracker apps that may come in handy:

Income and expense tracker: This option is standard across most expense tracker apps. This feature allows you to input and monitor all your monthly income and expenses, whether you load them manually or automatically.
Account and credit card synchronization: Because most apps are mobile-based, they give you the option to sync up your bank account (and some let you connect your credit card as well) so your cash flow is accounted for each month.
Image scanning: This feature allows you to use the camera on your mobile device to upload receipts and you need to account for them, especially when you pay cash for goods and services.
Mileage tracking: This is important if you need to log your mileage for tax purposes.
Bill payment reminders: Keeping up to date with your bills may be complicated. If you have multiple due dates, this feature helps you avoid late payments (and additional fees) so your bills are paid on time.
Budgeting: You can use this feature to see how much money you spend and have left each month. Some apps may provide you with tips on how to save money and where to stash it.

While you review some of these features, it's also important to ask yourself the following questions:

Is the app free or do I have to pay for it? Are there features that I have to pay for to unlock?
How secure is the app? Are there safeguards in place to prevent data breaches? How are my financial data and privacy protected?
Does the app use your data for anything else? Is my data and usage tracked?
Does the app company provide customer service if I need assistance?
Can I back up my data and information?

Many apps use artificial intelligence (AI) to make expense tracking easier. Integrating AI can take the guesswork out of invoice and receipt management by extracting data through automation. It can also be a valuable fraud detection tool, identifying and alerting you to suspicious activity and preventing fraudulent transactions from going through if you sync your account with your app.

Expense Tracker Apps vs. Budgeting Apps

There are different types of apps on the market that can help you with your finances. These include expense tracker apps and budgeting apps. Though they may sound the same, there is a slight difference between the two.

Expense tracker apps tap into how your monthly spending habits. These apps record your monthly expenses, such as your rent, bills, groceries, and nights out among other things. Once everything is added up, you get a clear picture of where your money goes each month. You can use this information to make adjustments to save you money.

Budgeting apps, on the other hand, help you actively manage your money, giving you a solid idea of your monthly income and expenses. By budgeting, you set aside a certain amount of money for every expense, including groceries and entertainment, so you stay within your limits. Using a budgeting app means you establish clear spending (and saving) goals.

Pros and Cons of Expense Tracker Apps

Pros

Can simplify financial management: Easier to manage money, separate finances, and track spending
Free options: No added monthly costs
Helps your financial situation: Establishes budget and can help improve your credit
May help you meet money goals: Can help you save for a down payment or vacation

Cons

Certain apps cost money: Apps with advanced features may come at a cost
Features vary: Not all apps are built the same
Not all financial institutions connect: You may have to put in more work if the app you choose doesn't work with your bank
Requires some upfront and ongoing work: Time commitment required to make the app work

Expense tracking apps and other financial management tools require upfront work and ongoing upkeep. They won’t automatically help you achieve your financial goals; instead, you need to commit to using them over time to meet your money goals and improve your situation.

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.

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

Do I Need an Expense Tracker?

You may think tracking your expenses is a cumbersome experience. Or that you have a good handle on your finances. But, an expense tracker can be a very useful tool for anyone—even people who are well aware of where their money goes.
Tracking your expenses can help you determine where your money goes and where you can make cuts. It may even help you identify things you didn't even know you're spending your money on, such as forgotten subscriptions that you may not use (like streaming video and monthly deliveries), and areas where you may find excessive spending, such as that daily coffee run.
Do Expense Tracker Apps Work?

Yes, expense trackers work as long as you put in the work and are honest about your spending. If you're determined to make changes and improve your financial situation, an expense tracker can be a valuable tool.
For trackers to work, you have to be honest about your spending. This means logging every dollar you spend (some trackers will do this automatically if you sync up your bank account), whether the money goes through your account or you pay for something in cash. It may seem daunting at first, but it will get easier once you get into a routine.
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 QuickBooks Accounting or Expensify.
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 Quickbooks Accounting may be a good choice.
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 Difference Between an Expense Tracking App and a Budgeting App?

Although they may seem the same, there are subtle differences between expense tracking and budgeting apps.
Expense tracking apps tend to be for people who don't have any savings goals and don't know how much money they spend each month. These apps allow you to track all of your bill payments and expenses to give you a clear picture of where your money goes each month. You can then make adjustments and make spending cuts.
Budgeting apps, on the other hand, are meant for people who plan their spending and savings and have clear goals in mind. Every dollar is accounted for and budgeted with care, including expenses like groceries and dining. There are no surprises with no extra or sudden costs.

Guide to Expense Tracker Apps

The Best Expense Tracker Apps of 2024 — Investopedia / Tara Anand

Article Sources

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