Best Business Expense Trackers for Small Businesses

Using software to track your expenses can save you time and money and help your employees operate more efficiently. In addition, it provides insight into your business’s spending habits, making your life (and your accountant’s) a whole lot easier come tax season.

Consider business expense trackers that are made specifically for your most common type of spending. For example, if your employees drive a lot for work, narrow your choices down to software products that primarily track mileage. Additionally, make sure the tracker integrates with your accounting software to minimize manual data entry.

Here are some of the best business expense trackers for small businesses.

Best business expense trackers at a glance

Expensify

Best overall business expense tracker

Price: Free and up.

Why we like it: Expensify offers a good all-around option for most small and midsize businesses. Among the features you can expect are unlimited receipt scanning, the ability to import personal and business credit card transactions and next-day reimbursement on approved expense reports. Business owners must upgrade to a paid plan to access expense approval permissions and accounting integrations.

Expensify integrates with a variety of other applications, such as Uber and Lyft for automatic receipt import, QuickBooks and Xero for accounting, and Zenefits and Gusto for human resources.

To access lower pricing for paid plans, business owners can use Expensify’s business credit card and pay their subscription annually as opposed to monthly. The company offers plans for self-employed entrepreneurs, too.

» MORE: NerdWallet’s best small-business apps

Certify

Best feature-rich business expense tracker

Price: $12/user per month and up.

Why we like it: Certify boasts a variety of core features that will automate most expense-related processes. For example, the product’s ReportExecutive feature auto-generates expense reports by setting a reporting schedule and sending reminders to employees and managers. Other features include a QuickBooks integration, reporting suite and the ability to customize permissions.

There are three Certify pricing plans. Certify Now costs $12/user per month, provides access for up to 25 users and includes all of the aforementioned features. The Professional plan is quote-based and can accommodate up to 200 employees. The Enterprise plan is also quote-based and is for businesses with more than 200 employees.

The Professional and Enterprise plans come with access to additional features, including receipt backup and credit card integrations.

MileIQ

Best business expense tracker for transportation businesses

Price: Starts at $59.99/year for a personal expense tracker; $50/user per year for companies with employees.

Why we like it: If you operate a business where your employees have to drive a lot, MileIQ is a great option for tracking your expenses. Once installed, the app will work in the background as you drive, calculating your travel distance automatically. Later, you can classify the drive as business-related or personal.

Account holders can customize their platform by adding drivers, naming locations and setting mileage rates. The software can also help independent contractors calculate miles driven on the job, which they can then write off on their tax returns.

MileIQ offers a free 40-drive trial for individual users. Pricing for teams ranges from $50/user per year to $100/user per year, depending on the features you need.

Zoho Expense

Best low-cost business expense tracker

Price: Free and up.

Why we like it: Zoho Expense offers a solid set of features, including mileage tracking, personal card connections, customer and project tracking and accounting integrations in its free plan. This plan accommodates up to three users and the Standard plan, which costs $3/user per month (billed annually), accommodates unlimited users.

Higher-tier Premium and Enterprise plans feature unlimited receipt autoscans, travel requests, purchase requests, per diem rates, advanced customization and more. Users can also apply tags, locations and cost centers to expenses and manage itineraries.

Zoho Expense integrates with other products including QuickBooks, Xero, G Suite, Slack and Lyft.

Concur Travel

Best business expense tracker for travel-related expenses

Price: Quote-based.

Why we like it: Concur offers a variety of expense tracking products, but Concur Travel is ideal for businesses with employees who are booking travel and accommodations on a regular basis.

Employees can use the software to book travel on their own while employers collect travel data. Concur offers a suite of other products that can be used alongside the travel component, like a receipt management app and the ability to set budgets and ensure employees are complying with policy.

How do business expense trackers work?

Business expense trackers are typically accessible online or via an app on your mobile device. When you sign up with a provider, you will receive an account and access for a set number of employees.

Signup processes differ from product to product, but most trackers require some basic business and banking information. To get the most out of the software, you should link it to your business checking account or business credit card. Your employees will also have the option to link their personal bank accounts so that they can be reimbursed for approved, business-related expenses after submitting receipts.

Business expense trackers organize your expenses and highlight where you spend the most money. They can also help you avoid overspending. For instance, you can group all inventory or marketing-related expenses to see if you are maintaining your budget for each line item. These insights make it easier to maintain cash flow.

How to choose a business expense tracker

Most business expense trackers contain at least a couple of the following features. Determine which trackers have the best versions of the features you plan to use most.