The best small business expense tracking software and apps

Managing money is never simple for small and mid-size businesses. Cash flow is often tight, budgets are limited, and every expense needs to be justified. Yet for many small-business owners, business expenses are treated as an afterthought, handled with a spreadsheet, a shoebox full of receipts, or a quick glance at the company credit card statement.

That might work in the very early days, but as soon as your team starts growing, it becomes a liability. Poor expense management leads to cash flow surprises, missed tax deductions, wasted admin time, and even compliance risks.

The good news is that modern expense tracking software makes it easier than ever for SMBs to get organized. Whether you need a lightweight expense tracker app or a comprehensive accounting system, there are tools to fit every business size and budget.

In this guide, we’ll highlight the best options available today, explore what to look for in an expense tracker, and share practical strategies to make sure your expense tracking processes save time.

What is expense tracking software?

Expense tracking software is a digital tool that helps your business record, categorize, and manage business expenses in real time. It automates receipt capture, integrates with credit cards and accounting systems, and generates expense reports to improve cash flow visibility and simplify tax compliance.

What is the best small business expense tracking software?

Selecting the right tool can cut hours of admin each week, keep your finances and business expenses in order, and give you the visibility you need to make better decisions.

But which is the most effective expense tracker app?

To help, here are some of the most popular and effective tools available today:

Remote

With Remote, you can keep your team’s invoices and receipts organized by expense category, employee, and country, all from a single platform. This structure makes it easy for your finance and HR teams to review and approve expenses quickly, even across distributed teams. Learn more about expense management with Remote.

You can also create custom workflows for specific user groups, so only the right people can view or approve expenses. This ensures strong internal controls without adding unnecessary complexity.

On top of that, Remote is security-certified to the highest SOC and ISO standards, and integrates seamlessly with accounting software and other HR tools.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online remains one of the most trusted names in accounting software, and for good reason. Beyond bookkeeping, its expense management functionality gives your business a centralized system for managing money.

With QuickBooks, you can connect your business credit cards and bank accounts so transactions flow in automatically. Expenses are categorized in real time, and you can attach digital receipts for easy reference. This means you always know where your money is going without having to chase down details.

Where QuickBooks really shines, though, is in its integration. Expenses don’t sit in isolation; they feed directly into your profit-and-loss statements, balance sheets, and tax preparation reports. For small-business owners who want to manage accounting, payroll, and expense tracking in one place, it’s hard to beat.

The tradeoff is complexity and, potentially, cost. If you’re only looking for a lightweight expense tracker app, QuickBooks may feel overwhelming. But for businesses that want a full accounting ecosystem, it’s a leading option, with plenty of bang for your buck.

Zoho Expense

Unlike accounting-first platforms, Zoho Expense is purpose-built for expense tracking and reporting. It’s especially attractive for small-business owners because it combines affordability with powerful features that would typically only be found in enterprise software.

Employees can use the mobile app to scan receipts, log mileage, and submit expenses in seconds. Automated workflows then route these submissions to managers for approval, cutting down on bottlenecks.

Zoho’s strongest feature is its focus on compliance. You can set detailed expense policies (such as maximum meal allowances or restrictions on mileage tracking) and the system automatically flags out-of-policy expenses. This proactive control can potentially save your business significant money and headaches.

For managers, Zoho also offers real-time dashboards that provide a clear view of cash flow and spending patterns. If you’re looking for a dedicated, no-frills expense tracker that scales as your business grows, Zoho Expense is an excellent choice.

Concur Expense (and Concur Mobile)

SAP's Concur Expense is traditionally seen as an enterprise solution, but its Concur Mobile app makes it a viable option for growing SMBs that need more advanced controls.

Concur automates nearly every step of expense management. Your employees can capture receipts with their phones, expenses are automatically categorized, and approvals flow seamlessly. For finance teams, the system offers deep reporting capabilities, compliance monitoring, and integration with travel booking systems.

The advantage here is robustness; Concur is designed for businesses where compliance, auditability, and control are non-negotiable. The downside is cost and complexity, which may be more than very small businesses need. But for companies planning to scale quickly, Concur offers genuine long-term value.

Microsoft Create

Microsoft Create is a slightly different option. It’s not an expense tracker app on its own, but rather a set of customizable templates for managing expense reports, data bars, and financial dashboards. Paired with Excel or Power BI, it allows businesses to build highly tailored solutions without adopting a new system.

For businesses already embedded in Microsoft 365, this can be a cost-effective way to add structured expense tracking without extra subscriptions. It works best for organizations that already have some accounting knowledge and prefer to customize, rather than adopt a ready-made tool.

Expensify

Expensify has carved out a reputation as one of the simplest expense tracker apps for businesses of all sizes. Its mobile-first design makes it easy for employees to snap receipts, track mileage, and submit expenses wherever they are.

The platform automatically categorizes expenses and reconciles them with company credit cards, reducing manual work for finance teams. Expensify also integrates with popular accounting platforms like QuickBooks and Xero, making it a good fit for businesses that already have systems in place but need an intuitive expense reporting layer.

Expensify is best for teams that value simplicity and ease of use above advanced customization.

FreshBooks

FreshBooks is best known as a cloud-based accounting software and invoicing platform, but it also offers strong expense management capabilities. It’s especially useful for small businesses and freelancers who deal with a lot of paper receipts.

The built-in receipt scanner doesn’t just take a photo: it captures merchant details, line items, taxes, and totals automatically. This saves time and reduces errors when you’re preparing expense reports. You can even add custom notes to each scan, which is helpful if you need extra context for certain expenses.

Beyond expense tracking, FreshBooks includes time tracking, invoicing, payroll, and bookkeeping tools, making it a good all-in-one option for small teams that want to manage multiple financial workflows from one platform.

Certify

Certify, part of the Emburse suite, is a powerful expense management tool designed to give businesses better oversight and control. One of its standout features is policy enforcement; when employees submit expenses, the system automatically alerts them if they deviate from the company’s predefined rules.

This prevents out-of-policy submissions before they reach the approval stage, saving time for managers and reducing friction for employees. Certify also allows users to generate full expense reports directly from scanned receipts, making the review and approval process much faster.

With its detailed financial reporting features, Certify is particularly well suited to small and mid-size businesses that need more structured oversight of spending but don’t want the complexity of an enterprise system.

What to look for in a business expense tracker

With so many options available, deciding which expense tracking software is right for your business can be tricky.

The key is to focus on features that will actually reduce your workload, so pay particular attention to whether your expense tracker app has:

• Mobile app support (so your employees can log expenses immediately).
• Credit card and bank integrations to automate imports.
• Purchase order management to control vendor spending.
• Customizable expense policies that match your company’s needs.
• Automated reports to simplify tax prep.
• Spend management dashboards that provide real-time visibility into cash flow.

If your prospective tool doesn’t address at least some of these areas, it may not be the right fit for your organization.

How to get the most out of your expense tracking software

Even the best expense tracking software won’t fix broken processes on its own. To ensure you're getting the most out of your investment, you’ll need to establish clear systems and practices, such as:

• Defining your spend policies. Clarify what your employees can and cannot expense, and communicate this clearly.
• Automating approvals. Leverage your software to route expenses for sign-off automatically, reducing delays.
• Standardizing purchase orders. Create a process for larger purchases to ensure accountability.
• Auditing regularly. Don’t wait until year-end to spot errors; review expenses monthly to catch any issues early.
• Reviewing cash flow. Use your tool’s reporting features to ensure your expenses align with your budget.

Remember: The goal is to create a process that’s transparent, efficient, and scalable. As a small business, it's also advisable to adopt consistent expensing habits, which means:

• Keeping your business and personal expenses separate. A dedicated business credit card is ideal for reducing confusion.
• Reviewing expense reports monthly. Again, regular oversight prevents surprises.
• Encouraging mobile-first tracking. If it’s easy to log expenses on the go, compliance improves.
• Thinking ahead for tax season. Organized categories mean fewer headaches when filing.

By building these practices into your routine, you’ll save time and reduce stress down the line.

See also: How to manage your business expenses with employee expense reports

How can Remote help?

For small businesses, tracking expenses is about more than just receipts; it’s about building the financial clarity needed to grow.

Remote makes it simple to manage expenses from submission to payment, and all in one platform. Your employees can capture receipts on mobile or web, while smart recognition fills in the details automatically. Built-in approval workflows also give you full visibility by category, employee, or country, so nothing slips through the cracks.

With secure integrations, bulk upload options, and automatic compliance checks, Remote helps you centralize expense management, keep your records clean, and ensure your employees are paid on time — without adding more complexity to your workflows.

To learn more about expense management with Remote, and how it can simplify and streamline your expense tracking for free, speak to one of our friendly experts today.