Expenses

It’s not just a coffee here and a full tank of fuel there. Freelance receipts add up, and they can save you a lot of money on your tax bill.

Keep a safe record of them with these clever apps, and you’ll spare yourself the pain of sorting through months of receipts every January…

Keep all your business purchases in one neat, organised dashboard. Bonsai helps you import directly from your bank account, manage expenses on your phone, and connect receipts to relevant invoices.

Who’s it for?

Freelancers with a purse or wallet stuffed full of receipts.

Good bits

• Add expenses easily with the mobile app.
• See all your expenses and track your spending with easy to understand graphs and charts.
• Link your receipts to specific projects and invoices.

Not so good bits

• Bonsai isn’t just expensing, it’s got loads of freelancer tools. You have to pay for all of them though.

Free-o-meter

3/5

Prices: Paid packages are $16 and $24 if you pay for the whole year at once. They’re a bit more expensive if you pay monthly.

The cheaper paid package will be plenty for most freelancers, giving you unlimited access to everything. The free trial gives you 14 days to try the platform out and see if it suits you.

Created by the people behind Quickbooks, Mint is more than just expense tracking, it helps you budget and keep an eye on your bills too.

Who’s it for?

Freelancers that want to keep their bill payments down.

Good bits

• Make budgeting straightforward. All your bills and expenses will be in one, easy to read place.
• Connect both your business bank account and credit card account.
• Helpful reminders mean you’ll always know when a payment is due.

Not so good bits

• It works well for freelancers, but Mint isn’t really pitched to small businesses. It might not work as well for you if your needs are more complicated.

Free-o-meter

5/5

Prices: It’s free!

Named after the box some freelancers end up throwing their receipts in, Shoeboxed is much more organised than any old-school storage method.

Who’s it for?

Freelancers and small business owners that want to keep everything in one, secure place.

Good bits

• Digitise every slip of paper. Shoeboxed will automatically import the date, amount, and account info.
• Easily add images of your receipts to relevant invoices.
• It syncs with Quickbooks, Zero, Evernote and more.

Not so good bits

• If you already use an accounting tool, expense tracking could be built in for free. This is a pricey extra.

Free-o-meter

2/5

Prices: Paid accounts cost $29, $69, or $99 a month.

Unfortunately there’s no free trial, but you can cancel or change your plan whenever you want.