The 10 Best Mobile Apps to Keep Track of Your Business Budget

Managing a business means juggling a million things. You’ve got customer expectations ,product/service delivery, marketing costs and activities, rent, and so much more to keep in mind. It’s all too easy for a few of these to fall through the cracks. Unfortunately, if that’s tracking your budget, you can quickly find your business out of cash.

It doesn’t have to be that way, however. You’ll find plenty of tools out there today that will help you keep track of your business’s budget, expenses, operating costs, and more so you always have an eye on your cash flow. The trick is deciding which tool to use.

The world of mobile apps has become so much more than anyone could have imagined when Apple first debuted the iPhone. Today, there’s an app for just about anything you might need to accomplish, from simple calculators to robust financial planning tools, and they’re all accessible right from your smartphone or tablet.

However, the very diversity that makes it difficult to identify the right app for your needs. That’s why we assembled this guide. We’ve done the legwork for you and found the 10 best mobile apps to keep track of your business budget. There’s something here for everyone, from lightweight, free apps to those with powerful capabilities that will help you drill down through financial data.

Does your business truly need a budgeting app?

Having access to budgeting tools is great, but do you really need one? For most business owners, the answer is yes. Why is that? A decent budgeting app can:

• Help you identify, track, and reduce overspending

• Allow you to consolidate financial accounts

• Provide real-time reporting

• Identify spending habits to make informed decisions and changes

• Forecasting cash flow patterns

• Creating budgets for specific business needs, like marketing

• Discovering ways to save on costs

• Automating processes to save you time, hassle, and money

With the right mobile app, keeping track of your budget, identifying patterns, and making informed decisions are all simple matters. So, let’s get on with the list! Without further ado, here are the 10 best mobile business budgeting and expense-tracking apps to help you take back control and make more informed decisions.

The 10 best mobile business budgeting and expense tracking apps

1. Zoho Expense

Zoho is one of our favorites when it comes to integrated business tools and solutions. Their own platform is robust and includes the popular Zoho Expense tool, which makes expense tracking and approvals easier than ever. You can store digital receipts, sort expenses into categories, and even log mileage automatically with the built-in GPS and maps features. 

With Zoho Expense, you can record and add details even when you’re offline, syncing once a connection returns. Enhanced analytics are available, and that feature can be combined with the Zoho Expense web application for a dynamic budgeting and expense-tracking solution for your business. 

Highlights:

• Price: Free for freelancers and small businesses

• Batch approvals for expenses

• Advanced analytics

• Integrates with web application

• Integrated maps and GPS

• Automatic transaction importing

2. QuickBooks Accounting

QuickBooks has been around for a long time, and for good reason. It makes the top of the list because it’s still one of the best accounting and expense reporting solutions available today. You’ll be able to manage all of your expenses in one place and even export and import as needed. 

You can scan receipts, track expenses by category, send invoices with a single click, accept payments, and so much more. Plus, you can manage it all from the seamless, simple mobile app that offers dynamic solutions to handle budgeting and expensing on the go. If you want a full-service accounting solution, you can upgrade to a premium plan for additional features. 

Highlights:

• Price: Plans start at $15 per month

• Live bookkeeping assistance available

• Payroll and tax solutions offered

• Expense tracking and reporting

• Scalable platform

• Easy integrations

3. Wave

Wave has been awarded several nods for its successful financial solutions and well-designed app, including the Editors’ Choice Award from PC Magazine. It is a free tool that you can use to generate expense reports, track expenses, handle accounting, and more. You will find a lot of features packed into this platform for those who are just starting out. 

Wave charges for payment processing and payroll services, but they offer a lot offree tools and features for every user. If you want something that takes care of all the basic stuff that you don’t remember from your high school math and accounting classes, this app has you covered. 

Highlights:

• Price: Free 

• Income and expense tracking

• Receipt scanning available

• Mobile access for easy accounting anywhere

• Payment processing available for a fee

• Easy integrations with other software and tools

4. Rydoo Expense

If you’re looking for an expense-tracking app that makes integrations easy, this is the one you need. It offers real-time expense analysis, mileage tracking, and more. Plus, it will easily integrate with tons of other software and tools without much effort on your part. You can submit expenses on the go with the camera or through apps like Dropbox. 

Rydoo Expense can integrate seamlessly with SAP, NetSuite, Oracle, and others, and it’s easy to migrate into the platform from other platforms that you’re using, including Concur and Expensify. It offers custom per diems and mileage rates and other customization features. If you want a premium expense tracking solution, this one could be for you. 

Highlights:

• Price: $10 per user, per month

• Set spending limits

• Automated expense approvals

• Powerful reporting and insights

• Built-in local compliance

5. Everlance

If you need an expense tracking app that’s ideal for mileage tracking and reimbursement, this is one of the best that you’ll find. It makes expense tracking easy, as well as credit card syncing and bank account linking so that you can categorize expenses, track your purchases, and more. You can even set custom transaction rules and use GPS to track trips and more.

Expense reports and mileage reports can be customized and exported through PDF or CSV (Excel) format, and you can track revenue from multiple sources with the app, too. Plus, you can manage your receipts with ease and even manage and separate personal expenses. Upgrade to a premium plan for customized training, customer support, and more. 

Highlights:

• Price: Free basic plan 

• Popular for self-employed and solopreneurs

• Simple reporting and exporting

• Custom rules for expenses and transactions

• IRS-compliant mileage log

• Annual billing discounts for paid plans

6. FreshBooks

Looking for a flexible, scalable budget-tracking tool for your small business or startup? Check out FreshBooks. You’ll find pricing tiers to suit just about any need and the app packs plenty of tools to help you take control over your finances.

For instance, you can send invoices to clients right from the app, track all your business expenses, send estimates, and even accept credit cards. The app generates tax reports and other financial reports, too, so it’s easy to turn financial data into something more meaningful at a glance. It also connects to your business bank account or credit card to give you real-time tracking capabilities.

Highlights:

• Price: $6.80 per user per month for the Lite tier

• Real-time expense reporting

• Tax reporting

• Accepts credit cards

• Budget insights

• Expense capture from multiple sources

7. Shoeboxed

Shoeboxed is all about making receipt tracking easy. This app is used by more than one million companies that are organizing their expenses and it has been recognized by PCMag.com and The Balance SMB for its impressive features. You can send receipts by mail and scan them with the mobile app and ensure that your expenses are properly reported, organized, and accounted for in your budget. 

With Shoeboxed, you’ll get more expense reporting and budgeting done with less work. You can customize the reports that you get and choose from a variety of plans. There’s also a Gmail plugin for Google users who want to submit expenses via email. 

Highlights:

• Price: $18 per month to start

• Postage-paid envelope for paper receipt submission

• Mobile app for iOS and Android

• Automatic expense categorization 

• Detailed reporting 

• Data and receipt exporting

8. Xero

Are you getting ready for growth? Maybe you’ve already experienced some and you’re trying to get a handle on your finances with an influx of new costs and increased cash flow. These are challenging periods for startups and SMBs, but Xero can help. It’s specifically designed to be a great budgeting and finance tool for businesses getting ready to grow.

You’ll find a lot to love about this app. You can create an overarching budget foryour business, and also specify budgets for specific things, like marketing or supply purchasing. It also allows you to dig into short-term spending and access snapshots over time. It provides invoicing and reporting capabilities, as well as payment processing and a ton of other capabilities.

Highlights:

• Price: $7.50 per month for the Early tier

• Send invoices and quotes

• Enter and track bills

• Cash flow reporting and business snapshots

• Bill capture

• Bank transaction reconciliation

9. Expensify

Expensify is a great tool for beginners and one of the easiest apps to use for expense reporting and budgeting. Your small business can rest easy working with this app, which has been endorsed by several organizations and offers plenty of features. You can reconcile credit cards, integrate your accounting tools and software, track mileage, capture receipts, and more. 

There are real-time notifications and the SmartScan technology makes sure that all the right data is captured, and entered, properly. This platform is designed for travel and other expenses and includes the option to get notifications anytime changes are made. Plus, it can generate real-time reports to keep expense reporting and budgeting in line. 

Highlights:

• Price: $5 for the Collect tier

• Save 50% with annual pricing on paid plans

• Integrated expense tracking

• Custom reporting available

• SmartScan technology for easy receipt tracking

• Expensify Business Credit Card included free

10. Concur Mobile

For a business that needs to keep track of travel spending and manage expenses more simply, Concur Mobile has the solution. This tool offers quick, accurate expense report creation with reports that are filled with details of your choosing. You can capture spending automatically and ensure that receipts are categorized accordingly, and more. 

Concur Mobile simplifies expense reporting and budgeting, as well as reimbursement and transparency. There’s even a TripLink feature that allows managers to see all travel expenses, even when employees book their travel directly. This is a higher-end solution that requires a bigger financial investment, but it’s a great tool for the ultimate expense tracking needs. 

Highlights:

• Price: Custom quote

• Easy invoice approval

• Exporting and custom reporting

• Automatic spend capture

• Receipt scanning

• Itinerary management

Manage your business and time more efficiently when you partner withSmith.ai

Business owners and decision-makers have many things to manage and finances are just part of it. You also need to manage communication and balance answering questions and communicating with customers or clients while handling your regular responsibilities.

One way to streamline both your expense and time management is to work with the experts at Smith.ai. Our virtual receptionists can make sure that your phone calls are answered no matter what time of day or night customers might call. In addition to acting as your 24/7 answering service, we provide many other services that can help you recapture lost time and spend it where it will have the most impact on your budget, including:

• Lead vetting

• Appointment setting

• Payment processing

• Warm phone transfers

• Spam and sales call blocking

• Email & SMS follow-up

Learn more when you schedule your consultation to discuss how the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai can help with your calls, chats, and anything else you need. You will also find us at hello@smith.ai or (650) 709-2710.

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