More likely than not, your business is spending more than you think. Without a clear expense tracking system, hidden costs can quickly add up, making budgeting challenging.
Our 2025 Software Spend Report found that businesses underestimate their software usage by 40%, often paying for unused licenses, duplicate tools, and overlapping functionalities.
The good news? Automated expense tracking tools make it easy to monitor, categorize, and optimize spending—without the manual headache. In this guide, we explore eight top expense-tracking tools for startups to track all expenses, from software to travel and beyond.
But first, let’s go back to basics.
What is Expense Tracking?
Expense tracking is the process of recording, categorizing, and monitoring all business expenditures to ensure financial transparency and control. It allows businesses to track where their money is going, identify unnecessary spending, and make informed decisions to improve cash flow management.
Expense Tracking for Small Business vs Expense Tracking for Enterprise
Expense tracking may seem like a universal process, but how it’s done, who manages it, and what’s at stake varies significantly between small businesses and enterprises.
For large enterprises, expense tracking is typically structured, automated, and backed by finance teams with established workflows. But for small businesses, it’s often messy, manual, and handled by a small team—if not a single person.
My focus in 2025 is to make sure all our tools are set up to support automation. Many already are, but finance tools tend to focus on local compliance requirements first. While that's important, it shouldn't stop us from enabling new efficiencies.
Here’s where small businesses differ from enterprises in how they track expenses:
Who Manages It?
SMBs: There’s often just one person in charge of expense tracking—the CFO, founder, or a designated finance specialist—and some SMBs have a small finance team to manually track expenses using spreadsheets or standalone software.
Enterprises: A dedicated finance department oversees expenses using automated ERP systems with built-in controls for approvals, compliance, and fraud detection.
How Software Spend Scales
SMBs pay more per employee. Our 2025 Software Spend Report found that startups (0–20 employees) spend around $8,000 per full-time employee (FTE), while larger SMBs (100–200 employees) see that drop to $1,741 per FTE. Without a centralized view of expenses, SMBs often overspend on underused or duplicate software.
Enterprises, however, can negotiate better rates as they grow, reducing per-user costs.
Tracking Methods and Common Pitfalls
SMBs rely on spreadsheets, basic accounting software, or standalone tools. Many still manually categorize expenses, which can lead to errors and inefficiencies. Without automation, SMBs risk misclassified expenses, duplicate payments, and missing the bigger picture—all of which directly impact cash flow.
Enterprises use integrated financial systems. They have approval workflows, audit trails, and AI-driven tools to detect spending anomalies.
SMBs rely heavily on automation to save time. AI-powered categorization, real-time insights, and seamless integrations with banking and accounting software are key features for effective expense tracking.
Why Does Small Business Expense Tracking Matter?
Many small businesses don’t realize how much inefficient expense tracking costs them until it’s too late. Here’s what’s at stake:
- Untracked expenses lead to cash flow surprises: Small businesses run on predictable cash flow. But when expenses aren’t tracked in real-time, overspending happens before anyone notices—leading to shortfalls, late payments, or worse.
- SaaS creep and unnecessary costs: SMBs rely on multiple software tools, but without oversight, subscriptions pile up. For example, if 10 tools cost an average of $20/month each, that’s $200 per month—or $2,400 per year—potentially wasted on software no one actively uses.
“Tracking SaaS spending is one of the biggest challenges for SMBs. Over time, teams sign up for different tools, and without a system in place, businesses lose track of what’s actually being used.” — Jayanti Katariya, CEO of Moon Invoice
- Missed opportunities for growth: When businesses lack clear visibility on expenses, they can’t make informed financial decisions. Growth opportunities—like hiring, expanding, or investing in marketing—become risky guesses instead of strategic moves.
- Tax time becomes a nightmare: Scrambling for receipts, sorting through expenses, and identifying tax-deductible costs at the last minute leads to missed deductions, reporting errors, and penalties.
“Businesses that don’t track expenses year-round end up spending weeks untangling finances during tax season—often realizing too late that they could have saved more.” — Grant Aldrich, Founder & CEO of Preppy
How to Track SMB Expenses: 8 Tools for Startups
The right expense tracking tool helps you spot waste, manage budgets, and make smarter financial decisions. We’ve rounded up these tools based on features, pricing, and ratings across top review sites.
Here’s a quick overview:
1. Cledara
Best for: Subscription management
G2 rating: 4.6 / 5 stars, based on 199 reviews
Cledara: Get the full picture of your software spending and drill down to analyze teams and app budgets.
Cledara is built for managing software spend, giving businesses full visibility and control over their SaaS subscriptions. But it goes beyond tracking software expenses—with Cledara Spend, you can track business, travel, and team expenses in one place. Instead of juggling multiple tools, you get a single platform to manage all company spending, from subscriptions to everyday business costs.
With physical and virtual cards, a mobile app, and real-time tracking, Cledara makes it easy to control expenses as they happen. Plus, Reports lets you analyze spending by team, category, or tag, ensuring every dollar is accounted for—even for disabled or deleted applications. Finance teams can export reports, monitor trends, and make smarter budget decisions, preventing unnecessary costs.
Key Features
- SaaS management: Manage all your SaaS costs and contracts in one place to spot underused tools, get notifications for upcoming renewals, assign software managers, and more. Use the spend optimization tools to detect overlapping subscriptions, unused seats, or entire accounts that aren’t in use. Compare SaaS prices against industry benchmarks to negotiate better deals.
- Virtual corporate cards: Issue virtual credit cards for your team to pay for any business expense, not just software. Set spending caps or time-limited cards for better control.
- Software-specific payments: Prevent accidental overcharges and control plan changes. If a card’s details are leaked, you can cancel just one subscription instead of replacing an entire company card.
- Expense tracking and analytics: View real-time spending insights by team, category, or tag. Easily export reports for budget planning and cost control.
- Automated invoice capture and reconciliation: Reduce manual work by auto-capturing invoices and syncing with accounting software like NetSuite, QuickBooks, Microsoft, Google, and Xero.
- Multi-category expense tracking: Track subscriptions, travel, team purchases, and general business expenses on one platform.
- Integration and automation: Connect to existing finance and accounting tools with API integrations to streamline expense management workflows.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✅User-friendly interface
✅Cledara doesn’t charge any percentage-based fees or transaction fees
✅Multi-currency support makes it suitable for global businesses
✅Cashback rewards offer savings on software purchases
✅Can make one-off payments with Cledara’s virtual cards
Cons
❌ No support for Apple Pay (for now)
H4: Plans and Pricing
With Cledara you can also opt for add-ons (£150/month | ~$190/month each), which include Spend Optimization, IT Management, and Software Compliance.
2. QuickBooks
Best for: Small business accounting
G2 rating: 4 / 5 stars, based on 3000+ reviews
QuickBooks dashboard gives a complete overview of your business income and expenses.
QuickBooks helps small businesses track income and expenses, manage invoices, and generate real-time financial reports. Designed for startups and SMBs, it automates bookkeeping tasks like payroll and tax prep, integrates with bank accounts and business tools, and provides cloud-based access.
And, if you're using Cledara, you can integrate it with QuickBooks to automatically sync software expenses and track, categorize, and reconcile spending in one place.
Key Features
- Expense tracking: Automatically categorize expenses, capture receipts via the mobile app, and sync transactions with bank accounts.
- Invoicing and payments: Create custom invoices, send payment reminders, and accept online payments directly through QuickBooks.
- Financial reporting: Generate real-time financial reports, cash flow statements, and tax summaries to monitor business health.
- Payroll management: Automate payroll processing, tax calculations, and direct deposits for employees.
- Bank reconciliation: Sync with bank accounts and credit cards to automatically match transactions and reduce manual errors.
- Third-party integrations: Connect with popular business tools like PayPal, Stripe, and eCommerce platforms for seamless financial management.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✅Cloud-based access for QuickBooks Online, allowing anytime, anywhere use
✅Inventory management and advanced pricing rules in higher-tier plans
Cons
❌Expensive for startups with limited budgets
❌Limited number of users in lower-tier plans
❌Complex setup and management for businesses with simple accounting needs
Plans and Pricing
3. Dext
Best for: Receipt capture and data extraction
G2 rating: 4.5 / 5 stars, based on 200+ reviews
The Dext Client View dashboard gives you a quick overview of each of your client accounts, indicating when your clients are submitting documents regularly.
Dext simplifies expense tracking by automatically collecting and categorizing financial documents like receipts, invoices, and bank statements. It eliminates manual entry with AI-powered data extraction, reducing errors and saving time. Designed for small businesses and accountants, Dext syncs seamlessly with QuickBooks, Xero, and other accounting tools, making bookkeeping effortless.
If you’re using Cledara to track software and business expenses, Dext can help ensure that every transaction is correctly categorized for tax and reporting purposes—without the manual effort.
Key Features
- Mobile app for receipts and invoices: Scan and upload receipts or invoices from anywhere, ensuring real-time expense tracking.
- Supplier rules and auto-categorization: Set rules for recurring expenses so Dext can automatically categorize and sync transactions with your accounting software.
- Bank feeds and reconciliation: Automatically import bank transactions and match them to receipts, helping ensure clean financial records.
- Line-item extraction: Break down expenses by line item from invoices, providing a granular view of spending.
- Budgeting tools: Set and monitor spending limits by department, project, or category to keep finances in check.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✅The platform claims average processing time for documents is under 30 seconds
✅Provides 9 different ways to submit documents, including a mobile app, email, and auto-invoice fetch
✅Financial documents are securely stored in the cloud for 7 years with bank-level encryption
Cons
❌Expensive for small businesses or those with limited budgets
❌ High learning curve for new users
❌The platform struggles to accurately extract data from handwritten receipts, invoices with unusual formatting, or documents with multiple languages, leading to manual adjustments
Plans and Pricing
Dext offers a 14-day free trial, allowing you to test its features before committing to a plan. Pricing is structured based on the number of users and documents processed per month, with options to customize based on business needs.
4. Zoho Expense
Best for: Travel expense management
G2 rating: 4.5 / 5 stars based on 1000+ reviews
Zoho Expense travel dashboard helps you with quick travel management at a glance.
Zoho Expense automatically converts receipts into expenses, imports transactions from corporate cards, and lets your team submit reports for approval in just a few clicks. You can set up custom approval workflows, track mileage, and handle multi-currency transactions—perfect for managing travel and operational expenses. Plus, if you're using Zoho Books, Zoho Expense integrates seamlessly to keep your financial records up to date.
Key Features
- Corporate card reconciliation: Sync and match corporate card transactions automatically, reducing manual reconciliation.
- Per diem automation: Configure per diem rates for employees traveling across different regions, ensuring accurate reimbursements.
- Direct vendor payments: Pay vendors directly from Zoho Expense, eliminating the need for separate payment processing.
- Advanced analytics and custom reports: Generate custom reports with expense trends, policy violations, and department-wise spending insights.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✅ User-friendly interface
✅ Mobile app allows for on-to-go expense management
✅ Afforable solution for small businesses
Cons
❌Learning curve for new users
❌Advanced features like customized workflows and detailed analytics are often restricted to higher-priced plans
❌Initial setup and configuration, especially for features like credit card integration, can be complex
Plans and Pricing
Each plan comes with a 14-day free trial so you can explore the platform before committing.
5. Brex
Best for: Integrated corporate banking and expense management
G2 rating: 4.7 / 5 stars, based on 1000+ reviews
Manage spend requests and limit increases with Brex.
Brex provides corporate credit cards, expense management, and financial tools tailored to businesses that need scalable, flexible financial solutions. Unlike traditional corporate credit cards, Brex evaluates businesses based on cash flow, funding, and spending behavior instead of credit scores. This makes it an accessible option for startups and companies with fluctuating revenue.
The platform integrates with accounting software, automates expense tracking, and offers rewards tailored to business spending. Brex also provides banking-like features, including treasury accounts and FDIC-insured (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) cash management, helping businesses optimize financial operations.
Key Features
- No personal guarantee: Unlike traditional corporate cards, Brex doesn’t require a personal guarantee, so business owners aren’t personally liable for debt.
- Credit limits based on business health: Brex determines credit limits dynamically based on cash flow, revenue, and financial stability, instead of credit scores.
- Instant virtual cards: Businesses can issue virtual cards for employees and online purchases, reducing fraud risks and improving security.
- Partnership integrations: Works with platforms like Navan and Stripe Atlas to streamline travel management, banking, and financial workflows.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✅Offers AI-powered automation for expense reporting and accounting
✅Supports transactions in 100+ countries and offers local-currency cards
✅Offers up to 30% of aggregate account balance for monthly payments and up to 100% for daily payments
Cons
❌The credit limit can decrease if a company's cash balance drops
❌To determine credit limits, Brex requires visibility into the company's cash balance and transactions, which some businesses might find intrusive
Plans and Pricing
6. FreshBooks
Best for: Freelancers and small service businesses
G2 rating: 4.5 / 5 stars, based on 800+ reviews
FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software designed for small businesses, freelancers, and service-based professionals. It simplifies financial management with features like automated invoicing, expense tracking, time tracking, and client management.
FreshBooks also integrates with popular apps like Stripe, PayPal, and Gusto for seamless payments and payroll processing. The mobile app lets you log expenses, track billable hours, and manage finances on the go.
Key Features
- Double-entry accounting: Ensures compliance with accounting standards by tracking debits and credits for a clear financial picture.
- Retainers for clients: Set up retainer agreements to collect upfront payments and track project budgets effectively.
- Customizable chart of accounts: Organize financial data into categories that align with your business needs, making tax season easier.
- Mileage tracking: Log business travel expenses directly within the app, ensuring accurate tax deductions.
- Advanced client management: Store client contact details, communication history, and project details all in one place.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✅ Helps businesses maintain a polished appearance through professional invoices and communications
✅ Allows team members to collaborate on projects and share financial information
Cons
❌Charges an extra fee for additional users, which can increase costs for businesses with multiple team members needing access
❌There are limits on the number of billable clients in lower-tier plans, and extra charges for additional users
Plans and Pricing
All plans include a 30-day free trial.
7. Expensify
Best for: Automated expense reporting
G2 rating: 4.5 / 5 stars, based on 5,000+ reviews
Expensify helps you manage receipts and expenses.
Expensify is an expense management platform that simplifies tracking, reporting, and reimbursements. It allows users to scan receipts, automatically extract details, and categorize expenses. Transactions from corporate cards sync in real-time, ensuring accurate records. Expensify integrates with accounting software like QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite, making it easier to manage finances
Key Features
- Per diem management: Allows businesses to set daily allowances for employees traveling for work, automatically calculating and applying per diem rates based on company policies.
- Custom policy controls: Enables organizations to set spending limits, flag policy violations, and enforce compliance through automated rules.
- Delegated access: Lets managers or assistants submit, approve, or manage expenses on behalf of others, streamlining workflows for teams.
- Direct deposit reimbursements: Supports automatic reimbursements to employees via ACH transfer once expenses are approved.
- Audit and compliance tools: Offers automated audit trails and AI-powered compliance checks to detect duplicate receipts, policy violations, or potential fraud.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✅ Has an intuitive and simplified user experience
✅Provides immediate visibility into spending
✅Integrates with over 40 platforms
Cons
❌Pricing can be slightly higher, particularly if you require higher-tier features for a growing business
❌ Free plan has limited features and is only suitable for individuals or small businesses with basic expense management needs
Plans and Pricing
8. Bonus Tool: Excel
Best for: Customizable manual expense tracking
G2 rating: 4.7 / 5 stars, based on 2,000+ reviews
Excel is a widely used spreadsheet tool that can serve as a basic expense management solution for those on a tight budget. It allows users to manually track expenses, categorize transactions, and generate simple reports. While it lacks automation, real-time data syncing, and integrations found in dedicated expense management software, Excel can be a good starting point for freelancers, startups, or small businesses managing low transaction volumes.
Key Features
- Budgeting and forecasting: Excel allows basic budget creation using formulas and historical data analysis to predict future expenses.
- Pivot tables for expense analysis: Summarize and analyze large sets of expense data to identify trends and spending patterns.
- Conditional formatting for alerts: Highlight overspending or specific expense categories using color-coded rules.
- Basic automation with formulas: Automate calculations for total spending, tax deductions, or cost distributions without the need for complex software.
Pros and Cons
Pros
✅ Great way to store and organize large amounts of data in a structured format
✅Can be used for a variety of tasks beyond data analysis, such as budgeting, project planning, and creating reports
✅Has a large user base and extensive online resources, including tutorials, forums, and templates
Cons
❌Managing different versions of a file can be challenging
❌Vulnerable to human errors, such as incorrect data entry or formula mistakes
❌Large Excel files can consume significant system resources, leading to performance issues
Plans and Pricing
Microsoft Excel is not sold as a standalone product but is included in the Microsoft 365 subscription packages. Pricing for businesses is as follows (billed annually):
Not a Microsoft team? Google Sheets works just as well, and you can get started for free.
What Are The Challenges of Small Business Expense Tracking?
Expense tracking is critical for small businesses, but it comes with several challenges that can impact cash flow, financial accuracy, and operational efficiency. Here are some of the biggest hurdles SMBs face when managing expenses.
Manual Data Entry and Errors
Many small businesses rely on manual processes for expense tracking, such as using spreadsheets or paper receipts. This approach is prone to human error—including incorrect data entries, lost receipts, and miscalculations—leading to inaccurate financial records. Over time, these small mistakes can add up, resulting in inaccurate financial reports and costly compliance risks.
Mixing Personal and Business Finances
Small business owners sometimes mix personal and business expenses, especially when lacking separate bank accounts or credit cards for business use. This practice complicates accurate expense tracking and can lead to issues during tax filing.
Opening separate bank accounts and credit cards for business use can simplify bookkeeping and prevent the risk of bookkeeping mistakes.
Inadequate Mobile Accessibility
A mobile-friendly expense management platform is essential. Being able to submit and approve expenses while on the go makes things more efficient, especially for remote staff and those who travel frequently.
Lack of Integration with Financial Systems
A significant hurdle is the lack of integration between expense-tracking tools and existing financial systems. This disconnect creates data inaccuracies and necessitates duplicate data entry, slowing the entire process.
“Among other features that are important in expense tracking tools, I can name automation with the ability to have real-time reporting (for quick and effective decisions) and integration with banking software. Also, receipt scanning can be very useful for some businesses.” - Mike Chappell, Co-Founder & COO of FormsPal
Track Your Most Important Expense with Cledara
Expense tracking is about making informed decisions that drive business growth. Without the right tools, businesses risk overspending, inefficiencies, and wasted budgets.
Cledara Spend gives you complete visibility and control over business expenses, ensuring that every dollar is accounted for. With real-time tracking, automated expense management, and deep insights into spending patterns, finance teams can cut waste, optimize budgets, and stay ahead of rising costs.
For businesses managing multiple SaaS subscriptions, Cledara Software Management takes it a step further by helping you identify unused or duplicate tools, consolidate software spend, and simplify renewals. With integrations and automated workflows, you can reduce unnecessary spending and ensure that every tool in your tech stack delivers real value.
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