1. Starlog
Free, Drive-native receipt scanner for owner-operator SMBs
Best for: Solopreneurs and 1–20-person SMBs in the US and India who want receipts in their own Drive and free unlimited team capture.
Mobile-first receipt scanner. Snap a receipt, OCR fills in store + amount + date, and the source image lands in your own Google Drive in a per-company year/month folder tree. No Starlog-side database holds your data.
Why people switch from Fyle to Starlog
- +Free for teams — unlimited submitters, no per-seat scaling.
- +Drive-native storage — receipts in your own Google Drive in a per-company year/month tree.
- +Owner-first review — built for the owner who is the policy, not for finance-team approval chains.
- +Tally-ready export — vouchers structured for direct Tally Prime import, no CSV cleanup before your CA can post.
- +Capture-first, not card-first — works for cash, UPI, card, NEFT, anything.
- +Per-company isolation — a clean fit for the multi-business owner with a side hustle or a second venture.
Honest gaps
- ·No corporate cards, virtual cards, or card-feed reconciliation.
- ·No policy engine — the owner is the policy.
- ·No mileage tracking.
- ·No direct API integrations with QuickBooks Online or Xero — handoff is XLSX + image bundle.
Pricing: Free: 1 company, unlimited submitters, unlimited receipts for 6 months from first capture, then 30 receipts/mo · Paid: Receipt Packs from $4.99 (₹199); Unlimited Receipts $1.99/mo (₹99); Multi-Company $4.99-$9.99/mo (₹299-₹599). Two paywalls: receipts (30/mo soft cap, with overage via prepaid Receipt Packs or flat unlimited subscription) and multi-company (hard). Multi-user is free, ever; submitter captures don't count toward the owner's receipt cap.
Download Starlog →2. Zoho Expense
Broad SMB T&E suite, India-friendly, predictable per-seat pricing
Best for: Teams already using Zoho Books, or those who want a traditional T&E tool without Expensify's active-user pricing.
Full T&E platform with receipts, expense reports, mileage, and approvals. Strong fit for teams already in the Zoho ecosystem (Zoho Books, Zoho CRM).
Strengths
- +Strong policy engine with approval chains.
- +Native Zoho Books integration.
- +Built-in mileage tracking and multi-currency.
- +India-localized (GST, Indian payroll integrations).
Weaknesses
- ·Heavier UI — designed around expense reports more than receipt capture.
- ·Per-seat pricing (paid tiers) scales with team size.
- ·Receipt source images live in Zoho's cloud.
Pricing: Free: 3 users, 5 GB receipt storage · Paid: ~$5/user/month (Premium). Verify current pricing at zoho.com/expense.
3. Expensify
AP-team T&E platform with corporate cards and policy engine
Best for: AP teams of 20+ that need corporate-card programs, policy automation, and approval chains.
Full T&E platform with SmartScan OCR, corporate cards, virtual cards, policy approvals, and GL integrations. Built for AP teams.
Strengths
- +SmartScan OCR with auto-categorization.
- +Corporate and virtual card programs.
- +Policy engine with approval chains and GL coding.
- +Direct integrations to QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct.
Weaknesses
- ·Per-active-user pricing — a contractor who submits a single receipt is billed for the month.
- ·Pricing changes frequently (SmartScan limits, tier shuffles, mandatory card subscriptions).
- ·UX built for AP departments — heavy for an owner-operator who just wants receipts in a folder.
- ·Source images live in Expensify's database; clean export is hard.
Pricing: Free: Limited SmartScans per user/month · Paid: ~$5/active user/month (Collect). Pricing changes frequently — verify at expensify.com before publishing.
4. Ramp
Free, card-led spend management for US small businesses
Best for: US small businesses ready to centralize spend on a corporate card and willing to bank through Ramp.
Spend-management platform that bundles a corporate card, real-time card feeds, and automatic receipt matching. Genuinely free — monetized through interchange, not subscriptions.
Strengths
- +Truly free — no per-seat or subscription cost.
- +Excellent card-and-receipt automation.
- +Strong AP automation, bill pay, accounting integrations.
Weaknesses
- ·Card-led — if you have lots of cash or non-Ramp spend, the model frays.
- ·US-only.
- ·Requires opening a Ramp account (banking relationship).
Pricing: Free: Unlimited. Verify at ramp.com.
5. Wave
Free accounting suite with bundled receipt scanning
Best for: Solopreneurs in the US and Canada who want invoicing, accounting, and receipts in one free tool.
Free accounting and invoicing suite for solopreneurs and very small businesses, with receipt scanning bundled into the same ledger.
Strengths
- +Free for accounting, invoicing, and receipts.
- +Receipts drop into the same ledger as invoices and transactions.
- +Simple UX, low learning curve.
Weaknesses
- ·Receipt scanning is functional, not exceptional.
- ·No team-submitter flow — designed for a single user.
- ·US/Canada-focused; weak fit elsewhere.
Pricing: Free: Accounting + receipts · Paid: Wave Pro / Wave Payroll. Verify at waveapps.com.
6. Spreadsheet + Drive folder
The honest status quo — a Google Sheet plus a Drive folder by year
Best for: Solo founders logging fewer than ~20 receipts a month who don't mind reconciling on a Sunday once a quarter.
What most owner-operators were doing before they tried any expense app. A Google Sheet with categories, a Drive folder by year, and manual photo uploads.
Strengths
- +Zero cost.
- +Zero lock-in — the data is in your Drive.
- +Zero learning curve.
Weaknesses
- ·No OCR — typing every amount is the friction that breaks the habit.
- ·No team submission flow.
- ·Quietly degrades — receipts you don't log on the day you spend often never get logged.
Pricing: Free: Unlimited