The Starlog blog

Notes from the receipt‑layer of the internet. Sometimes useful. Always honest.

Tax tips and honest notes on building Starlog. Written by the person building it.

39 posts

Company

Showing 7 of 7
Expensify
Zoho
Wave
Ramp
Starlog
Company
Jun 12, 20266 min read

The best receipt scanner apps for small business in 2026.

A deliberately fair roundup — Expensify, Zoho, Wave, Ramp, Starlog and the receipt-only veterans — judged on capture, data ownership, team pricing, and export. Including our own honest catch.

Vivek Reddy
Owner — every month$5/mo
Contractor — 1 receipt$5/mo
Seasonal helper$5/mo
3 occasional users~$180/yr
Company
Jun 12, 20265 min read

Do you really need Expensify if you're a team of three?

Expensify bills per active user, so an occasional contractor costs a full seat. When the platform is genuinely worth it, when it's three sizes too big, and what a small team actually needs.

Vivek Reddy
Scan → PDF
OCR search
Extract data
Category totals
Company
Jun 8, 20266 min read

Yes, Google Drive can scan receipts. Here's where it stops being enough.

Google Drive can scan and store receipts for free — and sometimes that's all you need. Where its built-in scanner stops, and what to add without giving up your own Drive.

Vivek Reddy
If you stopped paying tomorrow, what would you actually keep?Company
Jun 8, 20266 min read

Your receipts should live in your own Google Drive, not a vendor's database.

When a receipts app holds your data, you're renting access to your own records. Why business receipts should live in your own Google Drive — and outlive any app.

Vivek Reddy
Whole team
Submitters
One business
Multiple — paid
Company
Jun 8, 20265 min read

Why Starlog is free for teams but charges for multiple businesses.

Most expense apps charge per seat, which taxes you for adding the people you most want submitting receipts. Why Starlog is free for your team and charges for multiple businesses instead.

Vivek Reddy
$ read total…
₹240 ⚠ low confidence
actual · ₹2,400
10%needs a human
Company
Jun 8, 20266 min read

What OCR still gets wrong on real receipts (and how we handle it).

“Just snap it and we'll read everything” is a half-truth. What receipt OCR still gets wrong — faded thermal, handwriting, odd layouts — and how we handle it without silently guessing.

Vivek Reddy
Extracts data
Reconcilable export
Multi-business
Your Drive?
Company
Jun 8, 20266 min read

Choosing a Google Drive receipt app: the questions that actually matter.

Searching “Google Drive receipt scanner” returns Google's own tool plus a dozen apps that aren't the same thing. The criteria that separate them — and the one question most people forget to ask.

Vivek Reddy