Expense tracking sounds simple until tax season, when half the receipts are missing. The best expense tracking software for small business makes capturing a receipt take ten seconds and gets the data to your accountant without retyping. Free self-hosted options exist, though the polished receipt-scanning phone apps are mostly paid products.
Design the process before the tool
Match the tool to the person spending
| Who spends | What you need | Try |
|---|---|---|
| You alone | Record expenses beside invoices | InvoiceShelf |
| Employees claiming back costs | Claims, approvals, reimbursement | Frappe HR with ERPNext, or Dolibarr |
| Piles of paper receipts | Automatic reading of receipts | TaxHacker |
| A group sharing costs | Who owes whom | Split Pro |
InvoiceShelf records expenses alongside invoices and estimates, which is enough for many freelancers and small shops.
- Track expenses, taxes and business reports
- Invoices and estimates exported as polished PDFs
- Record payments and see what each customer still owes
1,857 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full InvoiceShelf reviewFrappe HR includes expense claims for employees, linked to ERPNext accounting.
- Expense claims and employee advances
- Employee lifecycle: onboarding, promotions and transfers
- Leave and attendance with configurable policies and regional holidays
8,929 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full Frappe HR (HRMS) reviewExpenses and payments post straight to the ledger in a full ERP.
- Leads, opportunities and quotations
- Accounting and inventory included
- Very large community
40,232 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full ERPNext reviewDolibarr includes expense reports as part of its modular business suite.
- Modular: enable only what you use
- Invoicing, stock and agenda built in
- Runs on cheap shared hosting
7,732 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full Dolibarr ERP CRM reviewA self-hosted app that reads receipts and invoices with an LLM into categorized records. A helpful capture tool.
- Upload and organize receipts and invoices
- AI data extraction of dates, amounts and details
- Auto-categorization of transactions
6,749 stars · MIT · repo updated Sep 2026
Read the full TaxHacker reviewAn open source Splitwise alternative for splitting shared costs. Better for teams sharing trip costs than for formal accounting.
- Split expenses equally, by percentage, share, exact amount or adjustments
- Settlements and balances per person and per group
- Receipt attachments stored locally
1,469 stars · MIT · repo updated Oct 2026
Read the full Split Pro reviewData verified 16 October 2026. Each card opens our in-depth page for that tool.
Receipt rules to keep in mind
Tax authorities usually require you to keep the original receipt or a legible copy for a set number of years, and the period differs by country. Ask your accountant how long, and make sure your tool stores files, not just amounts. Back up the uploads too.
Not built for business
Firefly III and ezBookkeeping are very good for personal budgets. They lack the approval, reimbursement and tax-category features a business needs.
Example: a six-person agency with a shared card
An illustrative example, not a real company.
A six-person agency has two company cards and staff who sometimes pay for things personally. Receipts arrive by chat, email or not at all.
They agree on a rule: a receipt photo within two days or the claim is not paid. They use Frappe HR expense claims with ERPNext so approvals and reimbursements post to accounting. A manager approves anything above a set amount.
Month end gets quicker because every expense already has a category and a receipt attached.
Pitfalls to watch for
- Collecting receipts months later.
- Using free-text categories that do not match the accountant's chart.
- Having no approval limit.
- Not backing up uploaded receipts.
- Using a personal-budget tool for business claims.
Should you pay for this instead?
The strongest paid expense apps have phone scanning and card feeds that match receipts automatically. Self-hosted tools cover claims, approvals and exports at no license cost but need setup. If receipts are your main pain, consider paying for the scanning convenience.
If you self-host a receipt tool, receipts can contain personal data such as card digits and addresses, so protect the server. A VPS or hosting plan from Hostinger is fine to start, along with HTTPS and encrypted backups.
Need a server to host it?
Self-hosting a CRM needs a server. PHP and MySQL apps can often run on ordinary web hosting, while Docker, Node, Python or Java apps usually need a VPS. Check each project's requirements first. Hostinger offers both shared web hosting and VPS plans.
Affiliate disclosure: this is an affiliate link. If you buy through it we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. CRMs and software are listed independently of any hosting partner. Learn more.
Official links for the tools in this guide
Every tool above has its own page on our site with the full review. These are the official sources, so you can download the latest version safely.
- InvoiceShelf: Official website · Source on GitHub
- Frappe HR (HRMS): Official website · Source on GitHub
- ERPNext: Official website · Source on GitHub
- Dolibarr ERP CRM: Official website · Source on GitHub
- TaxHacker: Official website · Source on GitHub
- Split Pro: Official website · Source on GitHub