Short answer
There is no single best receipt scanner app; the right one depends on who processes the receipts. Accountants with many clients usually pick Dext or AutoEntry. Teams needing approvals pick Expensify, Zoho Expense or Ramp. If your accounting software already includes capture, use it. Individuals who want a private, phone-only organiser can use NexaLink Scanner, with free CSV export.
Key takeaways
- Pick the type of tool before the brand: accountant-led capture, built into accounting software, team expense management, individual receipt apps, OCR APIs or generic scanners.
- If you already pay for Xero, QuickBooks Online or FreeAgent, check the receipt capture you have before buying anything else.
- Teams that need approvals, reimbursements or corporate cards are better served by Expensify, Zoho Expense or Ramp than by a personal receipt app.
- Most apps read receipts in the cloud; NexaLink Scanner reads them on the phone and keeps them there until you export.
- Prices change often. Every competitor price below was checked on the official pricing page on 10 November 2026.
What is a receipt scanner app?
- Receipt scanner app
- A receipt scanner app is software that turns a paper or emailed receipt into a structured record. It captures an image, reads key fields such as merchant, date, total and tax with optical character recognition (OCR), and lets you categorise, search and export the result for bookkeeping, expense claims or tax records.
The phrase covers very different products. Some are thin camera apps that produce a clean PDF. Others are full bookkeeping pipelines that read line items, match the receipt to a bank transaction and publish a bill into your accounting ledger. A few are developer APIs with no app at all. Comparing them on price alone is misleading, because a $5 app and a $25 service may not be doing the same job.
The four ways receipts get in
- Phone camera. You photograph the receipt; the app finds the edges, straightens the image and reads it. Every app in this guide offers some form of this.
- Email forwarding. You forward e-receipts and invoices to a dedicated inbox address. Dext, Hubdoc, Expensify, QuickBooks Online and Smart Receipts Pro all offer it in some form.
- Mail-in scanning. You post paper receipts and a company scans them for you. Shoeboxed is the best-known example with its prepaid Magic Envelope.
- Card or bank matching. The app sees a card transaction first and asks for the receipt, or matches one automatically. Ramp and Expensify are built around this; accounting tools such as Xero and QuickBooks match receipts to bank feeds.
Where the reading happens
Most receipt apps upload your image to their servers and read it there, sometimes with a human check for hard cases. That is convenient for teams and accountants, because the data is immediately available to everyone who needs it. The alternative is on-device reading: the text is recognised on the phone itself and nothing is uploaded unless you choose to export. That suits people who care more about privacy than about sharing, and it works without a signal.
Receipt scanner apps compared at a glance
The table summarises every app covered in this guide. Entry price is the lowest paid price published on the official pricing page at the time of checking (10 November 2026), in the currency shown there. Where a company does not publish a figure, we say so. Read the detailed sections below before deciding: entry tiers often carry document or user limits that matter more than the headline price.
| App | Best for | Free plan | Entry price | Accounting sync | Capture method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dext | Accountants and bookkeepers, multi-client | No (14-day trial) | $25.21/mo ex VAT[1] | Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and others | App, email, upload, bank statements |
| AutoEntry (Sage) | Practices that want pay-per-document credits | No | $13/mo for 50 credits[2] | Sage and other accounting tools | App, email, upload |
| Hubdoc | Xero users | Included in Xero plans[5] | $12/mo standalone[4] | Xero | App, email, upload |
| QuickBooks Online receipts | Existing QuickBooks Online users | Part of subscription | Included in QuickBooks plans (varies by region)[7] | Native | Mobile app, email forwarding, upload |
| Xero capture | Existing Xero users | Part of subscription | From £18/mo ex VAT (UK Ignite)[6] | Native | Hubdoc and Xero app |
| FreeAgent Smart Capture | UK sole traders and small companies on FreeAgent | 10 receipts/mo included[8] | £5/mo ex VAT add-on for unlimited[8] | Native | Mobile app, upload |
| Wave Receipts | Wave Accounting users (US, Canada) | No receipt scanning on free Starter | $8/mo or $72/yr[9] | Native to Wave | Mobile app |
| Expensify | Teams needing reimbursements and approvals | Free Submit plan for individuals[11] | $5/member/mo (Collect)[10] | QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite and more | App (SmartScan), email, card feeds |
| Zoho Expense | Small teams, Zoho users | Yes, 3 users, 20 scans/user/mo[12] | $3/user/mo billed annually[12] | Zoho Books and other accounting tools | App, card feeds |
| Ramp | Businesses that want a corporate card | Yes, includes receipt matching[13] | Plus $15/user/mo plus platform fee[13] | Major accounting tools (see Ramp) | Card transactions, app |
| Shoeboxed | People who want someone else to scan paper | No (30-day refund window) | $9/mo for 50 scans[14] | QuickBooks Online, Xero (from Pro) | App, email, mail-in envelope |
| SparkReceipt | Freelancers who want AI extraction and bank imports | No (7-day trial) | $6.90/mo or $69/yr[15] | Export-led | App, email, upload |
| Foreceipt | Individuals with modest volumes | Yes, 100 receipts in total[16] | From $5/mo (billing terms unclear)[16] | Export-led | App, web upload |
| Smart Receipts | Business travellers building expense reports | Yes, manual entry only[17] | $99.99/yr (Pro)[17] | Export-led | App, email forwarding (Pro) |
| Veryfi | Developers building their own app | Yes, 100 documents/mo[18] | $500/mo minimum (Starter)[18] | Via your own code | API, SDK |
| Genius Scan | Clean PDF scans of anything | Yes[19] | Paid tiers priced in-app[19] | No (export to cloud storage) | Camera to PDF |
| Adobe Scan | Free document scanning with OCR | Yes[20] | Free; Acrobat Pro is a separate upgrade[20] | No | Camera to PDF |
| NexaLink Scanner | Individuals who want private, on-device receipt organising | Yes, 50 receipts | $4.99/mo or $39.99/yr (Pro) | CSV today; Xero first, then QuickBooks (in development, not live) | App: single, long and batch modes |
Accountant-led bookkeeping capture: Dext, AutoEntry and Hubdoc
These three tools were built for the bookkeeping workflow rather than for the person holding the receipt. Their job is to turn a pile of receipts, bills and bank statements into transactions inside an accounting ledger, with supplier rules, tax codes and duplicate checks. If you have an accountant, there is a fair chance they already use one of them and can add you as a client.
Dext
Who it is for: accountants, bookkeepers and businesses that hand their books to one. Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) publishes a single adjustable Business plan; at the time of checking the default configuration was $25.21 a month excluding VAT for 5 users, 250 documents a month and up to 5 entities, with a 14-day trial and no free plan[1]. The page says annual billing is up to 20% cheaper, and businesses with more than five entities are asked to request bespoke pricing[1].
What it does well: supplier rules that auto-code repeat purchases, line-item extraction, bank and supplier statement extraction, and publishing straight into the major accounting packages. For a practice handling dozens of clients, that automation is the point. Limits: it is priced and designed as bookkeeping infrastructure, so a freelancer who only needs to keep receipts tidy pays for features they will not use, and receipts are processed in the cloud. If Dext is more than you need, see our Dext alternative page, and for a head-to-head of the two Xero-friendly options see Dext vs Hubdoc.
AutoEntry
Who it is for: practices and businesses that prefer to pay per document. AutoEntry sells monthly credit bundles: at the time of checking, Bronze was $13 for 50 credits and Sapphire $469 for 2,500 credits, excluding VAT, with unused credits carried over for 90 days and one credit per receipt[2]. Sage acquired AutoEntry in September 2019 and said it would keep an open ecosystem for users of other accounting software[3].
What it does well: predictable per-document costs, rollover that absorbs seasonal peaks, and publishing into Sage and other accounting software. Limits: credit maths takes some thought (line items and bank statements can use more credits than a simple receipt), and like Dext it is a bookkeeping tool first. Our AutoEntry alternative page covers when a simpler app is enough.
Hubdoc
Who it is for: Xero users above all. Hubdoc is owned by Xero, and the Xero app store states that it is included in Xero Starter, Standard and Premium plans (Early, Growing and Established in the US)[5]. On Xero UK's current plans, Hubdoc is listed as included on Ignite, Grow, Comprehensive and Ultimate while connected to the subscription[6]. Bought on its own, Hubdoc lists $12 a month after a 30-day trial[4].
What it does well: for a Xero customer it is effectively free, it can collect bills from email and uploads, and it publishes receipts with the image attached. Limits: it is much less useful outside Xero, the standalone price is hard to justify when the bundled version exists, and it offers fewer automation rules than Dext. Our Hubdoc alternative page covers options for people who are not on Xero.
Receipt capture built into accounting software
If you already pay for accounting software, you may already have a receipt scanner. The built-in options are rarely the most capable, but they cost nothing extra, put the receipt next to the bank transaction it belongs to, and remove one integration that could break.
QuickBooks Online receipt capture
QuickBooks Online has a Receipts area where you can snap receipts in the mobile app, upload files from a computer or Google Drive, or forward them to a custom email address that an admin sets up; QuickBooks then reads the date, amount and vendor and suggests a match to an existing transaction[7]. Availability of some features, email forwarding in particular, varies by region and plan, so check what your edition includes[7].
Good for: QuickBooks customers who want receipts matched to bank feed lines without another subscription. Limits: it lives inside QuickBooks, so it is no help if you change software, and organising receipts by project or client for your own review is not its focus. See how to upload receipts to QuickBooks and the NexaLink Scanner QuickBooks page for the import-file route we are building.
Xero native capture (with Hubdoc)
In the UK, Xero's current plans at the time of checking were Ignite £18, Grow £39, Comprehensive £55 and Ultimate £70 a month excluding VAT, all listing Hubdoc and smart document capture as included, with expense claims from Grow upwards (one user on Grow, more on higher tiers)[6]. Receipts can be captured through Hubdoc or the Xero app and attached to bank transactions or bills.
Good for: anyone already on Xero; you should try the included capture before paying for a separate tool. Limits: expense claims are not on the entry plan, and the capture is designed for the books rather than for a personal, searchable archive. Our guide to adding receipts to Xero walks through the options, and the NexaLink Scanner Xero page explains our planned connection.
FreeAgent Smart Capture
FreeAgent is popular with UK sole traders, contractors and small limited companies. Its pricing page states that all businesses can use Smart Capture for up to 10 receipts and bills a month as standard, with unlimited use as an add-on at £5 a month excluding VAT[8]. FreeAgent itself was listed at £19 a month excluding VAT for sole traders and £33 for limited companies, with introductory discounts, and it is free for eligible NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank and Mettle business customers[8].
Good for: FreeAgent users with a light receipt load, who get capture at no extra cost. Limits: ten a month runs out quickly for anyone with frequent small purchases, and the add-on adds up over a year. See the NexaLink Scanner FreeAgent page for where our planned connection stands.
Wave Receipts
Wave's accounting software has a free Starter plan, but receipt scanning is a paid extra: at the time of checking, the Receipts plan was $8 a month or $72 a year, and the Pro plan, which also includes receipt scanning, was $19 a month or $190 a year (the same page also mentions $16 a month for Pro in one place, so confirm at checkout)[9]. Wave mainly serves the US and Canada.
Good for: Wave users who want receipts flowing straight into their Wave books. Limits: of little use outside Wave, and the free accounting plan does not include scanning. Our Wave Receipts alternative page compares options.
Team expense management: Expensify, Zoho Expense and Ramp
Once more than one person spends company money, the problem changes from storing receipts to controlling spend: who submitted what, who approved it, when it was reimbursed and whether it matched policy. These platforms include receipt scanning, but you are really paying for approvals, reimbursements, card programmes and accounting exports.
Expensify
Who it is for: companies that reimburse employees or run approval chains. Expensify's Collect plan, which covers receipt scanning, reimbursement and simple approvals with QuickBooks or Xero connections, was $5 per unique member per month on pay-per-use at the time of checking[10][11]. The Control plan, with multi-step approvals and ERP integrations, was $18 per member per month on an annual subscription or $36 pay-per-use, falling to as little as $9 with the Expensify Card[10]. A free Submit plan lets individuals send expenses to an approver whose company does not use Expensify[11].
What it does well: SmartScan capture, reimbursement, card reconciliation, policy rules and deep accounting integrations. For a team that needs approvals, it is a stronger choice than any personal receipt app, including ours. Limits: it is more than a sole trader needs, pricing is per member, and data is cloud-processed by design. Our Expensify alternative page covers when a lighter tool fits.
Zoho Expense
Who it is for: small teams, particularly those already on Zoho Books. Zoho Expense has a genuinely useful free plan for up to 3 users with 20 receipt scans per user a month; Standard was $3 per user a month billed annually ($4 monthly) with 200 scans, and Premium $5 per user a month billed annually ($6 monthly) with 1,000 scans, excluding local taxes[12].
What it does well: low per-user cost, with AI receipt capture, expense reports, GPS mileage and accounting integrations even on the free tier. Limits: the free scan allowance is small for heavy users, and like any team tool it asks you to set up policies and users. See our Zoho Expense alternative page and the NexaLink Scanner Zoho Books page.
Ramp
Who it is for: businesses that want a corporate card with expense management attached. Ramp's free plan lists automatic receipt collection and matching, and Plus was $15 per user a month plus a platform fee based on team size, with Enterprise on custom pricing[13]. Ramp makes its money from the card, which is why the software tier can be free.
What it does well: receipts are collected and matched to card transactions automatically, and spend controls are built in. Limits: it is built around Ramp cards and business eligibility, so check that it is offered in your country and to your type of business; it is not a tool for organising receipts from your own debit card.
Individual receipt apps: Shoeboxed, SparkReceipt, Foreceipt and Smart Receipts
This group is closest to what most freelancers, sole traders and contractors mean by a receipt scanner app: a tool for one person, or a very small business, to capture, organise and export receipts without adopting full bookkeeping or team software.
Shoeboxed
Who it is for: people with a lot of paper who would rather post it than scan it. At the time of checking, Shoeboxed's plans were Starter $9 a month (50 digital scans), Pro $29 (250), Plus $79 (1,000) and Paper Plus $179 (5,000), with cheaper yearly options; each tier includes a set number of prepaid Magic Envelopes for mailing paper receipts, and QuickBooks Online and Xero integrations start on Pro[14]. The trial is a 30-day refund window: your card is charged at sign-up[14].
What it does well: human-assisted scanning of physical receipts, which nobody else in this list offers at this price. Limits: scan caps per tier, accounting sync not on Starter, and your receipts are handled by a third party. See our Shoeboxed alternative page.
SparkReceipt
Who it is for: freelancers who want AI extraction plus bank statement imports in one app. SparkReceipt's Pro plan was $6.90 a month or $69 a year with 50 documents a month for the account, and Elite $12.90 a month or $129 a year with unlimited documents under fair use, both excluding VAT or GST, each with a 7-day trial and no free plan[15]. Extra users were listed at $1 a month, and an accountant can join free[15].
What it does well: an accountant seat at no extra cost and bank statement handling. Limits: no free tier to test long-term, and a 50-document monthly cap on Pro. See our SparkReceipt alternative page.
Foreceipt
Who it is for: individuals with modest volumes. Foreceipt's free plan allowed 100 receipts in total, kept for 12 months. Its Individual plan (200 receipts a month) was shown as $5 and $6.25 a month, and Business (unlimited receipts, 2 team members) as $12 and $15 a month; the page did not clearly label which figure was monthly and which yearly billing, so confirm before subscribing[16].
What it does well: a low entry price and a straightforward app. Limits: the free allowance is a one-off total per account rather than monthly, free receipts are kept for only a year, and the page says payments are non-refundable once processed[16]. See our Foreceipt alternative page.
Smart Receipts
Who it is for: people who travel for work and build expense reports. Smart Receipts' free tier is manual entry only; Pro, which adds AI receipt recognition, email forwarding, cloud backup and PDF, CSV and ZIP exports, was $99.99 a year or $12.99 a month on the web, and Max, which adds US and Canadian bank connections, was $139 a year or $17.99 a month; in-app prices may differ[17].
What it does well: report building and flexible exports. Limits: automatic reading is only on paid tiers, and the yearly price is high for light users. See our Smart Receipts alternative page.
OCR APIs and generic document scanners
Two more groups often show up in searches for a receipt scanner. Neither is a finished receipt organiser, but each is the right answer for some people.
Veryfi (OCR API)
Veryfi sells receipt and invoice extraction to developers. At the time of checking, its free tier covered up to 100 documents a month, and Starter had a $500 monthly minimum with receipts at $0.08 each[18]. Pick it if you are building your own expense product or internal tool and want structured data from an API. Skip it if you just want to keep your own receipts in order; you would have to build the app yourself.
Genius Scan
Genius Scan, from The Grizzly Labs, is a well-regarded document scanner with a free version and paid tiers; its Ultra plan includes the Genius Cloud sync service[19]. Paid plans are bought in the app and prices vary by store and region, so check there. Pick it if you want sharp, multi-page PDFs of anything: contracts, letters, receipts. Skip it if you need receipts read into fields, totalled by category or exported as rows for a spreadsheet.
Adobe Scan
Adobe Scan is free to download and turns documents, receipts and business cards into PDFs, with OCR that makes the text searchable; Acrobat Pro is a separate paid upgrade for editing and combining files[20]. Pick it if a searchable PDF is all you need. Skip it if you want merchant, date, total and tax pulled into a list you can total and export.
Where NexaLink Scanner fits (and when not to pick it)
NexaLink Scanner is a private receipt and expense organiser for iOS and Android. It is built for one person: a freelancer, sole trader, contractor, tradesperson or consultant who wants receipts captured, readable and ready to hand over at the end of the month or tax year, without uploading them to someone else's server along the way. It is not accounting software, it does not file tax returns and it is not tax advice.
What it does
- Capture: single receipt, long receipt and batch modes, with automatic edge detection. It works offline.
- On-device reading: text is read on the phone. It picks out merchant, date, total and tax, and flags any value it is unsure of. A low-confidence total cannot be saved until you confirm it, so there is never a silent guess.
- Private by default: receipts are stored on your phone. Data leaves only when you export it or, later, connect an account. Receipts do not sync to the web.
- Organise: five default categories on Free; custom categories, projects (for example one per client or job) and tags on Pro.
- Search: by merchant, by amount, or by any word printed on the receipt.
- Review: monthly, quarterly and custom-period totals by category, project, tax and currency. Receipts in other currencies keep their own currency, with per-currency totals.
- Export: CSV export is free on every plan. A PDF expense report is available in the app on Pro. Image export and Xero- and QuickBooks-shaped import files are coming soon.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 50 receipts, on-device reading, search, 5 categories, CSV export |
| Pro | $4.99/mo or $39.99/yr | Unlimited receipts, custom categories, projects, tags, PDF expense report, tax and multi-currency reports; image export and import files as they ship |
| Premium | $7.99/mo or $59.99/yr | Everything in Pro, plus accounting connections as they launch, background sync, advanced mapping, accountant sharing and NexaLink Card sync |
Accounting connections: honest status
No accounting connection is live today. Xero is first (in development), QuickBooks Online is next, and FreeAgent, Sage and Zoho Books are planned; TallyPrime will get an import file first. Today, the way to get receipts into your books is CSV export. The accounting integrations page tracks status, and you can join early access there.
When NOT to pick NexaLink Scanner
- You need live accounting sync today. Use the capture built into Xero, QuickBooks Online or FreeAgent, or Dext or Hubdoc.
- Your accountant runs your books in Dext or AutoEntry. Send receipts into their system; it saves them rekeying.
- You manage a team. Approvals, reimbursements, corporate cards and spend policies belong in Expensify, Zoho Expense or Ramp.
- You want to email receipts in, or have someone else scan paper. We have no forwarding inbox; Dext, Expensify, Smart Receipts Pro and Shoeboxed do.
- You need bank-feed matching or mileage tracking. We do not offer either.
- You want to view and manage receipts in a web dashboard. Receipts stay on the phone.
If you are a freelancer or sole trader whose main need is a tidy, private, searchable record with a clean export for your accountant, that is the case NexaLink Scanner is built for. Our receipt scanner for freelancers page goes into that workflow in detail.
Key facts about NexaLink Scanner
- NexaLink Scanner is a private receipt and expense organiser app for iOS and Android, made by NexaLink.
- It reads receipts on the device (on-device OCR) and stores them on the phone; nothing is uploaded unless you export.
- It extracts merchant, date, total and tax, and will not save a low-confidence total until you confirm it.
- It has single, long-receipt and batch capture modes, automatic edge detection, and works offline.
- The Free plan includes 50 receipts, search, 5 categories and CSV export, at $0.
- Pro costs $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year and adds unlimited receipts, custom categories, projects, tags and a PDF expense report.
- Premium costs $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year and adds accounting connections as they launch.
- CSV export is free on every plan.
- No accounting connection is live yet; Xero is first, then QuickBooks Online.
- It does not offer email forwarding, bank feeds, mileage tracking, approvals, team accounts or web upload.
- If you cancel, receipts stay on your phone and remain searchable and exportable as CSV.
How to choose a receipt scanner app
Work through these questions in order. The first one that gets a clear yes usually decides the type of tool, and the type matters more than the brand.
- Does an accountant or bookkeeper do your books? Ask what they use. If it is Dext, AutoEntry or Hubdoc, join their workflow.
- Do you already pay for accounting software? Try its built-in capture first: Hubdoc with Xero, the Receipts area in QuickBooks Online, Smart Capture in FreeAgent, Receipts in Wave.
- Do other people spend money you need to approve or reimburse? Choose a team tool: Expensify, Zoho Expense or Ramp.
- Do you mainly have paper and no time? Shoeboxed will scan it for you.
- Are you building software? Use an API such as Veryfi.
- Do you only need a clean PDF now and then? Genius Scan or Adobe Scan will do.
- Do you want a personal, private record you control, with exports for tax time? Compare the individual apps: SparkReceipt, Foreceipt, Smart Receipts and NexaLink Scanner.
Questions to ask any receipt app
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Where are receipts read and stored? | Cloud processing makes sharing easy; on-device processing keeps data private. Know which you are getting. |
| What happens if the app misreads a total? | Silent errors end up in your books. Look for apps that flag uncertain values for you to check. |
| Is the free allowance monthly or a one-off total per account? | Foreceipt's 100 free receipts are a total; Zoho Expense's 20 scans are per user per month. |
| Can you export everything, in a usable format, on every plan? | If you leave, you need your records. CSV export on every tier is the safest baseline. |
| Does it handle multiple currencies properly? | Mixing currencies in one total is a common source of errors for anyone who travels or buys abroad. |
| Which accounting software does it actually connect to today? | Roadmaps are not integrations. Ask what is live now. |
| What happens to your receipts if you cancel? | Some services delete data or lock exports after cancellation. |
Keep receipts for as long as the rules require
Whatever app you use, it has to keep your records for the full retention period. In the UK, VAT-registered businesses must generally keep VAT records for at least six years[21]. In the US, the IRS says to keep records for as long as they may be needed for any tax law, generally three years from filing, with longer periods in some cases[22]. Other countries set their own periods; our tax receipts hub covers several, and how to scan receipts for taxes explains what to capture.
How we checked
All competitor facts in this guide were checked on 10 November 2026 on each company's official pricing page, help centre or app store listing, which are linked in the sources below. We did not use review sites or affiliate listings for prices. Where a page was unclear, contradicted itself or did not publish a figure, we say so in the text rather than guess.
- Prices are the published list prices at the time of checking, in the currency shown on the page. They exclude VAT, GST or sales tax where the page states that they do. Introductory discounts are mentioned only where they are prominent.
- Groupings reflect the main job each product is designed for, not every feature it has.
- We make NexaLink Scanner. We have described its limits alongside its strengths and named cases where another app is the better choice.
- No rankings by score. We do not publish star ratings or accuracy percentages, because we cannot test every app on the same receipts in a way that would be fair.
Prices and plans change often. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we will check it again. For our own plans, see NexaLink Scanner pricing.
Key facts about NexaLink Scanner
- What it is: NexaLink Scanner is a private receipt and expense organiser for iOS and Android, built for freelancers, sole traders, contractors and small businesses. It is not accounting software and does not file tax returns.
- How it reads receipts: text is read on the phone (on-device OCR) and capture works offline. Merchant, date, total and tax are filled in; any value it is unsure of is flagged, and a low-confidence total cannot be saved until you confirm it.
- Where data lives: receipts are stored on your phone and do not sync to the web. Data leaves only when you export it.
- Free plan: 50 receipts, on-device reading, search, 5 default categories and CSV export. CSV export is free on every plan, always.
- Pro: $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year — unlimited receipts, custom categories, projects and tags, a PDF expense report in the app, tax and multi-currency reports. Image ZIP export and Xero / QuickBooks import files are coming soon.
- Premium: $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year — everything in Pro plus accounting connections as they launch, background sync, advanced mapping and accountant sharing.
- If you cancel: your receipts stay on the phone, searchable and exportable as CSV.
- Accounting connections (none live yet): Xero — First · V1.1 · QuickBooks Online — Next · V1.2 · FreeAgent — Planned · Sage Accounting — Planned · Zoho Books — Planned · TallyPrime — Import file first. CSV export works with any accounting tool today. Status as of 2026-11-10; see accounting integrations.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best receipt scanner app?
It depends on who handles the receipts. Accountants with many clients usually prefer Dext or AutoEntry. Xero, QuickBooks Online and FreeAgent users should try their built-in capture first. Teams that need approvals pick Expensify, Zoho Expense or Ramp. Individuals who want a private record with free CSV export can use NexaLink Scanner. Decide the type of tool first, then compare brands within it.
Is there a free receipt scanner app?
Yes. Zoho Expense has a free plan for up to 3 users with 20 scans per user a month[12], Foreceipt allows 100 receipts in total[16], Ramp's free plan includes receipt matching for its cards, and Adobe Scan and Genius Scan are free document scanners. NexaLink Scanner's Free plan covers 50 receipts with on-device reading and CSV export. Check whether a free allowance is monthly or a one-off total per account.
Which receipt scanner app works with Xero?
Hubdoc is included with Xero plans, and Dext, AutoEntry, Expensify, Zoho Expense and Shoeboxed (from Pro) all publish to Xero. NexaLink Scanner's Xero connection is first on our roadmap but not live yet; today you can export CSV. Our guide to adding receipts to Xero explains each route.
Is Dext worth it for a freelancer?
Usually only if your accountant already uses Dext and adds you to their account. Its published Business plan started at $25.21 a month excluding VAT at the time of checking[1], and it is designed for bookkeeping automation across several users and entities. A freelancer who mainly needs organised receipts and an export for tax time can use a cheaper individual app. See our Dext alternative page.
Do receipt scanner apps upload my receipts to the cloud?
Most do. Dext, Hubdoc, Expensify and similar services read receipts on their servers so accountants or managers can see them. NexaLink Scanner reads receipts on your phone and keeps them there; data leaves only when you export it. Cloud processing makes sharing easy, while on-device processing keeps records private, so choose based on who needs access.
Can I just use a phone scanner app like Adobe Scan for receipts?
You can, if all you need is a picture or PDF. Adobe Scan and Genius Scan create clean, searchable PDFs. They do not turn receipts into rows with merchant, date, total and tax, so you would still type figures into a spreadsheet or accounting software yourself. A dedicated receipt app does that extraction and lets you total and export.
Which receipt app is best for a small team?
A team expense tool. Zoho Expense is inexpensive and has a free plan for up to 3 users, Expensify is strong on approvals and reimbursements, and Ramp suits US businesses that want a corporate card. Personal receipt apps, including NexaLink Scanner, are designed for one person and do not offer approvals or team accounts.
Does NexaLink Scanner sync with QuickBooks?
Not yet. No accounting connection is live. QuickBooks Online comes after Xero on our roadmap, and QuickBooks-shaped import files are coming to Pro. Today you can export receipts as CSV on any plan and import them yourself. See the NexaLink Scanner QuickBooks page for current status.
How long should I keep scanned receipts?
As long as your tax authority requires. UK VAT records generally must be kept for at least six years, and the IRS generally advises three years from filing in the US, with longer periods in some cases. Rules vary by country, so check official guidance. Our tax receipts hub covers several countries. This is general information, not tax advice.
What happens to my receipts if I stop paying?
It varies, so check before you start. Some services limit access or delete data after cancellation. With NexaLink Scanner, receipts stay on your phone if you cancel, and you can still search them and export them as CSV.
Sources
- Dext — Business pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- AutoEntry — Pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- Sage — Sage announces acquisition of AutoEntry (27 Sep 2019) — checked on 2026-11-10
- Hubdoc — Pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- Xero App Store — Hubdoc — checked on 2026-11-10
- Xero UK — Pricing plans — checked on 2026-11-10
- QuickBooks Online — Email receipts and bills to QuickBooks Online (Intuit help) — checked on 2026-11-10
- FreeAgent — Pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- Wave — Receipts — checked on 2026-11-10
- Expensify Help — Billing overview — checked on 2026-11-10
- Expensify Help — Plan types and pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- Zoho Expense — Pricing (US) — checked on 2026-11-10
- Ramp — Pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- Shoeboxed — Pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- SparkReceipt — Pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- Foreceipt — Pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- Smart Receipts — Plans — checked on 2026-11-10
- Veryfi — API pricing — checked on 2026-11-10
- The Grizzly Labs Help — Differences between Genius Scan plans — checked on 2026-11-10
- Adobe — Adobe Scan mobile scanner app — checked on 2026-11-10
- GOV.UK — Record keeping for VAT (VAT Notice 700/21) — checked on 2026-11-10
- IRS — How long should I keep records? — checked on 2026-11-10