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 (Invoicing with expense tracking): InvoiceShelf records expenses alongside invoices and estimates, which is enough for many freelancers and small shops. 1,857 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
- Frappe HR (HRMS) (Employee expense claims): Frappe HR includes expense claims for employees, linked to ERPNext accounting. 8,929 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
- ERPNext (Expenses inside accounting): Expenses and payments post straight to the ledger in a full ERP. 40,232 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
- Dolibarr ERP CRM (Expense reports for staff): Dolibarr includes expense reports as part of its modular business suite. 7,732 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
- TaxHacker (AI receipt capture): A self-hosted app that reads receipts and invoices with an LLM into categorized records. A helpful capture tool. 6,749 stars · MIT · repo updated Sep 2026
- Split Pro (Shared and group expenses): An open source Splitwise alternative for splitting shared costs. Better for teams sharing trip costs than for formal accounting. 1,469 stars · MIT · repo updated Oct 2026
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.
How each option works in practice
InvoiceShelf
Invoicing with expense tracking. InvoiceShelf records expenses alongside invoices and estimates, which is enough for many freelancers and small shops.
1,857 stars · AGPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
GitHub · Website
Frappe HR (HRMS)
Employee expense claims. Frappe HR includes expense claims for employees, linked to ERPNext accounting.
8,929 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
GitHub · Website
ERPNext
Expenses inside accounting. Expenses and payments post straight to the ledger in a full ERP.
40,232 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Our guide to ERPNext · GitHub · Website
Dolibarr ERP CRM
Expense reports for staff. Dolibarr includes expense reports as part of its modular business suite.
7,732 stars · GPL-3.0 · repo updated Oct 2026
Our guide to Dolibarr ERP CRM · GitHub · Website
TaxHacker
AI receipt capture. A self-hosted app that reads receipts and invoices with an LLM into categorized records. A helpful capture tool.
6,749 stars · MIT · repo updated Sep 2026
GitHub · Website
Split Pro
Shared and group expenses. An open source Splitwise alternative for splitting shared costs. Better for teams sharing trip costs than for formal accounting.
1,469 stars · MIT · repo updated Oct 2026
GitHub · Website
A one-page expense policy
- What is reimbursable, and what is not.
- Spending limits per item and per month.
- A receipt is required for every claim.
- Claims must be submitted within a set number of days.
- Who approves, and how fast they must respond.
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.
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