Expensify
Receipt scanning and expense reports, with a card that pays for the software.
- Finance
- Productivity
- from $5/mo
Expensify handles expense reports: photograph a receipt, SmartScan reads it, and the expense flows through approval into your accounting system. Receipt scanning and payments are free; the paid plans add policy enforcement, approval workflows and accounting sync, and the Expensify Card discounts the subscription.
Expensify: the short answer
Every line below is drawn from facts verified on 9 August 2026.
- What it is
- Receipt scanning and expense reports, with a card that pays for the software
- Best for
- Teams that mainly need receipts captured and reimbursed
- Starts at
- Free to scan receipts and send money; Collect $5 per member/month
- Free option
- Free plan available, no trial
- Biggest strength
- Free tier genuinely covers receipt scanning and payments
- Biggest drawback
- Control is quote-only, with only a stated minimum published
- Closest alternative
- SAP Concur - The enterprise standard for complex travel and expense programmes
- True annual cost
- from $60 a year at the cheapest paid tier
Expensify at a glance
| Best for | Teams that mainly need receipts captured and reimbursed, Companies willing to adopt the Expensify Card for a discount, Small businesses wanting a free tier that is genuinely usable |
|---|---|
| Category | Finance, Productivity |
| Starting price | Free to scan receipts and send money; Collect $5 per member/month |
| Free plan | Yes |
| Free trial | No trial offered |
| Pricing model | subscription |
| Company | Expensify, Inc. |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Founders | David Barrett |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android |
| Public API | Yes |
| Browser extension | No |
| Mobile apps | iOS + Android |
| Self-hosting | No |
| Affiliate programme | No |
| Data source | Vendor pricing page and public records |
| Last checked | August 2026 |
Expensify pricing
Prices below were read from the vendor's own pricing page on 9 August 2026. Pricing model: subscription. No free trial is offered.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | per month | SmartScan receipts, send and receive money, chat, via New Expensify |
| Collect | $5 | per month | per member - Core expense, travel and chat features |
| Control | Custom pricing | Negotiated | Stated as low as $9 per active member/month. Adds policy and admin controls |
| Discounts | Varies | per usage | Available for annual commitments and when using the Expensify Card |
What Expensify actually costs over a year
A monthly price is not the same thing as a monthly contract. These are the plans above multiplied out to twelve months, per seat or unit where the plan is charged that way.
| Plan | Monthly | Over 12 months |
|---|---|---|
| Collectper member | $5 | $60 |
Which Expensify plan should you buy?
| Your situation | Recommended | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You are one person capturing receipts and moving money | Free | SmartScan and payments are free permanently, not a trial. For a freelancer this may be the whole answer. |
| A small team needs expense reports and accounting sync | Collect | $5 per member a month for core expense, travel and chat. |
| You need approval chains and policy enforcement | Control | Quote only, described as low as $9 per active member. Treat $9 as the best case and get a real quote. |
| You are willing to route company spend through their card | Ask about card and annual discounts | Discounts apply for annual commitment and Expensify Card use, so two companies on the same plan pay differently. |
| You run a complex negotiated travel programme | Consider SAP Concur instead | Concur is built for configurable approval matrices and audit at that scale. |
Verdict by who you are
Freelancer or micro businessYes
The free tier genuinely covers receipt capture and payments at no cost.
Small company reimbursing staffYes
Collect at $5 per member is cheap for what most teams actually need.
Finance team needing policy enforcementCompare first
Control has the features, but it is quote-only so the published ladder stops before the tier you need.
Large enterprise with negotiated travelNo
Approval hierarchies are less configurable than Concur's, which is the point of Concur.
Company keeping its bank cardsCompare first
Budget list price. The attractive economics assume you adopt the Expensify Card.
Should you buy Expensify?
Buy Expensify if…
- Teams that mainly need receipts captured and reimbursed
- Companies willing to adopt the Expensify Card for a discount
- Small businesses wanting a free tier that is genuinely usable
Do not buy Expensify if…
- Complex multinational travel and expense programmes
- Organisations already committed to SAP Concur
- Anyone needing detailed custom approval hierarchies
Key features
- SmartScan receipt capture from photo, email or desktop
- Automatic expense categorisation and policy checks
- Multi-level approval workflows on Control
- Expensify Card with cash back on US purchases
- Reimbursement by direct deposit
- Mileage and per-diem tracking
- Corporate card reconciliation
- Built-in chat alongside expenses
Integrations
- QuickBooks and Xero
- NetSuite and Sage Intacct
- Gusto and Rippling
- Uber and Lyft receipt import
- Expensify API
Expensify screenshots
Captured by us in August 2026 at 1440px, unedited. Interfaces change, so these show the product as it looked on the date we verified this profile. Vendors localise pricing by visitor region, so a pricing screenshot may display a different currency to the USD figures recorded above.
Our assessment
Expensify does the boring part of expenses genuinely well. SmartScan is accurate, the mobile app is fast, and at $5 per member on Collect it is cheap for what most small companies actually need. The free tier is unusually real: receipt scanning and sending money cost nothing at all. Two things are worth understanding. Control, the plan with the policy and admin features larger teams want, is quote-only with a stated floor of $9 per active member, so the published ladder stops before the tier you may need. And the headline economics assume the Expensify Card, since discounts apply for card use and annual commitment; without either, you pay list. Judge it on your reimbursement volume, not the feature grid.
What works in Expensify
- Free tier genuinely covers receipt scanning and payments
- SmartScan is accurate and the mobile app is fast
- Collect at $5 per member undercuts most competitors
- Card cash back can offset the subscription entirely
What doesn't
- Control is quote-only, with only a stated minimum published
- Best pricing depends on adopting the Expensify Card
- Approval hierarchies are less configurable than Concur's
- Charged per active member, so usage patterns change the bill
EveryAny Decision Score
Scored by dimension rather than averaged into one number, because the trade-offs are the useful part. 3 of these 8 dimensions are calculated from verified facts by published formula; the rest are editorial judgement, labelled as such. How each score is calculated.
- Cost position8/10
derivedentry tier at $5 a month against a category median of $23 across 5 comparable tools
- Portability5/10
derivedpublic API
- Subscription flexibility6/10
derivedfree plan, subscription, monthly billing
- Feature depth6/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Ease of learning9/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Collaboration7/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- AI capability6/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
- Professional adoption7/10
editorialeditorial judgement, reviewed at last check
What leaving Expensify would cost
moderate lock-in
Calculated as 10 minus a portability score of 5, built from four signals (self-hosting, a public API, open-source licensing and a documented export path) . Expensify scores on: public API. Formula.
Expensify competitors and alternatives
| Alternative | Why you might pick it instead |
|---|---|
| SAP Concur | The enterprise standard for complex travel and expense programmes. |
| Ramp | Free expense management funded by card interchange rather than seats. |
| Pleo | Stronger European coverage for company cards and expenses. |
The free tier is not a trial
Worth stating plainly because it is unusual. Expensify says it is “always free to SmartScan receipts, send and receive money, and chat with coworkers” using New Expensify. That is not a fourteen-day evaluation; it is the product, unpriced.
For a freelancer or a two-person business whose entire requirement is capturing receipts and moving money, the answer may genuinely be nothing per month. You upgrade when you need policy rules, approval chains and accounting sync, which is the honest boundary.
Collect is published, Control is not
Collect is $5 per member per month and covers core expense, travel and chat.
Control is the tier with the approval workflows, policy enforcement and admin depth that a finance team wants, and it is custom pricing, described only as “as low as $9 per active member/month”. So the published price is a floor, not a rate. If Control is where you are heading, treat $9 as the best case and get a quote before comparing with anyone.
Note also the phrase active member. Billing follows people who actually use the workspace in a period, which usually works in your favour and does make the monthly figure move.
The card is part of the pricing, not an accessory
Expensify’s own FAQ says discounts are available for annual commitments and when using the Expensify Card. The card offers 1% cash back on US purchases with no minimum, rising to 2% for monthly spend above $250,000.
That structure means two companies on the same plan can pay materially different amounts. If you are willing to route company spend through Expensify’s card, the software can approach free. If your cards are with your bank and you want to keep them there, budget list price and ignore the cash-back arithmetic.
Where Concur still wins
SAP Concur remains the choice for large organisations with negotiated travel programmes, complex multi-entity approval matrices and audit requirements that need configuring rather than accepting. It costs considerably more and takes months to implement. Expensify is the tool for companies that want expenses to stop being a monthly chore, which is most companies.
Expensify questions, answered
- Is Expensify worth it?
- Expensify does the boring part of expenses genuinely well.
- How much does Expensify cost?
- Free to scan receipts and send money; Collect $5 per member/month. The cheapest paid tier we recorded works out at $5 a month, or $60 over a year. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
- Does Expensify have a free plan or free trial?
- Expensify has a free plan. No free trial is offered.
- What is the best Expensify alternative?
- It depends on the job. SAP Concur: The enterprise standard for complex travel and expense programmes. Ramp: Free expense management funded by card interchange rather than seats. Pleo: Stronger European coverage for company cards and expenses.
- Can I self-host Expensify?
- No. Expensify is a hosted service only, so your data lives on the vendor's infrastructure.
Provenance and freshness
When each fact was last checked
- Pricing ·
- Plans ·
- Free trial
- Features
- Platforms
- Integrations
- Affiliate programme
- Company details
What has changed
-
August 2026
- Pricing verified, including that Control is quote-only with a stated floor
- Added plan picker and verdicts
Sources & verification
Facts on this page were read from the sources below on the dates shown. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, we record it as not disclosed rather than estimating it.
- Expensify pricing - checked 9 August 2026
Spotted something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will re-check it. Corrections are logged on the page.
