Expenses & Workflow
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SimplyWise vs Expensify: Which Receipt Scanner App is Better for Your Business

by Envoice
10 min read

If you own a small business or have a freelance gig, you know well that tracking your business expenses is essential for pre-accounting and managing tax deductions. Nowadays, there are many receipt scanner apps and expense management tools on the web, and two of the most popular solutions are SimplyWise and Expensify.

In this guide, we will compare SimplyWise vs Expensify based on their key tools, pricing, user-friendliness, and other essential features. We’ll also put their mobile apps to the test, providing you with all you need to know about which platform has the best receipt scanner app for your expense tracking tasks.

Read on to know more.

SimplyWise vs Expensify: An Overview

SimplyWise

Screenshot for SimplyWise websitesimplywise.com

SimplyWise is a robust receipt management tool and one of the most popular receipt scanner apps for scaling businesses. It can scan paper receipts and automatically categorize data in a few seconds, greatly reducing the need for manual data entry. It’s also an excellent file management tool since it offers unlimited cloud storage, where you can store receipts and share data with other team members (available in the Teams plan).

Expensify

Screenshot for Expensify websiteexpensify.com

Expensify is an efficient expense management app and pre-accounting software for various businesses. It offers tools for managing expenses, mileage tracking, creating invoices, and reimbursement processing. You can also scan receipts and extract receipt data through SmartScan.

SimplyWise vs Expensify: Side-by-Side Comparison

SimplyWise Expensify
Pricing Starts at $29.99 per year (free account available) Starts at $5 per user monthly (free account available)
Features
  • Expense tracking
  • Receipt Management
  • Expense reporting
  • Document management
  • Mileage tracking
  • QuickBooks integration

Unique Features

  • Receipt auto-import
  • Document management
  • Bank reconciliation
  • Expense management
  • Receipt scanning
  • Global reimbursements
  • Invoicing with New Expensify
  • Bill Pay
  • Mileage tracking
  • Spend management
  • Reports and insights

Unique Features

  • Expensify Card
  • Expense tracking
  • Credit card import
Integrations QuickBooks, Amazon, PayPal, Walmart, etc. Over 40 apps
Security SSL data encryption SSL data encryption
Cloud storage Yes Yes
Interface  SaaS/Cloud/Mobile Saas/Cloud/Mobile
Customer Support Email/Phone support Email/Live support
Reviews 4.8/5 [1] 4.5/5 [2]

Key Features

Receipt Management

SimplyWise
SimplyWise offers an efficient way of scanning and managing receipts. It has an AI-powered receipt scanner feature that automatically extracts and categorizes data. You can also store receipts and other scanned documents on the cloud.

Note: SimplyWise’s AI receipt scanner lacks advanced algorithms to ensure that extracted data from receipts are fully accurate. If you’re looking for expense management software with more robust receipt-scanning capabilities, consider Envoice. It provides human-in-the-loop review and corrections with ExactExtract if needed, ensuring 99.9% accuracy in your receipt data. Register for a free trial today.

Expensify

Screenshot for expensify.com receipt page displaying receipt scanning
expensify.com

Like SimplyWise, Expensify allows you to scan unlimited receipts and store them in the cloud. The platform uses SmartScan for receipt scanning, mainly using optical character recognition (OCR) technology to extract key expense data (merchant, amount, and date). It can also match receipts from transactions on credit card accounts synced into the platform.

Expense Reports

SimplyWise
SimplyWise can create expense reports from your uploaded receipts, making the process more streamlined. If you’re actively using Amazon and PayPal for online purchases, you can easily track expenses from both platforms by auto-importing your receipts. You can also share your reports with other team members on the platform.

Expensify
Expensify can run expense reports automatically after scanning your receipt using SmartScan. Approvers can create and submit reports for employees and approve them in minutes. You can also seamlessly process reimbursement for an approved employee expense report via ACH transfer.

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SimplyWise – Additional Features

Receipt Auto-import
SimplyWise allows you to automatically import digital receipts from your email accounts, including subscriptions and other recurring expenses. Since it integrates with Amazon, PayPal, and Walmart, you can auto-import your receipts from those platforms.

Document Management
SimplyWise provides unlimited receipt scanning and cloud storage on its paid plans. This allows you to store receipt images and manage financial records seamlessly. You can also create custom folders and share them with your team members.

Bank Reconciliation
SimplyWise securely connects your bank accounts to the platform to reconcile expenses. It matches your scanned receipts and other saved expenses to posted transactions on your accounts, so you won’t miss an expense. You can also access this feature on the SimplyWise Receipt Scanner app.

Expensify – Additional Features

Expensify Card

Screenshot for Expensify website display Expensify Card product page
expensify.com

One of Expensify’s effective tools for tracking expenses is the Expensify Card. It’s a corporate card for your employees that automatically imports and reconciles transactions so your finance team can track expenses in real-time. The card also comes with multiple perks, such as cashbacks, discounts on your Expensify bill, IRS-guaranteed eReceipts, flexible credit limits, and spend control.

Approval Workflows
Expensify lets you create custom approval workflows depending on your company’s structure. It supports advanced approvals like multi-level (requires more than one person to approve an expense report) and varying (each team has one approver) approval workflows.

Credit Card Import
Expensify allows you to import bank transactions from your various cards as long as they’re connected to the platform. This allows you to organize receipts and reconcile your expenses so they can be reviewed by the approver for reimbursement. The platform has direct commercial card feed connections with Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.

Ease of Use

SimplyWise
SimplyWise has a user-friendly interface and requires little setup. It tracks expenses in real-time, letting you monitor spending habits and check categories where you can cut costs. From the dashboard, you can batch-upload receipts, search for stored receipts, and access customizable expense reports. You can also easily create and share folders from your cloud with other users (only available in the Teams plan).

Expensify
Expensify provides an intuitive user interface and has a concierge to set up your account the first time. You can seamlessly report expenses via SmartScan or manually, view reports that are pending approval, and process reimbursements for approved expenses. Expensify also offers various data visualization tools for its reports and insights feature.

Receipt Scanning App

SimplyWise

Screenshot displaying SimplyWise Receipt Scanning App
apps.apple.com

The SimplyWise Receipt Scanner app offers an easy way of scanning paper receipts, mileage tracking, and one-tap filing of expense reports. The mobile app supports expense categorization and smart reminders for tax deductions. Besides being a receipt app, you can also view your recent bank transactions to reconcile expenses.

Expensify
Expensify’s mobile app (Expensify app) has a user-friendly interface where you can scan receipts, submit expense reports, manage reimbursements, and more. Its receipt scanner (SmartScan) supports auto-categorization and extracts data using OCR technology. You can also search for receipts through an expense category or merchant.

Integrations

SimplyWise
SimplyWise offers minimal integrations. It connects with e-commerce and payment processing software like Amazon, Walmart, and PayPal. With its QuickBooks integration, you can easily sync data and import financial documents from your SimplyWise account.

Expensify
Expensify provides integrations with over 40 apps, including software for accounting and finance, HR, and travel. These include QuickBooks, Xero, Oracle NetSuite, Deel, and Tripcatcher. Expensify also supports receipt sync for various platforms that mainly use digital receipts, like Grab, Lyft, Uber, and Bolt.

Pricing

SimplyWise
SimplyWise offers these pricing plans: Free, Personal ($29.99 per year), Business ($89.99 per year), and Teams ($89.99 per user annually). The Free plan allows you to scan and save up to 250 receipts, while all paid plans have unlimited receipt scans and include mileage tracking and bank reconciliation. Also, features like PDF exports and its QuickBooks integration are only available in the Business and Teams plans.

Note: While its pricing plans may seem cheaper than those of other expense management apps, SimplyWise lacks key features like approval workflows and integration support. For an affordable and much more capable expense management solution, try Envoice. It offers robust integrations and has key features like multi-approval workflows, invoicing, and payment processing. Sign up for a free trial now.

Expensify

Screenshot for Expensify pricing tiers
expensify.com

Expensify has two main pricing tiers: Collect ($5 per user monthly) and Control ($9 per user monthly). All plans include unlimited use of the platform’s receipt scanner, SmartScan, unlimited mileage tracking, and access to key features like Bill Pay, credit card import, invoicing, and expense approvals. The platform also offers a free account with up to 25 SmartScans monthly.

Who is it For?

SimplyWise
SimplyWise is excellent for freelancers and small business owners looking for an affordable way to digitize and organize their receipts for tax purposes. It can auto-import receipts from your email inbox and apps like PayPal, Amazon, and Walmart. It’s also a valuable tool for updating your transactions and importing expenses on QuickBooks using its integration with the platform.

Expensify
Expensify is a great tool for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and freelancers who want an all-around expense management and pre-accounting software. It offers features for receipt scanning, mileage tracking, invoicing, approval workflows, global reimbursement processing, and reporting tools for expense tracking. It also provides a diverse set of integrations, including tools like QuickBooks, Sage, Microsoft Dynamics, and Xero.

Claim to Fame

SimplyWise
SimplyWise is popular due to its AI-driven receipt scanning tool and affordable pricing scheme, making it one of the best receipt scanner apps in Android and iOS. It can auto-import digital receipts from your email inbox and your connected Amazon, PayPal, and Walmart accounts. However, you can only access its QuickBooks integration when subscribed to the Business version or higher.

Expensify
Expensify has a powerful feature set for expense management and pre-accounting tasks. It lets you scan and auto-categorize receipts for tax time via SmartScan, manage employee spending through the Expensify Card, import bank transactions, and create expense reports seamlessly. It can also handle approval workflows, global reimbursements, and bill payments and integrates with various platforms.

Screenshot for expensify integration page
expensify.com

Conclusion

If you’re a small business or freelancer searching for an affordable expense management and receipt-scanning tool, SimplyWise is ideal for your needs. It has an AI-driven receipt scanner app and provides features like unlimited storage, mileage tracking, bank reconciliation, and reporting tools on all of its paid plans. It also has QuickBooks integration on the Business and Teams plans.

We recommend Expensify if you’re a self-employed individual or a scaling business that needs robust expense management and pre-accounting features. It offers tools for quick expense reporting, receipt capture via SmartScan, invoicing, mileage tracking, and global reimbursement processing. It also integrates accounting and finance platforms, HR software, and practice management tools, and it directly syncs with service platforms that most businesses use (Grab, Lyft, Uber, Bolt, etc.)

However, if you want a comprehensive solution for your expense management and pre-accounting tasks, consider an add-on like Envoice. It offers an easy and efficient way of scanning receipts, filing expense reports, and setting up multi-level approval workflows. It integrates with major accounting software (QuickBooks, Xero, and Sage Accounting) and lets you add multiple users without additional cost.

Want to learn more about how Envoice can help streamline your pre-accounting process? Explore its core features now and eliminate manual bookkeeping tasks today!

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