Expense management software automates the capture, approval, and reimbursement of business expenses. Our top picks for UK businesses in 2026.
Best expense management software UK 2026
Top expense tracking and approval platforms for UK businesses.
Expenses and receipts
Best expense management software UK 2026
Eight expense and receipt tools compared on price, capture accuracy, VAT reclaim and accounting integrations, plus expert guides on what UK businesses can actually claim.
Key facts
- Best overall for accountants: Dext, for extraction accuracy and publishing workflow.
- Best for company cards: Pleo, which matches receipts to card spend automatically.
- Best free option: Hubdoc, included with every Xero subscription.
- Typical UK cost: £5 to £40 per month depending on users and card features.
- HMRC accepts digital receipts, so there is no need to keep paper copies.
Expense management software compared
The five tools UK businesses and practices shortlist most often, side by side. Scroll horizontally on mobile.
| Tool | Price from | Receipt capture | Company cards | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dext | From £24 per month | Best in class | No | Accountants and bookkeepers processing client paperwork at volume |
| Pleo | Free tier; paid from £39 per month | Very good | Yes | Teams wanting smart company cards with automatic receipt matching |
| Expensify | From $5 per user per month | Very good | Yes | Employee expense claims and approval workflows |
| Soldo | From £6 per user per month | Good | Yes | Controlling spend with prepaid cards and per-card budgets |
| Hubdoc | Included with Xero | Good | No | Xero users who want document fetch and capture at no extra cost |
Prices are published UK RRP and exclude VAT.
All articles
12 expense software reviews and guides
Jump to any article below, or scroll down to read the full content in sequence.
Best expense management software UK 2026 Top expense tracking and approval platforms for UK businesses. Review Best receipt scanning apps UK Top OCR receipt capture apps for UK businesses and sole traders. Review Dext (Receipt Bank) review The leading UK receipt capture and data extraction tool. Review Hubdoc review Document capture and auto-filing for accountants. Review Expensify review UK Expense reporting and corporate card management. Review Pleo review UK Smart company cards with real-time expense tracking. Review Soldo review UK Multi-user company spend management. Review Allowable business expenses: complete guide for UK businesses What you can and cannot claim as a business expense. Guide Mileage and vehicle expenses: a complete guide Claiming mileage, business vehicle costs, and HMRC approved rates. Guide Working from home expenses: what you can claim Claiming home office costs for the self-employed and employees. Guide Expense fraud: how to prevent it in your business Protecting your business from employee expense fraud. Guide Reclaiming VAT on business expenses When and how to reclaim input VAT on business purchases. Guide
Best receipt scanning apps UK
Top OCR receipt capture apps for UK businesses and sole traders.
Receipt scanning apps use optical character recognition (OCR) to extract data from paper receipts and sync with accounting software, eliminating manual data entry.
Dext (Receipt Bank) review
The leading UK receipt capture and data extraction tool.
Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) is the UK's leading receipt capture and pre-accounting tool, used by thousands of accounting firms to automate data entry for their clients.
Hubdoc review
Document capture and auto-filing for accountants.
Hubdoc (owned by Xero) captures bills, receipts, and bank statements, and auto-files them with accounting data extracted. It is included in some Xero plans.
Expensify review UK
Expense reporting and corporate card management.
Expensify combines receipt scanning, expense reporting, and corporate card management. It targets businesses with regular employee expenses that need multi-level approval workflows.
Pleo review UK
Smart company cards with real-time expense tracking.
Pleo provides smart company cards for employees with real-time spend controls and automatic receipt capture. It integrates with Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage.
Soldo review UK
Multi-user company spend management.
Soldo offers prepaid Mastercard cards for employees and teams, with spend controls, receipt capture, and accounting integrations.
Allowable business expenses: complete guide for UK businesses
What you can and cannot claim as a business expense.
Understanding allowable business expenses is essential for keeping your tax bill as low as legally possible. This guide covers what UK businesses can and cannot claim.
Mileage and vehicle expenses: a complete guide
Claiming mileage, business vehicle costs, and HMRC approved rates.
UK businesses and employees can claim tax relief on business mileage and vehicle expenses. This guide covers HMRC approved mileage rates, how to claim, and what records to keep.
Working from home expenses: what you can claim
Claiming home office costs for the self-employed and employees.
Whether you're self-employed or employed, you may be able to claim tax relief on working from home costs. This guide covers what you can claim and how to calculate it.
Expense fraud: how to prevent it in your business
Protecting your business from employee expense fraud.
Expense fraud costs UK businesses millions each year. This guide covers common types of expense fraud, how to detect it, and how to build controls that prevent it.
Reclaiming VAT on business expenses
When and how to reclaim input VAT on business purchases.
VAT-registered businesses can reclaim the VAT on most business purchases. This guide explains when you can reclaim, what records you need, and common pitfalls to avoid.
Common questions about expense management software
What is the best expense management software in the UK?
For accountants and bookkeepers handling client paperwork at volume, Dext is the strongest choice because its extraction accuracy and publishing workflow into Xero, QuickBooks and Sage are the best available. For businesses that want to control employee spending, Pleo is the better fit because it issues smart company cards and matches receipts to transactions automatically. Xero users should try Hubdoc first, since it is included in their subscription at no extra cost.
How much does expense management software cost in the UK?
Entry-level tools start around £5 to £10 per user per month. Dext starts from about £24 per month for a small business plan, Pleo has a free tier with paid plans from around £39 per month, Soldo from about £6 per user per month, and Expensify from around $5 per user per month. Hubdoc is included free with every Xero subscription. Larger deployments are usually quoted per user with volume discounts.
Can expense software reclaim VAT automatically?
The better tools extract the VAT amount and VAT number from a receipt and post it to the correct VAT code in your accounting software, which is what makes reclaim reliable. They do not decide whether an expense is reclaimable; that judgement still rests with you or your accountant. Watch particularly for entertainment, which is generally not reclaimable, and for simplified VAT receipts under £250 where the VAT is not shown separately.
Does expense management software work with MTD?
Expense tools are not themselves HMRC-recognised for Making Tax Digital. They feed data into your accounting software, and that software makes the MTD submission. So long as your ledger is HMRC-recognised, digital links from the expense tool satisfy the MTD record-keeping requirement. Capturing receipts digitally also meets the digital record obligation for VAT.
Do I still need to keep paper receipts?
No. HMRC accepts digital copies of receipts and invoices provided the image is legible and all the information is preserved, so a photo captured through an expense app is sufficient. Records generally need to be kept for six years for a limited company and five years after the 31 January filing deadline for the self-employed. Keeping the digital copy in your expense tool or accounting software satisfies this.
What is the difference between expense management and receipt scanning?
Receipt scanning, sometimes called data extraction, is the narrower job of turning a photo of a receipt into structured data and posting it to the ledger. Dext and Hubdoc are primarily receipt scanning tools. Full expense management adds the money side: company cards, spending limits, employee claims, approval workflows and reimbursement. Pleo, Soldo and Expensify sit in that broader category.
Which expense software integrates with Xero and QuickBooks?
All the major tools integrate with both. Dext, Pleo, Expensify and Soldo publish directly into Xero, QuickBooks Online and Sage. Hubdoc is owned by Xero and integrates most tightly there, though it also connects to QuickBooks. Check specifically whether the integration posts to tracking categories or classes if you use departmental reporting.
Can I claim mileage through expense management software?
Yes. Most tools include a mileage feature that applies HMRC approved mileage rates, currently 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in a car or van and 25p thereafter. Better apps calculate the distance from postcodes or track journeys by GPS, then post the claim to the ledger. See our mileage and travel expenses guide for the full rules.