It doesn’t matter how big your travel budget is, you always go over it! Especially when you’re not sure exactly how much you spent in your native currency. Travel expenses apps are a great way of keeping an eye on how much you’re spending. We’ve trialed A LOT of these apps to bring you a list of the five very best.
Trail Wallet
This is actually the one that we currently use. After testing them all, we found that this app best suits our needs because you can look at the data by trip and by month. You also don’t need WiFi to add expenses. It’s definitely the most complicated app on our list, supporting multiple currencies and Dropbox integration, as well as allowing you to shift amounts between different, ongoing trips.
It has a handy daily budget tracker that you can set to whatever you want, as well as snazzy infographics that break your expenses down into categories – you can easily lift them straight into an income and expenses report. Personally, we think it works best for long term travel and digital nomads because of these features.
It’s available on iOS. No Android users allowed, sorry.
What’s the catch?
If you go over your daily budget, a sassy character (we’ve named her Karen) starts telling you off. We really enjoy this feature, but others might find it annoying. You also might not need something this complicated for simply keeping track of your money on holiday.
How much is it?
It’s free up to 25 items, then £4.99 as a one-off payment.
Trabee Pocket
Trabee allows you to keep track of your expenses on a trip in a customised way. There’s even a ‘preparing’ tab where you can add all of your pre-trip costs in order to keep them separate from your costs while actually there.
It allows you to track multiple currencies in as many categories as you need – meaning that your expenses breakdown can be very simple or extremely complicated. You can also offset your expenses against income, which digital nomads might find handy. We think Trabee is a great allrounder for anyone who likes to travel on long trips.
It’s available on iOS and Android.
What’s the catch?
It’s not that user friendly. We forgot our password and literally couldn’t get the ‘reset password’ to work. According to the reviews, a few other people have had the same issue. No reply from the developer when we contacted them, either.
How much is it?
There is a free and a paid version. The free app is much less complex – you only get one currency and eight categories to choose from. The paid version will set you back £1.99.
Tripcoin
TripCoin gets points for being user friendly. It’s great for holiday makers who want to keep track of what they’re spending in a simple way, or travellers who aren’t going somewhere where they have internet – TripCoin doesn’t need WiFi to work.
The best thing about this app is that it supports over 200 currencies. It converts them for you in the app itself, so you don’t need to worry about converting them yourself.
It’s available on iOS and Android.
What’s the catch?
It is very simple so you can’t do a lot with it. If you want to dive a little deeper into your expenses, you may want to get a more complicated (and probably paid for) app.
How much is it?
It’s completely free.
Splitwise
The best app for travelling in groups, Splitwise allows you to split up expenses directly through the app. You can add travel buddies and keep track of who owes what, etc. It’s VERY handy if you’re travelling with that one friend who forgets to pay everyone back!
It’s available on iOS and Android.
What’s the catch?
We found the currency converter to be highly inaccurate, so wouldn’t recommend using it. Instead, convert the currency through Google currency converter then add it to the wallet. This extra step can be a little annoying, especially if you don’t have WiFi.
How much is it?
There’s a one-time payment of £1.99.
Forceipt
This is definitely the best one for business trips. It allows you to go paperless by taking a photo of your receipt and adding the expense and merchant amount. This is a great way to organise claiming back expenses from your company, or tax expenses if you own your own business. It also has a categories section, so you can use it to budget your trip too.
It’s available on iOS and Android.
What’s the catch?
If you want to convert multiple currencies or budget in a more complex way, Foreceipt probably isn’t for you. Credit card statements are also a great option for keeping track of business expenses, so you may not even need this app.
How much is it?
There’s a free version, as well as multiple pricing options. You can pay £4.99 for unlimited receipts. Or £1.99 for a year and 99p for a month of unlimited receipts.
