Why people look
Why teams look for a Shoeboxed alternative
The reasons that come up in evaluations. Whether they apply to you depends mostly on where your receipts come from.
Paper receipts pile up faster than anyone can scan them, and we never catch up.
At a store that sends receipts through Smartbills no paper is printed. The digital receipt arrives as data and is matched to the card purchase.
A scan of a faded thermal slip is still faded, and we have to keep it for years.
A network receipt stays complete and readable for as long as you need to keep it, because there is no image to fade.
Scanning is filing. It tells us nothing until long after the money is gone.
Expense policy, approvals, cards and payables all work from the same receipt. Spending gets checked when it happens.
The shortlist
6 alternatives to Shoeboxed
The products teams shortlist against Shoeboxed, each with what it's for. The order isn't a ranking, and the criteria are explained below.
- 01
Dext
Dext collects the receipts and invoices your accounting practice is sent. Smartbills gets the receipt from the merchant at the moment you pay.
Best forAccounting practices collecting documents from many clients at once, who need client reminders and publishing built in.
Compare it with Smartbills - 02
Hubdoc
Hubdoc moves documents into Xero and stops there. Smartbills adds digital receipts, expense policy, cards and payables around those documents.
Best forXero users whose only need is getting bills and receipts into Xero at no extra cost.
Compare it with Smartbills - 03
Expensify
The expense report app most finance teams already know, set against Smartbills on where each receipt comes from before anyone files it.
Best forChoose Expensify if your team already runs on its expense reports and wants a familiar, well-supported report-and-approve workflow it won't have to relearn.
Compare it with Smartbills - 04
WellyBox
WellyBox finds receipts in your email. Smartbills does that too, and also captures receipts for purchases you pay for by card in person.
Best forSole proprietors who buy almost everything online and want years of email history pulled in at once.
Compare it with Smartbills - 05
Veryfi
Veryfi sells an extraction API to build a receipt workflow on. Smartbills is that workflow, already built.
Best forEngineering teams building their own expense feature who need extraction delivered as a service.
Compare it with Smartbills - 06
Klippa
Klippa sells document AI plus a spend app built on it. Smartbills cuts out the reading step by getting digital receipts straight from the merchant.
Best forEuropean organizations that want one supplier for extraction, document verification and expenses.
Compare it with Smartbills
Disclosure
And Smartbills, which is ours
Slipping our own product into a roundup without saying so is exactly what makes these pages worthless, so to be clear, this one is ours.
Smartbills
Best for: Businesses that want to stop collecting paper receipts in the first place.
Smartbills vs ShoeboxedHow this list was put together
These are the products that come up in the same evaluations as Shoeboxed, drawn from what prospects actually shortlist against it and from the rest of its category. The order is editorial rather than a ranking, because we don't run benchmarks on products we don't operate, and a scored table written by a vendor about its competitors isn't evidence. Each entry links to a full comparison with claims specific enough to check.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What people ask us before they sign up.
Get started
Comparing Shoeboxed with something else?
Bring one month of your own receipts and card transactions. The number that settles it is the share of transactions that ended up with an itemized document attached, and you can measure that in one cycle.