Skip to main content
Save 30% on your first year

Smartbills vs Shoeboxed

Scanning a box of paper takes care of last year's receipts. When stores that use Smartbills send the receipt as data at checkout, next year's box has far less in it.

At a glance

Smartbills vs Shoeboxed, in one screen

Shoeboxed digitizes receipts and business documents and offers a mail-in service: send an envelope of paper and get back categorized, searchable records. For a box of old paper, it is the simplest answer going.

Smartbills

Best for

Businesses that want to stop collecting paper receipts in the first place.

Where it's stronger

  • Cuts down on paper receipts at the source, before they pile up.
  • Expense policy and approvals are applied as receipts arrive.
  • Payables and receivables post to the same accounting system.
  • Line-level data supports your sales tax claims without digging out an image.

Shoeboxed

Best for

Businesses sitting on a physical archive, or whose purchases still come with paper receipts.

Where it's stronger

  • The mail-in scanning service solves a problem nothing else in this comparison addresses.
  • It is simple, inexpensive and a sensible choice for a sole proprietor.
  • There is no rollout, no policy to set up and nothing for staff to learn.
  • It suits businesses whose suppliers still hand over paper by default.

Every comparison on this site names what the other product does better. If we couldn't think of anything, we didn't publish the page.

Side by side

Smartbills and Shoeboxed, feature by feature

These are structural differences, not plan checkboxes. Capabilities change, so check the vendor's own documentation before deciding on any single row.

Mailing in paper to be scanned for you

If you have a box of paper to clear, the mail-in service does exactly that.

Smartbills—
ShoeboxedYes, the distinguishing feature

Digital receipts issued by the merchant

Smartbills
Shoeboxed—

Expense policy and approvals

Smartbills
Shoeboxed—

Corporate and virtual cards

Smartbills
Shoeboxed—

Supplier bills and payment runs

Smartbills
Shoeboxed—

Mileage tracking

Smartbills
Shoeboxed

Moving from Shoeboxed

None of this needs a big-bang cutover. Most teams run both tools for one cycle and compare capture rates before switching anyone off.

  1. Clear the paper backlog

    If you have a physical archive, get it scanned before changing how new receipts come in.

  2. Connect your accounting

    Map categories and tax codes once against QuickBooks, Xero or Sage.

  3. Turn on capture in order

    Network receipts first, then email receipts, then photos for whatever is left.

  4. Add controls once documents flow

    Bring in expense policy and approvals after receipts arrive reliably.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What people ask us before they sign up.

Not by mail. A large paper backlog is better handled by a scanning service, and Smartbills is aimed at the receipts you haven't collected yet.

Take a photo and Smartbills codes it like any other receipt. Over time, the merchant network means fewer of your purchases need a photo at all.

It might be. If you have no expense policy, no approvals and no supplier bills to pay, a scanning service may be all you need.

Keep comparing

More comparisons

The products people evaluate alongside Shoeboxed.

All Shoeboxed alternativesBest receipt scanner apps

The products that do the work.

Each product works on its own, and when you run two, the same record carries from the receipt to the ledger entry.

Get started

Ready to see it against Shoeboxed?

Bring one month of your own receipts and card transactions, and we'll show you the capture rate on both sides instead of a slide deck.

Book a demo