For a contractor, an expense is only half-recorded until you know which job it belongs to. Materials bought on the way to a site, a rented trailer, fuel and miles all need to land against the right project, or your job-cost reports will say a losing job made money.
The apps below fall into three groups: accounting and job-costing software that tracks costs by project, field-service tools your crew already uses on the job, and receipt and mileage apps that capture spending as it happens. We checked each one on the vendor's own website in September 2026 and only describe features the vendor lists.
If you want someone to keep those costs coded and reconciled each month, see our list of bookkeeping services for contractors in Boise or our page on bookkeeping for construction and trades.
How we chose these apps
- Sold to new customers in 2026, confirmed on the vendor's own site
- Lets you capture an expense from the field, by phone app, receipt photo or card feed
- Can tie costs to a job or project, or feeds software that can
- Connects to QuickBooks Online or exports records your bookkeeper can use
- Clear about who it is built for, from solo tradespeople to multi-crew builders
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online covers the basics without another app. The mobile app captures receipt photos and matches them to bank and card transactions, and it can track mileage automatically using your phone's location, with a swipe to mark trips as business or personal.
For job costing, Intuit lists project profitability tracking in the Plus plan, and Advanced adds what Intuit calls advanced project financials and a construction financials solution.
- Receipt capture that matches to downloaded transactions
- Automatic mileage tracking in the mobile app
- Project profitability tracking in Plus and Advanced
Worth knowing
- Project tracking is not in the lower tiers, so check the plan before relying on it
- Intuit's help pages say mileage tracking is tied to the primary admin's mobile app
Knowify
Knowify is job-management software for trade contractors such as electricians, plumbers, HVAC, painters and remodelers. It tracks expenses, payments, labor and projected profitability for each job, from bid through invoice.
It connects to QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop and Intuit Enterprise Suite, and its site lists pricing starting at $99/month as of September 23, 2026.
- Job costing with expenses, labor and payments per job
- QuickBooks Online and Desktop integration
- Built for commercial and residential trade contractors
Worth knowing
- More software than a solo operator tracking a few receipts needs
- Plan the QuickBooks sync with your bookkeeper so costs aren't entered twice
Buildertrend
Buildertrend is construction project-management software with a job-costing budget. Its help center describes uploading bills and receipts against jobs and matching a Buildertrend bill to a transaction in your bank feed.
With the QuickBooks Online integration, expenses entered in QuickBooks can be pulled onto the job-costing budget, and bills, invoices and time clock entries can be pushed to QuickBooks.
- Job-costing budget with actuals from QuickBooks
- Bills and receipts attached to jobs
- Two-way QuickBooks Online sync, plus a QuickBooks Desktop integration
Worth knowing
- A full project-management platform; worth it mainly if you'll use scheduling and client features too
- Pricing isn't shown on the pages we checked
Jobber
Jobber is field-service software for scheduling and invoicing. Its expense tracking lets your team log expenses from the field and see them in one place, with built-in expense reports that Jobber says help you prepare for payroll and cost jobs more accurately.
Jobber syncs clients, invoices, payments and timesheets one way to QuickBooks Online.
- Crew members log expenses from the field
- Built-in expense reports
- One-way sync to QuickBooks Online
Worth knowing
- Jobber's help pages we checked list invoices, payments and timesheets in the QuickBooks sync but not expenses, so confirm how expenses reach your books
- Best value if you already use Jobber for scheduling and invoicing
Expensify
Expensify scans receipts from the app, email or upload, tracks mileage and routes expenses through approval to reimbursement. That suits a contractor whose foremen buy materials on personal cards and need to be paid back.
Company plans start at $5 per member as listed on September 23, 2026, and Expensify integrates with QuickBooks Online and Xero.
- SmartScan receipt capture
- Mileage tracking
- Approval and reimbursement workflow
Worth knowing
- Coding each expense to a job depends on how you set up categories or classes with your bookkeeper
- Confirm current plan limits on Expensify's pricing page
Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense reads receipts with AI, offers GPS mileage tracking, and matches corporate card transactions to expenses. It integrates with QuickBooks, Zoho Books, Xero and Sage.
The free plan covers up to three users with a monthly receipt-scan limit per user, which can be enough for an owner and one or two crew leads.
- Free plan for up to three users
- GPS mileage tracking
- Corporate card feeds with automated matching
Worth knowing
- Card and approval features are in the paid plans
- Check scan limits against how many receipts your crew turns in
Ramp
Ramp issues corporate cards and handles the receipt side for you. Its free plan lists unlimited physical and virtual cards, automatic receipt collection and matching, and expense completion by text message or Slack, with QuickBooks Online and Xero integrations.
Giving each crew lead a card with its own limits keeps personal spending out of the business and puts a receipt next to every charge.
- Free plan with unlimited physical and virtual cards
- Receipts submitted by SMS and matched to card charges
- QuickBooks Online integration on the free plan
Worth knowing
- Cards require Ramp's credit approval
- The paid Plus plan is priced per user plus a platform fee
Everlance
Everlance tracks trips automatically by GPS and lets you swipe to mark them as work or personal. It can also link bank and card accounts to log and categorize expenses, and attach receipt photos.
It serves self-employed workers as well as businesses managing team reimbursements.
- Automatic GPS mileage tracking
- Linked bank and card accounts for expense logging
- Receipt photo capture
Worth knowing
- Aimed at mileage and expenses, not job costing
- Pricing wasn't shown on the homepage we checked
MileIQ
MileIQ does one thing: it records drives automatically and lets you classify them as business or personal with a swipe. It can auto-classify using work hours and named locations, and produces mileage reports.
Team plans let an admin review and approve drives, which is useful when crew members drive their own vehicles.
- Automatic drive detection
- Auto-classification by work hours and named locations
- Individual and team plans, with a free trial
Worth knowing
- Mileage only; receipts and job costs need another tool
- Check pricing on MileIQ's site, as it wasn't on the homepage we checked
How to choose
Pick the tool that matches where the job data already lives. If you estimate and invoice in Knowify, Buildertrend or Jobber, use its expense features first so costs sit next to the job. If QuickBooks Online is your only system, Plus with project tracking plus the mobile app may be all you need.
Add a card program or a receipt app when several people are spending money, and a mileage app when driving is a real cost.
- How many people buy materials or supplies?
- Do you need job-cost reports, or just clean categories?
- Which system is the source of truth for jobs and invoices?
- Will your bookkeeper connect to it, or re-key from it?
Getting costs onto the right job
Apps capture the spending, but job costing only works if every cost is coded to a job the same way each time. Set up a short list of jobs or projects, decide who codes receipts, and review the job-cost report each month before you close the books. Our article on job costing for contractors walks through the setup, and paying contractors and 1099 records covers subcontractor payments.
