Best Expense Management Apps for UK Small Businesses 2025

What to look for in an expense app

Before comparing tools, it helps to know what actually matters for a UK small business:

• HMRC compliance — does it capture and store the right data for tax purposes?
• Receipt scanning accuracy — manual data entry defeats the purpose
• Approval workflows — for teams, you need more than just capture
• Accounting integrations — Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage are the UK standards
• Reimbursement — how quickly do employees actually get paid back?
• Price — enterprise tools charge per seat per month; that adds up fast

1. Claimio — Best for UK teams wanting AI-powered simplicity

Claimiois built specifically for UK small businesses. Employees snap a receipt on their phone, and AI extracts the merchant, amount, date, and category automatically. Claims route to the right approver, and approved expenses are reimbursed directly to the employee's bank via Stripe — no manual bank transfers required.

Key features:

• AI receipt scanning with automatic categorisation
• Multi-level approval workflows
• Stripe-powered automated reimbursements
• Mileage tracking at HMRC approved rates
• Xero, QuickBooks, and Sage exports
• AI expense assistant chatbot
• 7-day free trial on every account

Pricing: Pro £19.99/mo · Business £49.99/mo (7-day free trial included)

Best for: UK small businesses and growing teams who want a modern, mobile-first solution without the enterprise price tag.

2. Expensify — Best for frequent travellers

Expensify has been around since 2008 and is well-established in the US. Its SmartScan receipt feature is strong, and it has good credit card integrations. However, pricing has increased significantly and UK-specific features — like HMRC mileage rates — require manual configuration.

Pricing: From $5/user/month (billed in USD)

Watch out for: The pricing is per user, which gets expensive quickly for larger teams. Customer support response times can be slow.

3. Pleo — Best for card-based spending control

Pleo issues smart company cards to employees and captures receipts at the point of purchase. This works well if you want to control spending before it happens rather than reimburse after. The trade-off is that employees need a Pleo card — it does not work for personal card spending.

Pricing: From £45/mo for 3 users (Starter)

Watch out for: You're locked into Pleo's card infrastructure. Not ideal if employees prefer using their own cards or if you have occasional contractors.

4. Soldo — Best for multi-currency teams

Soldo is another prepaid card solution, strong on multi-currency support and spending limits per card. Finance teams get good real-time visibility. Like Pleo, it requires employees to use Soldo cards — personal card reimbursement is not its strength.

Pricing: From £21/mo

Best for: Businesses with employees travelling internationally or spending across multiple currencies.

5. Receipt Bank (Dext) — Best for accountants

Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) is primarily designed for accountants managing multiple clients rather than businesses managing their own expenses. It excels at document capture and accounting integrations but lacks the employee-facing workflow features that modern teams need.

Pricing: From £18/mo

Best for: Accounting firms and bookkeepers. Less ideal as a standalone tool for an SME.

Comparison table

The bottom line

For most UK small businesses, the right tool depends on one key question: do you want to control spending before it happens (use a card solution like Pleo or Soldo), or do you want to capture and reimburse after the fact (use Claimio or Expensify)?

If your employees pay on personal cards and you want fast, accurate reimbursements without a finance team, Claimio is the strongest option in 2025 — with a 7-day free trial that lets you get started immediately.