Best expense and receipt tracking apps for Canadian sole props

Canadian sole props do not need a US expense suite. They need a photo of the supplier invoice that will still satisfy CRA when they claim an input tax credit, a CAD total, and a GST/HST amount they can tie to a return. A receipt app that only stores JPEGs is a shoebox with extra steps.

This comparison is the honest Canada shortlist: Wave (Toronto-founded, free until receipts), FreshBooks, QuickBooks Online Canada, Xero with Hubdoc, Dext (public CAD), and Expensify (USD list, CAD billing not published). Expense and receipt-app prices checked against public vendor and CRA pages, 6 September 2026. Buttons are official marketing URLs, not affiliate trackers. Wave still has no publisher program here.

Ledgers in more depth: best accounting software for Canada. Wave vs FreshBooks (invoices and receipts together): FreshBooks vs Wave. You cannot claim ITCs without an RT account: how to register for GST/HST in Canada. If the pain is sending invoices, not snapping lunches: invoicing software for Canadian freelancers. Billable hours before that invoice: time tracking for Canadian freelancers.

What CRA actually wants on the paper

Software does not invent an ITC. CRA’s information rules scale with the amount. Under $100: supplier name, date, total amount. $100 to $499.99: plus GST/HST amount or included-rate statement, supply status if mixed, and GST/HST registration number. $500 or more: plus buyer name, brief description, and terms of payment. Official: CRA ITC information requirements.

You also need to be a GST/HST registrant before those credits matter. Small-supplier threshold: $30,000 in taxable supplies. Official: when to register. Registration walkthrough: how to register for GST/HST in Canada.

Snapshot (public pages, 6 September 2026)

Wave — free books, paid camera

Starter is still $0 for unlimited estimates, invoices, bills, and bookkeeping records you enter. That is why it belongs on an honest Canadian expense page. Digital receipt capture is the upsell: $11/month or $96/year on Starter (add-on) on Starter. Pro is $25 CAD/month or $250 CAD/year (same page also shows US$19/month on the same public pricing page (USD display beside CAD)) and lists unlimited digital receipts as included. Bank auto-import is Pro. Source: https://www.waveapps.com/pricing.

Wave’s pricing footnotes: prices do not include applicable tax. Confirm GST/HST on the Pro bill at checkout. Advisors (outsourced bookkeeping) starts at $149/$199 per month on that page and footnotes that mobile receipts are not included — currency on that Advisors line is not clearly labelled CAD on the retrieve, so this page does not treat it as a CAD SKU.

Wave vs FreshBooks as a whole product: FreshBooks vs Wave.

FreshBooks — expenses on Lite, scans from Plus

Regular Canadian prices on 6 September 2026: Lite $26 CAD/month, Plus $42 CAD/month, Premium $72 CAD/month. The page was also showing 90% off for three months. Budget the “was” price. Unlimited expenses and real-time expense tracking listed on every marketed plan. Expense receipt scanning listed from Plus. Bill receipt scanning with line items listed from Premium; Select lists automatic multi-line bill capture. Source: https://www.freshbooks.com/en-ca/pricing.

Lite is five billable clients. If you only need a receipt camera and you invoice six people, you are already on Plus for invoicing anyway. Mileage tracking is on the Canadian compare. FreshBooks still does not file the GST/HST return.

QuickBooks Online Canada — snap inside the ledger

Intuit Canada markets receipt capture as part of QuickBooks Online, not as a Wave-style $11 add-on. Official CA receipt-scanner and expense-tracker pages: snap receipts in the mobile app; Intuit AI extracts data and matches or creates an expense. The CA pricing FAQ says the mobile app (including receipt capture) is included with the subscription — no separate public receipt-add-on price. Sources: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ca/receipt-scanner/, https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ca/expense-tracker/, https://quickbooks.intuit.com/ca/pricing/.

Plan dollars on the public Canada pages we already cite: EasyStart $30 CAD/month, Plus $110 CAD/month, Advanced $220 CAD/month. Listed on Intuit Canada marketing pages with 90% intro offers. Confirm live rates at quickbooks.intuit.com/ca/pricing/. EasyStart is the usual sole-prop seat. If your bookkeeper already lives here, do not buy Dext just to avoid opening the QBO app.

Xero + Hubdoc — capture included on Canadian plans

Hubdoc / Smart Document Capture is included on Xero Starter, Standard, and Premium while connected to the Xero subscription (xero.com/ca/pricing-plans footnote ††, 6 September 2026) Regular plan prices: $25 CAD/month, $60 CAD/month, $80 CAD/month. Prices exclude GST/HST Starter still caps you at 20 invoices, 5 bills. Employee expense and mileage claims optional add-on from $5 CAD/month on the same Canadian pricing page — that is employee claims, not Hubdoc. Source: https://www.xero.com/ca/pricing-plans/.

Hubdoc is the Xero-shaped answer to “I need bills in the file.” It is not a reason to leave Wave if you do not have a Xero subscription. Official Hubdoc marketing: Hubdoc.

Dext — public CAD, document volume

Dext’s Canadian business pricing page (6 September 2026) prints $31.50 CAD/month billed annually ($378 CAD/year). CAD, excludes GST (dext.com/ca/business/pricing). 250 documents/month and 5 users on the public slider starting point. Included credits listed: 10 bank-statement extraction sheets, 5 line-item documents, 5 supplier-statement extractions. Over-limit uploads may store without extraction until the next bill or an upgrade. Free trial; no payment details required up front (pricing FAQ) Source: https://dext.com/ca/business/pricing.

Add-on prices on the same page include Commerce Lite from $10/month, Vault extra storage from $4/month, line-item and supplier-statement extraction from $28.50/month or pay-as-you-go. Confirm whether those add-on dollars are CAD at checkout — the base plan is labelled CAD. Dext is a capture and coding layer that syncs to a ledger. It is not your GST/HST return and not a free Wave replacement. Buy it when document volume or an accountant’s workflow is the job — not because a US blog said “everyone uses Receipt Bank.”

Expensify — relevant, not a CAD list

Expensify is the name Canadian teams hear for reimbursements. Expensify’s June 2025 international blog lists localized billing in USD, GBP, EUR, AUD, and NZD, and says Canadian Dollar billing is coming soon. The public expensify.com/pricing page retrieved 6 September 2026 is an in-app screen and did not print a CAD plan table. This site does not invent a CAD SKU. Official June 2025 blog: US$5 per member (USD billing example) Sources: https://use.expensify.com/blog/expensify-international-expansion-2025, https://www.expensify.com/pricing.

Expensify Help documents Global Reimbursement for a Canadian business bank account with workspace currency set to CAD. That is reimbursement plumbing, not a published CAD subscription price. Source: https://help.expensify.com/articles/expensify-classic/bank-accounts-and-payments/payments/Global-Reimbursement-Canada.html. The same 2025 blog says the Expensify Card is in beta in the UK/EU, with Canada coming soon. Do not treat the US commercial card as a Canadian product.

For a one-person Smithville sole prop, Expensify is usually the wrong first buy. Wave Pro or QBO EasyStart will hold receipts and the books together. Use Expensify when you are reimbursing people and you accept a USD subscription invoice.

A practical pick

1. Few receipts, you will type them, no staff: Wave Starter at $0.
2. The camera roll is the books: Wave Pro at $25 CAD/month, not FreshBooks Lite.
3. Already invoicing in FreshBooks and you have (or will have) more than five clients: Plus for Expense receipt scanning listed from Plus.
4. Bookkeeper in QBO: stay; use the included receipt snap. Ledger compare: accounting software for Canada.
5. Already on Xero: Hubdoc is included. Add Dext only if the accountant asks for it.
6. Need an RT account before any of these ITCs matter: GST/HST registration.
7. Need to send the sales invoice, not store the purchase receipt: invoicing software. Hours on that invoice: time tracking.