If you’re a Lyft or Uber driver, you already know how important it is to track your work-related mileage and expenses.
You need that information to appease the IRS gods come tax return time and to make sure you’re squeezing out every last penny in deductions.
But rideshare drivers aren’t the only people eligible for mileage tax deductions. If you drive your personal vehicle for other kinds of paid work or use it for charitable, moving or medical purposes, you may also qualify for a standard mileage rate deduction.
6 Free Mileage Tracker Apps We Love
Back in the old days, tracking mileage meant pulling a crumpled notebook out of the glove box and hoping your pen wasn’t out of ink.
But now there’s an app for everything — including ones that automatically track mileage for you.
Here are our favorites.
1. Everlance
This versatile app not only tracks your mileage but also helps you keep track of all your other business expenses.
Everlance starts and stops automatically. It detects when your car starts moving and records the miles you drive. With a quick swipe of your finger, you can categorize each trip as work-related or personal. You can also set your work hours, automatically classifying drives during those hours as business trips.
There are three pricing tiers:
- Basic: Pay nothing to track 30 automatic trips a month. You’ll also get unlimited receipt uploads and IRS-compliant reports.
- Premium: For $5 a month billed annually or $8 a month billed monthly, you’ll get unlimited automatic trips a month. You’ll also be able to sync your credit and debit cards, receive PDF and Excel reports and get a deduction finder, among other features.
- Premium+: For $10 a month billed annually or $12 a month billed monthly, you’ll get all the features of the Premium level, plus individual training with an account manager and customer support.
2. Stride
Stride is a free app that runs in the background, quietly logging every mile you drive and then generates an IRS-ready report that you can use to do your taxes.
Stride is available at iTunes and Google Play.
3. TripLog
TripLog has eight different options for tracking miles. There are three pricing options, all of which come with a 30-day free trial:
- Lite: This free, manual option is for a single user and tracks up to 40 trips a month, as well as tolls and parking. It is only available as an app, not on the web.
- Premium: This option is for up to 10 users and costs $4.99 per user per month or $59.99 if billed annually. It is available both as an app and on the web and automatically tracks trips. You can also add expenses like fuel and meal costs.
- Premium + Time: This option is for up to 10 users and costs $6.67 per user month or $79.99 billed annually. In addition to the features of the Premium plan, it includes time tracking, a clock-in/clock-out timesheet and and more.
TripLog is available at iTunes and Google Play.
4. Hurdlr
Hurdlr tracks mileage, expenses, income and tax deductions. The three pricing options are:
- Free: This version includes unlimited mileage tracking, as well as the ability to add income and expenses. It also provides a tax calculations summary and a feature to export or email reports.
- Premium: For $5 a month billed annually or $8 a month billed monthly, you’ll get unlimited mileage tracking, as well as expense tracking and income tracking. You’ll also get calculations for state and self-employment taxes.
- Pro: This option costs $10 per month billed annually. On top of the Premium features, you’ll get annual tax filing, as well invoicing, accounting, advanced accounting and more.
Hurdlr connects to thousands of financial institutions, allowing users to link their Hurdlr account to their bank or credit union. Every time you get paid, Hurdlr sends you a real-time notification.It also integrates with Uber, Square, Freshbooks, Stripe and Paypal to automatically import expenses and income.
Hurdlr is available on iTunes and Google Play.
5. MileIQ
MileIQ includes a free version that tracks 40 trips per month. You can also choose one of two unlimited options: The first, which costs $5.99 per month and includes unlimited mileage tracking, is said to be best for occasional driving. The second costs $4.99 per month or $59.99 billed annually, and includes automatic mileage logging for those who drive more often.
Like other mileage tracking apps, MileIQ automatically captures your drives and delivers a comprehensive mileage log whenever you need it. You can classify your drives into categories like business, personal or charity and then simply swipe with your thumb to assign them to the correct list — or let MileIQ do it automatically.
MileIQ is available on iTunes and Google Play.
6. Mileage Expense Log
Mileage Expense Log is a free app. It stands out for its included rate book that allows users to quickly check mileage rates. As long as you keep your phone’s GPS turned on, Mileage Expense Log automatically tracks and logs all your drives.
If you’re a number cruncher, you’ll enjoy sorting data by date, purpose or even vehicle. Or you can export your entire database as HTML or CSV.
Mileage Expense Log is only available for iOS on iTunes and includes support for Apple Watch.
Lisa McGreevy is a former staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.
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