We have spent some time looking around the web at the various receipt scanning software options on the market trying to determine what is the best receipt scanner software to help you get your finances in order.

We repeatedly came across three receipt scanning software options that work for individuals, families, businesses and organizations. When you scan receipts, software like this will allow you to create digital images of them and use optical character recognition (OCR) to make the text from them editable and searchable in their systems, which in turn helps you:

• Save space
• Reduce clutter
• Reduce paper and ink usage
• Securely store your data so that it is clear and legible, easily retrievable, private and protected from loss
• Watch your finances in order to stay on budget
• Always have the receipt you need on hand to make a return
• Share your data safely with others as necessary
• Make tax time easier and more effective
• Maintain a more efficient workforce
• Save money in a variety of ways, almost certainly paying for itself many times over

But the different receipt scanning software providers accomplish all of this in somewhat different ways, each with its pros and cons.

Let’s take a look at each of these options so that you can consider which, if any, might best meet your needs. The information here is as provided by the companies about their products and services.

Neat

Neat offers a bundled scanning hardware/receipt scanning software integration with several options. They offer both desktop and mobile versions of their stylish scanner along with their proprietary “digital filing cabinet” software and you can get either bundle for Windows or Mac.

(Note: Links in this section will show you the products discussed on Amazon)

Their desktop scanner uses Automatic Document Feeder technology, featuring a special input tray, to carry out batch scanning. It can also do two-sided scanning in one pass.

Their mobile scanner is designed for very convenient portability. It weighs under a pound and requires only a USB cable for both data and power so you don’t need to carry batteries for it.

Neat also sells accessories like protective cases to protect your mobile scanner on the go and items to maintain your scanner in good working order.

You can also get Neat’s receipt scanning software on its own for use with other compatible scanners.

Once you scan your receipts using either their desktop or mobile scanner or your own compatible scanner, their software does two things:

• Saves an image of your receipt
• Extracts the text from your receipt using “Intelligent Text Recognition” technology to parse the data into its digital filing system, automatically placing each piece of information, such as the vendor, date, price, location of purchase, payment method and so on into the proper field.

With the images and data now securely in your digital filing cabinet, you can then:

• Modify the data or add any notes
• Assign tax categories and link tax-related information to receipts
• Use both simple and advanced search capabilities to find whatever you need
• Export data to Excel, PDF, Quicken, Quickbooks, Turbo Tax and other programs
• Create expense reports

In addition, Neat’s Mac versions of its receipts scanning software are designed to integrate seamlessly with Mac and its OS, allowing you to drag and drop information from within Neat, use Spotlight and move documents into Neat from drop down menus throughout the OS.

As a bonus, you can also scan – including batch scan if using their desktop scanner – and make editable and searchable any combination of other types of documents. Neat’s software will recognize which type of document is being scanned and respond appropriately.

Its software even includes a special module for digitizing, storing and using business cards, including compatibility with Outlook or vCards.

Neat is always updating and improving their receipt scanning software based on feedback. And they also offer online community and customer support if you have questions.

OfficeDrop

If you want to scan your receipts directly from your scanner or mobile device to storage in the cloud that you can access from anywhere on multiple devices, OfficeDrop is an option you will want to consider.

OfficeDrop does not sell scanners. They just provide receipt scanning software that works with your own scanner or mobile device and an account where your data is stored for you.

When you sign up with OfficeDrop, you will get software that works with many types of scanners on both Windows and Mac and an OfficeDrop account.

• On Windows – OfficeDrop’s desktop software enables you to scan right from your scanner into your account without opening a web browser.
• On Mac – You can use their ScanDrop scanning software to scan directly into the cloud and it also integrates with Evernote, Google Docs, Dropbox and Gmail, in addition to your OfficeDrop account.
• On Your Mobile Device – You can use one of OfficeDrop’s apps which allow you to use your device’s camera to image your documents.

So you will scan your receipts with your own scanner or mobile device and OfficeDrop will help you align the scanned images.

The images will then be transmitted securely in encrypted form into your OfficeDrop account, transformed into searchable PDF’s and stored safely on their servers. OfficeDrop also boasts of several security measures they take to protect and ensure the privacy of your stored data.

OfficeDrop will also provide you with a dedicated email address so that you can email scanned images into the system.

Once uploaded, OfficeDrop’s OCR technology will digitize the text of your receipts.

You can then add any notes you wish to each document.

You can organize them in folders and add tags and labels that are all searchable.

Since your data is stored in the cloud, you will be able to easily access and work with it from anywhere with an Internet connection. And, in addition to helping you scan receipts with your mobile device, OfficeDrop’s apps allow you to work optimally with the data in your account from various mobile devices, as well.

OfficeDrop offers several free and paid plans based on options including your number of users, storage and file size limits, amount of pages you can upload and have OCR performed on each month and your support level.

Shoeboxed

If you want to avoid the hassle of scanning and uploading your receipts by yourself, Shoeboxed looks like a very interesting option.

They offer a service where they will do all of this for you. Here is how it works:

• You simply send them your documents by mail in special envelopes that they pay for and track.
• They will then scan these documents and enter the data in organized form into your online account for you.
• You can then have them send your receipts back to you in the mail or shred them, whichever you prefer.

You are also welcome to scan or image your receipts yourself and send the digital files to Shoeboxed electronically for entry into your account.

However you choose to go about it, you get the peace of mind of knowing not only that your documents are placed in your account, but that Shoeboxed’s staff will have verified that all of the data is entered correctly

You can then access the data in your account from anywhere you can get online.

• It is categorized and searchable.
• You can download reports, PDF’s and spreadsheets.
• You an import data into various financial programs like Quickbooks, Salesforce and others.

Choose the Right Receipt Scanning Software for You!

All of this description is just based on our study of available information about each of these companies. No matter which one you decide offers the best scanning software to meet your needs, receipt scanning software provides tremendous benefits. And with several options to choose from, you should certainly be able to find one that works for you.