Choosing the ideal receipt management software for your business is essential whether you’re self-employed or a business owner. Gone are the days of dreading keeping records of receipts one by one and keeping track of all your spending. Nowadays, many programs and software are available for just that! On the fence about which business receipt apps to try? In this article, we break down Shoeboxed vs. Dext Prepare, two of the best receipt trackers on the market. If you’re looking for a Dext Prepare alternative or are simply interested in what both software has to offer, read on!

What is Dext Prepare?

Dext Prepare is a cloud-based finance software designed to help businesses streamline their financial operations. It provides a range of tools and features to help businesses manage their accounts, budget and cash flow, as well as track and analyze financial performance. It also offers modules for accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and more.

dext dashboard

Dext Prepare’s receipt tracking dashboard, DEXT

What is Shoeboxed?

Shoeboxed provides a combination of receipt scanning service and receipt management software. It was designed with entrepreneurs, small business owners, independent contractors, bookkeepers, and accountants in mind. Aside from an iOS and Android app that allows you to capture receipts on the go, it also provides a receipt scanning service that allows you to send your receipts in a postage-paid envelope (within the US). Then they will magically scan all your receipts for you in their processing center and upload them to your preferred accounting software or storage.

shoeboxed dashboard

Shoeboxed’s receipt tracking dashboard, Shoeboxed

Turn receipts into data for tax time ✨

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Shoeboxed vs. Dext Prepare: An overview

When it comes to receipt tracking, Shoeboxed and Dext Prepare both deliver. Both software uses OCR to extract important information from your receipts. Additionally, they both can sort by vendor, compute sum totals, organize by date, and can segregate by expense category. They also help digitize and upload receipts to your preferred software or cloud storage. 

Shoeboxed does have one feature that Dext Prepare doesn’t have. If you have a backlog of receipts and don’t have the time to scan them, you can use the postage-paid Magic Envelope to send them postage-free to Shoeboxed’s processing facility.

Use Shoeboxed’s Magic Envelope to mail your receipts in to be processed

Outsource receipt scanning with Shoeboxed’s postage-paid envelopes.

The receipts will be scanned by Shoeboxed, converted into well-organized digital data, and uploaded to your account. This unique service is extremely useful for small business owners or freelancers who have to handle a lot of work independently. By doing this, you can free yourself from paperwork and focus on improving your business operations. 

Magic Envelope, Shoeboxed

Additionally, Shoeboxed ensures that your digital receipts are audit-ready and human-verified. In the event of an audit, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will accept your receipts because they have been accurately scanned, categorized, and approved. For independent contractors and business owners during tax season, Shoeboxed is a great choice.

On the other hand, Dext Prepare has a plan specifically targeting accounting or bookkeeping firms managing clients. This feature lets you automate document collection for your clients.

Side-by-side comparison chart: Shoeboxed vs. Dext Prepare

To help you better visualize the differences between the two platforms, here’s a handy side-by-side comparison chart:

Shoeboxed

Dext

Overview

Shoeboxed provides an easy way to track and digitize receipts, maximize tax deductions, and prepare audit-ready reports for freelancers and business owners. 

Dext Prepare is a receipt tracking software that helps you organize and standardize your receipts in a digital format. 

Platforms Supported

iOs, Android, and Web. 

iOs, Android, and Web. 

Best for

Freelancers, business owners, bookkeepers, and accountants. 

Businesses needing robust capabilities. Bookkeeping and accounting firms. 

Features

• Capture receipts through phone uploads or send in email copies.

• Mail receipts to our processing facility with the pre-paid Magic Envelope service. 

• Use optical character recognition (OCR) combined with human data verification.

• Turn receipts into data. 

• Create expense reports. 

• Be audit ready! 

• Upload your receipts and invoices to the mobile app, email, or auto-invoice fetch.

• Obtain real-time monitoring of reports. 

• Use optical character recognition (OCR) AI technology that is 99% reliable.

Third-party integrations

• Quickbooks

• Xero Add On

• Evernote

• Working Point

Bench

• Get My Invoices

• Sky Clerk

• Wave Accounting

• Right Signature

• Tea Spiller

• Scan Snap

• One Price Taxes

• HP

• ABBY

• Bill.com

• Free Agent

• Gusto

• Iris

• Myob

• Twinfield

• Workflow Max

• Kashflow

• Tripcatcher

Interface

Shoeboxed’s interface is simple yet intuitive. It was built to be user-friendly for all types of users to simplify your receipt tracking process.

Dext Prepare’s interface is sleek and smooth with robust features for bookkeeping. Although admittedly, it can get intimidating and overwhelming with all of its tools and analytics.

Pricing

• The Startup: $18

• The Professional: $36

• The Business: $54

Digital Only subscriptions are available from Shoeboxed’s mobile app:

• Digital Only Starter: $4.99

• Lite Plan: $9.99

• Pro Plan: $19.99

• Business Plus: $22

• Premium: $43

• Enterprise: $64 Accounting or Bookkeeping Firm Plan: 

• Streamline 10: $189.99

• Streamline 20: $318.99

• Streamline 50: $658.99 

Trial

30-day free trial on all subscriptions. 

14-Day free trial on Accounting or Bookkeeping firm plans.

Side-by-side comparison: Shoeboxed vs. Dext Prepare

Shoeboxed pros and cons

Pros

  • Outsource receipt scanning. Enjoy Shoeboxed’s Magic Envelope scanning service, and never bother about scanning receipts again. 

  • AI data extraction paired with a human data verification team means 100% accurate expense tracking.

  • Every Shoeboxed subscription comes with unlimited file storage and unlimited sub-users—no need to be limited with your subscription. This feature means you can add your bookkeeper or accountant as a sub-user to your account. Or, bookkeepers and accountants can include multiple clients within their account.

Cons

  • Shoeboxed does not offer budgeting features within its dashboard.

Dext Prepare pros and cons

Pros

  • Integrates with many accounting software.

  • Largely accurate OCR scanning.

  • Performs a number of accounting tasks beyond receipt storage.

Cons

  • The software is quite expensive compared to other document preparation tools.

  • The accompanying mobile app has limited in features.

How does Shoeboxed compare to other receipt scanner apps?

Shoeboxed

Expensify

Dext

Rydoo

Neat

Wave

Quickbooks

Capterra rating

4.4

4.5

4.2

4.4

4

4.4

4.3

Physical receipts

✔️

Digital receipts

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Document storage

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Unlimited free users

✔️

✔️

Mileage tracker

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Expense reports

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Human verification

✔️

✔️

Automatic categorization

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Business contacts organizer

✔️

✔️

✔️

iOS app

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Android app

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Free version

✔️

✔️

✔️

Free trial

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Credit card reconciliation

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

✔️

Starting price per month

$18

$5

$30

$9

$200

$16

$18

Stop doing manual data entry 🛑

Outsource receipt scanning to Shoeboxed’s scanning service and free up your time for good. 30-day full money-back guarantee! ✨

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Frequently asked questions

Is Shoeboxed free?

Shoeboxed offers a DIY plan for free. However, you’ll have to manually extract and validate all the data from your scanned receipts on your web-based account. The good news is that Shoeboxed has affordable options, such as the Digital Only Starter Plan for $4.99, which grants you 25 automatically processed documents each month. They also offer the first 30-days of any paid plan for free. You can cancel anytime within the 30-day free trial period to see if it is right for you.

Is Dext Prepare free?

No, Dext Prepare is not free. It is a subscription-based service that charges a monthly fee.


What’s a good Dext Prepare alternative for receipt tracking?

While Dext Prepare is a solid choice for large accounting or bookkeeping firms, Shoeboxed is a great Dext Prepare alternative for freelancers and business owners who want to outsource receipt scanning or who are looking for a robust business expenses management system.

Shoeboxed's official homepage

Shoeboxed’s homepage

About Shoeboxed!

Shoeboxed is a receipt scanning service with receipt management software that supports multiple methods for receipt capture: send, scan, upload, forward, and more!

You can stuff your receipts into one of our Magic Envelopes (prepaid postage within the US). Use our receipt tracker + receipt scanner app (iPhone, iPad and Android) to snap a picture while on the go. Auto-import receipts from Gmail. Or forward a receipt to your designated Shoeboxed email address.

Turn your receipts into data and deductibles with our expense reports that include IRS-accepted receipt images.

Join over 1 million businesses scanning & organizing receipts, creating expense reports and more—with Shoeboxed.

Try Shoeboxed today!