Best Mileage Tracking Apps for 2026: 8 Compared for the Self-Employed

The best mileage tracking app for most self-employed drivers is one that logs every business trip without you remembering to start it, and produces a log the IRS will accept. For miles only, MileIQ and TripLog do that well. If you also need to keep the gas, parking and toll receipts that go with the miles, pick an app that does both, which is where SparkReceipt fits.

Every business mile is worth 76 cents in deductions from July 2026 (72.5 cents for the first half of the year, per the IRS mileage rate). At 10,000 miles, that's $7,600 off your taxable income, but only if the log holds up.

A disclosure before the list: SparkReceipt is our product. Every competitor price below was checked on the vendor's own pricing page, or its App Store listing where the website doesn't show prices, on 22 October 2026. Each app gets the job it does best, and where another app beats us, we say so. If you drive for an employer and claim the miles back, the mileage tracker for work trips page covers that side.

Our picks at a glance (October 2026)

• Best for simple, automatic mileage-only tracking: MileIQ
• Best free automatic tracking: TripLog
• Best for mileage and expenses on a budget: Everlance
• Best for drivers outside the US too: Driversnote
• Best completely free app for gig workers: Stride
• Best for rebuilding a past mileage log: MileageWise
• Best for real-time tax estimates (legacy app): Hurdlr
• Best for mileage plus receipts, statements and reports in one app: SparkReceipt

Quick comparison: best mileage tracker apps 2026

Prices in US dollars, checked 22 October 2026. "Automatic" means the app detects drives on its own; "car connect" means a trip starts when your phone connects to your car; "manual start" means you tap to begin each trip.

How we picked the best mileage tracking app for each job

We judged each app on the things that decide whether a mileage deduction survives:

• Does it catch every trip? Automatic drive detection is the difference between a complete log and a log with gaps. Apps that need a tap to start depend on your memory.
• Is the log IRS-ready? For each business trip the IRS asks for the mileage, the date, the destination and the business purpose, plus your total miles for the year, which start- and end-of-year odometer readings show. See IRS mileage log requirements.
• What does the free plan really include? Several free plans cap trips or hold back the report you need at tax time.
• What about the rest of the car costs? Gas, parking, tolls and repairs are separate records. An app that keeps them next to the trips saves a second system.
• Price for a year of driving, at list price, without introductory offers.

The 8 best mileage tracker apps for 2026

1. MileIQ: best for simple, automatic mileage tracking

Best for: drivers who only need miles, logged without thinking about it.

MileIQ runs in the background, detects each drive, and lets you swipe it business or personal. At tax time it produces a mileage report for your accountant. It does one job and does it reliably.

Pricing (checked 22 October 2026): free for 40 drives a month; Unlimited is $13.99 a month, or $11.66 a month billed annually.

Pros:

• Reliable automatic drive detection
• One-swipe classification

Cons:

• Mileage only: no receipts, expenses or statements
• The free plan's 40 drives run out fast for daily drivers

Tracking receipts as well? See how SparkReceipt compares to MileIQ.

2. TripLog: best free automatic tracking

Best for: drivers who want automatic tracking without a subscription.

Since January 2025, TripLog's Basic plan includes unlimited automatic GPS tracking for free, along with trip classification and basic expense tracking. The catch is the reports: on the free plan you can download them only during one 7-day Premium Pass a year, which resets on 1 January. Premium adds unlimited reports, receipt scanning, bank and card sync, and QuickBooks Online and Concur connections.

Pricing (checked 22 October 2026): Basic is free; Premium is $59.99 a year (shown as $4.99 a month, billed annually). The pricing page shows a SOC 2 Type II badge.

Pros:

• Unlimited automatic tracking on the free plan
• Team and fleet features

Cons:

• Free reports only during a 7-day window each year
• Receipt scanning only on Premium

3. Everlance: best for mileage and expenses on a budget

Best for: self-employed drivers who want miles and expenses in one place.

Everlance detects drives automatically and lets you classify them with a swipe. It also tracks expenses, from receipt uploads on the free plan to automatic expense tracking on Professional, and produces IRS-compliant mileage logs.

Pricing (checked 22 October 2026): Basic is free with 30 automatically detected trips a month and unlimited manual trips. Starter is $10.99 a month or $89.99 a year with unlimited automatic detection. Professional is $119.99 a year and adds automatic expense tracking, a deduction finder, 1099 filing and audit defense.

Pros:

• Miles and expenses together
• A usable free plan

Cons:

• No AI receipt reading on the lower plans
• No bank statement extraction

Everlance vs MileIQ

The two most compared apps solve slightly different problems. MileIQ is the simpler mileage-only tracker, with 40 free drives a month and $11.66 a month billed annually for unlimited. Everlance tracks expenses too, gives 30 automatic trips a month free, and its Starter plan costs $89.99 a year, below MileIQ's annual price. If you only need miles, MileIQ's simplicity is worth paying for. If you also want expenses in the same app, Everlance costs less and does more.

4. Driversnote: best for drivers outside the US too

Best for: drivers who need logs for more than one tax authority, or who want hardware-based detection.

Driversnote produces mileage reports for the IRS, CRA, HMRC and ATO, which suits anyone who drives in more than one country. Its optional iBeacon sits in the car and tells the app when you get in and out, which avoids false trips from GPS alone. The iBeacon is free with the annual plan.

Pricing (checked 22 October 2026): free for 15 trips a month; Pro is about $11 a month on the website. In the US App Store, Pro is $14 a month or $150 a year, so it is cheaper to subscribe on the web.

Pros:

• Logs for several countries' tax rules
• iBeacon option for accurate detection

Cons:

• Mileage only
• Prices differ between the website and the App Store

5. Stride: best completely free app for gig workers

Best for: rideshare and delivery drivers who want a free log and nothing more.

Stride is free with no paid tier; it earns from health insurance referrals. It logs mileage and expenses and produces IRS-ready mileage logs. Its App Store listing says 2.6 million people use it and advertises GPS mileage tracking with reminders so you don't miss a drive.

Pricing (checked 22 October 2026): free.

Pros:

• Completely free
• IRS-ready logs and expense logging

Cons:

• Insurance offers sit alongside the tax features
• English-language app only

6. MileageWise: best for rebuilding a past mileage log

Best for: anyone who needs to reconstruct a log for months they didn't track.

MileageWise tracks trips automatically and also builds a past mileage log from your calendar, GPS history and known routes, with audit-preparation tools on top. A reconstructed log is weaker than one kept at the time, so use it to fill gaps, not as your main method.

Pricing (checked 22 October 2026): no free plan, a 14-day trial, then $69.99 a year in the US App Store (monthly from $8.99). Its website also sells one-time log reconstruction packages.

Pros:

• Rebuilds past logs from data you already have
• Exports to PDF, Excel and CSV

Cons:

• No free plan
• Reconstructed logs carry more audit risk than contemporaneous ones

7. Hurdlr: best for real-time tax estimates (legacy app)

Best for: existing users who like seeing estimated taxes update as income comes in.

Hurdlr combines mileage, income and expense tracking with real-time quarterly tax estimates. The company behind it now trades as Tight and focuses on an accounting API for other businesses, and the consumer app's last App Store update was in September 2025. It still works, but weigh that before you build your records on it.

Pricing (checked 22 October 2026): free with semi-automatic mileage; Premium is $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year with automatic mileage and real-time tax estimates.

Pros:

• Real-time tax estimates
• Income, expenses and miles together

Cons:

• The company's focus has moved away from the consumer app
• Automatic mileage only on Premium

8. SparkReceipt: best for mileage plus receipts in one app

Best for: self-employed people who want the trips, the receipts behind the car costs, and the rest of the bookkeeping paperwork in one place.

SparkReceipt is an AI expense tracker with a mileage tracker built in. You record trips by GPS (start, pause and stop each one) or by hand, and on Elite a trip can start by itself when your phone connects to your car over Bluetooth or CarPlay. You classify them business or personal, and set a reimbursement rate per vehicle. The gas, parking and toll receipts sit in the same app, read by AI from a photo or an email. Trip reports export as a PDF mileage log, CSV or Excel, and Elite adds a Schedule C worksheet that lists your business trips. New US accounts start with the current IRS business rate as the default, but you set the rate yourself and it doesn't change when the IRS does, so update it after the July 2026 increase.

Pricing: Pro from $5.75/month billed annually, with mileage, receipt scanning for 50 documents a month and bank statement matching. Elite from $10.75/month billed annually adds unlimited documents (fair use), line items and the Schedule C export. Both include 1 user, a free accountant seat and a 7-day free trial.

Pros:

• Trips and car receipts in the same app
• PDF, CSV and Excel trip reports
• Suggests trips from the meetings in your phone's calendar
• Business trips listed on a Schedule C worksheet on Elite

Cons:

• No motion-based drive detection: hands-free starts need Elite and a car your phone connects to over Bluetooth or CarPlay
• Trips record distances, not odometer readings, so keep your start- and end-of-year odometer readings yourself
• Paid only, with a 7-day trial

The best free mileage tracker app

Each free plan stops somewhere different:

• TripLog: unlimited automatic tracking, but reports only during one 7-day pass a year.
• Stride: fully free, logs mileage and expenses.
• MileIQ: automatic, but only 40 drives a month.
• Everlance: 30 automatic trips a month and unlimited manual ones.
• Driversnote: 15 trips a month.
• QuickBooks Solopreneur: its Free plan tracks 5 trips a month.

For a driver doing a handful of business trips a month, MileIQ or Everlance free is enough. For daily driving, TripLog's free tracking with a yearly report window is the strongest free option, as long as you remember to use the pass before your return is due.

What to look for in the best mileage tracking app

• Automatic tracking. An app that detects drives on its own catches the trips you'd forget. If yours starts manually, build the habit of tapping start before you pull out.
• A log that meets IRS rules. Mileage, date, destination and business purpose for each trip, plus total miles for the year. Our guide to how to track mileage for taxes covers the method.
• The rest of the vehicle costs. If you might switch to the actual expense method, you need every gas, repair and insurance receipt too. See standard mileage vs actual expenses.
• Reports your accountant can use. PDF for the record, CSV or Excel for the spreadsheet.
• Battery use. Background GPS drains batteries; check recent reviews for real-world impact.

Want to see what your miles are worth first? Try the mileage deduction calculator.