Comparison

PaperTrail vs Mint Budget

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PaperTrail

Effortlessly track business expenses and mileage for tax season. Automatically scan receipts with OCR, log miles with GPS, and generate organized reports for your accountant. Never miss a deduction again.

Highlights
  • Automatic receipt scanning with OCR
  • Background GPS mileage tracking
  • Client and project tagging
  • Annual tax summary PDF export
  • Cloud backup
  • Visual spending breakdowns
Read full description

Stop losing deductions. Snap a receipt. Log a mile. Done. PaperTrail is the expense organizer and mileage log built for contractors, freelancers, and self-employed workers who can't afford to miss a write-off at tax time. "I own a small business and this has been exactly what I needed. Helps out a ton with tracking my expenses for tax time." — John, App Store Review With PaperTrail, you can: - Scan and capture receipts in seconds — OCR extracts merchant, category, date, and total automatically - Track mileage with automatic GPS — start a trip, drive, end it. Miles calculated for you - Get instant IRS rate estimates for business, medical, and charity mileage - Tag receipts to clients or projects for billing, reimbursement, and job costing - Organize with folders, tags, and categories so every business expense is exactly where you need it - Search and filter by date, amount, category, merchant, client, and more - Export your receipt log and mileage log to PDF or CSV for taxes or reimbursements - Generate an annual tax summary PDF combining receipt totals and mileage in one clean report - Back up everything to iCloud — your receipt storage is protected even if you lose your phone - Track spending with visual breakdowns by category PaperTrail is built for the way 1099 workers actually operate. You're not sitting at a desk with a filing cabinet. You're on job sites, in client properties, running between appointments, buying materials on the fly. Every tax receipt matters. Every mile is a deduction you've earned. PaperTrail makes sure none of it slips through. Thermal receipts fade. Paper gets lost in the truck, the wash, or the junk drawer. Miles go unlogged because you forgot by the time you got home. PaperTrail captures everything the moment it happens — and keeps it searchable, backed up, and ready when your accountant needs it. Whether you're a contractor tracking job expenses across multiple projects, a gig worker separating business from personal, a freelancer managing 1099 income and deductions, or a real estate agent logging trip after trip between showings — PaperTrail handles the recordkeeping so you can focus on the work. No spreadsheets. No shoeboxes. No scrambling in April trying to reconstruct six months of business expenses from memory. Just a clean, organized expense journal that's always current, always backed up, and always ready. Your deductions are worth real money. The average self-employed worker leaves thousands on the table every year simply because they didn't track it. PaperTrail makes it effortless to capture every receipt and every mile — so when tax time comes, you hand your accountant a complete record instead of a pile of guesses. Download PaperTrail free. Every receipt. Every mile. Every deduction. https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Mint Budget

Effortlessly manage your money with a personal finance app that tracks spending, budgets, bills, and subscriptions. It offers a clear overview of your financial health, including net worth and card benefits, all without ads or data selling.

Highlights
  • All-in-one financial dashboard
  • Automatic expense tracking
  • Smart budgeting with notifications
  • Subscription and bill reminders
  • Card benefits and welcome bonus tracking
  • Investment tracking (Premium+)
  • AI financial coach (Premium+)
Features
Read full description

Get more from your money — and every credit card you own. Mint is a personal finance app designed to be calm, private, and effortless. Manage spending, budgets, subscriptions, bills, net worth, and credit card perks other apps ignore. No ads, no data selling — just read-only bank access through Plaid. Connect your bank and Mint handles the busywork: transactions categorize themselves, recurring subscriptions are detected, card payments are tracked, and timely reminders keep you ahead of every due date, welcome bonus, and expiring benefit. FEATURES • SEE EVERYTHING IN ONE PLACE — Bank accounts, balances, spending, investments, and net worth on one clean dashboard. • AUTOMATIC EXPENSE TRACKING — Every transaction is categorized the moment it syncs, so you always know where your money goes. • SMART BUDGETS — Create monthly budgets, watch your progress, and get notified before you overspend. • SUBSCRIPTION TRACKER — Recurring charges are detected automatically, with an alert when one raises its price. • WELCOME BONUS TRACKER — Track qualifying spend toward your card's sign-up bonus and never miss the deadline. • CARD BENEFITS TRACKER — Stay on top of statement credits, travel credits, dining credits, anniversary perks, and other valuable benefits before they expire. • AUTOMATIC CARD PAYMENT TRACKING (Premium+) — Statement balances, minimum payments, and due dates pulled straight from your bank. Reminders before every payment and an early warning if your checking account may not cover what's due. • BILL REMINDERS — Never miss another due date. • SAVINGS GOALS — Set a target, build the habit, watch it grow. • INVESTMENT TRACKING (Premium+) — Track your investments alongside the rest of your finances. • AI COACH (Premium+) — Ask questions about your own spending, budgets, and habits, and get personalized answers based on your own financial data. • SMART NOTIFICATIONS — Bills, price hikes, unusual charges, budget limits, payment reminders. Only the alerts that matter. • PRIVATE & SECURE — Read-only bank connections through Plaid, Face ID / Touch ID app lock, no ads, and your data is never sold. • TRY BEFORE YOU CONNECT — Demo Mode opens every feature with sample data. No account, no bank link. • IPHONE, IPAD & MAC — One seamless experience across your Apple devices, with full Dark Mode. PLANS Min Premium — $6.99/month or $59.99/year • Bank linking with automatic transaction syncing • All budgeting, subscription, bonus, and benefit tracking Min Premium+ — $9.99/month or $79.99/year Everything in Premium, plus: • Investment Tracking • AI Coach • Automatic Card Payment Tracking • 14-day free trial on annual plans. • Coverage: thousands of US banks and credit unions via Plaid. Available in the US only. • Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled. Cancel anytime in your App Store settings. Learn more: minbudget.net Privacy Policy: https://minbudget.net/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://minbudget.net/terms.html

Screenshots

PaperTrail4 screens
Mint Budget4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Mint Budget at none against PaperTrail's shown. Mint Budget also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.6) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). PaperTrail's advantage is ratings volume (19 vs 2). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PaperTrail sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Mint Budget sells 4 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Mint Budget holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PaperTrail has 19 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PaperTrail ships an update every 3 days, Mint Budget every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 28, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
PaperTrail versus Mint Budget: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaperTrailMint Budget
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.6 (19 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings19 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 5 days
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB53 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperNexverge LLCMin Budget LLC

Customer experience

PaperTrail

All ratings12 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral8.3%
Negative8.3%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Mint Budget

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

PaperTrail

Subscriptions5
  • PaperTrail Pro$4.991 Month
  • PaperTrail Business3 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • Paper Trail Pro Yearly$24.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • PaperTrail Business Yearly Discount$37.491 Year
  • PaperTrail Business Yearly7 Days trial$49.991 Year
4 purchases

Mint Budget

Subscriptions4
  • Premium Monthly$6.991 Month
  • Premium+ Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly14 Days trial$59.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Premium+ Yearly14 Days trial$79.991 Year

Questions

Is PaperTrail free?
PaperTrail is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Mint Budget free?
Mint Budget is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PaperTrail or Mint Budget?
Mint Budget is rated higher. PaperTrail averages 4.6 out of 5 from 19 ratings, while Mint Budget averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do PaperTrail or Mint Budget have ads?
PaperTrail shows ads; Mint Budget does not.
Which is updated more often, PaperTrail or Mint Budget?
PaperTrail ships an update every 3 days, and Mint Budget every 5 days. Most recently, PaperTrail was updated on October 28, 2026 and Mint Budget on October 31, 2026.

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