Mileage tracking apps for gig drivers
There are a number of free or low-cost apps that help gig workers track their mileage, plan their rides more efficiency, and help drivers save money While the various driving gig companies you work for will probably provide you with a mileage estimate, it shouldn't be relied on as your single source of data and it is not the best way to save money on your taxes or to plan the most effective trips. Find the best iPhone (iOS) and Android smartphone apps for Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Grub hub and other gig drivers.
These apps for people with a side hustle driving job help in many ways. They track ALL your mileage, get proper income tax deductions, find the cheapest gas, and well as help gig drivers in other ways, such as planning the most efficient routes and days to work. Or they help you with finding lucrative routes to work in your city or community.
That mileage number provided by the company, such as Doordash or Uber, will track miles related to payment from the company, but it won't catch all of your qualifying activity for the purpose of filing your taxes. Or the app may not help you plan your day most efficiently so you can make the most money. There are also apps to help gig drivers save money on gas, including Upside and others. Find details on gas saving app.
Find the leading apps for tracking miles and plan your gig driving trips, regardless of whether you work for Uber, Grubhub, Lyft, Amazon delivery or another driving service. These are the best apps on the market, and they work on iPhones, Android/Samsung phones, tablets, and any technology.
Accurate tracking of mileage for tax purposes means more money in your pocket in the long run, and every dollar is so important in the gig working world. The IRS currently provides you with a 57.5 cent deduction for each qualifying mile, and if you top 50,000 miles in a year you qualify for an added $28,750 deduction.
The actual process of doing deliveries for companies such as Postmates, Doordash or Grub hub, or toting passengers for Uber or Lyft isn't the only qualifying business activity that can be claimed. If you're using your work vehicle for a purpose related to work, like heading to the store to buy some replacement parts or new vehicle additions (or just going to get the car cleaned and serviced), you should track those miles for tax purposes as well. IRS Publication 463 gets into exactly what you can and can't claim.
The gig apps won't necessarily catch all of that "off the clock" stuff - thus the need for supplementary mileage tracking apps. But you're probably already switching between multiple gig apps, and don't want to flip between multiple mileage apps as well. Which ones are most best mileage tracking apps out there? While iPhone or Samsung - Android apps allow you to plan the most efficient workday for you, to maximize your earning potential as a driver? Which applications are the useful to you? Read on to learn more about the top options for gig drivers!
Everlance - Available for: Android, iOS
Everlance is a straightforward and convenient app that is mostly oriented toward tracking information for IRS Schedule C, the tax form that most self-employed drivers will file if they aren't incorporated or operating under a registered business name. The app tracks miles via GPS and allows you to add in expenses (with the option to attach photos of receipts and locations) and revenue which is then automatically output to a Schedule C when you're ready. Read more on Uber and Doordash taxes for drivers.
Everlance is free to start out with, but has a paid upgrade option. The free version requires you to manually track trips by either hitting a button or entering your start and finish locations. If you opt to upgrade to the Premium version for $5 per month, trip tracking will automatically stop and start with your vehicle while the app is active.
The big selling point here for gig driver is the ease of use, which can be great and safe as you drive for Doordash, Uber, Lyft, Postmates or another service. The interface is very self-explanatory even for those that are not comfortable with smartphone apps, and it makes the annual Schedule C process much easier. The downsides are no options to output to other types of forms, and a lack of "power user" features (like designating specific hours for work trips or adding filters to automatically remove non-qualifying trips).
Fuelio - Available for: Android and iOS
As the name might indicate, Fuelio has an emphasis on tracking gas consumption as well as mileage. But it goes beyond that in allowing you to log expenses and auto service costs, and even take note of gas prices along your regular routes. If you are a gig driver, driving all over town, one of the best ways to increase you earnings is to also save money on expenses such as gasoline. Look here for more details on the best gas reward apps.
The downside of Fuelio is that it was designed more for a general audience looking to track vehicle expenses rather than for the specific needs of gig drivers for companies such as Doordash or Uber. It has a basic mileage tracker, but it does not have the advanced features of some of the other apps listed here. Output is also limited to a simple form that saves to Dropbox or Google Drive.
Professional drivers may find Fuelio helpful in the background as a way to keep track of the best places to fill up and various fuel and service expenses, but will probably want to use something like Everlance as their primary daily mileage tracker and automated input for tax forms.
Gridwise - Available for: Android, iOS
Gridwise is another app that does offer mileage tracking for gig driver, but its main appeal and one of its best features is in its support features. In this case, it's helping you avoid gridlock by incorporating a variety of real-time traffic alerts to let you quickly route around problems. Gridwise tracks traffic and weather advisories, major events taking place in your area, and a variety of airport information such as current passenger volume and flight delays. This can help make you day driving for Uber or Lyft more productive and lucrative.
While Gridwise's traffic-tracking features are helpful to any type of gig driver, most of its features were specifically designed to benefit those doing Uber/Lyft rideshare gigs. It's probably going to be more of a background support app rather than a main mileage tracker for many drivers, even for those doing rideshare as it lacks some key tax-tracking and output features. Another limitation is that it's only available in certain cities; more are being added over time, but at the moment it's likely only available in the two or three biggest cities in each state.
Hurdlr - Available for: Android, iOS
Hurdlr is one of the best choices for those who want an all-in-one mileage and expense tracking app. Key features include the integration of a number of major payment platforms (like PayPal and Stripe) as well as the payment systems used by major gig apps such as Uber.
The big downside is that some of its best tax tracking and output features are only available in the premium version, which will cost $7.99 to pay by the month or $57 for an advance one-year payment. This can be a big expense for a gig worker, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck (like most Americans) or are low income. You'll have to pay to get automatic mileage tracking, real time tax calculations, and integration with your bank account and credit cards.
MileIQ Mileage Tracker - Available for: Android, iOS
One of the main complaints that drivers have about mileage trackers (even the good ones) is that they tend to chew through phone batteries. MileIQ appears to be one of the lightest on the power supply. It's a very simple and straightforward tracker, allowing you to categorize logged trips with a swipe and outputting to a basic spreadsheet format.
It's a good choice for those gig driver who might struggle to find chances to charge their phone throughout the day and just need a basic trip logger that's easy to handle. The basic version is free; a premium version ($5.99 per month or $59.99 in advance for a year) allows you to log more than 40 trips before having to manually clear them out.
MileWiz - Available for: iOS
Unlike some of the free versions of mile trackers, MileWiz lets you use automatic trip tracking without having to pay anything, which is a huge benefit for gig drivers and those in the “freelance” world. It also lets you set up automatic trip categorization. However, it also limits you to storing 20 trips at a time (you'll have to manually remove them once you hit the limit, or pay either $4.99 per month or $39.99 for a year's subscription to store unlimited trips).
One added perk for driver for Uber and Lyft in particular is that you can have unlimited profiles, so multiple drivers can share the app to log their own trips. One quirk is that it relies on Microsoft cloud storage and Bing's map system, with no built-in connectivity to Google's services. Exported logs are written to a basic PDF or CSV file.
SherpaShare - Available for: Android, iOS
It probably won't help with climbing mountains, but SherpaShare can help to guide you around traffic jams in addition to a mileage and expense tracking function. It has a couple of other unique features, too. It has a great forum for gig driver, and one is an internal driver chat forum you can peruse to ask questions or just blow off some steam. Another is a collection of "pro tools" (available with the paid premium version) that provides things like a compass and regional heat maps.
The only real limitations to this app are that it doesn't output to any tax forms (though the logs it generates are in an IRS-approved format for supporting documentation), and that you'll need to pay $5.99 per month or $59.99 for the year to unlock all of the fun stuff.
Stride - Available for: Android, iOS
Stride is probably the best, the most comprehensive choice in the group for those who are mostly concerned with the ability to automatically generate tax documents from their logged miles. It tracks your miles automatically, lets you attach receipt photos to your expense logs and both import and export expenses from a linked bank account. It boasts the ability to output to any filing method, including native integration with H&R Block Self-Employed, and creates logs in an IRS approved format for supporting documents.
The best part is that it's 100% free, with no premium purchase needed for all of these features. If you are a driver for companies such as Doordash, Uber, Grunhub or another service, that zero cost (free) is one of the best benefits of this app over others. It doesn't even have random ads. So how is Stride making money off of it? The app is published by Stride Health, which sells health insurance packages for independent drivers, and they're hoping that the app will help build their brand.
TripLog - Available for: Android, iOS
TripLog is more of a specialized option for those managing fleets of vehicles for an organization rather than the individual driver, but it does have some features that anyone doing gig driving work might find helpful. One of its features is that it offers a web portal in addition to the mobile app, and integrates with a wide range of tax software. Like Fuelio, it also estimates gas mileage and lets you keep track of gas prices along your regular routes (but unlike Fuelio is available to iOS devices).
The free version lets one user track up to five separate vehicles with an unlimited number of trips logged, but you'll have to manually start and stop trips. There are two tiers of upgrades. "Professional" ($4 per month) adds auto tracking and the ability to access the web portal on computers. "Pro Plus" ($6 per month) lets you integrate with bank accounts and credit cards, Quickbooks, Xero and Concur as well as allowing you to track more vehicles.
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