Best Mileage Tracker Apps for Self-Employed Drivers

Every business mile you forget to log is money left on the table — the IRS standard mileage rate for 2026 ran 72.5 cents per mile through June, rising to 76 cents for the second half of the year, which adds up fast for anyone driving regularly for work. The best mileage tracker apps for self-employed drivers log trips automatically via GPS, so you’re not reconstructing a year of driving from memory at tax time. Here’s how the top options compare.

Note: The IRS periodically adjusts the standard mileage rate, sometimes mid-year as it did in 2026 — confirm the current rate on IRS.gov before calculating your deduction. Pricing below reflects 2026 figures and is subject to change.

Quick Comparison

Stride: Best Completely Free Option

Best for: Gig workers and occasional drivers who don’t mind manual trip entry.

Stride is entirely free, with no premium tier or paywalled features — a rarity in this category. The trade-off is that it relies on manual trip logging rather than automatic GPS detection, so you have to remember to start and stop tracking (or enter trips after the fact). It also connects to Stride’s other free services, including health insurance shopping and basic tax guidance, making it a reasonable all-around starting point for a new gig worker who doesn’t want any subscription at all.

TripLog: Best Free Automatic Tracking

Best for: Drivers who want fully automatic GPS tracking without paying anything.

TripLog stands out by offering unlimited free automatic mileage tracking — a feature that costs money with most competitors. It also includes basic expense tracking and gas price/mileage estimation tools on the free tier. The interface is generally considered less polished than MileIQ or Everlance, but for drivers who specifically want automatic detection without a subscription, it’s currently one of the only apps offering that combination at no cost.

MileIQ: Best for Simple, Reliable Automatic Tracking

Best for: Drivers who want a no-fuss, highly accurate automatic tracker and don’t need bundled expense or tax features.

MileIQ automatically detects drives in the background and lets you classify each one as business or personal with a quick swipe. It’s particularly well-regarded for accuracy in stop-and-go traffic, which matters for rideshare and delivery drivers navigating city routes. It’s more narrowly focused than Everlance or Hurdlr — strictly mileage, without broader expense tracking or tax estimation — which some drivers prefer for its simplicity.

Everlance: Best for Mileage Plus Broader Expense Tracking

Best for: Freelancers who want mileage and general business expense tracking in one app.

Everlance combines automatic GPS mileage detection with expense tracking and income categorization, making it a strong single-app solution for freelancers who don’t want to run a separate expense tracker alongside their mileage log. See our broader comparison in best expense tracking apps for freelancers for how it stacks up on the expense side specifically. Its free tier covers a limited number of automatically detected trips per month before requiring an upgrade.

Hurdlr: Best for Real-Time Tax Estimates Alongside Mileage

Best for: Self-employed drivers who want their mileage deduction reflected immediately in a running tax estimate.

Hurdlr’s free tier supports manual trip logging, with automatic GPS tracking unlocked on paid tiers. Its standout feature is tying mileage directly into a continuously updated tax estimate — so as you log trips, you can see the deduction’s effect on what you’re likely to owe for the quarter, rather than calculating it separately at tax time. See our guide on quarterly estimated taxes for freelancers for how this fits into your broader payment schedule.

QuickBooks Solopreneur: Best for Mileage Bundled With Full Bookkeeping

Best for: Freelancers who’d rather have mileage tracking built into their main accounting tool than run a separate app.

QuickBooks Solopreneur includes automatic mileage tracking as part of its broader Schedule C-focused bookkeeping platform (see our full QuickBooks Solopreneur review). The mileage feature itself is well-regarded, automatically categorizing trips as business or personal, but it comes at the higher price point of a full accounting subscription rather than a mileage-only app — worth it only if you’re also using (or planning to use) Solopreneur for your broader bookkeeping.

Automatic vs. Manual Tracking: Why It Matters

Automatic (GPS-based) tracking detects and logs trips in the background without you remembering to start or stop anything — generally far more accurate and far less prone to the “I forgot to log that drive” problem that undermines manual logs. Manual tracking requires you to actively record each trip, which is free in several apps but depends entirely on consistent personal discipline. For most freelancers who drive regularly for work, automatic tracking is worth paying for (or choosing a free automatic option like TripLog) simply because the deduction recovered from accurately logged trips often exceeds the subscription cost many times over.

What Counts as Deductible Business Mileage?

A quick reminder relevant to any of these apps: trips that typically count as deductible business mileage include driving to meet clients, picking up supplies, traveling between work locations, and — for rideshare and delivery drivers — the entire time you’re online and available for ride or delivery requests, not just the portion with a passenger or package in the vehicle. Your regular commute from home to a single, fixed primary workplace generally does not count. See our guide on how to pay taxes as an Uber/Lyft driver for a more detailed breakdown specific to rideshare driving.

What to Look for in a Mileage Tracker

1. Automatic GPS detection, to avoid relying on memory
2. Easy trip classification (business vs. personal) with minimal taps
3. IRS-compliant reports, ready to hand to a tax preparer or attach to your records
4. Current mileage rate updates, since the IRS rate changes periodically (and changed mid-year in 2026)
5. Integration with your broader bookkeeping, if you want mileage to flow directly into your expense records rather than living in a separate app
6. Reasonable free tier limits, if you’re not ready to commit to a paid subscription yet

How to Choose

• You want $0 cost and don’t mind manual entry: Stride
• You want $0 cost but need automatic GPS tracking: TripLog
• You want the most accurate, simple automatic tracker: MileIQ
• You want mileage plus general expense tracking in one app: Everlance
• You want mileage tied to a running tax estimate: Hurdlr
• You want mileage built into your full accounting platform: QuickBooks Solopreneur

The Bottom Line

Accurate mileage tracking is one of the highest-value habits a self-employed driver can build, since the deduction is substantial and easy to under-claim without automatic logging. TripLog currently offers the best combination of automatic tracking and zero cost, Stride is the simplest fully free option if you don’t mind manual entry, and MileIQ, Everlance, and Hurdlr each add a specific strength — accuracy, broader expense tracking, or real-time tax estimates — worth paying for depending on what else you need the app to do.

This article is for general informational purposes and reflects publicly available information at the time of writing. Pricing, features, and the IRS standard mileage rate change periodically. Verify current rates on IRS.gov and current app pricing directly with each provider. Some links on this site may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.