Hurdlr: Mileage, Expense & Tax

Review by eFreeware

The most distinctive thing about Hurdlr is that it treats mileage as the center of the story rather than an afterthought. It is built for people who file as self-employed or receive 1099 income, and it puts a mileage log, an expense tracker, receipts and a tax estimate in the same place. That combination is what separates it from a plain mileage logger.

The developer, Hurdlr, Inc., lists independent contractors, rideshare and delivery drivers, freelancers, small business owners, Airbnb hosts and real estate agents as the people it is made for. If your income arrives without tax withheld and you write off business costs, that is the audience this app speaks to. The app is free to download, has no ads, and offers in-app purchases.

What the app actually does

At its core, Hurdlr is a record-keeping tool with a tax calculator attached. You log the miles you drive for work, the expenses you incur, and the money coming in, and the app turns those records into estimates of what you owe. The point is to keep the paperwork current as you go rather than reconstructing it months later.

The free version is not mileage-only. The developer says it also covers expenses and income tax, with mileage tracking that is semi-automatic. That matters if you want to see whether the app fits your routine before paying anything. The premium tier is where the automation becomes fuller, and it costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, which the developer notes is a saving of 16 percent on the annual plan.

There is also a detail worth noting for anyone who dislikes subscription software on principle: the developer points out that a Hurdlr Premium subscription can itself be claimed as a business expense at tax time.

Mileage logging and the deduction math

The mileage side is the part most drivers will care about. Hurdlr tracks work miles and applies a per-mile deduction, currently 58 cents for every mile driven. For a rideshare driver or a courier covering a lot of ground, that figure is the difference between a modest write-off and a substantial one.

Automatic mileage tracking sits in the premium tier. On the free plan, tracking is described as semi-automatic, which suggests some involvement from you in starting or confirming trips. Automatic tracking is the feature that removes the need to remember to log a drive at all, and it is the main reason a heavy driver would consider paying.

The most recent update adds the ability to tag trips to specific calendar events. That is a small change in principle, but for anyone whose week is a patchwork of client visits, jobs and personal errands, being able to sort a trip by what it was for is a cleaner way to keep business and personal driving apart.

Expenses, receipts and income in one ledger

The expense side leans on bank connections. Hurdlr links to more than 9,500 banks, and the developer says it also connects to Uber, FreshBooks, Square, Stripe and Paypal, so income and spending arrive in the app without being typed in by hand. From there it flags transactions that look like they could be deductible for a self-employed filer.

Receipts can be captured and attached, and the app exports detailed expense reports that can be emailed to any address or sent to a tax preparer. That is the feature that turns the app from a personal log into something you can hand to an accountant without a separate round of work. If you have ever spent an evening matching paper receipts to a bank statement, the appeal is obvious.

The newest addition is invoicing. You can create and send invoices to customers, and the app supports payment by credit card or by ACH with automatic reconciliation, so a paid invoice is matched against the money that lands. For a freelancer billing a handful of clients a month, that closes a gap the app previously left to other tools.

Tax estimates and quarterly obligations

Hurdlr produces a breakdown of state, federal and self-employment tax and gives year-end and quarterly estimates on demand. For anyone who has to make quarterly payments, having a running figure rather than a once-a-year shock is the practical benefit. The estimates move as expenses and mileage deductions are recorded.

Tax calculations are real time, and that is a premium feature. On the free tier you still get income tax coverage, but the continuously updated picture is part of what the subscription buys. The most recent release also includes updates to reflect changes introduced by OBBBA, which is the kind of maintenance you want to see in an app that touches tax figures.

What it asks of you, and the costs involved

The main trade-off is the split between free and paid. Semi-automatic mileage tracking, expense tracking and income tax coverage come without paying, but the automatic versions of mileage, expense and income tracking, real-time tax calculations, speed tagging and work hours sit behind the premium subscription.

The second consideration is that Hurdlr is a dedicated tool for self-employed finances, not a general budgeting app. Its bank and platform connections, its deduction logic and its tax estimates are all shaped around 1099 income and business write-offs. Someone tracking a household budget would be using a fraction of what is here.

On battery, the app is designed to avoid heavy drain even with frequent use, which is the right priority for people who spend their working day on the road.

Who gets the most from Hurdlr

The clearest fit is a driver or courier whose vehicle is the business. Miles are the largest deduction available to them, the app tracks those miles, and the tax estimate reflects them. The same logic applies to a real estate agent or an Airbnb host with a steady flow of deductible costs and a need to know what is owed each quarter.

Freelancers and independent contractors with a smaller volume of expenses benefit too, particularly from the receipt capture, the exportable reports and the new invoicing. Sending an invoice and having the payment reconciled in the same app removes a step that usually lives in a separate tool.

Small business owners who already have accounting software may find the overlap less compelling, since the app's strength is doing the tracking and estimating in one place. The people who gain most are those currently doing none of it, or doing it in a spreadsheet and a folder of receipts.

A practical pick for 1099 filers

Hurdlr has been on the Play Store since August 2015 and carries a 4.2 average from more than 9,000 ratings, with over 100,000 installs. The recent update in January 2026 added invoicing, trip tagging to calendar events and tax changes for OBBBA, so the app is being developed rather than left alone.

My view is that it is worth installing if you earn 1099 income and want mileage, expenses, receipts and a tax estimate in one place. Start on the free version to see whether semi-automatic mileage tracking suits how you work. If you drive enough that automatic tracking and real-time tax figures would save you real time, the premium subscription is the version the app is really designed around.

If you simply want a mileage log and nothing else, the free tier covers more than you need and the subscription will look expensive. For everyone else in the self-employed bracket, this is a well-established option that addresses the paperwork most people put off.

What's new in version 42.2.5

Invoicing: Quickly create and send invoices to customers; get paid via credit card or ACH with automatic reconciliation ML: Mileage and Expense learning algorithm enhancements Calendar: Tag trips to specific calendar events Tax: Updates to support changes introduced by OBBBA Minor performance improvements