Most personal finance advice starts with budgets and ends with spreadsheets nobody updates after week two. The research backs this up: consistent expense tracking is the foundation of any budget that sticks — but only if the act of recording a purchase takes less friction than the purchase itself.
SpenGo is a free personal expense tracker that uses your own Google Sheets spreadsheet as a database — no proprietary backend, no ads, no third-party storage. Below is the complete flow, from opening the app to reading your first spending breakdown.
Open SpenGo at webspengo.xyz. The first screen is the authentication screen — no forms, no email, no password to create. The only option is Sign in with Google.
Tap it. A standard Google OAuth 2.0 popup appears. Pick your Google account, review the permissions, and confirm. SpenGo requests the minimum necessary scopes:
- spreadsheets — to read and write expense rows to your Google Sheet.
- drive.file — to create the SpenGo spreadsheet in your Drive. This scope only covers files SpenGo itself creates — not your entire Drive.
After signing in, SpenGo checks whether a spreadsheet named "SpenGo" already exists in your Google Drive. On a first visit it doesn't — so SpenGo creates it automatically via the Google Sheets API v4.
A brief setup screen shows while this runs. Once done, the sheet is ready with four column headers:
- Date — the day the expense happened (set automatically to today).
- Amount — the number you log.
- Category — one of 12 preset spending categories.
- Note — an optional free-text label you write yourself.
Every expense you add appears as a new row in this spreadsheet. You can open it anytime in Google Sheets on any device — export it, back it up, or share it with a partner. It's a standard spreadsheet, fully under your control.
You're now on the main screen of the expense tracker. In the centre of the bottom navigation bar is the + button. Tap it.
The "Add Expense" panel slides up from the bottom of the screen. It has three fields arranged top to bottom: amount, category, note. The layout is intentionally linear — there's no decision about where to start, which is why logging stays fast.
The amount field is focused automatically when the panel opens — the keyboard appears without any extra tap on mobile. Type the number. Decimals work: 4.50, 12.99, 130.00.
There is no currency selector. SpenGo stores the raw number; your Google Sheet provides the currency context. Whatever unit you use — euros, dollars, złoty — just type it. The app doesn't enforce a format.
Below the amount field is a visual icon grid with all 12 expense categories. Tap one. No dropdown, no search, no typing. The categories cover the full range of everyday personal spending:
The selected category highlights in the accent colour. Tap a different one to switch — no confirm step needed. These categories map naturally to the 50/30/20 budgeting rule: needs (Housing, Health, Transport), wants (Entertainment, Eating out, Travel), and recurring costs (Subscriptions, Clothes). Once you start tracking by category, the breakdown shows exactly which bucket is overrunning your budget.
If nothing fits precisely, use Other and put the detail in the note field.
The note field is the last field in the panel. It's completely optional — skip it by going straight to Add. But if you want to remember what a purchase was — "Zara jacket", "monthly Netflix", "train to Barcelona" — type it here.
Notes appear as a small label under the category name in your expense list. They're also stored in the Note column of your Google Sheet, fully searchable and filterable in Google Sheets itself.
- Keep notes short and specific — they're scannable labels, not sentences.
- Notes are fully editable after saving, so don't worry about wording now.
- For recurring costs, consistent note names ("Spotify", "Gym", "Rent") make monthly comparisons far more useful later.
Amount filled in, category tapped, note written (or skipped) — tap Add. Two things happen simultaneously:
- Immediate UI update: the new expense appears at the top of your list instantly. The panel closes and the main screen returns. The app uses an optimistic UI pattern — it doesn't wait for a network response to show you the result.
- Background sync to Google Sheets: SpenGo calls the Google Sheets API v4 to append a new row with today's date, your amount, category name, and note. This typically completes within one or two seconds on a normal connection.
The main screen shows all logged expenses in a scrollable list, newest first by default. Each row shows the category icon, category name, note (if any), amount, and date — everything you need at a glance without opening the entry.
Above the list, a summary card shows your total for the current period. Switch between today, this week, or this month using the period selector in the header.
Below the summary is a horizontal filter row with all 12 category icons. Tap any to show only those expenses; tap again to clear. The filter works across all time periods and combines with the sort controls (newest first, oldest first, highest amount first). For example: filter by Subscriptions + sort by amount to instantly see which recurring charge costs the most each month.
Logged the wrong amount? Wrong category? Tap the pencil icon on any expense row. The Edit panel opens pre-filled with the current values.
- Change the amount — clear the field and type a new number.
- Tap a different category to reassign the expense.
- Edit or remove the note.
- Change the date — useful if you forgot to log something yesterday or last week.
Tap Save. The change syncs to your Google Sheet immediately, overwriting the original row. To permanently delete an entry, tap the trash icon inside the edit panel and confirm.
After logging a handful of expenses across different categories, tap the Statistics tab in the bottom navigation. This is where tracking pays off visually.
The statistics screen shows two charts for the selected month:
- Bar chart by week: spending split across four fixed bands — weeks 1–7, 8–14, 15–21, and 22 to end of month. The current week is highlighted. At a glance you can see whether you front-load spending at the start of the month or ramp up towards the end.
- Donut chart by category: a percentage breakdown of where your money went. If Food accounts for 42% of your monthly spending and you didn't realise it, the donut makes that undeniable. A ranked list below shows the absolute amount per category, highest to lowest.
Use the month carousel to navigate to any past month. Both charts update instantly — no loading, no refresh. This is the core insight that financial advisors consistently emphasise: patterns in your spending only become visible once you see them plotted over time. People who track daily expenses make measurably better financial decisions — not because they earn more, but because awareness changes behaviour.
The complete flow in under five seconds
The core loop of SpenGo as a personal expense tracker: tap + → type amount → tap category → tap Add. Everything else — notes, edits, statistics, shared budgets — is optional and available when you need it.
Want to go deeper? The full features overview covers partner sharing, the complete category list, and how all the statistics work in detail. If you have questions about how your data is stored and who can see it, the privacy policy is written in plain language — no legalese.
How do I add an expense in SpenGo?
Tap the + button in the bottom navigation bar. Enter the amount, tap a category from the icon grid, optionally add a note, then tap Add. The expense appears at the top of your list instantly and syncs to your Google Sheet in the background.
Where does SpenGo store my expense data?
All expenses are stored in a Google Spreadsheet inside your own Google Drive. SpenGo has no backend server or proprietary database. Your data goes directly from your browser to Google's servers via the Google Sheets API — it never passes through SpenGo infrastructure.
Can I edit or delete an expense after saving?
Yes. Tap the pencil icon on any row in the expense list to open the edit panel. You can change the amount, category, note, or date. To delete an entry, tap the trash icon inside the edit panel and confirm. All changes sync to your Google Sheet immediately.
How long does it take to log an expense?
Under five seconds for a typical entry: tap +, type the amount, tap a category, tap Add. The note is optional — skipping it saves another second. The keyboard focuses the amount field automatically, so there's no wasted tap on mobile.
Does SpenGo work offline?
Partially. You can add expenses while offline — they appear in your list immediately and are cached locally in the browser. The sync to your Google Sheet happens automatically once you're back online. Recent entries are also viewable from the local cache when offline.
Is SpenGo free to use?
Yes. SpenGo is completely free — no subscription, no premium tier, no ads. The only requirement is a Google account to sign in and store your expense data in Google Sheets.