How logging an expense in the Telegram bot works
There is no form to fill in. A plain number in the chat is an expense:
- Type an amount: 12.50 or 12,5 — both work.
- The bot swaps your keyboard for big category buttons, the ones you use most come first. Tap Food, then a subcategory such as Coffee — or No subcategory.
- Done. «✅ Saved» stays in the chat; your number, the buttons and the hints are cleared away.
The date is today, set automatically. The account is the one you used last, and Account ▸ switches it. ➕ It's income turns the amount into income, while the ➖ Expense and ➕ Income buttons under the chat start a new entry. A transfer between your own accounts works as plain text too: «transfer 50 from card to cash».
Voice messages and receipt photos
Typing is free and instant. When it's easier to talk, send a voice message of up to three minutes: «coffee 4.50, taxi 15 yesterday and 32 for groceries at Lidl». The AI turns it into separate drafts, each with its own category, date and a short note. You check them and tap ✅ Save all — or fix one, drop one, or try again. The AI never saves anything on its own. More in logging expenses by voice.
A receipt photo works the same way: the bot reads the total, the shop and the date, and 🔍 Split by category turns one supermarket receipt into lines such as groceries, household and drinks — see receipt scanning. Voice messages and photos are processed in memory and never stored.
Each voice message or photo uses one AI action. A new account gets 20 of them with the trial, Lifetime includes 50 to try, and the AI plan is made for daily use.
Undo, notes and a clean chat
Under «✅ Saved» a small row of buttons stays for 15 seconds:
- ↩️ undoes the entry, and ↪️ Restore brings it back.
- 💬 adds a note, for example «birthday present for Anna».
- 📱 opens the app.
Bigger changes — another date, a different category, several entries at once — happen in the app, where the bulk actions are. The chat stays a short list of what you logged: the bot only reports entries made in Telegram and never pings you about what you add in the web app.
A monthly summary right in the chat
On the 1st of every month, just after midnight in your time zone, the bot sends last month's summary: income, expenses and the net result, the top three spending categories with their share, the three biggest expenses and the change against the month before. Type /month for last month at any time, or /month now for the current month so far.
Recurring payments you set up in the app — rent, subscriptions, salary — are created on their day at 08:00, and the bot reports «↻ Recorded» with an ↩️ Undo button in case one shouldn't have happened this time.
Other commands: /expense, /income, /app to open the app, /cancel, /menu and /pricing.
One account: bot, web app and phone
The bot is not a separate tool with its own data. It writes into the same HonestExpenses account you open in the browser at honestexpenses.app, inside Telegram as a Mini App, or as an app installed on your phone's home screen. There you get what a chat can't show: analytics by category and period, budgets, goals and debts, CSV import and export, and projects shared with a partner or friends.
The app and the bot speak five languages — English, German, Spanish, Ukrainian and Russian. Your currency sign (€, $, £, ₴ or one of 150+ others) is shown next to every amount; there is no conversion.
Private by design: no bank connection
- HonestExpenses never connects to your bank — you log what you choose to log. Why that is a feature: expense tracking without a bank connection.
- Your data is not sold.
- Voice messages and receipt photos are not kept anywhere: not in file storage, not in the database, not in logs.
- Everything can be exported to CSV whenever you like.
How to start in a minute
- Open @honestexp_bot in Telegram and tap Start.
- Tap 📱 Open the app: the Mini App signs you in with your Telegram account — no email, no password.
- Choose your currency in the short setup.
- Back in the chat, type your first amount.
Starting is free. A new account gets 7 days of Pro with 20 AI actions. After that you stay on Free, buy Lifetime once for 19 $, or take the AI plan at 5,99 $ a month or 47,88 $ a year. Already use Claude or ChatGPT? You can also ask them about your spending.
Questions
Is the Telegram bot free?
Yes. Logging by amount and category, undo, notes and the monthly summary work on every plan, Free included. Voice messages and receipt photos use AI actions.
Do I need Telegram to use HonestExpenses?
No. The bot is the quickest way to log, but the web app works in any browser and can be installed on your phone.
Can my partner and I log into one shared budget from the bot?
Shared projects live in the app, not in the bot. The bot always logs into your personal account.
What happens to my voice messages and photos?
They are read in memory to make drafts and then dropped. Nothing is saved until you tap «✅ Save» or «✅ Save all».
Which currency does the bot use?
The one in your profile, and any of 150+ currencies can be chosen. The bot only shows its sign — amounts are never converted.