Photo → Categorized Total
The Shoebox of Receipts, Minus the Shoebox
Send @vustReceiptBot a photo of a receipt and get merchant, date, total with currency, category and items count back — no manual entry. First receipt free, then included in VUST plans. /month sums your current totals; /export ships them as a CSV.
Scope
An extraction to verify, not a filed accounting record
Every result — the welcome message and every receipt — carries the same line: this is an AI extraction, verify important amounts, not accounting or tax advice. It's built to turn a pile of photos into a running total and a category breakdown fast, not to replace bookkeeping software or a tax preparer for anything that has to be exact.
Named comparison · checked 2026-07-26
Ready Telegram receipt bot vs a DIY n8n workflow
The comparison uses what the VUST bot does today and the official n8n receipt-workflow page. It compares operating shape, not accuracy, speed, or total cost: no like-for-like benchmark was run.
| Decision | VUST Receipt | DIY n8n workflow |
|---|---|---|
| Input | Receipt photo or image document. | Send it as a photo or a file in the chat. |
| Setup | Open the managed Telegram bot and send a photo. | Import and operate a workflow; configure a Telegram bot, n8n instance, Google Sheets, and provider credentials. |
| Result | Compact merchant/date/total/category summary, current-month views, and CSV export. | A customizable Google Sheets record and Telegram response defined by the workflow. |
| Control | Fixed, bounded behavior with no custom categories, date ranges, or accounting integration. | Prompts, categories, providers, routing, and storage can be changed by the operator. |
| Best fit | Personal capture when a ready chat and simple monthly export are enough. | Custom business automation when ownership of infrastructure and credentials is acceptable. |
- Based on
- VUST contracts plus the official n8n template page; no performance test.
- Best for
- A managed photo-to-summary flow with CSV.
- Not ideal for
- Custom accounting rules, editable ledgers, or multi-input automation.
- In short
- Choose ready scope for speed of setup; choose DIY for control.
Source basis: official n8n workflow listing, reviewed 2026-07-26. Template behavior can change; verify its current requirements before purchase or deployment.
See the difference
One photo, a categorized total — the first one free.
Who this fits
- Receipt-drawer owners
- A phone full of receipt photos with no running total
- Send each photo to @vustReceiptBot — get merchant, date, total, category and items count.
- Free-tier expense-watchers
- Wanting a categorized monthly total without a new app
- Your first receipt is free; not-a-receipt photos are never charged.
- Spreadsheet users
- Wanting the data outside the chat too
- /export ships an RFC4180 CSV (date, merchant, category, total, currency) ready to open anywhere.
How a scan works
- 01
Send a receipt photo
In Telegram, to @vustReceiptBot — no app, no account setup.
- 02
Get merchant + total back
Merchant, date, total + currency, category, items count, confidence line — an AI extraction, verify important amounts.
- 03
First receipt free
Your first receipt is free. Not-a-receipt photos are never charged.
Scan your first receipt for free
Open @vustReceiptBot, send a receipt photo, get merchant, total and category. The first receipt is free.
Extraction, not accounting
AI extraction only
Every result — welcome message and every receipt — carries the same disclaimer: an AI extraction, verify important amounts, not accounting or tax advice.
Photos and item lines aren't stored
Only the compact summary (merchant, date, total, currency, category, items count) is kept — no photo bytes, no itemized purchase history.
Not-a-receipt never charged
A photo that isn't a receipt is never charged.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly does @vustReceiptBot extract from a photo?
Merchant name, date, total with currency, a spending category, and how many items were on the receipt — plus a confidence line. It doesn't extract or store the individual line items themselves, only the count.
Is this accounting or tax advice?
No. Every result carries the same disclaimer: this is an AI extraction, verify important amounts — it is not accounting or tax advice. For anything that needs to hold up with a tax authority or an accountant, treat the extraction as a starting point to double-check, not a final record.
What happens if I photograph something that isn't a receipt?
Nothing is charged, and your free first receipt stays yours.
Are my receipt photos or itemized purchases stored?
No. Photo bytes and itemized line lists are never persisted — only the compact summary (merchant, date, total, currency, category, items count) is kept, and only so /month and /export can work. There's no photo gallery and no line-by-line purchase history.
How does /export work, and what format is the file?
It builds a CSV of the current month's receipts (date, merchant, category, total, currency) and sends it as a file in the chat. One bound: roughly the 50 most recent receipts per user are retained, so a very heavy month can be truncated — the bot says so rather than quietly shipping a short file — ready to open in a spreadsheet, no separate export tool or dashboard login needed. For a quick answer without a file, /ask supports totals, receipt count, categories and top merchants.
Does it handle receipts in different currencies?
Yes — currency is read per receipt from the photo, and /month reports totals separately for each currency rather than converting everything into one. If you shop in more than one currency, expect multiple currency lines in your monthly summary, not a single blended total.
Should I use VUST Receipt or build a receipt workflow in n8n?
Use VUST Receipt when you want a managed photo-to-summary flow in Telegram with a current-month CSV. A DIY n8n workflow is a better fit when you need custom inputs, Google Sheets routing, provider choice, or business-specific automation and can operate the instance and credentials yourself.
Ready when you are
First receipt free.
No expense-report workflow — a Telegram chat that turns a photo into a categorized total, plus /month and /export.