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. Free 10 receipts a month; after that each one is $0.05, stated up front and charged when you send the photo. /month sums your current totals; /export ships them as a CSV.
Honest 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 the current VUST runtime contract 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. | The referenced template describes text, image, voice-note, and PDF routes. |
| 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 — free 10 times a month.
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 subscription
- 10 free receipts every calendar month; 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
Free 10/month, then $0.05 a receipt
Past 10 receipts a calendar month, each additional receipt is $0.05, charged when the photo arrives. Not-a-receipt photos are never charged. A separate ceiling of 15 scan attempts per UTC day applies on both tiers.
Scan your first receipt for free
Open @vustReceiptBot, send a receipt photo, get merchant, total and category. First 10 successful scans each UTC month are free.
Honest scope — 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 costs nothing on either tier — monthly free slots and paid-tier Balance are both protected.
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, on either the free or paid tier. A non-receipt photo is rejected without touching your monthly free count or your wallet — you only pay $0.05 when an actual receipt extraction is delivered past your 10 free receipts for the month. It does still consume one of the 15 daily scan attempts, which bound provider spend on both tiers.
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 honest 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
Free 10 receipts a month. Then $0.05 each.
No subscription, no expense-report workflow — a Telegram chat that turns a photo into a categorized total, plus /month and /export.