Free
Try it, see if it fits how you think.
$0 forever
- 20 text entries per month
- 38 currencies
- Auto-categorization
/today,/currencycommands
Expense tracker, Telegram bot, Google Sheets
Track expenses by text. Rows land in your Sheet.
Pennypoke is a Telegram bot for freelancers, small business owners and digital nomads who already live in Google Sheets. Send "coffee 4.50", the bot parses amount, currency and category, then writes a row to a spreadsheet you own. 38 currencies, no app to install, free for 20 entries a month.
Free for 20 entries a month. No install, no signup form, no credit card.
Pennypoke
bot, online
coffee 4.50
Saved $4.50 for coffee.
Food & Drink
Food & Drink
uber 18.90 eur
Saved €18.90 for uber.
Transport
Transport
/today
3 entries today, $27.80 total. Row 127 in your Sheet.
Setup, one time, 30 seconds
Three steps, then never think about it again.
No dashboard to open, no mobile app to update, no password to remember. The Telegram bot is the whole product.
-
1. Say hi to the bot
Open Telegram, tap @PennypokeBot, hit start. The bot walks you through a one-screen Google permission prompt and asks which Sheet to write to.
-
2. Text like you text a friend
Type whatever feels natural.
coffee 4.50.uber 18.90 eur.$45 dinner with Sam. The bot parses amount, currency and category in 38 currencies. No pick-from-dropdown needed. -
3. Your Sheet fills itself
Each message becomes a row with date, description, amount, category and currency. Use
/todayfor a daily total,/currency EURto set your default. Your pivot tables and charts keep working.
Why this, not another expense app
For people who already won the spreadsheet war.
You picked Google Sheets because it does exactly what you want. You do not need a different app, you need a faster way to get data in.
The usual expense app
- Install an app, create an account, verify an email, connect a bank.
- Their dashboard, their categories, their charts you didn't ask for.
- Your data lives on their server. Cancel and it's gone or held hostage.
- A monthly bill for a product that's 80% reports you never open.
Pennypoke
- Open the Telegram you already have. Text the bot. That's the install.
- Your Google Sheet, your columns, your charts, your formulas.
- Your data is in your Sheet. We literally cannot store it, see below.
- Free up to 20 entries a month. $49 once covers you for life.
Architecture, not a promise
Your Sheet, your data. We just translate from chat.
The Pennypoke server is a stateless Cloudflare Worker. No disk, no database of your expenses, no logs of the lines you sent. Your message is parsed in memory, written to your Sheet, then the process ends and the memory is gone.
The only things we keep: your Google OAuth token (encrypted, to write to the Sheet you told us about) and a number for your monthly usage count. Delete your account and both disappear within 48 hours. Your Sheet keeps being your Sheet.
Read the full privacy policy
Pricing
Fair, in three sizes.
Start free. Upgrade later if you want receipt photo OCR or unlimited entries. No upsell popups, no bait pricing.
Pro
Unlimited entries, receipt photos, the lot.
$9/month
- Unlimited text entries
- Receipt photo OCR, just send a photo
- Priority support, reply within a day
- Cancel anytime, no drama
Billing is not live yet. Email above and we'll tell you the day it ships.
Lifetime
For people who hate subscriptions.
$49 once
- Everything in Pro, for the lifetime of the service
- One payment, never again
- 14-day money back
- Early-adopter price locked in
FAQ
Questions people actually ask.
Do I need to install an app to use Pennypoke?
No. You need Telegram, which you probably already have, and a Google account. That's it. There is no Pennypoke app in the App Store or Play Store because there is nothing to install.
How does Pennypoke track expenses in Google Sheets?
You send a text like coffee 4.50 to @PennypokeBot. The bot parses amount, currency and category, then uses the Google Sheets API to append a row to the Sheet you authorised. The Sheet keeps your columns, formulas and charts.
What if I want to edit an entry?
Open your Google Sheet and edit the row. It's your file. The bot writes, it doesn't own.
Can Pennypoke see or store my expenses?
No. The parser runs on a stateless Cloudflare Worker with no disk. Your message is held in memory for a few hundred milliseconds while the row is written to your Sheet, then it's gone. We cannot pull up a log of your spending because there is no log.
How many currencies does Pennypoke support?
38. Type 45 eur, €45, USD 12, 120₴, and the bot writes the right currency in your Sheet. Set a default with /currency EUR so you don't have to repeat it.
Does the free plan expire?
No. 20 entries a month, forever. If you hit the limit the bot tells you, you either wait for next month or upgrade. No surprise paywalls mid-month.
What happens to my data if you shut down?
Nothing dramatic. Your data is already in your Google Sheet, which belongs to you. Worst case you stop being able to text in new entries. The rows already there stay there.
Does Pennypoke work with WhatsApp or iMessage?
Not yet. Pennypoke is Telegram only. Telegram has a mature bot API with strong privacy defaults, which is why it came first. A WhatsApp version is on the roadmap if there is clear demand, email us at povkonop@gmail.com if you want a nudge in that direction.
Track your next expense in 30 seconds.
Free for 20 entries a month. No credit card, no signup form, nothing to uninstall later.