Compare Simply Auto and Fuelio for Car Maintenance Records
Simply Auto vs Fuelio for car maintenance records: service entries, receipts, reminders, exports, backups, platforms and paid tiers, with checks before you choose.
Contents
The Short Answer
Both apps can hold a car's service history with receipt images. They differ in what the free version covers and how you get your records out. Fuelio's developer says the app is free to download and use, and that backups and CSV import and export of fill-ups and costs are included. Its optional Premium upgrade differs between Android and iPhone. Simply Auto puts its strongest record-keeping features behind paid tiers: receipt-image backup, cloud image backup, syncing between drivers, web access, emailed CSV logs, and formatted PDF or CSV reports that include receipts.
Fuelio fits best if you want portable records at no cost and plan to use it mainly on Android. Simply Auto fits better if you need browser access, several drivers sharing one log, or ready-made reports, and you are willing to pay. If you use an iPhone, one condition changes the comparison: Fuelio's iPhone app requires Premium for both the Cost Log, where maintenance spending is recorded, and service reminders. On iPhone, both apps involve paying for the features most people want for maintenance records.
Terms Used in This Comparison
- Service record or cost entry: a logged expense such as an oil change, tire rotation or repair, normally with a date, odometer reading and price.
- CSV export: a plain spreadsheet file (comma-separated values) that opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. It holds text and numbers. Do not assume it contains receipt images.
- Backup: an app-specific copy of your data that is meant to be restored into the same app, sometimes with photos included.
- Restore: loading a backup back into the app. In Fuelio, a restore replaces the data already on the device instead of merging with it.
- Mileage-based reminder: an alert triggered when the odometer reading you logged reaches a set distance, as opposed to an alert on a calendar date.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Criterion | Simply Auto | Fuelio |
| Service and cost entries | Maintenance logging with receipt images; image backup and restore listed as paid (Pro) benefits | Cost entries with date, odometer, price, category, note and receipt or invoice photo; Cost Log needs Premium on iPhone |
| Reminders | Confirm current reminder options in the app before relying on them | By date, mileage or both, checked against the latest logged odometer; completing a repeating reminder resets its period; needs Premium on iPhone |
| Exports | Emailed CSV logs (Pro); PDF and CSV raw data with receipts (Gold and Platinum); scheduled weekly or monthly reports (Platinum) | Free CSV import and export of fill-ups and costs |
| Backups | Cloud backup of receipt images (paid) | Android: Google Drive or Dropbox backups and ZIP backups with optional photos. iOS: iCloud sync of vehicles and records, plus separate backups that include photos |
| Restore behavior | Check how restores handle existing data | Restores replace existing data |
| Multiple vehicles and drivers | Reports are run per vehicle and period; driver syncing is a paid feature | Several vehicles supported; iCloud syncs vehicles across Apple devices |
| Platforms and access | Web access is a paid feature | Android and iPhone apps with feature differences; iPhone app also runs on Mac; no browser login |
| Cost model | Paid tiers named Pro, Gold and Platinum | Free core app; optional Premium that differs by platform |
Simply Auto's FAQ groups paid features under Pro, while its reporting guide refers to Gold and Platinum tiers. Before paying, check which current tier includes the feature you need. Neither developer's material gives a current price in a form you can compare directly, so look at the in-app offer on your own device.
Service Records and Receipts
Fuelio's cost entry covers the fields a useful maintenance history needs: when the work was done, the odometer reading, what it cost, a category such as service or repair, a free-text note, and a photo of the receipt or invoice. The odometer field matters most. A dated, mileage-stamped history helps you show that intervals were followed, for example when selling the car or discussing a warranty claim.
Simply Auto also stores receipt images. Its paid tiers add backup and restore for those images and cloud storage for them. That matters because receipt photos are usually the part of a maintenance log you cannot recreate if a phone is lost.
Reminders
Fuelio documents its reminder logic in detail. A reminder can trigger on a date, on a mileage, or on whichever comes first. The mileage check uses the most recent odometer reading you logged, not live data from the car. If you stop logging fuel or costs for a few weeks, a mileage reminder can fire late. For repeating items such as an oil change every 5,000 miles or six months, marking the reminder complete restarts the interval from that point.
If reminders are a main reason you want an app, open Simply Auto and confirm how its reminders are set and triggered before choosing it.
Exports and Reports
Exports are where the two apps differ most. Fuelio offers free CSV export of fill-ups and costs, which gives you a spreadsheet copy of your history you can keep on your own. Simply Auto produces reports for a chosen vehicle and time period. Its Gold and Platinum tiers output PDF or CSV raw data together with receipts, and Platinum adds reports delivered automatically each week or month. Its Pro benefits include CSV logs sent by email.
In practice, Fuelio gives you raw data for free, and Simply Auto charges for documents formatted for someone else to read, such as a buyer, an employer reimbursing mileage costs, or a bookkeeper.
Backups and Recovery
On Android, Fuelio backs up to Google Drive or Dropbox and can create ZIP backups with photos optionally included. On iOS, it syncs vehicles and records through iCloud and keeps separate backups that include photos. Fuelio's documentation states that restoring a backup replaces the data already in the app. If you restore an old backup over a newer log, the newer entries are lost. Before restoring, export a CSV or make a fresh backup of what is currently on the device.
Simply Auto's paid tiers back up receipt images to the cloud and support restoring them. The account-based syncing and web access also mean your data is not held only on one phone.
Multiple Vehicles, Drivers and Devices
Both apps handle more than one vehicle. Simply Auto runs reports per vehicle, which keeps households and small fleets organized, and it offers driver syncing as a paid feature for cases where several people log fuel and service on shared cars. Fuelio has no browser login. You use it through the phone app, or on a Mac through the iPhone app. If someone in your household or business needs to check records from a computer without an Apple device, Simply Auto's web access is the clearer option.
Which One Fits Your Situation
- One personal car, Android, no budget: Fuelio. The cost log, reminders, CSV export and photo-inclusive backups are all part of the free app.
- One personal car, iPhone: compare Fuelio Premium with Simply Auto's paid tier. Fuelio's maintenance logging and reminders on iPhone both require Premium.
- Shared cars with several drivers: Simply Auto, for its paid driver syncing and web access.
- You need records formatted for a buyer, employer or accountant: Simply Auto's Gold or Platinum reports with receipts, or Platinum if you want them on a schedule.
- You want your data in an open format you control: Fuelio's free CSV export, alongside a backup that holds the receipt photos.
Checks to Run Before You Commit
Features and pricing change, and they differ between Android and iOS. A short trial before you enter years of history can save a migration later.
- Open the current app-store listing and in-app purchase screen on the device you will actually use. Note the price, currency, billing period and which tier unlocks the features you need.
- Create two clearly named test vehicles so you can see whether records stay separated.
- Enter a made-up service, such as an oil change at a sample odometer reading, and attach a receipt photo.
- Set a reminder by date and by mileage, then log a new odometer reading to see when it triggers.
- Export the data and open the file. Check that each vehicle is identifiable, that the date, odometer, cost and notes are present, and how receipts are handled.
- Test recovery by restoring into a fresh install or an empty test setup, not over your real data, because a restore can overwrite what is already there.
Here is an example of the decision. Suppose your two requirements are keeping receipts and having records you can take elsewhere. Simply Auto meets both through paid reports that bundle receipts. Fuelio meets them for free through CSV export plus a separate backup that carries the photos. The deciding question is whether your workflow needs receipts and data in one document. Confirm that in the export test before you commit.
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