Free tool
Categorize bank transactions
Give it the CSV your bank exports and get every row back with a bookkeeping category from SuperBooks' own category list, set by the published rules below: Meals, Travel, Software, Rent, Fees and the rest. Each row says which rule set its category, so you can check it.
Categorize a statement
The file comes back with three more columns: Category, Category group and Rule. The statement is read the same way as in the bank CSV converter: money in positive, money out negative.
SuperBooks uses this same category list for every transaction and lets you change any of them. Try SuperBooks free.
The method
Descriptions are lowercased and stripped of punctuation, so "McDonald's #42" reads as "mcdonald s 42". The rules below are then tried from the top, and the first one whose words appear in the description as whole words sets the category, so "taxi" is never read as "tax". A rule marked money in or money out applies only to that direction.
A row no rule covers is Income when it is money in and Uncategorized when it is money out. No model is called: the same file always gets the same categories.
| Category | Applies to | Description contains |
|---|---|---|
| Credit Card PaymentBanking & Finance | In or out | credit card payment, card payment thank you, payment thank you, payment received thank you, autopay payment |
| TransferBanking & Finance | In or out | transfer to, transfer from, internal transfer, account transfer, online transfer, savings transfer, tfr |
| Loan ProceedsBanking & Finance | Money in | loan advance, loan disbursement, loan proceeds, loan |
| Loan Principal RepaymentBanking & Finance | Money out | loan repayment, loan payment, mortgage, loan |
| Interest IncomeRevenue | Money in | interest |
| Interest ExpenseBanking & Finance | Money out | interest |
| Processor FeesBanking & Finance | Money out | processing fee, processing fees, merchant fee, merchant fees, merchant service, card processing |
| FeesBanking & Finance | Money out | bank fee, service charge, service fee, monthly fee, account fee, maintenance fee, overdraft, nsf, wire fee, atm fee, foreign transaction fee, fx fee |
| PayoutsBanking & Finance | Money in | payout, payouts, settlement, merchant deposit |
| Chargebacks & DisputesRevenue | In or out | chargeback, dispute |
| Customer RefundsRevenue | Money out | refund |
| Other IncomeRevenue | Money in | refund, cashback |
| VAT/GST/PST/QST PaymentsTaxes & Government | In or out | vat, gst, hst, pst, qst |
| Sales & Use Tax PaymentsTaxes & Government | In or out | sales tax, use tax |
| Payroll Tax RemittancesTaxes & Government | In or out | payroll tax, source deductions, paye, eftps |
| Income Tax PaymentsTaxes & Government | In or out | estimated tax, income tax, corporation tax, self assessment, 1040es |
| Taxes & GovernmentTaxes & Government | In or out | irs, usataxpymt, hmrc, receiver general, franchise tax, tax payment, tax |
| Government FeesTaxes & Government | Money out | business license, business licence, licence fee, license fee, filing fee, registration fee, companies house, secretary of state, dmv, permit |
| SalaryHuman Resources | Money out | payroll, salary, salaries, wages, gusto, paychex |
| BenefitsHuman Resources | Money out | benefits, 401k, pension, retirement plan, dental |
| ContractorsProfessional Services | Money out | contractor, freelancer, upwork, fiverr, deel, toptal |
| Professional Services FeesProfessional Services | Money out | accountant, accounting, bookkeeping, bookkeeper, cpa, attorney, lawyer, law firm, legal, solicitor, notary, consulting fee |
| InsuranceProfessional Services | Money out | insurance, insur, geico, allstate, state farm, hiscox |
| LeasesLiabilities & Debt | Money out | lease, leasing |
| RentOperations | Money out | rent, office rent, landlord, coworking, wework, regus |
| UtilitiesOperations | Money out | utility, utilities, electric, electricity, hydro, water bill, sewer, natural gas, pg e, con edison, duke energy, enbridge, waste management |
| Internet & TelephoneOperations | Money out | internet, broadband, phone, telephone, mobile, wireless, comcast, xfinity, verizon, at t, t mobile, spectrum, rogers, telus, bell canada, vodafone |
| WebsiteSales & Marketing | Money out | domain, domains, web hosting, hosting, godaddy, namecheap, squarespace, wix, webflow, wordpress |
| AdvertisingSales & Marketing | Money out | advertising, google ads, adwords, facebk, facebook ads, meta ads, linkedin ads, microsoft ads, bing ads, tiktok ads |
| MarketingSales & Marketing | Money out | marketing, mailchimp, constant contact, sendgrid |
| EventsSales & Marketing | Money out | eventbrite, conference, trade show, expo, meetup |
| Promotional MaterialsSales & Marketing | Money out | vistaprint, business cards, signage, printing, swag |
| ShippingOperations | Money out | shipping, postage, courier, fedex, ups, usps, dhl, canada post, royal mail, purolator, shippo, easypost |
| Duties & CustomsCost of Goods Sold | Money out | customs, duty, duties, brokerage fee |
| InventoryCost of Goods Sold | Money out | inventory, wholesale, alibaba |
| Office SuppliesOperations | Money out | office supplies, stationery, staples, office depot, officemax |
| SoftwareTechnology | Money out | software, saas, adobe, microsoft, google workspace, gsuite, slack, zoom, atlassian, github, notion, dropbox, aws, amazon web services, digitalocean, heroku, vercel, figma, canva, openai, hubspot |
| EquipmentOperations | Money out | electronics, best buy, apple store, dell, lenovo, newegg, b h photo |
| MealsTravel & Entertainment | Money out | uber eats, doordash, grubhub, skip the dishes, deliveroo, just eat, restaurant, dining, cafe, coffee, starbucks, tim hortons, mcdonald, mcdonalds, chipotle, pizza, bar, pub, grill, bakery, grocery, groceries |
| TravelTravel & Entertainment | Money out | airline, airlines, air canada, westjet, delta air, united airlines, american airlines, southwest, jetblue, british airways, easyjet, ryanair, lufthansa, expedia, booking com, airbnb, hotel, marriott, hilton, hyatt, accommodation, uber, lyft, taxi, amtrak, via rail, trainline, transit, parking, toll, fuel, gas station, shell, esso, chevron, exxon, petro canada, car rental, hertz, avis, transport, transportation |
| Non-Software SubscriptionsTechnology | Money out | netflix, spotify, membership, newspaper, magazine |
| ActivityTravel & Entertainment | Money out | entertainment, sport, cinema, theatre, theater |
| TrainingHuman Resources | Money out | training, course, tuition, education, udemy, coursera, seminar, workshop |
| Charitable DonationsOwner / Equity | Money out | donation, donate, charity, red cross, unicef |
| Owner DrawsOwner / Equity | Money out | owner draw, owners draw, owner s draw, dividend |
| Capital InvestmentOwner / Equity | Money in | capital contribution, owner contribution, owner investment, share capital |
Run it with curl
curl -F file=@statement.csv "https://app.superbooks.io/api/tools/categorize-transactions" -o categorized.csvAdd -H "Accept: application/json" for each row's category slug and a count per category. A GET on the same address lists the rules. API reference and limits
Questions
- How does it choose a category?
- Each description is read against the rules on this page, top to bottom, and the first rule whose words it contains sets the category: "uber eats" is Meals, "uber" on its own is Travel. Some rules depend on the direction of the money, so interest paid in is Interest Income and interest charged is Interest Expense. A row no rule covers is Income when it is money in and Uncategorized when it is money out.
- Which categories does it use?
- SuperBooks' own category list: 61 categories in groups such as Revenue, Operations, Travel & Entertainment, Banking & Finance and Taxes & Government. The rules reuse the vocabulary SuperBooks' bank connections translate, so dining and groceries are Meals, fuel and accommodation are Travel, and phone bills are Internet & Telephone.
- Is my statement stored or sent to an AI model?
- No. The file is read in memory, each row is categorized by the fixed rules on this page, and the result comes straight back as a download. No model is called and no copy is kept.