Clamp vs MileIQ: Mileage tracking alone, or mileage inside the job it belongs to
MileIQ tracks mileage and costs less. Clamp attaches the drive to the job it belongs to. The comparison only matters if you need both.
Direct answer: MileIQ tracks mileage and its individual paid plan has the lower advertised price. Clamp is a job workflow that includes mileage, so the drive attaches to the same job record as the estimate, proposal, change order and invoice. If mileage is all you need, MileIQ is cheaper and this page is not for you. The comparison only makes sense if you would otherwise pay for a mileage tracker and a job workflow separately.
Detected, then confirmed
Rate by trip date
Sample data. Detected drives wait for confirmation before they count, a logged trip can sit on the job it belongs to, and each trip carries the IRS rate for its own date.
Subscription cost, one person
| Billing | Clamp | MileIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Not offered | Free No commitment. Ongoing allowance of 40 logged drives per month. |
| Billed annually | $12.50 a month $149.99 a year | $11.66 a month $139.92 a year |
| Billed monthly | $19.99 a month $239.88 a year | $13.99 a month $167.88 a year |
Verdict
Clamp may fit when
- The drive belongs to a job you are also estimating, proposing and invoicing
- You want the trip attached to that job record, not to a label
- You would otherwise pay for a mileage tracker and a job workflow separately
MileIQ may fit when
- Mileage is the only thing you need tracked
- You want mileage tracking that stays free indefinitely, within 40 logged drives a month
- You need mileage approval for employees, which Clamp does not offer
- You want the lower price for unlimited individual mileage tracking
Before you compare them
- MileIQ is a mileage tracker. Clamp is a job workflow that includes mileage. Compared on mileage alone, MileIQ is cheaper.
- Both can relate a drive to client work. MileIQ uses purposes, labels and notes; Clamp attaches the trip to the job record holding its documents.
- The free paths are not equivalent. MileIQ's 40 logged drives a month continues indefinitely; Clamp's free month is a trial that ends.
- Neither product was tested against the other. No accuracy or reliability claim is made here.
- Still working out what the miles are worth? The mileage deduction guide covers the 2026 split year and the substantiation rules.
Workflow
| Feature | Clamp | MileIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic drive detection | Yes, detected trips are held for review before they count | Yes |
| Classify business or personal | Yes | Yes |
| Relate mileage to client work | Attached to the job record holding its estimates, proposals, change orders and invoices, and shown in that job's mileage section. The accountant export groups by rate period rather than by job | Custom purposes, client labels and notes, which are not the same as a shared estimate-to-invoice job record |
| Estimates, proposals, change orders, invoices | Yes | Not offered; MileIQ is a mileage product |
| Mileage-report approval workflow for employees | Not offered | Listed in Teams plans |
| Ongoing free allowance | None. Clamp's free use is the one-month trial; after that mileage needs a Solo subscription | 40 logged drives per month |
| Paid-plan trial | First month free on Solo monthly billing, mileage included | No trial advertised on the individual pricing page. Teams Pro offers 30 days free, no credit card required |
| 2026 midyear IRS rate change | Resolved by trip date | MileIQ's documentation states it updates automatically unless a custom rate is set |
What was and was not tested
What was compared: Comparative drive-detection and accuracy testing. Neither product was tested against the other, and no advantage is claimed either way. Documented, not tested.
| Statement | Basis |
|---|---|
| Published by Clamp, using each product's own documentation and pricing pages. | Clamp's own statement |
| MileIQ publishes a monthly figure and no annual total, so $139.92 is calculated. Clamp publishes $149.99 a year. | Verified against a published source |
| Clamp Solo is about $10 a year more on annual billing, and $72.00 more across twelve monthly payments. | Calculated from published prices |
| Clamp's free first month applies to Solo monthly billing, making year one $219.89 against MileIQ's $167.88. | Calculated from published prices |
| On annual billing, one subscription only wins if the software you would otherwise buy alongside MileIQ costs more than $10.07 a year. On monthly billing the gap is $72.00, and $52.01 in year one with Clamp's free month. | Calculated from published prices |
| No drive-detection or accuracy testing was performed, by us or by anyone we cite. | Clamp's own statement |
| MileIQ's documentation says it updates automatically for the July 1 2026 rate change, so no rate-handling advantage is claimed. | Verified against a published source |
Switching
- Export and retain your existing mileage records before changing subscriptions.
- Do not assume historical trips can be imported into Clamp. Confirm supported formats and fields before relying on a migration.
- MileIQ's free tier stays available at 40 drives a month, so you can leave it in place while you try something else.
- Check whether you need a mileage-report approval workflow for employees, which Clamp does not offer.
- Decide whether you actually need the job workflow. If your estimates and invoices are handled well elsewhere, the cheaper dedicated tracker is the better answer.
Sources & provenance
- MileIQ Pricing MileIQ (official)
- MileIQ Pricing for Business MileIQ (official)
- How to edit the Business Rate and Distance Unit MileIQ (official)
- Clamp pricing Clamp (owner-supplied)
- Contractor mileage deduction, including what Clamp records Clamp (owner-supplied)
Changes: Sep 7, 2026: Initial publication. Two adversarial review rounds; the intended rate-accuracy differentiator was investigated and removed after MileIQ's documentation showed it handles the 2026 midyear change.; Sep 8, 2026: Added the Solo monthly trial as its own row. A time-limited trial is not an ongoing free tier and is not shown as one.; Sep 8, 2026: Corrected the free-allowance row, which offered AI estimates as though they were a mileage allowance. Rewrote the CTA copy to describe mileage rather than estimating; the destination stays the estimator, which is the only conversion surface. Surfaced the mileage guide in the verdict.; Sep 8, 2026: Tightened the evidence statements from paragraphs to claims, and surfaced the price verification date.; Sep 8, 2026: Shortened the verdict and moved the price table above it, so the cost comparison lands before the reasoning.; Sep 8, 2026: Corrected the MileIQ trial row: Teams Pro offers 30 days free, so 'not published as a trial' was only true of the individual plans. Stated the billing condition on the cost comparison, and pointed the Clamp sources at pages a reader can check.; Sep 8, 2026: Corrected the accountant export claim, which groups by rate period rather than by job. A prior same-day edit wrongly stated that mileage was free indefinitely, reading BASE_FEATURES marketing copy as an entitlement; EntitlementSource has no free tier, and Clamp's free use is the one-month trial.; Sep 8, 2026: Added a device pair showing detected trips awaiting confirmation, a trip attached to a job, and the IRS rate resolved by trip date.