How this page ranks expense tools
One formula for all 16 tools: the cheapest published plan that fits your number of users and cards, priced for a year including any per-user, per-card and issuance fees, plus the FX fee on the share of spend you make in foreign currency, minus any cashback the plan pays on card spend.
The result is an estimated annual cost in pounds, and the lowest cost ranks first. A tool that publishes no price for a team your size is shown with its features but not ranked; today that is Spendesk, ExpenseIn.
Cards, or software on top of cards you have
Three shapes are mixed here on purpose, because buyers compare them.
Prepaid and debit platforms (Soldo, Equals, Airwallex, Revolut, Tide, ANNA, Spendesk) issue cards that spend money you have put in first. Credit platforms (Pleo on its higher tiers, Payhawk, Moss, Capital on Tap, Ramp) extend a credit line and run a credit check on the business. Software-only tools (Expensify, Zoho Expense) manage receipts and reimbursements on whatever cards you already hold, so they carry no FX or cashback of their own.
If you say you need credit, the first and third groups are flagged rather than hidden.
The criteria on each card
Every tool is scored on the same rows for your answers, so the count on each card is out of the same number. A row a tool fails is a flag, and flagged tools rank below the rest whatever they cost.
| What we look at | What it checks |
|---|---|
| Accounting integration | Whether the vendor names the accounting package you chose on its own page. A missing name is a flag to check before you buy, not a verdict; many vendors integrate through exports. |
| Funding | Prepaid and debit cards spend money you have loaded first; credit platforms extend a credit line. If you say you need credit, prepaid, debit and software-only tools fail this row. |
| Each control you tick | One row per control you choose from approval workflows, receipt capture with automatic matching, out-of-pocket reimbursements, budgets by team or project, multi-entity support, mileage claims. Scored as offered or not from the vendor's own product pages, on whichever plan carries it; the tier is not modelled. |
| Receipt matching at your volume | Above 100 expenses a month, a tool without automatic receipt matching fails this row, because someone will be matching receipts to transactions by hand. Below that volume every tool passes. |
Every assumption
- Monthly billing, ex VAT. Most vendors discount annual billing by 10% to 28%; not applied.
- Per-user prices apply to every user you enter, including approvers, unless the plan includes them.
- FX is charged at the vendor's card rate on the foreign share of spend. Where a vendor does not publish a card FX rate it is assumed and stated in the product's notes.
- Cashback is applied to all card spend at the plan's rate, ignoring vendor caps and eligibility tests.
- Integrations are those the vendor names on its page. A missing name is a flag, not a verdict; many vendors integrate through exports.
- Controls (approvals, receipt matching, reimbursements, budgets, multi-entity, mileage) are scored as offered or not, on whichever plan carries them; the tier is not modelled. A tool missing a control you tick is flagged and ranked below the rest whatever it costs.
- Volume. Above 100 expenses a month, a tool without automatic receipt matching is flagged, because someone will be matching receipts to transactions by hand. The threshold is a judgement, published here so you can disagree with it.
- Capital on Tap is a credit card with expense features rather than a spend platform; its full card economics are on the credit cards calculator.
What the figures cover
Several vendors publish only a starting price, or none at all; those tools are shown with their features but not ranked.
Where a vendor does not publish a card FX rate or a per-card fee, the figure is assumed at the vendor's usual rate and the tool says so.
A control marked as not offered means the vendor's pages do not describe it, which is not the same as the vendor lacking it; the top tiers of several platforms carry more than their pages say.
Pricing pages change often, so check the vendor's page before you sign.
Last verified:
Not advice. Accounts are opened directly with the vendor.