Top 5 Emburse Professional competitors for expense management in 2025

Emburse Professional can give businesses control over much of their spending, but it lacks the functionality that competitors can offer. If your business is facing any of these limitations, it may be time to find a new expense management solution.

Limited expense management functionality

Although Emburse Professional does give businesses the ability to create expense policies and oversee costs, it lacks functionality that can streamline the expense management process. Emburse Professional requires employees to upload receipts of every transaction and doesn’t have the ability to auto-generate itemized receipts. This can slow down the expense approval process and requires unnecessary manual inputs from employees. Beyond that, Emburse Professional limits employees to upload receipts through the app or via email. There is no option to share receipts through other services.

No integrated banking

Organizations that use Emburse Professional as their expense management software must look elsewhere for a business banking account. This adds another layer to your financial stack, complicating cash flow tracking as businesses will need to switch between platforms to see all spending. Beyond that, companies that rely on a third-party business account can be charged processing fees and face slower fund transfers.

Complex, costly product structure

Emburse Professional includes all of the expense management tools the platform offers, but the overall cost isn’t disclosed. Nonetheless, businesses can instead opt to use Emburse Spend, which includes two separate plans, Basic and Plus. Basic costs $8 per user, per month, and includes corporate cards, 50 ACH reimbursements per month, and expense approval flows. The Plus plan costs $12 per user, per month, and includes everything from the Basic plan in addition to unlimited ACH reimbursements, additional integrations, bill pay, and other functions. If any business wants guided implementation for Emburse Spend, that costs an additional $1,500. Businesses can also opt to use Emburse Nexonia as their expense management software, which starts at $12 per user, per month. Emburse Nexonia offers a more customizable solution compared to Emburse Professional.

Difficulty managing vendors

Emburse Professional offers a good way to manage vendors and invoices, but it requires more work compared to other platforms. Businesses need to manually add new vendors to the platform, which can slow down the onboarding process and introduce vendor information errors. While Emburse Professional does use optical character recognition (OCR) to add invoices to the platform, it requires more manual oversight and input than other options.

For businesses looking for an alternative to Emburse Professional, there are many competitors that offer expense management solutions that can better meet their needs. Consider the alternatives analyzed below before adding a new expense management software to your financial stack.

1. Brex

For companies looking for an alternative to Emburse Professional, Brex is the best option. Brex seamlessly integrates a powerful corporate card into its expense management software, giving you control over all of your spend in one platform. Through automated accounts payable, AI-powered expense approval flows, and in-app travel and expense management, companies can spend smarter and move faster with Brex.

Key features

When comparing Emburse Professional to Brex, several key Brex features stand out.

Business account integration

Brex integrates business accounts into its expense management software, a feature Emburse Professional doesn’t offer. With the Brex business account, you can see all of your spending in one platform while also eliminating processing fees and slow fund transfers. Plus, earn high yields with same-day liquidity.

Pangea is one of many companies that found the Brex business account helped streamline expense management. “For us, we focus on consolidating as opposed to introducing new tools,” Pangea co-founder Adam Alpert said. “So we brought all of our checking and money market accounts over to a Brex business account. It's a lot easier for me to keep everything in one place.”

Streamlined vendor onboarding and tracking

While Emburse Professional requires businesses to manually add vendor information, Brex bill pay allows you to send a secure link to vendors so they can add the information themselves. You’ll accelerate the vendor onboarding process while automating the payment process.

Once a vendor has been onboarded, Brex gives businesses the ability to track vendor spending with real-time spend visibility, allowing your business to identify opportunities to save costs. Plus, your business can gain insights into how each vendor is performing, allowing you to quickly see which vendors are delivering — and which aren’t.

Automated bill pay

With Brex bill pay, invoices don’t need to be manually added to your expense management platform. Once you forward, email, or upload the invoice to Brex, Brex’s invoice capture technology automatically scans the data from the invoice, capturing line item details. Compared to manual entry, companies save hours of work each month with up to a 10x lower error rate using Brex bill pay.

Once the invoice has been added to Brex, Brex AI then automatically matches the invoice to an outstanding purchase order in your ERP. Brex then generates a bill that is then routed through your business’s custom multi-level approvals so the right people sign off the payment before it’s sent.

Global corporate card

With the Brex corporate card, businesses can proactively control spend and earn rewards while paying for everyday expenses. Unlike the Emburse Professional card, the Brex corporate card starts earning rewards on day one, including 7x points on rideshare and 3x for any restaurant-related expenses. Brex rewards can be redeemed for statement credits or cash, as well as business-building perks like travel and billboard advertising.

The Brex card streamlines expense reporting with automatic itemized receipt collection and custom, embedded expense policies. And thanks to underwriting based on business performance, you can access credit limits up to 20x higher with Brex, giving your business more flexibility to adapt and grow. Brex cards work in 210+ geographies as part of Mastercard’s global network, and you can issue physical and virtual corporate cards in more than 50 countries.

Why people prefer Brex over Emburse Professional

Businesses prefer Brex over Emburse Professional for its comprehensive expense management software and built-in automations. Compared to Emburse Professional, Brex gives companies more control over their spend while eliminating manual work.

With integrated business banking, cards, expense management, travel, and bill pay, Brex allows businesses to streamline and track expenses within one global spend management software.

Brex’s robust automations are another reason why businesses prefer it over Emburse Professional. The Brex platform automates tedious expense, accounts payable, and accounting processes, helping businesses move faster while maintaining complete control. In fact, 71% of all expenses prepared on Brex are handled entirely by automation, which gives your teams more time to focus on strategic projects.

Pricing

Brex offers three plans: Essentials, Premium, and Enterprise. The Essentials plan costs $0 per user, per month, and gives startups access to the Brex card along with travel and expense management, custom spending rules, bill pay, and real-time reporting. For mid-sized businesses, the Premium plan — which costs $12 per user, per month — offers everything in Essentials plus additional customization over spend policies, approval chains, and travel rules. Global enterprises that need unlimited U.S. or global entities, local card reimbursements and policies, and fully customizable implementation can opt for the Enterprise plan. This plan is priced based on your custom needs; visit the Brex pricing page for more details.

2. SAP Concur

Businesses looking for an alternative to Emburse Professional may consider SAP Concur. Concur is an established expense management software that allows companies to control employee spending, manage expense reimbursements, and pay bills. Concur does offer a popular platform for expense management, but most users find it outdated and inefficient.

Key features

• Establish employee approval flows
• Integrate third-party corporate cards
• Integrate easily with the SAP Concur ERP
• Book travel within Concur
• Manage business spend in one platform

Why people prefer SAP Concur over Emburse Professional

Some people prefer SAP Concur over Emburse Professional for its reputation as an established expense management software that can handle complex approval flows. Founded in 1993, SAP Concur helps businesses handle employee expenses and reimbursements, travel management, and invoice processing within one platform. However, many users find this established software outdated and difficult to use compared to SAP Concur competitors.

Pricing

SAP Concur doesn’t share its pricing and fees on its website, which can make it difficult to compare expense management platforms and understand the solution's holistic costs.

3. Coupa

Coupa offers software that helps businesses oversee and manage procurement and invoice processing. In addition to vendor management, Coupa also helps companies monitor employee expenses and simplify expense approvals.

Key features

• Optimize your supply chain
• Manage accounts payable and vendor payments
• Monitor financial data across accounts
• Issue Coupa virtual cards to employees

Why people prefer Coupa over Emburse Professional

Businesses typically choose Coupa over Emburse Professional for its extensive procurement, accounts payable, and overall vendor management capabilities. While Coupa expense management software does help manage spend and control employee expenses, other platforms offer a more robust solution.

Pricing

Coupa offers three different plans, including Registered, Verified, and Advanced. The plans below Advanced, or the most expensive plan, have very limited functionality. The Advanced plan starts at $4,800 per year, and doesn’t include support, which starts at $499 per year for six hours of assistance. Other Emburse Professional alternatives like Brex include integration support with every plan.

4. Spendesk

Spendesk is expense management software designed to help businesses based in Europe comply with local rules and regulations. Spendesk offers prepaid cards with expense approval flows, invoice processing, and reimbursements within its platform.

Key features

• Control spend with prepaid cards
• Manage employee reimbursements
• Track budgets in real time
• Automate invoice processing
• Pay invoices in 30 currencies

Why people prefer Spendesk over Emburse Professional

Businesses use Spendesk rather than Emburse Professional for its all-in-one product that offers a wide range of functionality. With Spendesk, organizations can control employee spending through pre-funded cards embedded with expense policies. Regardless of where employees are spending, Spendesk ensures expenses remain compliant with local regulations, including VAT calculations. Nonetheless, Europe-centric customer service hours and limited international support can make Spendesk competitors a better option for many US companies.

Pricing

Spendesk doesn’t disclose pricing on its website, but the platform does divide its offerings into three tiers: Essentials, Scale, and Premium. Essentials is intended for small businesses that want to use cards, track business expenses, and need basic accounting integrations. Scale includes everything in Essentials while adding spend dashboards, implementation assistance, and automated bookkeeping. Both Essentials and Scale offer add-ons for an additional fee, such as multi-entity management and procurement. Premium includes everything in the first two tiers and offers a customizable platform as well as enterprise accounting and HR integrations.

5. BILL

BILL, formerly known as BILL.com, specializes in accounts payable automation. BILL allows companies to streamline the AP process, including automatic invoice importing, approval workflows, and payments. The BILL Divvy card can also offer high credit lines and help businesses control employee spending.

Key features

• Access credit lines up to $5 million
• Automate accounts payable processes
• Make payments in over 130 countries
• Manage your account via app
• Contact support 24/7

Why people prefer BILL over Emburse Professional

Finance teams prefer BILL over Emburse Professional for its robust accounts payable automation and the BILL Divvy card, which allows you to access credit and earn rewards. BILL provides access to its Divvy card for free, and unlike Emburse Professional, you can earn rewards as soon as you start spending. BILL also offers transparent pricing and a clear product structure, which can help businesses compare costs to BILL competitors.

Pricing

BILL separates its pricing into Accounts Payable and Receivable, and Spend and Expense. For its AP automation, it offers four plans that range from $45 per user per month to $79 per user per month, along with a custom pricing option. BILL’s basic expense management plan is free and gives businesses access to physical and virtual cards, automated expense management, and employee reimbursements.

Although Emburse Professional can offer some expense controls, Brex is the best Emburse Professional alternative. Brex’s spend management software empowers companies to control spend before it happens through a powerful corporate card, integrated expense management, and robust accounts payable automation.

With seamless integration into a business banking account, Brex customers get a complete and informed view of their cash flow, empowering leaders and founders to make informed financial decisions. Emburse Professional doesn’t offer businesses the option to manage all of their finances in one place.

The Brex corporate card, with extensive rewards and credit limits up to 20x higher, makes Brex a better choice for companies looking to control spend and automate expense reporting. For global companies, managing international expenses is just as easy: Businesses can issue cards and reimburse employees in over 50 countries.

For Huntress — one of many companies using Brex’s international functionality — Brex allowed the company to issue cards in local currencies around the world and pay statements from local bank accounts in more than 50 countries. “A huge unlock was issuing Brex cards in the local currency to our foreign employees as we grew,” said Ken Liu, Director of Accounting Operations at Huntress.

If your business is ready to switch from Emburse Professional, sign up for Brex and accelerate your expense management today.