Top 6 Spendesk competitors and alternatives for expense management in 2025

Although Spendesk can be a useful tool to track spending, its lack of certain features make competitors a better choice.

Lacks integrated banking

If your business uses Spendesk as its expense management software, you’ll need to look elsewhere for banking. This adds complexity to your financial stack as you’ll need to navigate between two platforms to get a total view of your spend. Beyond that, it can add unnecessary costs with processing fees and can slow down the transfer of funds.

Restricted by prepaid cards

With Spendesk, your business card options are limited to prepaid expense cards, which businesses must fund before the card can be used. This can create issues for businesses that need credit to cover expenses, including a lack of flexibility when faced with unforeseen circumstances. If employees do need to cover unexpected expenses, they may need to use their personal credit card and request reimbursement. Spendesk’s prepaid cards also lack the rewards that competitors can offer.

Limited customer service access

Spendesk caters to companies based in Europe, and its customer service is available from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Central European Time. That translates to 12:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time, which is extremely unfriendly to US-based companies. For any company, these support hours can be limiting — especially since competitors offer much more customer service availability, with some, like Brex, even available 24/7.

Travel booking lacks functionality

Spendesk allows customers to book travel using its prepaid cards, but it lacks the option to book travel from within its platform. This can add another step to the process of booking travel and limits the expense policies that can be implemented to limit out-of-policy booking. Competitors allow employees to see which travel is in policy and out of policy while booking, streamlining an otherwise cumbersome process that is prone to overspending.

For businesses looking for an expense management solution that unifies spend across the company, Brex is the best option. The Brex platform offers a powerful global corporate card that seamlessly integrates with expense management software, empowering companies to enable and control every type of spending— employee expenses, accounts payable, and vendor payments—in one place.

Key features

Brex is a better choice for businesses considering Spendesk due to key features such as these:

Brex corporate card

The Brex corporate card gives your business control over spend before it happens, and unlike Spendesk, it doesn’t require prepayment. Using business factors to underwrite the card, Brex offers businesses credit limits that are up to 20x higher with no personal guarantee or credit check. Brex’s corporate cards also come with advanced fraud monitoring that uses AI to monitor spending and detect any unusual patterns or vendors, stopping fraud before it happens.

“Some employees submit 10 to 20 orders per hour, and with 2 to 5 minutes saved per transaction with Brex, we’re freeing up significant hours every day,” said Ahad Alzaman, the Director of Finance at Goody. “And with that automation piece in place, there are fewer human touch points and fewer loopholes that typically allow fraud to trickle in. In fact, we’ve seen zero fraud since using Brex.”

Customers can also earn Brex rewards for using their corporate card, including up to 7x points for ridesharing and 4x points for any travel booked with Brex travel. Points can be redeemed for billboards, travel, cash back, statement credit, and more.

Auto-generated receipts

With the Brex corporate card, employees don’t need to always upload a receipt with every transaction like they do with Spendesk, automating expense reporting. Rather, using payment data and Brex AI, Brex can auto-generate an itemized receipt and automatically populate memos, attendees, and expense categories. For receipts that aren’t automatically generated, employees can send their receipt to the Brex dashboard via SMS, a Slack message, or an email, or it can be uploaded directly in the app.

AI-reviewed approvals

Spendesk allows businesses to create expense policies and create approval requirements for certain transactions, but it lacks a monitoring service that can catch irregular expenses and automate manual approvals. Brex expense management software uses Brex AI to automate expense reviews, approving in-policy expenses while flagging anomalous activity for manager review and approval. This streamlines the approval process and keeps managers from spending unnecessary time reviewing expenses.

Robust customer service availability

Spendesk’s customer service is available from Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Central European Time. Regardless of where a business is located, waiting until Monday to resolve an issue can be inadequate. Brex makes its customer service team available 24/7 via the Brex app, Whatsapp, email, text, or over the phone.

In-app travel booking

With Spendesk, businesses can use their Spendesk card to book travel, but they need to use services outside of Spendesk to make travel arrangements. The Brex travel management software allows customers to book and manage travel, including airfare and hotels, from within the Brex app. This helps companies enforce expense policies to control travel costs, while consolidating travel and expense management into one platform.

“With Brex, we knew that we could empower employees with better visibility into their Brex card spend and real-time access to the policy data they need,” said Natalie Dircks, Senior Accountant at Triage Staffing. “Now, Triage employees do all their booking through Brex travel with safeguards to ensure compliance. Plus, our managers and department heads can easily create budgets and spend limits in Brex. It’s a one-stop solution across the board.”

Why people prefer Brex over Spendesk

Businesses are choosing Brex over Spendesk to unlock higher working capital and gain control over all of their corporate spend. With Brex, companies can consolidate their financial stack, streamlining expense management and eliminating unnecessary expenses. From accounts payable and bill pay to corporate cards and banking, Brex’s spend management software offers businesses an efficient way to manage cash flow.

With Spendesk, businesses are required to use third-parties for banking and travel, adding additional steps to cash flow management that are eliminated with Brex. Beyond that, businesses often prefer the flexibility that a corporate card offers rather than Spendesk’s prepaid card, which can make expense reimbursement more common.

Pricing

Brex offers packages based on the size and needs of your business, including Essentials, Premium, and Enterprise. For startups and growing companies, Essentials is a free package that gives businesses access to the Brex corporate card, custom expense policies, ERP integration, travel booking, bill pay, and reimbursements. Brex’s 24/7 customer service is also available to all customers, regardless of their plan.

The Premium plan, for $12 per user, per month, meets the needs of mid-sized companies. This plan includes everything in the Essentials package along with additional customizable spend policies, multi-entity support, advanced approvals, and live budgets. For global companies that need unlimited U.S. and global entities, local currency cards, and fully customizable integration support, Brex offers the Enterprise plan.

Visit the Brex pricing page for more details.

Payhawk is a London-based expense management software that offers credit cards and allows businesses to manage employee spending and pay bills. It can integrate with accounting software to sync transaction data. Companies use it to track expenses, upload receipts, and set spending limits.

Key features

• Issue credit cards in six different currencies
• Access credit limits up to $1 million
• Configure spend policies for individual employees
• Reimburse employees directly from Payhawk

Why people prefer Payhawk over Spendesk

Both Payhawk and Spendesk are Europe-based companies that offer expense management software and are intended for businesses that primarily work in that continent. Nonetheless, businesses often prefer Payhawk for its corporate cards that don’t require prefunding, unlike the Spendesk cards. Corporate cards can allow for greater flexibility when your business is faced with unexpected charges.

Both Payhawk and Spendesk charge currency exchange fees for transactions made in currencies different from a business’s corporate card. Nonetheless, while Spendesk charges a currency exchange fee of 2.99%, Payhawk charges customers a fee of 1.99%. Businesses with transactions subject to fees are better served by Payhawk, but various Payhawk competitors offer solutions that can be more cost-effective for businesses who are faced with many exchange fees.

Pricing

Payhawk allows customers to pay a monthly fee of $599 to $899 a month for individual features, including Cards and Expenses, Bill Payments, and Procure to Pay. For businesses that are looking for all of those services, Payhawk offers its Complete plan. The platform also offers additional add-ons.

Rydoo is an expense management software that offers corporate cards and control over employee spending. Based in Belgium, this platform is designed to help businesses comply with local tax regulations in Europe and North America. Nonetheless, Rydoo lacks in-app travel booking and robust support for paying bills.

Key features

• Comply with local tax regulations in Europe and North America
• Issue corporate credit cards to employees
• Manage and track employee spending
• Automate approval flows

Why people prefer Rydoo over Spendesk

Businesses prefer Rydoo for its corporate cards that don’t require prefunding, unlike the Spendesk cards. Corporate cards such as Rydoo’s can help prevent employees from covering unexpected expenses with personal credit cards, which then necessitate reimbursements. When employees do submit receipts, Rydoo’s platform can detect out-of-policy items and identify duplicate expenses.

Pricing

Rydoo, unlike competitors like Brex, doesn’t offer a free version of its software. Its standard plan, Essentials, starts at €10 per user, per month, and offers many of Rydoo’s basic features. Companies that need additional functionality, such as compliance in multiple countries, can upgrade to the Pro plan for €12 per user, per month. Both plans are €2 less, per user, per month, if plans are billed annually.

Rydoo describes those plans as self-service, suggesting businesses would integrate the software on their own. If your business requires personalized guidance, you’ll need the Business or Enterprise plan, which comes with additional features. Rydoo doesn’t disclose the cost for those plans.

Expensify offers expense management software that can help businesses manage most of their spend. Expensify gives customers the option to integrate the Expensify corporate card into their spending, along with accounts payable and travel management. Expensify can be a good option for small businesses that aren’t scaling, but Expensify competitors offer better options for growing businesses.

Key features

• Access to 24/7 support
• Book travel within the Expensify app
• Automate approvals and payments
• Reimburse employees in local currency

Why people prefer Expensify over Spendesk

Businesses prefer Expensify rather than Spendesk for its corporate card and customer service availability. Spendesk only offers prepaid cards, which requires businesses to preload cards with funds before they can be used. With Expensify’s corporate card, employees can easily cover unexpected expenses and won’t need to submit reimbursements. Expensify also makes its customer service available 24/7, which is significantly more than Spendesk.

Pricing

Expensify offers two plans: Collect and Control. The Collect plan is $5 per user, per month, and includes features such as reimbursements, travel booking, and corporate cards. There is no free option for businesses that want to try Expensify. The Control plan starts at $9 per user, per month, and includes everything in the Collect plan with additional customization.

Airbase’s expense management software offers customers the ability to pay bills and monitor and control expenses. Similar to many competitors, Airbase gives businesses a way to control spend through expense policies and account payable approval flows.

Key features

• Issue physical and virtual cards
• Automate accounts payable process
• Integrate with 70+ ERPs
• Scan receipts with OCR

Why people prefer Airbase over Payhawk

Companies choose Airbase over Spendesk for its international functionality and currency support. With Airbase, businesses can reimburse expenses to employees accounts in 44 different countries and 14 currencies, while Spendesk reimburses employees based on the currency of your business’s account. For businesses with international operations, Airbase competitors may offer better support for global payments.

Beyond currency support, Airbase’s corporate cards give businesses more flexibility compared to the prepaid cards that Spendesk offers.

Pricing

Airbase offers three separate packages, but doesn’t disclose pricing for each one. The Standard package is intended for businesses up to 200 employees and offers corporate cards, expense management, and accounts payable automation. The next level up, Premium, is designed for businesses up to 500 employees and adds on to Standard with advanced integrations and workflows. The highest tier, Enterprise, is for businesses with up to 10,000 employees and offers advanced accounting automation and full access to the platform’s functionality.

Rippling is a workforce management platform that offers expense management capabilities. The platform includes HR solutions, payroll and IT management, and limited spend control.

Key features

• Integrate HR, IT, and spend into one platform
• Issue physical and virtual corporate cards
• Create expense approval flows
• Reimburse employees in over 100 countries

Why people prefer Zoho Expense over Payhawk

Businesses prefer Rippling over Payhawk for its integration of HR, IT, and expense management into one software solution. Rippling also offers a corporate card that integrates with the expense management platform, allowing businesses to manage spending. Nonetheless, businesses looking for more control over spend and more robust expense management often choose Rippling competitors.

Pricing

Rippling provides pricing based on the services each business requests, allowing businesses to choose which functions they need. Within expense management, Rippling divides its features into three packages, including corporate cards, expense management, and bill pay.

For businesses looking for a complete view of their spending and control over expenses, Brex is the best Spendesk alternative. Brex allows businesses to control spend before it happens, streamlining the expense management process and saving your business both time and money.

Unlike the Spendesk card, the Brex corporate card doesn’t need to be prefunded. This allows employees to cover unexpected expenses with their corporate card and can help reduce the number of reimbursements employees need to submit. Custom expense policies can be built-in to the card, freeing managers from unnecessary expense reviews — and Brex AI monitors expenses for unusual activity, flagging any suspicious charge for additional review.

“We loved that Brex’s customizable spend limits would allow us to automatically approve employee spend for specific use cases and cut down on reviews,” said Nishant Karandikar, Limelight Steel’s Strategy and Operations Lead. “Also, as a hard tech startup, we have a lot of equipment and supplies to buy all the time, and Brex offered us a substantially higher credit limit. That was really valuable for us and showed that Brex could flex with our business as a true partner.”

The Brex corporate card integrates seamlessly with the expense management software. With automated bill pay, startup banking, travel, and accounting automation tools, Brex can help your business spend smarter and move faster.

Brex bill pay allows invoices to be automatically captured and routed through a predetermined approval flow for seamless payment. Coupled with the Brex business account, you can eliminate processing fees and send wires in over 40 currencies. Plus, your savings can earn a 4%* yield in the Brex account.

And unlike Spendesk, when employees need to book travel, Brex travel allows businesses and employees to book travel all within the Brex app. Since travel and expense policies can be built right into the platform, employees don’t need to check with managers or guess whether their travel plans are in policy.

For businesses looking to switch from Spendesk and gain more spending power and control, Brex is the right solution. Sign up for Brex today.

*Yield is the annual percentage yield based on the current 7-day average yield for the Dreyfus Government Cash Management Fund (DGVXX), and is effective as of 05/29/25. Yield is variable and only earned on invested funds in Treasury.