The best expense management software depends on how your team spends. Expensify suits receipt-heavy teams, Pleo, Soldo and Spendesk suit European businesses that want company cards, Ramp and Brex suit US companies, SAP Concur and Navan suit travel-heavy organisations, and Zoho Expense suits businesses already using Zoho.
Expense claims are one of those small admin jobs that quietly eat hours. Someone loses a receipt, someone else submits a claim three months late, and the person doing the books spends Friday afternoon matching coffee shop slips to bank lines.
Expense management software fixes most of that by capturing receipts on the spot, applying your spending rules and pushing everything into your accounts. The tools below are well-known names. I've focused on what each one is known for, so use this as a shortlist to trial.
What should you look for in expense management software?
- Receipt capture. A phone app that reads the receipt for you is the single biggest time saver.
- Company cards. Some tools issue physical or virtual cards so spending is tracked as it happens.
- Approvals and policies. Rules for who can spend what, and who signs it off, stop awkward conversations later.
- Accounting sync. Check the link to your bookkeeping software works with your chart of accounts.
- Mileage and travel. If your team drives or travels, check how trips and mileage are recorded.
- Regional fit. Card issuing, currencies and tax handling vary by country, so check yours is supported.
Expense management software compared
| Tool | Best for | Stand-out feature |
|---|---|---|
| Expensify | Receipt-heavy teams | SmartScan receipt capture |
| Pleo | European small businesses | Company cards with instant receipt matching |
| Soldo | Teams that need many cards | Prepaid company cards with controls |
| Spendesk | European finance teams | Cards, approvals and invoices together |
| Ramp | US businesses | Corporate cards with spend controls |
| Brex | US startups and scale-ups | Corporate cards and spend management |
| SAP Concur | Larger, travel-heavy firms | Travel and expense in one system |
| Navan | Teams that travel often | Travel booking joined to expenses |
| Zoho Expense | Zoho users | Links with Zoho Books and the suite |
Card programmes and features vary by country and change often, so check the vendor's current plans before you sign up.
The best expense management software
1. Expensify
Expensify is one of the longest-running expense apps. It's known for SmartScan, which reads receipts from a photo, and for building expense reports that flow into accounting software.
Who it suits: teams that still deal with lots of paper receipts and out-of-pocket claims.
What stands out: receipt scanning. Take a photo and the merchant, date and amount are pulled out for you.
Watch out for: it has a lot of settings. Spend time on your policies at the start so reports come through clean.
2. Pleo
Pleo gives employees company cards and an app to capture receipts as they spend. It started in Denmark and is popular with small and mid-sized businesses across Europe and the UK.
Who it suits: European businesses that want staff to spend on company cards instead of claiming back their own money.
What stands out: the card-first approach. The receipt is matched to the payment almost as soon as it happens.
Watch out for: check card availability and accounting integrations for your country.
3. Soldo
Soldo provides prepaid company cards with spending controls, plus an app and dashboard to track every payment and receipt.
Who it suits: businesses that need to hand out lots of cards, such as for field teams, events or marketing spend.
What stands out: control. You can load, limit and freeze cards from one dashboard.
Watch out for: prepaid cards suit some businesses better than others, so think about how your team pays day to day.
4. Spendesk
Spendesk is a spend management platform from France that combines company cards, expense claims, purchase approvals and supplier invoices.
Who it suits: European finance teams that want every type of spending to go through one process.
What stands out: breadth. Cards, reimbursements and invoices all follow the same approval rules.
Watch out for: it's built for teams with a finance function, so a two-person business may not need all of it.
5. Ramp
Ramp offers corporate cards and spend management for US businesses, with receipt matching, spending limits, approvals and accounting sync.
Who it suits: US companies that want cards and expense management from one provider.
What stands out: spend controls. Limits and rules can be set per card, per person or per category.
Watch out for: it's focused on the US, so check it's available where your business is registered.
6. Brex
Brex provides corporate cards and spend management, and it's well known among US startups and fast-growing companies.
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Who it suits: venture-backed and growing US businesses with teams spending in several places.
What stands out: its focus on growing companies, with cards, expenses and travel tools in one place.
Watch out for: check the eligibility rules for your business type before you apply.
7. SAP Concur
SAP Concur is one of the best-known names in travel and expense management, widely used by larger organisations.
Who it suits: bigger companies with a lot of travel, complex policies and an internal finance team.
What stands out: maturity. It covers travel booking, expenses and invoices for very large teams.
Watch out for: it's a big system. For a small team it can feel like more than you need.
8. Navan
Navan, formerly known as TripActions, combines business travel booking with expense management and company cards.
Who it suits: teams that travel often and want bookings and expenses joined up.
What stands out: the travel link. Trips booked in Navan feed straight into the expense side.
Watch out for: if your team rarely travels, a simpler expense tool may suit you better.
9. Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense handles receipt capture, expense reports, mileage, approvals and travel requests, and it links neatly with Zoho Books.
Who it suits: businesses already using Zoho tools who want expenses inside the same family.
What stands out: the suite connection. Expense data flows straight into your Zoho accounting.
Watch out for: if you don't use Zoho elsewhere, compare it directly against the specialists.
How to choose expense management software
Start with one question: does your team spend its own money and claim it back, or do you want them on company cards? If it's claims, a receipt-first tool like Expensify or Zoho Expense is the natural fit. If you want cards, look at Pleo, Soldo or Spendesk in Europe, and Ramp or Brex in the US.
Then run a month of real spending through your top two, including a refund, a foreign currency payment and a late receipt. Ask whoever does your books which tool gave them the cleanest data, because they're the person who'll live with it.
If you're still using spreadsheets, my expense report template guide is a good stopgap. You'll also want one of the best accounting software tools to sit underneath, and my note on whether you can claim AI tools as a business expense.
Building a tool in this space? Here's how tools get considered for my roundups.
Frequently asked questions
What is expense management software?
It's software that captures receipts, records business spending, applies approval rules and sends the data to your accounts, so you're not matching paper slips by hand.
What is the best expense management software for small businesses?
Expensify, Pleo, Soldo and Zoho Expense are common choices for small teams. US businesses often look at Ramp or Brex.
Do I need company cards to use expense software?
No. Many tools handle out-of-pocket claims from receipts. Cards are optional, though they make tracking easier.
Does expense software connect to Xero or QuickBooks?
Most of the tools here connect to the major accounting packages. Check the integration list for your region before you choose.
