Top 6 Payhawk competitors and alternatives for expense management in 2025

Payhawk’s expense management software can give businesses oversight of employee spending, but many businesses may find that its features are lacking in comparison to competitors. If your business is considering—or already uses—Payhawk, these four limitations may be signs a competitor is a better choice.

Expanding beyond Payhawk’s limited currency support

Currently, Payhawk’s corporate card can only be issued in six different currencies, and businesses can pay bills via bank transfers in four different currencies. Regardless of the size of your business, this can make it difficult to grow and maintain a global workforce or pay global vendors. If your expense management software doesn’t allow you to pay reimbursements in a local currency, you’ll need to pay foreign exchange conversions.

Need to integrate banking into your financial stack

Payhawk offers customers credit cards and the ability to manage expenses, but it lacks a banking option. As a result, Payhawk customers need to do their banking elsewhere, adding to their tech stack and complicating cashflow insights and control. Lacking an integrated bank account can also slow down payments due to intermediaries, and can add processing fees to payments.

Growing out of Payhawk’s inadequate credit limits

Payhawk, similar to other expense management platforms, offers customers its own corporate credit card. Although this card can integrate into the Payhawk platform, the credit limits can restrict its utility. The highest credit limit that Payhawk offers is $1 million, and that varies based on where your business is located. Many businesses likely won’t qualify for the highest limit available, and this credit limit can necessitate opening other cards to cover monthly expenses.

Looking to control travel spend

Payhawk’s doesn’t offer an in-app travel solution for booking and managing travel. If you have employees traveling frequently, your business may need more functionality and control over travel spend. With Payhawk, your business isn’t able to create travel expense policies, creating a bottleneck when employees need to travel and book trips.

Brex, as the leading expense management software, is the ideal alternative to Payhawk. Brex offers expense management, corporate cards, bill pay, accounting automation, business banking, and travel all integrated on one global platform. This allows businesses to streamline their expense management and control all of their spend in one place, reducing unnecessary expenses and improving oversight.

Key features

These key Brex features make it the best Payhawk alternative:

Integrated business banking

If your business uses Payhawk, you’ll have to maintain a separate business bank account, adding another step to your process of managing cash flow. On the other hand, the Brex business account is integrated with its expense management software, which allows you to manage payments and card expenses in one place.

The Brex business account can streamline your cash flow management and help your business scale effectively, starting with high yields. With the business account, your business can earn 3.95% yield from day one, and by banking with Brex, your business can qualify for higher credit limits.

Credit limits that grow with your business

With the Payhawk credit card, if your business is based in the U.S., you’ll face a maximum credit limit of $1 million. Brex doesn’t impose the same restrictions, and its credit underwriting allows your credit limit to increase as your business expands so you don’t need to worry about outgrowing your corporate card.

Auto-generated receipts

Unlike competitors like Payhawk, Brex customers don’t need to manually upload receipts for every transaction. Rather, Brex will automatically upload itemized receipts for purchases, eliminating the need to track down business receipts and ensuring accounting teams have all the necessary documentation for compliance purposes.

In-app travel booking

For companies that have employees who travel, Payhawk’s platform is lacking compared to alternatives like Brex. Payhawk allows businesses to set spending limits, but the Brex travel management software goes several steps beyond that. With Brex, employees can book and manage travel within the Brex platform, and the pre-determined spend policies will be reflected in the travel options available.

For Phase Genomics, Brex travel was a game changer — especially since before it was implemented, the COO, Kayla Young, acted as the company’s travel manager. “With Brex, employees never have to guess where to go for information or to make changes. They can book and manage travel and expenses all in one platform,” Kayla said. “Brex travel has reduced our travel spend by approximately 10%.”

24/7 support available

Payhawk offers its customers access to its support team via chat for limited hours: Customers can reach support Monday to Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Central European Time. Brex customers, on the other hand, can reach customer support whenever they need. Regardless of where you’re located, you can reach Brex support 24/7 via the Brex app, Whatsapp, email, text, or over the phone.

Global capabilities

With Payhawk, businesses must be based in one of 32 countries to be eligible, and its corporate card can only be issued in six different currencies. For businesses with global teams, Brex may be a better option. International businesses can qualify with Brex as long as they have some type of existing or planned operations in the U.S.

Beyond that, Brex allows for employees to be reimbursed in their local currency, eliminating foreign-exchange conversions and streamlining accounting. Your business can also issue corporate cards in local currencies in over 50 countries, and spend limits and policies can be localized.

Why people prefer Brex over Payhawk

While Payhawk does give businesses some control over how employees spend money, it lacks the travel expense management, customer service access, high credit limits, and banking services that Brex offers its customers. For businesses that need to streamline their expense management, Brex is the best solution.

Triage Staffing is just one of over 30,000 companies that have chosen Brex to manage their expenses. “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,” Natalie Dircks, Senior Accountant at Triage Staffing said. “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.”

Pricing

Regardless of the size of your company, Brex has a package that fits your needs — and budget. Brex’s 24/7 support comes as standard for all Brex customers, as do robust implementation services. Brex Essentials is best for startups and growth companies, giving businesses access to Brex corporate cards, built-in expense management software, bill pay, and reimbursements, for no cost. Travel booking is also included in the Essentials package.

Mid-sized companies can opt for the Brex Premium package for $12 per user, per month, for additional custom control over expenses, additional travel features, multi-entity support, and live budgets. And if your company needs custom implementation, local language support, and unlimited U.S. and global entity support, the Brex Enterprise package fulfills those needs. Visit the Brex pricing page for more details.

SAP Concur is a legacy corporate travel and expense management platform used by companies of all sizes. Concur’s software allows businesses to track expenses, reimburse employees, pay vendors, and book travel in one platform that can integrate with the SAP ERP. With Concur, companies can oversee and approve employee expenses through established workflows.

Key features:

• Integrates with the SAP ERP
• Handles complex approvals
• Offers a mobile application to streamline expense tracking
• Has global functionality due to card partners
• Reliable, legacy platform

Why people prefer SAP Concur over Payhawk

Companies may prefer SAP Concur over Payhawk for several reasons. For businesses that use the SAP ERP, Concur easily integrates with SAP, which can eliminate manual data entry into your ERP and minimize errors. Although Payhawk does offer integration with several ERPs, Concur and SAP offer an integration that few other platforms can match.

Having been launched in 1993, SAP Concur is also one of the most established expense management softwares. Compared to Payhawk—which was launched in 2018—Concur has entrenched itself into expense management, giving it a reputation for being reliable, if outdated. Concur is also known for being able to handle complex expense approvals, ensuring spend stays within policy and is approved by the right managers.

Pricing

SAP Concur doesn’t disclose its prices and fees, which leaves businesses guessing how much the service will cost when comparing expense management options. Some users felt they were being charged surprise fees for services like travel itinerary changes and service calls, adding to the overall cost of the software. Organizations increasingly turn to Concur competitors that offer clear, upfront pricing models to avoid budget surprises and ensure better financial planning.

Airbase is an expense management platform that allows users to pay bills, monitor spending, and control expenses. Airbase specializes in spend control through rules and policies placed on user’s credit cards and account payable approval flows. The software offers its own credit cards, but also allows businesses to opt for American Express or SVB charge cards.

Key features

• Expense management
• Can monitor employee spend
• Reimburse employees in some international currencies
• Create travel budgets for travel and expense management
• Physical and virtual cards

Why people prefer Airbase over Payhawk

Businesses prefer Airbase over Payhawk for several reasons, beginning with ERP integration. Airbase integrates with over 70 ERPs, while Payhawk advertises integration with nine platforms. This can allow businesses to add Airbase to their accounting software without switching ERP software.

Airbase’s accounts payable process is also better for some businesses. Businesses that work internationally prefer Airbase for its ability to send payments to businesses in nearly every country. While Payhawk does allow for its customers to send payments to many different countries, Airbase places fewer restrictions on where payments can go and the currency those payments are sent in. Nonetheless, other Airbase competitors offer similar functionality.

Pricing

Although Airbase divides its packages into three different categories—Enterprise, Premium, and Standard—there is no pricing available for each level. Rather, the platform requests that interested businesses request a quote before knowing any pricing.

Each tier is intended for different sized businesses, with the standard package intended for businesses up to 200 employees, the premium package for businesses up to 500 employees, and the enterprise package for businesses up to 10,000 employees. Each package also includes varying features and capabilities.

Spendesk offers businesses a platform to unify all of their spending, including employee expenses and invoices. To track and control employee spending, Spendesk has prepaid expense cards which are preloaded with funds and then used to cover expenses. Beyond employee spending, Spendesk allows customers to manage accounts payable, accounting, and make international payments in some currencies.

Key features

• Prepaid corporate credit cards for employees
• Multi-entity management
• Automated accounts payable with approval flows
• Budgets for employee spend
• Support available Monday to Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Central European Time

Why people prefer Spendesk over Payhawk

Businesses prefer Spendesk over Payhawk for its international capabilities and prepaid cards. Spendesk, through a partnership with Wise, supports invoice payments in 30 currencies, allowing businesses to manage international payments within their expense management software. The platform’s currency support also streamlines the payments process and multi-entity management.

Spendesk’s prepaid cards are another reason why businesses opt for Spendesk over Payhawk. Prepaid cards can give businesses additional control over employee spending as employees can’t spend more than the pre-loaded amount on the card. This is particularly helpful for businesses who use a Spendesk competitor that doesn’t automatically detect fraud or improper expenses.

Pricing

Spendesk offers three package tiers to cater to the needs of different businesses, but it doesn’t disclose the pricing for each tier. The first level, Essentials, is intended for small businesses, and it offers unlimited cards, 100 transactions per month (before additional fees are charged), and management of three entities, for an additional fee.

The Scale tier is intended for established and growing businesses, and offers companies everything in Essentials, plus purchase order tracking, a dedicated account team, and management of five entities, for an additional fee.

The highest level, Premium, includes everything in the lower two packages and allows businesses open API access to customize Spendesk to their needs. This package also includes up to 500 transactions per month, before additional fees are charged.

Expensify is an expense management software that offers its own corporate card, accounts payable, travel management, and oversight of employee spending. Expensify is designed to help small businesses—particularly those that aren’t scaling—track expenses.

Key features

• 24/7 support is available
• Integration with over 40 software platforms
• Track bill payments
• Reimburse employees in local currency

Why people prefer Expensify over Payhawk

Payhawk’s limited functionality and customer support leads businesses to prefer Expensify. For businesses based in the U.S., Expensify’s customer support availability is significantly better, offering customers access 24/7. Additionally, Expensify Travel allows customers to book travel from within the Expensify platform, a function many Expensify competitors also lack.

Pricing

Expensify has transparent pricing for both of its plans. The Collect package, which is intended for business with one to 10 employees, costs $5 per user, per month. Collect includes Expensify cards, bill pay, and expense approvals.

For businesses with 10 to 1,000 employees, Expensify offers the Control plan. This package costs $9 per user per month and allows for more customization than the Collect plan. Expensify doesn’t advertise functionality for businesses larger than 1,000 employees.

Zoho Expense is software that specializes in travel and expense management. Zoho Expense allows companies to book travel and oversee employee spending using third-party corporate cards, such as American Express. The platform offers invoicing and bill pay functionality, but they’re separate from Zoho Expense.

Key features

• Book travel from within the platform
• Track travel budget and expenses
• Automated receipt tracking
• Custom expense approvals

Why people prefer Zoho Expense over Payhawk

Zoho Expense offers a more refined travel management platform compared to Payhawk, which can better serve businesses with employees who travel frequently.

Nonetheless, Zoho Expense does lack other functionality that competitors like Brex offer, which can make it inadequate for a full-service option to replace your financial stack.

Pricing

Zoho Expense offers customers a tiered pricing structure, including Standard, Professional, Premium, and Custom. The Standard plan is free—and allows up to three users—while the others charge a fee per user.

Payhawk may be suitable for some businesses, but for those that need more functionality, automation, and control over spend, Brex is the best Payhawk alternative. Brex allows businesses to control spend before it happens through embedded expense policies and automated expense approval flows.

Further, once an expense happens, Brex auto-generates receipts for most transactions, eliminating the need to chase down receipts and boosting compliance. Brex AI can detect and flag any expenses that need to be reviewed by managers, further streamlining the approval process.

For the team at Dots, automating approvals saved the team two hours each week on receipts, and helped prevent rogue transactions. “Having spend controls within virtual cards is really useful for preventing unauthorized spend, especially when it comes to managing and paying those recurring bills,” Sahil Hasan, Dots CEO and co-founder, said.

Unlike Payhawk, Brex is built to grow with your business, from approval flows to credit limits. With Payhawk, businesses can access a credit limit up to $1 million, and that varies by country. Brex doesn’t impose the same limits, offering up to 20x higher limits than traditional cards, and allows your access to credit to increase as your business expands.

Brex’s complete financial stack, which goes beyond corporate cards and expense management to include bill pay, global payments, accounts payable automation, travel, and banking services, streamlines and simplifies financial operations. And with global capabilities—including being able to track spending in over 100 currencies—your business can expand to nearly any country.

If you’re ready to streamline your financial stack and get control over all of your spending, sign up for Brex today.