The best spend management software should help businesses plan spending before it occurs. It must allow its users to set spending limits, implement card controls, and allow cardholders to pay for transactions easily. With that in mind, here are the six business spend management softwares suitable for your small business:
- Ramp: Best overall with cashback rewards
- Revolut: Best for freelancers
- BILL Spend and Expense (Formerly Divvy): Best free spend management software for Bill Subscribers
- Brex Empower: Best for Brex Business Account holders
- Emburse Spend: Best for connecting third-party cards
- Bento for Business: Best for affordable spend management cards
We are driven by the Fit Small Business mission to provide you with the best answers to your small business questions—allowing you to choose the right spend management software for your needs. Our meticulous evaluation process makes us a trustworthy source for spend management software insights. We don’t just scratch the surface; we immerse ourselves in every platform we review by exploring the features down to the finest nuances.
For our roundup of the best spend management software, we have created a special rubric that evaluates the features of our chosen providers which gives our audience–small businesses, professionals, and freelancers–an unbiased opinion about the software’s capabilities and fitness in your organization or self-employed business.
Comparison of Business Spend Management Software
Ramp: Best Overall With Cash Back Rewards
Pros
- Has no subscription or platform fees
- Offers multiple payment modes
- Grants 1.5% cash back rewards for purchases paid using Ramp Cards
- Can manually process reimbursements
Cons
- Cannot be used for cash withdrawals
- Doesn’t accept freelancers, sole proprietors, and unregistered businesses
- Cannot carry unpaid balances to the next month
- Requires $75,000 bank balance
Ramp is free to use for spend management, card issuance, and bill payments. Ramp makes money through interchange and transaction fees.
Ramp is our best overall because it is startup-friendly and offers cash back rewards on most transactions. There is no fee for the spend management platform, and you can issue unlimited cards to employees (read our review of Ramp Credit Card). You can also send manual reimbursements in the system for payments made using personal funds.
That’s why Ramp is a flexible choice for small businesses new to spend management tools, expense reimbursements, and card programs. It also integrates with QuickBooks Online, our best small business accounting software. You can sync transactions in Ramp and QuickBooks Online for a smoother bookkeeping process.
Ramp scored excellently in our overall evaluation. It only didn’t get a high score in ease of use because they only accept registered businesses. Even though it’s free, it’s not a suitable pick for sole proprietors. But aside from that, Ramp’s scores in different criterias are excellent. It only missed a few points in card features because the software doesn’t issue special types of cards. However, we don’t see that as a major miss. If issuing special purpose cards is what you’re looking for, take a look at Bento for Business instead.
- Has vast integration with multiple third-party software
- Can issue unlimited cards to employees
- Has more than 80 bank connections
- Includes zero platform fees and unlimited seats
- Accepts reimbursements for expenses paid for using personal funds
- Sets card controls and spending limits
- Startups: Being a free platform, Ramp is a spend management platform that can help startups control spending through spending limits, card controls, and streamlined expense reviews and approvals.
- Businesses with different banks: You can connect multiple bank accounts in Ramp to fund all spending and reload prepaid cards.
- Growing companies: Ramp doesn’t limit the number of users in your spend management platform. As your business grows, you can continue adding more people without worrying about paying for additional seats.
Revolut: Best for Freelancers
Pros
- Has personal and freelance accounts
- Offers a free plan
- Provides affordably priced plans with no card issuance limits
Cons
- Doesn’t offer credit cards
- Imposes required spending amount before getting cash back rewards
- Charges transaction fees for international and local payments if user exceeds plan’s monthly allowances
Freelancer
- Free: $0 for up to five free local transfers
- Professional: $7 per month for up to 20 free local transfers
- Ultimate: $30 per month for up to 100 free local transfers
Company
- Basic: $0 for up to five free local transfers
- Grow: $30 per month for up to 100 free local transfers
- Scale: $119 per month for up to 1,000 free local transfers
- Enterprise: Custom priced
Revolut is a flexible spend management platform that accepts registered businesses and freelancers. It is also a good pick for startups in general because of its low barrier of entry. Even if your small business is in its infancy stage, you can apply for a Revolut account without worrying about minimum bank balances or equity investments received.
In our evaluation, Revolut scores are decent. It earned high marks in spend management features but missed some minor features like procurement processing. It also charges fees after exceeding the allowance. We don’t consider that as a significant factor in our evaluation but it’s worth noting for some users with voluminous payment transactions.
Aside from that, Revolut only got above average scores in card features because it doesn’t issue credit cards and give cash back rewards. While Revolut is also suitable for established companies, we highly recommend that you consider Ramp first. You can issue unlimited cards in Ramp, pay zero monthly fees, and enjoy cash back rewards of 1.5% per transaction.
- Offers low international and local payment fees outside monthly allowance
- Charges zero-markup foreign exchange rates for international transactions
- Accommodates unlimited team members with unique role permissions
- Freelancers: Revolut doesn’t impose strict requirements for applicants. It offers special plans for freelancers, individuals, and even individuals below 18 years old.
- Businesses with few transactions: Each plan in Revolut has a monthly allowance for international and local payments. For example, the Scale plan has a monthly allowance of 1,000 local payments before Revolut charges a 20-cent fee.
- Smaller teams: Each account in Revolut can issue up to 200 virtual cards, making it ideal for smaller teams. Even if you don’t maximize all 200 cards, there will be no changes in the monthly subscription fee.
BILL Spend and Expense (Formerly Divvy): Best Free Spend Management Software
Pros
- Works best with BILL
- Charges no additional fee for interested businesses
- Creates budgets for expenses
Cons
- Requires a BILL subscription
- Is not a standalone software
- Doesn’t issue physical cards, only virtual cards
BILL Spend and Expense is a free spend management app for BILL users. You need to have a BILL subscription before using this app. Below are BILL’s pricing:
- Essentials: $45 per user per month for Billing (A/P) or Invoicing (A/R)
- Team: $55 per user per month for Billing (A/P) or Invoicing (A/R) with accounting software integration
- Corporate: $79 per user per month for both Billing (A/P) or Invoicing (A/R) and accounting software integration
- Enterprise: Custom pricing; includes Billing (A/P) or Invoicing (A/R) plus premium support
If you’re a BILL user looking for a spend management app, we recommend that you pick BILL Spend and Expense. Since you’re already within the BILL environment, you can further streamline your processes and make things easier for your accounting team. BILL Spend and Expense offers expense management for employees by allowing them to submit and report expenses. It also includes approval workflows that’ll enable business leaders to review expenses and ensure the correctness of expense information.
In our evaluation, BILL Spend and Expense got decent scores, but not as high as other providers in the guide. Particularly, it took a hit in card features since the platform doesn’t issue physical cards and allow withdrawals. However, BILL Spend and Expense received high marks in ease of use and spend management features.
Since the platform is free and convenient for BILL users, it gave BILL Spend and Expense additional points overall. Moreover, its spend management features are competent as well because of the expense policies and multilevel approvals. This biggest drawback here is that the software is only for BILL users. If you’re not planning to get BILL, we recommend Ramp or Bento instead.
- Can issue virtual credit cards
- Creates spending budgets
- Tracks budget progress as spent, assigned, or available
- Connects reimbursements with budgets to prevent overspending
- Allows reimbursements via payroll
- BILL users: Using BILL Spend and Expense is a convenient pick for BILL users because it offers A/P, A/R, and expense tracking in one platform. And besides that, the app is free.
- Tracking expenses and budgets: BILL Spend and Expense allows you to track expenses and compare it with budgets. This feature allows you to maintain expenses within budgeted levels and prevent overspending.
- Businesses wanting business credit: Another feature of BILL Spend and Expense is its business credit card. The BILL Divvy Corporate Card allows businesses to use credit cards with no annual fees, seamless integration within BILL, and flexible rewards system.
Brex Empower: Best for Brex Business Account Holders
Pros
- Is free for Brex Business Account holders
- Integrates with popular accounting and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
- Offers cash management tools
- Has artificial intelligence (AI)-powered expense reporting features
Cons
- Requires a Brex Business Account before using Brex Empower
- Doesn’t accept freelancers, sole proprietors, and unregistered businesses
- Has specific financial requirement for Brex Business Account eligibility
- Cannot carry unpaid balances to the next month
Brex Empower is free for existing Brex Business Accounts, which also have no monthly fees. For more information, read our review of Brex Business Account to know more about its eligibility requirements and perks.
Brex Empower is a good spend management software for those with a Brex Business Account. It is a central hub where you can manage debit and credit card transactions and card policies. As a spend management software, Brex Empower users can create expense policies and card controls to manage card usage. For example, admin users can allow or block certain merchants in a particular card to limit purchases.
However, the biggest disadvantage of Brex Empower is its high barrier of entry because of its strict requirements and qualification policies. Small businesses without significant cash balances or equity investment cannot qualify for a Brex account.
If you have a Brex Business account, Brex Empower is a good companion software that can help you manage company spending. Our evaluation revealed that Brex Empower got a high score in spend management features because it can help users track spending for charges directly tied into their Brex accounts. They also issue credit cards, which is a big plus for businesses.
It only got an above average score in card features because it doesn’t allow withdrawals using their debit cards. There is also no rewards system for using Brex Empower cards. If you want a rewards system for using cards, we recommend Ramp because of its cash back system. Otherwise, Bento for Business is more suitable for smaller businesses that can’t qualify for a Brex Business account.
- Allows users to create customized policies for spend cards
- Lets admins and managers block certain merchants in Brex cards
- Has live budgets for real-time tracking of spending
- Integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, SAP, and Oracle
- Tech startups: Opening a Brex account is easier for tech startups since Brex will accept them as long as they meet the requirements in the future or if referred by an existing Brex customer.
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insurance: Brex partners with banks to insure business funds through the FDIC. Currently, the insured amount is up to $2.25 million.
Emburse Spend: Best for Connecting Third-party Cards
Pros
- Allows connection of non-Emburse corporate cards
- Has application programming interface (API) feature for creating customized workflows
- Offers analytics software through Emburse Analytics (paid separately) to help businesses make data-driven decisions
Cons
- Limits free automated clearing house (ACH) transactions to 150 transactions for non-Emburse cards
- Charges additional monthly fee for connecting non-Emburse cards
Emburse Spend’s pricing is quote-based depending on the size of the business and features enabled. However, the custom plan comes with the spend management platform and unlimited issuance of Emburse cards.
Emburse Spend is a good spend management platform for businesses because it allows users to connect third-party cards aside from using Emburse cards. Though there is an additional charge, we believe that allowing third-party cards opens more room for flexibility for businesses with existing corporate cards from other providers.
In our evaluation, Emburse Spend took a hit in pricing because it offers a custom pricing model. While a custom pricing model enables flexibility in terms of cost, we’d prefer if the provider can provide tech buyers an actual or estimated price to aid in decision making. However, Emburse Spend still got high scores in spend management and card features.
We believe Emburse Spend is a great spend management app that can issue debit and credit cards. Using Emburse Cards enables companies to track and manage expenses in a single platform. But just like Ramp and Brex, Emburse Spend only accepts registered businesses. If you’re a freelancer or sole proprietor, you’re ineligible for Emburse Spend. We recommend Revolut for freelancers and Bento for sole proprietors.
- Allows third-party card connections in the spend management platform
- Has real-time spend tracking for card transactions
- Offers a full-featured API for creating custom workflows
- Has 1% cash back rebates for all Emburse card transactions
- Can automatically replenish Emburse card balances
- Businesses with third-party corporate cards: Emburse Spend doesn’t limit its platform to Emburse cards—it allows third-party cards for an additional monthly fee. If your small business would like to retain existing cards, we recommend Emburse Spend for more flexibility.
- Managing expenses in real time: Admins and approvers can track all spending without waiting for employee expense reports. This feature can help managers monitor spending and act upon problems right away.
Bento for Business: Best for Affordable Spend Management Cards
Pros
- Offers spend limit and fixed value cards
- Has transaction tags that can be mapped to your accounting software
- Works with Google Pay and Apple Pay
Cons
- Doesn’t offer corporate charge cards
- Limits the number of issuable cards per plan tier
- Starter: $29 per month for up to 10 cards
- Team: $69 per month for up to 25 cards
- Professional: $149 per month for up to 100 cards
- Enterprise: Custom priced for more than 100 cards
You can try Bento for Business for 60 days.
Bento for Business, a spend management platform that features prepaid cards, is perfect for businesses wanting to control cash flow and spending. With Bento’s diverse card types, you can select different card types for specific expenses.
For example, it has a travel and entertainment card for authorized business trips and a ghost card for one-off payments to third parties. Bento doesn’t impose bank balance requirements for legally registered businesses, making it more flexible for startups and small businesses.
Bento took a huge hit in spend management features. Our evaluation revealed that Bento lacks expense reimbursement features, which has a large allocation in the total score. However, we understand why it took a hit because Bento’s services revolve around its cards. All expenses must be charged and paid for using the cards. This system eliminates manual expense reimbursements. If you think your business still needs manual reimbursements, we recommend looking somewhere else.
However, Bento scored above average in card features because it can issue different kinds of cards. You can have a card for a specific purpose like travel or entertainment. It also got a high score in ease of use because Bento is flexible to all kinds of businesses whether self-employed or an established business. Our best alternative for Bento is Ramp, especially if you’re looking for a free option and the ability to issue credit cards.
- Offers different types of cards, such as primary cards, travel and entertainment cards, purchase cards, ghost cards, per-diem cards, and subscription cards
- Has fixed value or spend limit cards
- Lets admins set the days of week wherein users can use the card
- Tracking cash flow: Since Bento cards are prepaid cards, you’ll be more mindful of spending because the card needs to be loaded before it can be used and all expenses will be charged to your card’s balance.
- Controlling spending: You can give different types of cards to employees to limit the transactions allowed per card. Spend limit cards can be used as primary cards, purchase cards, travel and entertainment cards, ghost cards, and subscription cards. The other card type is a fixed value card, which can be used as per diem cards and vendor management cards.
How We Evaluated the Best Spend Management Software
In our roundup of the best spend management software, we considered the following criteria in our evaluation:
25%
Spend Management Features
10% of Overall Score
The price of the software is essential in your decision. Our scoring system involved determining if the provider offers monthly or annual contracts, charges per user or per organization, and has different plan tiers for flexibility.
25% of Overall Score
Our focus in this criteria is the software’s ability to create expense policies, apply policies in expense processing, and reimburse expenses. As a spend management software, the provider must have some, if not all, of these features.
25% of Overall Score
We have found out that most spend management platforms issue cards. We believe that issuing cards makes sense for spend management because it reduces manual reimbursements and streamlines disbursements. Hence, our evaluation included card features such as the ability to issue virtual and physical cards, issue credit or debit cards, and provide a good rewards system.
20% of Overall Score
We also considered user reviews in our evaluation to include actual customer feedback.
20% of Overall Score
The software’s ease of use centers on customer support and user experience. In our evaluation, we gave higher scores to providers with 24/7 customer support and help centers. We also included having a mobile app for efficiency. Lastly, we included an expert score to give more points to providers with unique features that aren’t included in our sub-criterias.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
No, a spend management software allows managers and admins to monitor spending before expenses occur. On the other hand, expense management monitors expenses after the fact.
It is software that lets your business control all spending through spending limits and card controls. It also controls the users of each card for accountability. The software should enable you to limit the kind, nature, and amount of spending for better management of funds.
Bottom Line
The best spend management software should aid in managing and planning cash flows. It should allow issuance of multiple cards to employees to accommodate purchases and avoid cash transactions. Overall, we hope this list helped you pick a spend management platform for your small business.
