Airbase alternatives now that it is part of Paylocity
Airbase is now a Paylocity company, and its spend management is sold as Paylocity for Finance: AP, corporate cards, expenses and guided procurement in one approval workflow. That works well on Paylocity HR, but teams that want an independent spend tool or published prices are comparing other options.
Ramp and Brex are the closest card-and-AP platforms, BILL and [Tipalti](/software/tipalti) are AP-first, [Spendesk](/software/spendesk) suits European mid-sized companies, and [Emburse](/software/emburse) covers expense-heavy organizations.
Why teams switch from Airbase
A reason to switch has to be structural: the pricing model, the ERP it has to sit inside, a deployment or security constraint, or the admin effort to keep it running. If none of the reasons below describes your setup, the migration will cost more than the problem it solves, and the Airbase profile is the better place to spend an hour.
Your spend tool now belongs to an HR vendor
Contracts and the product roadmap now sit with Paylocity, an HR and payroll company. Existing Airbase customers keep their current contacts, per the notice on airbase.com.
You are not on Paylocity HR
Approvals, spend policies and headcount planning draw on the Paylocity employee record. Without Paylocity HR you get less of that benefit.
No public price or trial
airbase.com/pricing redirects to Paylocity, and no free trial is listed. Ramp and Brex publish free plans, and BILL publishes per-user prices.
Many international suppliers
Airbase is less suited to large international supplier bases paid in many currencies, where Tipalti is the usual comparison.
Airbase alternatives compared
Read the last column first. Ruling an option out is quicker than ranking what is left, and every tool in this table gives something up. If more than one person has to sign off, record each reason in the software evaluation scorecard as you work down the rows.
Prices as published by each vendor, checked on 25 Sep 2026. Quote-based means the vendor lists no price.
| Alternative | Best for | Pricing model / starting price | Key difference vs Airbase | What you give up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ramp | Companies that want cards, AP and expenses with a free plan | Free plan; Plus $15 per user/month plus a platform fee source | An independent vendor with a free plan and published Plus pricing. | The Plus platform fee is not published, and 3-way matching needs the Procurement add-on. |
| Brex | Global teams that need local-currency cards | Essentials $0 per user/month; Premium $12 per user/month source | Local-currency cards and multi-entity support across countries. | Some Brex products carry separate fees, and it is card-led rather than built around invoice processing. |
| BILL | Small businesses on QuickBooks or Xero | From $49 per user/month (Essentials) source | Published pricing and self-serve setup. | Per-user AP pricing and less suited to high-volume, multi-entity AP. |
| Tipalti | Companies paying suppliers in many countries | AP from $99/month plus transaction fees source | Global supplier payments that Airbase is less suited to. | Transaction fees on top of the $99 starting platform fee, and cards and expenses are not the core product. |
| Spendesk | European companies with 50 to 250 employees | Quote-based: monthly platform fee plus per-transaction fees source | Built and regulated in Europe, with Datev among its named integrations. | Quote-based: a monthly platform fee plus per-transaction fees. |
| Emburse | Organizations where expense and travel are the main job | Emburse Spend from $8 per user/month (15-user minimum); other products quote-based source | A family of expense products from small-team to enterprise. | Only Emburse Spend has published prices, and it requires at least 15 billed users. |
Airbase alternatives in detail
Nothing here is ranked, because this site publishes no scores. Each entry names who it suits better than Airbase, what the vendor charges and what you give up by taking it, so an entry whose "best for" is not you is one you can drop without reading further.
1. Ramp
Best for: Companies that want cards, AP and expenses with a free plan
Ramp's free plan covers corporate cards, travel and expense, AP with OCR and approvals, AR, treasury and budgets, with QuickBooks Online and Xero sync. Plus adds NetSuite, Sage Intacct, multi-entity and payment release approvals.
Key difference: An independent vendor with a free plan and published Plus pricing.
What you give up: The Plus platform fee is not published, and 3-way matching needs the Procurement add-on.
Price: Free plan; Plus $15 per user/month plus a platform fee (vendor source, checked 25 Sep 2026).
2. Brex
Best for: Global teams that need local-currency cards
Brex Essentials is $0 per user with cards, bill pay, reimbursements and travel; Premium at $12 per user adds multi-entity and custom ERP and HRIS integrations. Brex lists local-currency cards and billing in 50+ countries and is a Capital One subsidiary.
Key difference: Local-currency cards and multi-entity support across countries.
What you give up: Some Brex products carry separate fees, and it is card-led rather than built around invoice processing.
Price: Essentials $0 per user/month; Premium $12 per user/month (vendor source, checked 25 Sep 2026).
3. BILL
Best for: Small businesses on QuickBooks or Xero
BILL covers AP, AR invoicing and Spend & Expense cards (no subscription fee for Spend & Expense), with AP plans from $49 per user a month and a free trial in most cases.
Key difference: Published pricing and self-serve setup.
What you give up: Per-user AP pricing and less suited to high-volume, multi-entity AP.
Price: From $49 per user/month (Essentials) (vendor source, checked 25 Sep 2026).
4. Tipalti
Best for: Companies paying suppliers in many countries
Tipalti pays suppliers in 200+ countries and territories and 120 currencies, collects tax forms, and supports multi-entity AP with unlimited users. Expenses and procurement are separate modules.
Key difference: Global supplier payments that Airbase is less suited to.
What you give up: Transaction fees on top of the $99 starting platform fee, and cards and expenses are not the core product.
Price: AP from $99/month plus transaction fees (vendor source, checked 25 Sep 2026).
5. Spendesk
Best for: European companies with 50 to 250 employees
Spendesk says it is ideal for companies of 50 to 250 employees, is used in 35+ countries, and includes unlimited cards, receipts, reimbursements and budgets in its Foundations package, with AP and procurement as add-ons.
Key difference: Built and regulated in Europe, with Datev among its named integrations.
What you give up: Quote-based: a monthly platform fee plus per-transaction fees.
Price: Quote-based: monthly platform fee plus per-transaction fees (vendor source, checked 25 Sep 2026).
6. Emburse
Best for: Organizations where expense and travel are the main job
Emburse offers expense, travel, AP, cards and invoice products with localization for 100+ countries. Its US-only Emburse Spend product is $8 or $12 per user a month for teams of up to 100 employees, with a 30-day trial.
Key difference: A family of expense products from small-team to enterprise.
What you give up: Only Emburse Spend has published prices, and it requires at least 15 billed users.
Price: Emburse Spend from $8 per user/month (15-user minimum); other products quote-based (vendor source, checked 25 Sep 2026).
When to stay with Airbase
Staying put is the right answer more often than a shortlist implies. Airbase has to be wrong on something you cannot configure or negotiate around before a move pays for itself, and what Airbase actually charges usually settles whether cost is that thing.
Stay with Airbase if you already run Paylocity for HR and payroll, or plan to, and want bills, cards and reimbursements under one approval workflow tied to the employee record.
- Approval chains and spend policies already use the Paylocity employee record.
- You use Paylocity-issued cards with policy controls and cash-back, or link existing cards.
- Headcount planning and purchase requests run through the same workflow.
If the decision is still open, the head-to-head on Airbase vs Stampli works through the same trade-offs one pair at a time.
Sources
Facts and prices on this page come from each vendor's own site, checked on 25 Sep 2026. Vendors change prices and packaging without notice, so confirm before you budget.
- Airbase (Paylocity for Finance): Airbase pricing link (redirects to Paylocity)
- Airbase (Paylocity for Finance): airbase.com
- Airbase (Paylocity for Finance): paylocity.com/products/finance
- Ramp: Ramp pricing page
- Brex: Brex pricing page
- BILL: BILL pricing page
- Tipalti: Tipalti pricing page
- Spendesk: Spendesk pricing page
- Emburse: Emburse Spend pricing page
Choosing between Airbase alternatives
Cut the list to two or three, not five. Put the Airbase profile next to them, send every vendor the same scoping questions so the quotes come back comparable, and ask each one what the first ninety days look like.
Do the arithmetic before the demo. The software ROI calculator shows whether the saving covers implementation, and the full list of expense management software is where to widen the field if none of these fit.
Frequently asked questions
Is Airbase still available?
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Yes. [Airbase](/software/airbase) is now "a Paylocity Company" and its spend management is sold as Paylocity for Finance; existing customers keep their current contacts, per airbase.com.
What is the closest alternative to Airbase?
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[Ramp](/software/ramp) is the closest alternative, because it also combines cards, AP, expenses and procurement, and it has a free plan. [Brex](/software/brex) is the other card-led option, with Essentials at $0 per user.
Does Airbase publish pricing?
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No. airbase.com/pricing redirects to Paylocity, and pricing is quote-based through Paylocity's sales team.
Sources we used
We rely on vendor documentation, pricing pages and other primary sources. We do not use G2 or Capterra ratings as ranking inputs.
Primary sources
- Official vendor documentation, pricing pages, help centers, and release notes
- Public analyst reports, market commentary, and relevant public filings
- Practitioner discussions in communities such as Reddit
What we exclude
- G2 and Capterra ratings as ranking inputs
- Vendor-submitted claims that cannot be corroborated publicly
- Anonymous summary statements presented as proof without a primary source behind them
Review standard
Material corrections can be submitted through the contact page. We update pages when a claim can be verified against a stronger source.
Read the full review methodology and sponsored disclosure.
Evidence used on this page
- Airbase software profile
- Check what Airbase does well before deciding it needs replacing.
- Airbase pricing
- Plans and prices checked on the vendor's site.
- Vendor sources
- Each alternative's price and positioning comes from its own site, checked on 25 Sep 2026.