The best spend management software should help businesses plan spending before they occur. 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 five business spend management software suitable for your small business:
- Ramp: Best overall spend management software with cashback rewards
- Revolut: Best for freelancers
- Brex Empower: Best for Brex Business Account holders
- Emburse Spend: Best for connecting third-party cards
- Bento for Business: Best for small businesses that want affordable spend management cards with no balance, spend, or size requirements
Comparison of Business Spend Management Software
Ramp: Best Overall Spend Management Software With Cash Back Rewards
Pros
- Has no subscription or platform fees
- Offers multiple payment modes
Cons
- Requires $75,000 bank balance
- Doesn’t accept freelancers, sole proprietors, and unregistered businesses
- Cannot carry unpaid balances to the next month
Plans & Pricing
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. However, freelancers and sole proprietors are ineligible for Ramp. We recommend Revolut instead because it offers personal or freelance accounts.
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
Plans & Pricing
Freelancer
- Free: $0 for basic card features
- Professional: $9.99 per month with $2,000 required spending for 1.9% boosted cash back
- Ultimate: $39.99 per month with $10,000 required spending for 1.9% boosted cash back
You can create up to three physical cards and 200 virtual cards per team member.
Company
- Free: $0 for basic card features
- Grow: $39.99 per month with $10,000 required spending for 1.9% boosted cash back
- Scale: $149.99 per month with $30,000 required spending for 1.9% boosted cash back
- Enterprise: Custom priced with $50,000 required spending for 1.9% boosted cash back
Company plans can issue three physical cards and 200 virtual cards per account owner.
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.
However, if you’re an established company looking for a spend management platform with zero monthly fees, Ramp is our best recommendation. You can issue unlimited cards in Ramp and enjoy cash back rewards of 1.5% per transaction.
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
Plans & Pricing
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. We recommend Ramp instead since it has more relaxed qualification policies than Brex.
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
Plans & Pricing
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.
However, 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.
Bento for Business: Best for Small Businesses That Want 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
Plans & Pricing
- 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.
However, businesses wanting credit cards should choose Ramp instead, our best overall pick. Its spend management platform is free, and it can issue unlimited cards.
How We Evaluated the Best Spend Management Software
We evaluated business spend management software based on the following criteria:
- Issuance of physical and virtual cards: As much as possible, the platform must allow users to issue physical and virtual cards. We also considered fees for physical and metal cards.
- Integration with accounting software: Without integration with accounting software, a spend management platform isn’t complete. We looked at features, such as general ledger (GL) account mapping to help your accountant import information into your accounting software easily.
- Setting controls and spending limits on corporate cards: The core feature of a spend management platform should be card controls and spending limits. The platform should enable admins to give cards to employees with specific limits in spending, vendors, and usage.
- Payment in multiple currencies: Though not a primary feature, we’d like to see a spend management platform with features that accommodates foreign currency transactions. Some businesses hire internationally, and it would be easier for them if the spend management platform can process multiple currencies.
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.