9 Best Expense Management Software Tools for HR and Finance Teams

Managing employee expenses is a grind for finance and HR leaders. Chasing receipts, fixing broken spreadsheets, and manually checking every line for policy compliance eats up hours every month — one estimate puts a single expense report at about 20 minutes and $58 to process. 

It’s no surprise, then, that more finance leaders are turning toward expense management software options to finally retire spreadsheet-based expense reports. Modern platforms automate receipt capture and coding, route approvals, enforce policy in real time, and sync clean data into your accounting tools, giving you a single, accurate view of spend instead of end-of-month surprises.  

We curated a list of the top expense management tools on the market, complete with features, pricing insights, and ideal use cases to help you zero in on the right solution for your business or organization. 

Best expense management software of 2026

Here’s a closer look at some of today’s best expense management platforms, what they do best, and how their pricing compares.  

They’re listed here for comparison — not ranked in any specific order. 

Best for: Growing companies looking for an all-in-one finance, HR, and IT platform 

Paylocity brings HR, finance, and IT together in a single, unified platform designed for today’s modern workforce. By connecting payroll, benefits, expenses, accounts payable, and corporate cards to the same employee record, finance teams can manage every dollar employees earn and spend with precision and control. 

Paylocity’s expense management software is ideal for organizations that want the simplicity of a touchless experience for employees, the assurance of policy compliance for finance leaders, and the strategic advantage of a connected spend ecosystem. It’s built for companies seeking efficiency, real-time visibility, and a cleaner close without added complexity. 

Key Features:  

• AI-powered, touchless expense reports: Smart receipt scanning, automated mileage tracking, and real-time transaction capture make Paylocity’s expense experience virtually touchless. Employees simply snap or forward receipts, while AI parses, codes, and creates expense reports automatically for approval and reimbursement. 
• Enhanced policy control and compliance: Automated policy enforcement, real-time visibility, and proactive identification of ineligible expenses assist finance teams with compliance and audit-readiness. Thresholds, per diems, and category rules are applied at capture, so errors and rework are drastically reduced. 
• Unified spend management ecosystem: Paylocity uniquely integrates expense management with payroll, HR, and workforce data for a single source of truth. AI-driven categorization and coding connect seamlessly with accounts payable, corporate cards, and reimbursements, ensuring every transaction ties back to the right employee, cost center, and policy. 

Pricing: Custom

2. Expensify

Best for: Simple expense reporting 

Expensify is an expense management platform built around automation, combining receipt capture, expense reports, employee reimbursements, and corporate card spend in a single app. Its SmartScan technology lets employees snap a photo of a receipt to extract and log details like merchant, date, and amount, reducing manual data entry and helping create reports faster.  

Expensify supports features like mileage tracking, next-day reimbursements, and real-time expense reporting, which makes it a fit for small and growing teams that want to move beyond spreadsheet-based processes while keeping workflows relatively simple.  

Some reviewers, however, mention a steeper learning curve for new users G2 – Expensify Pros and Cons: Top Advantages and Disadvantages , slower SmartScan processing at times Finances Online – Expensify Review (user review snippet), and more involved setup for accounting integrations Software Advice – Expensify Reviews, so teams may want to plan for a bit of onboarding and configuration upfront.

Key Features:  

• SmartScan receipt scanning and extraction: Expensify’s SmartScan feature allows users to snap a picture of a receipt, then uses optical character recognition (OCR) and additional verification to automatically log and categorize expenses without manual typing, pulling key details like merchant, date, amount, and currency.  
• Mobile-first submission and approval: Employees can capture receipts, create expenses, and submit reports directly from the mobile app Expensify – Mobile App, while managers receive in-app and email notifications to review and approve expenses on the go. 
• Seamless integration with accounting software and corporate cards: Expensify connects directly to accounting platforms like QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite, so expense data can sync straight into your general ledger. It also pulls in company card transactions, making it easier to match charges with receipts and reconcile automatically. 

Pricing: Small business plan starts at $5/user/month, with custom pricing available for the higher tier. Expensify – Pricing

3. Zoho Expense

Best for: Small teams and Zoho users

Zoho Expense is a cloud-based expense and travel management tool that helps businesses capture receipts, automate reports, and manage approvals from a single platform. Because it’s part of the broader Zoho ecosystem, it connects tightly with tools like Zoho Books and Zoho CRM, letting finance teams sync expense data with accounting and sales activity instead of juggling separate systems.

Zoho Expense also leans into travel and expense (T&E) management. Employees can submit trip requests, have them approved, and let a travel desk manage bookings and itineraries directly in the system, which keeps travel details and spend in one place.

On the downside, reviewers point out that customization options for reporting and dashboards are limited.G2 – Zoho Expense Reviews The product also doesn’t offer its own in-house corporate card program, so small teams that want to issue cards will need a separate provider.  

Key Features:  

• Auto-scan receipts and auto-populate expense entries (email and mobile): Autoscan reads key details (date, amount, merchant, currency) from uploaded receipts and uses them to create expenses automatically. Receipts can be added via drag-and-drop, cloud storage, or email. 
• Multi-level/custom approval workflows and travel request/booking: Zoho Expense lets admins set up hierarchical and custom approval flows for trips, reports, advances, and purchase requests so each transaction follows the right path before reimbursement. 
• Strong integration within the Zoho ecosystem: Integration with Zoho Books and the Zoho Finance Suite helps avoid double entry by automatically accounting for approved expense reports and reimbursements, while connections to Zoho CRM keep sales and expense data in sync. 

Pricing: Free tier available, with paid plans starting at $3/user/month Zoho Expense – Pricing (billed annually)

4. Ramp

Best for: Spend control and corporate cards 

For finance teams that care most about controlling card spend, Ramp pairs corporate charge cards with a full spend management layer, covering everything from budgets and approvals to reimbursements and vendor payments. It combines physical and virtual corporate cards with expense tracking, bill pay, and vendor management in one platform, so teams can centralize company payments and tighten policy controls without juggling separate tools.

Ramp is especially popular with startups and mid-market companies that want real-time visibility into spend and automated workflows around cards, expenses, and accounts payable. However, some users have expressed frustration over hidden costs and opaque changes to their cashback reward tiers, as well as poor customer support that many reviewers describe as unresponsive, bot-heavy, or difficult to reach when urgent account issues arise. Ramp Reviews – Trustpilot

Key Features:  

• Corporate charge cards with spend controls: Ramp issues physical and virtual Visa corporate cards with customizable limits and merchant/category rules. These are tied to budgets so admins can cap or lock spend by team, project, or vendor in a few clicks. 
• Real-time spend visibility and automated policy enforcement: Ramp’s dashboards show spend in real time across cards, reimbursements, and bills. Its AI-powered Policy agent also automatically flags or blocks out-of-policy charges. 
• Embedded procurement/PO capabilities: Ramp Procurement centralizes purchase requests and approvals, turns them into POs managed alongside cards and bill pay, and syncs those POs to accounting systems like NetSuite and QuickBooks for matching against invoices and card transactions. 

Pricing: Free tier available, with paid plans starting at $15/user/month Ramp – Pricing

5. Emburse Professional

Best for: Automated travel and expense workflows 

Emburse Professional (formerly Emburse Certify) is a travel, invoice, and expense management platform designed for small to mid-size organizations that want to streamline expense reporting. It pulls expense capture, report creation, approvals, and reimbursements into one system, adding spend controls and analytics so finance teams can move away from spreadsheets and email-based approvals. 

Emburse Professional also supports mobile receipt capture, credit card imports, and a range of ERP and HR integrations, making it useful for teams with frequent travelers and corporate card usage. Some reviewers note that the interface feels dated and could be more intuitive G2 – Emburse Expense Professional Pros and Cons: Top Advantages and Disadvantages, but they generally praise its ability to reduce manual processing once configured. 

Key Features:  

• Prescheduled, auto-generated expense reports: Emburse’s ReportExecutive tool automatically creates and schedules draft expense reports from users’ wallet transactions, then reminds employees to review and submit them on time. 
• Mobile receipt capture and travel itinerary integration: Employees can snap receipts on iOS or Android, have the data auto-extracted, and sync those expenses alongside itineraries and partner travel receipts for a connected T&E workflow. 
• Integrations and configurable workflows: Emburse Professional supports configurable multi-step approval workflows and integrates with tools like QuickBooks Online, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, HR systems, SSO, and card providers, so it fits into existing finance and travel stacks. 

Pricing: Custom Emburse Professional – Pricing

6. Sage Expense Management

Best for: Card expense automation 

For finance teams that want to automate card expenses without changing banks, Sage Expense Management focuses on real-time feeds from existing Visa and Mastercard business cards. It connects directly to those cards so transactions flow in as soon as employees swipe, then pairs that spend with receipts and categories to streamline reconciliation — especially useful for companies with lots of card activity. 

Sage also leans into the idea of meeting employees where they are: People can submit receipts via text, Gmail, Outlook, Slack, email forwarding, or the mobile app, and the system automatically extracts and codes the data for reporting and reimbursement.  

Some reviewers note occasional friction with receipt management — like mismatched or duplicate charges G2 – Sage Expense Management Reviews and slower receipt scan SoftwareFinder – Fyle Review — but many also say that once workflows are dialed in and card feeds are set up correctly, automation significantly cuts down on manual entry and follow-up. 

Key Features:  

• Real-time expense tracking from existing credit cards: Sage Expense Management integrates directly with existing Visa and Mastercard business cards (and other major networks) to deliver real-time card feeds and instant spend notifications, without requiring companies to switch card providers. 
• Automated receipt capture via app, email, or text: Employees can submit receipts by texting a photo, using Gmail or Outlook plugins, sending email forwards, uploading via Slack, or using the mobile and web apps. The platform then uses OCR and AI to extract, code, and track expense data automatically. 
• Deep accounting integrations: Sage offers direct, two-way integrations with accounting systems including NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks, and Xero, syncing receipts, card transactions, GL codes, taxes, and custom fields in real time to speed up month-end close. 

Pricing: Plans start at $11.99/user/month (billed annually) Sage – Pricing

7. SAP Concur

Best for: Enterprise travel 

When organizations start managing travel, expenses, and invoices across multiple countries and business units, SAP Concur is often at the top of the shortlist. It’s a cloud-based spend management platform that connects Concur Travel, Concur Expense, and Concur Invoice so companies can handle booking, expense reporting, and AP workflows in a single ecosystem.  

SAP Concur is typically used by organizations that need global policy enforcement, integrations with ERPs like SAP, Oracle, and NetSuite, and centralized reporting across travel, expense, and invoice data. Its analytics tools can turn spend data into dashboards and scheduled reports SAP Concur – Analytics , giving finance leaders detailed visibility into categories, regions, and policy exceptions.

Some reviewers, however, point to a steeper learning curve, an interface that can feel dated or clunky Software Advice – SAP Concur 2025: Benefits, Features & Pricing , and slower performance at times — especially on larger or more complex reports G2 – SAP Concur — so it tends to be a better fit for organizations that can support more robust implementation.  

Key Features:  

• End-to-end T&E and invoice management: SAP Concur combines travel booking, expense capture, and invoice processing so employees can plan trips, submit expenses, and route invoices for approval within the same platform, from pre-trip authorization through reimbursement and payment. 
• Global compliance and enterprise-scale integrations: The platform supports multi-currency and multi-country configurations, connects to major ERPs and HR systems, and offers a dedicated compliance portfolio that uses AI and machine learning to help enforce policies and reduce audit time. 
• Deep analytics and spend visibility: SAP Concur’s Analytics and Intelligence tools provide a unified view of travel, expense, and AP data, with customizable dashboards and scheduled reports designed to monitor trends, improve audit compliance, and inform budget decisions. 

Pricing: Custom SAP Concur – Pricing

8. Brex

Best for: Startups and high-growth firms 

Brex is a finance platform that combines corporate cards, expense management, bill pay, and travel in a single system, with coverage in 120+ countries.Brex – Home It’s designed for startups and fast-growing companies that want to centralize spend, tighten controls, and manage global expenses without stitching together multiple tools. 

Brex’s target focus is global, multi-currency spend: It offers unlimited global cards accepted in 210+ countries and territories, plus local currency cards and billing in 50+ countries.Brex – Global

On top of its core card and expense tools, Brex layers in intelligent finance agents that automatically categorize, review, and approve spend based on your policies, chase down missing context, and monitor transactions 24/7 to flag risky or anomalous activity. 

Key Features:  

• Integrated corporate cards, expense management, and global spend: Brex issues physical and virtual corporate cards and pairs them with software for expenses, bill pay, travel, and business accounts on one platform, aimed at companies operating or scaling in 120+ countries. 
• Smart receipt matching: Each Brex card transaction generates an expense entry, and the system can automatically match receipts using date, amount, and merchant, with options like email forwarding to reduce manual uploads and chasing. 
• Real-time spend visibility and global/multi-currency support: Brex provides real-time control over global spending with automatically enforced policies, plus global and local currency cards so teams can manage spend across 60+ currencies and 210+ countries from one place.Brex – Live budgets

Pricing: Free plan available, with paid plans starting at $12/user/month Brex – Pricing

9. Rydoo

Best for: Global and mobile teams 

Rydoo is built for companies whose employees are constantly on the move or spread across multiple countries. Admins can enable multiple currencies and branches, let users choose their display currency, and rely on the system to support multi-currency and multi-entity reporting out of the box.  

Automated approval rules let you route expenses based on criteria like amount, cost center, project, or country, so low-risk items can be auto-approved while higher-value or exception spend goes to a manager or controller. Multi-level approver/controller roles and trip approvals then keep those flows consistent across regions, cutting down on manual review and making it easier for finance to enforce policy without slowing people down. 

Key Features:  

• Mobile first AI-powered receipt scanning: Rydoo’s mobile app uses OCR and AI to scan receipts and auto-populate fields like merchant, amount, date, currency, country, and tax rate with 95%+ accuracy in under 10 seconds Rydoo – Receipt scanner , so users mainly just choose a category and submit. 
• Multi-currency/multi-entity support: The platform supports multiple currencies per company and lets admins configure branches and secondary currencies so reports and display currencies can reflect local needs while still rolling up centrally. Multi-entity wallets and views help manage spend by branch, team, or project in one place. 
• Approval workflows and travel expense integration: Rydoo offers multi-level approvals with distinct approver/controller roles, automatic approval rules for low-risk spend, and dedicated trip approval flows so travel requests can be approved and later linked directly to expenses. 

Pricing: Plans start at $9/user/month, with custom pricing available Rydoo – Pricing

How to choose the best expense management solution for your team 

Finding the right expense management software isn’t just about checking off features — it’s about choosing a tool that fits your team’s workflows, size, and goals.  

These five steps will help you evaluate platforms confidently. 

1. Define your must-haves 

Start by outlining the non-negotiables. Do you need mileage tracking, card integrations, or real-time reporting? Focus on the features that solve your biggest pain points, then separate nice-to-haves like travel booking or per diem automation so you can prioritize what really matters. 

2. Map your current process 

Before you jump into demos, take a closer look at how your team handles expenses today. Where do approvals stall? Which steps still happen manually? Mapping your process helps you see where automation will have the biggest impact and which bottlenecks to eliminate first. 

3. Shortlist 3-4 vendors 

Once you know your needs, narrow your search to three or four platforms that match your priorities. Look for tools built for your company size and accounting system, and avoid chasing every shiny feature. A focused shortlist will make comparisons faster and far more meaningful. 

4. Test with real workflows 

Request demos or free trials and run them through your actual process — not a canned scenario. Submit a real receipt, route it for approval, and export it to accounting. This hands-on test shows how each tool performs under real conditions and how easy it’ll be for your team to adopt. 

5. Compare costs and security 

Don’t just look at per-user pricing — consider the full picture. Implementation fees, support tiers, data retention, and security certifications like SOC 2 or SSO can all affect total value. A slightly higher price might be worth it if it saves hours every month or strengthens compliance. 

Unify your people and expenses with Paylocity’s all-in-one HR and finance hub 

Choosing the best expense management software isn’t just about checking off features; it’s about giving finance and HR one clear view of how your teams spend, so policies, budgets, and people’s decisions all stay in sync.  

With Paylocity’s expense management solution, you get AI-powered, touchless expense workflows built right into your HR and payroll system — no extra siloed tools to manage.  

If you’re ready to see how that could work for your team, request a demo so we can walk through your actual expense scenarios and help you decide what comes next. 

Expense Management Software FAQs

Still narrowing down the best expense management software for your team? The questions below are some of the most asked by buyers and can help you compare features, pricing, and how each tool fits into their existing HR and finance stack.