For many businesses, expense management can feel like a large expense in and of itself. This article is meant to help companies of all sizes determine what employee expense management solution is right for them, and what costs they can expect to incur.

One confusing aspect is that two solutions with similar-looking price points might be charging for very different things. Some charge for every employee, others only for active users, and some even offer usage-based pricing tied to the number of expense reports submitted.

Related: Employee Expense Reimbursement Explained

Some platforms are free to a degree while requiring companies to adopt their corporate cards or other financial products.

Let’s look at what some of the biggest expense management platforms actually charge and what you’re getting for the money.

Key Points

• TripLog Expense starts at just $4 per user per month for comprehensive employee expense reimbursement management.
• Zoho Expense is one of the cheapest options, starting at $3 per user per month, but there may be additional things to consider.
• Expensify Collect costs $5 per member per month, while its more advanced Control plan has more complicated pricing.
• Ramp and Brex offer free expense management platforms, but their business models are closely tied to their corporate cards and broader financial services.
• Expense software may charge by total users, active users, expense reports, or a combination of subscription and platform fees.

Employee Expense Management Software Pricing at a Glance

TripLog Expense Pricing

TripLog Expense starts at $4 per user per month for our Teams plan and $6 per user per month for our Enterprise. Our Teams plan gives companies access to unlimited reporting, OCR receipt capture, approval management, bank and credit card feeds, custom tags and notes, and more.

For companies who need features like multi-level hierarchy, spending limits, out-of-policy flagging, custom fields, and GL code reporting, our Enterprise plan is available.

One of our biggest distinctions is that our expense management solution is built alongside our automatic mileage tracking and reimbursement products, making us a powerful choice for companies with mobile employees.

Rather than paying for separate mileage and expense products, companies can manage both within the same system. If mileage isn’t necessary for your business, however, TripLog can handle employee expense management alone as well.

Related: Expense Report Automation Explained

Zoho Expense Pricing

Zoho Expense is among the more inexpensive major employee expense solutions on the market. Their Standard plan costs $3 per user per month billed annually, or $4 monthly. Premium costs $5 annually or $6 monthly.

The important distinction with Zoho is that expense management is just one small corner of what is an enormously broad software company.

Zoho currently advertises more than 60 business applications covering CRM, accounting, recruiting, payroll, email marketing, help desks, website building, point-of-sale systems, event management, app development, IoT, and even augmented-reality remote assistance.

That breadth can be a major advantage if your company already runs on Zoho. On the other hand, a company looking for specifically deep expense and reimbursement expertise may prefer  a provider whose primary focus is expense, mileage, or spend management.

In other words, Zoho Expense is very affordable and may be capable of doing what many businesses need in terms of expense management, but it comes from more of a software generalist than an expense-management specialist.

Expensify Pricing

Expensify’s entry-level Collect plan costs $5 per member per month with no annual commitment required. It includes receipt scanning, employee reimbursements, corporate card management, expense approvals, travel, and QuickBooks and Xero integrations.

Their Control plan is considerably more complex, however.

Standard Control pricing is $18 per member per month with an annual subscription, though Expensify Card usage can reduce that price to as low as $9. Pay-per-use Control pricing can reach $36 per active member per month.

Ramp Pricing

Ramp’s free plan is listed at $0 per user, and it includes corporate cards, receipt matching, expense management, basic approval tools, bill pay, and accounting integrations.

You might be asking how they can offer these features for free. Simply put, they earn money off of interchange fees generated when customers use Ramp cards.

If you need more advanced features, companies need to upgrade to Ramp Plus for $15 per user per month, plus a platform fee based on your team’s size. Plus adds features like AI-powered expense reviews, more customizable travel policies, and other advanced features.

So while Ramp can be free, the platform is ultimately designed around Ramp’s broader corporate card and financial ecosystem. If that’s not something you want to commit to, more streamlined options exist.

Related: Manual Expense Reports: The Hidden Costs

Brex Pricing

Brex Essentials is also $0 per user per month, but they operate with a similar card-forward approach as Expensify and Ramp. That plan includes reimbursements, bill pay, travel booking, accounting integrations, reporting, and support for up to two entities. It also includes access to Brex’s corporate card program.

They also offer Brex Premium for $12 per user per month, which adds more expense-control functionality like multiple customizable expense policies, dynamic review chains, AI-powered compliance detection, advanced approval structures, additional entities, ERP and HRIS integrations, VAT documentation, live budgets, and advanced travel controls.

While employees don’t have to use Brex cards to submit expenses, it’s still much broader than standalone expense reimbursement software. You’d be adopting a platform built around cards, spend management, travel, bill pay, and financial services.

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Sage Expense Management Pricing

Sage Expense Management, formerly Fyle, charges based on active users rather than everyone with an account. Their Growth plan costs $11.99 per active user per month annually, with a five-user minimum.

An active user is someone who creates an expense or has activity on a connected corporate card during the month. The Growth plan includes receipt scanning, card feeds, mileage and per diem tracking, policy checks, single-stage approvals, card reconciliation, and QuickBooks/Xero integrations.

They also have their Business plan, which costs $14.99 per active user with a ten-user minimum. It adds multi-stage and policy-driven approvals, ACH reimbursements, project expense tracking, multi-entity and multi-currency support, additional integrations, and a named account manager. Some things can have implementation fees, and SSO is an additional paid option.

Related: What Are Reimbursable Expenses?

SAP Concur Pricing

SAP Concur takes arguably the most unique approach to pricing. Their Concur Expense Base plan starts at about $7 per expense report, with unlimited users.

This Base plan is fairly stripped down and includes Concur Expense itself. Their Plus plan costs around $11 per expense report and adds receipt capture, their support desk, and additional reporting.

They also have a Premium plan that uses custom pricing and can add Concur Travel, Intelligence, and other advanced capabilities. This pricing structure can make Concur attractive for organizations with many employees but relatively few submitted expense reports. Higher volume can change that equation quickly.

Navan Expense Pricing

For companies with up to 300 employees, their Navan Business travel platform is free. Employees can use it to book business flights, hotels, rental cars, and trains, as well as manage travel policies and access travel support. Navan says it can offer this without a subscription because it earns commission from travel providers.

Their true expense management solution, however, is priced differently.

The first five employees who actively use Navan Expense in a month are free. After that, Navan charges $15 per active expense user per month, with an active expense user is someone who submits a transaction.

Navan probably makes the most sense to compare when your company has heavy business travel needs as well as expense reimbursement management. A company that only needs straightforward employee expense reimbursement may be paying for a broader platform than it needs once it moves beyond the five free expense users.

Related: Expense Reimbursement Requirements by State

Expense Management Software Pricing FAQ

How much does employee expense management software cost?

Traditional paid plans range from around $3 to $15 per user per month. While some solutions offer free tiers, they may be better served for your organization if you plan to commit to their solution ecosystem more broadly. SAP Concur charges by expense report instead.

Are Ram and Brex really free?

Yes, their entry-level software plans genuinely have no per-user subscription charge. Both companies, however, operate broader financial and corporate card platforms, and some more advanced employee expense management features require paid plans.

What’s the cheapest major paid expense software?

Zoho Expense Standard starts at just $3 per user per month annually. For those looking for a solution from a platform specifically dedicated to employee expense management, TripLog Expense starts at $4 per user per month.

Does TripLog handle expenses besides mileage?

Yes, TripLog supports general business expense tracking and reporting alongside its automatic mileage tracking and reimbursement platform.

Related: Are Employee Expense Reimbursements Taxable?

Which Expense Management Solution Offers the Best Value?

There’s no universal best/cheapest option because all of the solutions we’ve discussed are built and monetized differently.

For companies looking for inexpensive, traditional expense management and reimbursement software tools, TripLog and Zoho might be the best fits.

Ramp and Brex do genuinely provide capable expense features for free, but both sit within broader corporate-card and financial platforms. Their $0 price points aren’t quite the same proposition as a standalone expense software subscription.

Expensify, Sage, and Navan are also solid choices, though they also are best fits for companies that need things like corporate cards, or travel management. SAP Concur’s per-report model favors a completely different type of usage pattern as well.

What should teams do? First, determine what features you need and how comfortable you are with entering an ecosystem that may have features and capabilities you don’t need vs. choosing a dedicated employee expense management and reimbursement solution.

If you're unsure of what type of solution your team needs, schedule a complimentary demo with an expert at TripLog today and we'll help you get started!