Introduction
A recent study on ReportLinker states the global SaaS-based expense management market size is expected to reach $6.6 billion by 2028, rising at a market growth of 11.2% CAGR during the forecast period. Expense management solutions help digitize and streamline your expense management workflows
Picking the right expense management solution that is best for your company is not an easy task. You must research, study and analyze multiple solutions before choosing the right one. But don’t worry – we have done all the heavy lifting.
After analyzing over 50+ expense management solutions in the market, we bring to you the top 10 expense management solutions out there. Check out the comparative table and our in-depth analysis of each software. We deep dive into their features and usability and provide our verdict for each expense management solution.
What is an expense management solution?
An expense management solution is a system that automates the end-to-end expense management process. From expense reporting to tracking to reimbursement, expense management solutions can streamline the entire process and make it more efficient.
List of 10 best business expense management solutions
10 Best business expense management solutions – Detailed explanation
1. Happay
Happay is an integrated platform that combines your firm’s travel, expense, and payment in one single place. Use Happay to increase compliance, prevent cash leakage, and get real-time visibility of spending behaviors in your organization.
What’s more, Happay can automate your T&E operations from end to end and integrate them seamlessly into any HR, ERP, or accounting software of your choice.
Features
- Integrated self-booking tool: From travel booking to raising travel advances, do it all on a single platform.
- Unified employee expense card: Travel admins, employees, and everyone get a corporate card integrated with a travel booking and expense management solution.
- Business tool integration: Happay seamlessly integrates with various accounting and ERP systems, saving precious time on repetitive tasks. You can also export custom reports from Happay with a single click.
- Complex approval workflow: Create workflows with multiple levels and deviations to replicate different entities, departments, and teams hierarchies.
- AI-powered expense filing: Happay’s Xpendite extracts expense data directly from SMS, email, credit card statement, Uber, etc.
- GST compliance: Easily capture GST details and ensure 100% compliance.
- Enterprise-grade security: Sensitive information remains secure in accordance with enterprise-grade security standards.
- SAML-based single sign-on: Users do not have to memorize multiple passwords. Enable a single login for all enterprise systems, including Happay.
Best suited for
Happay is well-suited for mid-market and large enterprises.
Usability
Happay has superior and enhanced UI and UX, making it one of the most user-friendly T&E software.
Our verdict
Happay is your best bet if you are looking for expense management solutions that bring your travel, expenses, and payments under one single roof. Happay will ensure all the systems in your organization talk to each other. This means better expense and spend management.
Price
Schedule a demo with Happay and learn about its features, benefits, and pricing.
2. Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense is a cloud-based expense reporting software that helps manage your firm’s business travel expenses and spending. From filing expense reports to reimbursement, it has automated expense management from end to end.
Additionally, Zoho Expense can streamline your firm’s business travel booking process. The software lets you set expense policies, track advance payments, implement multiple approval workflows, etc.
Features
- Enforce multi-level workflows
- Set budget and spending limits
- Credit card integration
- Mobile receipt upload
Usability
Zoho Expense has a simple and user-friendly user interface.
Best-suited for
Zoho Expense is best suited for small businesses to medium-sized companies to enterprises.
Our verdict
The software offers features that can help you easily manage business expenses. However, there are better choices than this if you’re looking for multiple integrations. Also, the software works well only when integrated with other Zoho products.
Price
The freemium plan is free for up to three users. The enterprise plan is INR 299/ month (billed annually) for every active user (minimum 500 users).
Read More: Best Zoho Expense Alternatives and Competitors
3. Expensya
Expensya offers payment cards and spend management for finance teams. It can streamline the spending management process for your employees, managers, and accountants.
Expensya can be integrated with your bank card, travel management company, ERP, HR, and accounting system.
Features
- Mobile access
- Corporate card
- Approval process control
- Invoice management
- Multi-currency
Usability
Expensya offers an easy-to-use mobile app.
Best suited for
Expensya is best-suited for companies of all sizes.
Our verdict
Expensya can help automate the expense reporting and management process from start to finish. However, according to a G2 user review, the OCR feature is sometimes faulty and needs improvement.
Price
Expensya’s silver plan starts at 5 € per session/ month (billed annually). The most popular plan – the gold plan – costs 8 € per month per session.
Suggested Read: 8 Best OCR Software and Tools (Free + Paid)
4. Emburse Nexonia
Nexonia by Emburse is another fully automated expense management system out there that can help organizations of varied sizes manage their expenses.
The product has a mobile app that makes expense submission fast and straightforward. Nexonia can also be integrated into your accounting and ERP systems.
Features
- Time & expense tracking
- Approval process control
- Invoice management
- Credit card integration
- Workflow management
Usability
Nexonia has an intuitive and effective mobile app.
Best suited for
From start-ups to enterprises, Nexonia is used by companies of all sizes.
Our verdict
Nexonia is a highly customizable, cloud-based expense management software that streamlines your firm’s expense management system. However, some users feel that personal debit card integration is a hassle in Nexonia.
Price
The price starts from $12 per month. For other pricing details, check out their official website.
5. SAP Concur
SAP Concur offers integrated travel, expense, and invoice management for multiple companies. From expense reporting to setting up travel policies, SAP Concur’s corporate expense management solutions can help you take control of every aspect of expense management.
The software comes with a mobile application that lets you track your company’s expenses anytime, anywhere.
Features
- Create expense reports
- Credit card integration
- Receipt Management
- Faster employee reimbursement
- Currency conversions
- Credit card integration
Best suited for
Both small and medium-sized companies and enterprises can fully use the features of SAP Concur to their advantage.
Usability
SAP Concur is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
Our verdict
SAP Concur’s integrated travel and expense management system can help save your firm’s time and effort. However, SAP Concur is a legacy software; therefore, newer features like automatic GST compliance are unavailable.
Price
To know the exact price, check out their official website and request a quote.
Read More: 5 Best SAP Concur Alternatives and Competitors
6. Freshbooks
Freshbooks is accounting software that can help manage your firm’s expenses hassle-free. It allows users to track bills, collect online payments, and send and manage invoices.
Additionally, on Freshbooks, expense categories can be customized according to your business needs. Moreover, since it is cloud-based software, employees can access it from anywhere.
Features
- Efficient expense tracking
- Invoicing and billing
- Complete control of the approval process
- Integration of travel, expense, and data
Best suited for
Their expense management solutions are best suited for freelancers, self-employed professionals, accountants, companies with contractors, and employees.
Usability
Judging the usability factor, we can say that Freshbook is easy to use, and the mobile app is available on iOS and Android.
Our verdict
Freshbook offers plenty of accounting-related solutions, but the expense tracking and expense managing capabilities of are minimal. If you’re looking for an expense management solution, choose a system with extensive features.
Price
For professionals with basic needs, the Lite plan is best suited. The pricing starts from $6/month. We recommend the Select plan for large enterprises with complex needs, where the price is decided based on your requirements.
Quick Read: 10 Best Accounts Payable (AP) Software
7. Center
Center is a corporate credit and expense management solution that can streamline the expense process in your organization.
Using the Center software, you can help save employees’ time, increase policy compliance in your firm, simplify expense filing and processing, and offer meaningful data and insights.
Features
- Create expense reports easily
- Credit card integration
- Digital receipt management
- Policy compliance management
- Complex approval workflow
- Automated reminders
Best suited for
This expense management software is best suited for both medium-sized companies to large enterprises.
Usability
Center users feel the software easy to use and has an interactive UI/UX.
Our verdict
Center can simplify the business travel expenses in your organization effectively. However, if you are looking for business expense management solutions in India, Center is not your best bet; other market leaders offer better features that are best suited for the Indian market.
Price
The pricing depends on your firm’s requirements. Check out the Center’s official website to know more about pricing.
Read Also: 10 Best Expense Claim Software for Enterprises
8. Webexpenses
Webexpenses is a cloud-based travel and spend management company that is spread over 70 countries globally. The expense management solution automates manual processes, reduces error, increases visibility, and helps save time and money for business organizations.
What’s more, Webexpenses can be easily customized based on the requirements of your company. The software’s US, UK, and Australia customer support team offers 100% support 24/7.
Features
- Integrated with 50+ accounting systems
- Google vision powered OCR technology
- Mileage tracking
- Automated policy compliance
- Petty cash management
- Carbon emission tracking
Best suited for
The software is suitable for companies of all sizes.
Usability
Webexpenses has a simplified, intuitive digital platform.
Our verdict
Webexpenses is the ideal solution to streamline expense reporting and processing in your organization. However, a section of Webexpenses users felt the software’s location tool could sometimes be faulty and inaccurate. Additionally, the software only supports the English language.
Price
Webexpenses offers custom-pricing packages as a bundle or standalone. To request a custom quote check out their website.
Read More: 10 Best Spend Management Software for Enterprises
9. Spendesk
Spendesk is a cloud-based spend management platform that offers you 100% visibility of your expenses. The software offers you total spend visibility, built-in automation, an easily customizable approval process, and many other features.
It facilitates integration with third-party systems such as Xero, Slack, NetSuite, Datev, and others. Moreover, Spendesk will also help set up custom exports to your favorite accounting software.
Features
- Payment reconciliation
- Data visualization
- Multiple currencies
- Real-time reports
Best suited for
From enterprises to small companies, Spendesk is suited for firms of all sizes.
Usability
Spendesk has an easy-to-use and intuitive interface.
Our verdict
Spendesk offers 100% spend visibility and control over your employee expenses. According to a G2 user review, sometimes Spendesk makes mistakes while capturing PDF details while auto-filling forms.
Price
Spendesk has three pricing plans: Starter, Essentials, and Scale. Contact Spendesk for all pricing-related details.
Also, Read: A Guide to Simplifying Your Employee Expense Reimbursement Process
10. Xero
Xero is primarily an accounting software freelancers, entrepreneurs, and companies use for administration and accounting. Other features of Xero include invoicing, bank reconciliation, purchase order management, expense management, tax management, etc.
Xero can connect your business with banks, accounting tools, payment services, and third-party apps. On Xero, you can file paperless expense reports, view expense reports and analytics, and claim mileage expenses on the go.
Features
- Automatic data entry
- Bank connections
- Smart bank reconciliation
- Online billing
- Automated financial reporting
- Integration with other apps
Best suited for
Xero is best suited for small companies, accountants, and bookkeepers.
Usability
Xero accounting comes with a mobile app ( iOS and Android) and provides access to invoices, spending, cash flow, etc., on the go.
Our verdict
Xero is an accounting software with minimal expense management features. If you are searching for dedicated expense management software, there are other better choices for you.
Price
Xero’s price starts at $12 and can go up to $65 for a month.
Read More: 10 Best Expense Reporting Software and Tools
10 Best expense management solution – Table of comparative reviews and ratings
Benefits of using an expense management solution
From making the expense filing process faster and more efficient to increasing policy compliance, there are multiple benefits that expense management solutions offer.
Here are some of the most important benefits of using an expense management solution:
1. Simpler and faster process
Automation of every aspect of expense management makes the entire process simpler and faster. What’s more, automation can help reduce the use of paperwork and cut both processing costs and time-consuming steps.
Moreover, employees do not have to spend hours filing expenses and wait anxiously for days to get reimbursement. Also, managers and finance teams can check and approve expense reimbursement with a single click.
2. Fewer errors
In manual interventions, the chances of error creeping in are pretty high. You can reduce or eliminate human errors by automating manual processes using expense management solutions.
3. Increase in policy compliance
Expense management solutions can easily flag out-of-policy expenses. What’s more, organizations can now customize the solution based on the company’s policies and prevent filing non-policy-compliant expenses at the start. This translates to a reduction in expense fraud.
4. Better visibility
These days, most expense management solutions have a centralized dashboard containing important expense data. As a CFO, you can use this vital information to make an informed decision.
Read Also – 9 Expense Management Best Practices
Must have features in expense management solutions
Always choose an expense management software with features that suit your business needs. Here are some of the must-have features to look for:
1. Modern and intuitive dashboard
Expense management is no child’s play. There are too many moving parts like expense filing, processing, auditing, reimbursing, etc. Therefore, a modern and intuitive dashboard is necessary to give a better insight into each of these processes.
Pick an expense management solution with an intuitive dashboard that allows you to do the following tasks:
- Approve or reject expense reports
- Add or edit expenses
- Identify expense trends
- Policy violations
- Audit trails
2. Mobile application
Always choose an expense management solution that comes with a mobile app. This way, your employees can submit expenses anytime, anywhere. What’s more, your managers can also review and approve expense reports on the go.
3. Automated approval process
Expense approval process is often slow and cumbersome in most organizations. Use expense management software to automate the approval process to speed up the process.
Automating the workflows allows the reports to be approved faster with 100% policy compliance. Choose a solution that will instantly notify reviewers about pending approvals and accurately flag non-policy-compliant claims.
4. Real-time data and analytics
Use expense reporting software that will provide you with important real-time data that helps you make strategic decisions. Using the data, you can:
- Break down expenses
- Get better spend insights
- Accurately track policy violations
- Reconcile expense reports
Must Read – 7 Top Expense Management Challenges
Why is Happay the best expense management solution?
Happay is a mobile-first, cloud-first, modern, and intuitive business expense management solution offering superior enterprise features. With 2 million users across 20+ countries, Happay can automate employee and business expense processes, eliminate expense frauds, minimize manual error, and help achieve 100% policy compliance in your organization.
Here are some of the unique features of Happay that can help streamline and make the expense management process in your company more efficient:
- Use Happay to auto-capture expense details from multiple sources
- Happay’s superior OCR feature will help employees auto-capture spending from physical receipts
- Auto-flags violations, potential frauds, and manual errors and help the finance team track expenses more efficiently
- Approvers get notifications about expense reports within seconds via the web dashboard or the mobile app
- Happay will capture 100% GST data and generate automatic and accurate filing-ready reports
Conclusion
Digital adoption has been a priority for organizations across the globe across sectors. However, the post-pandemic environment has highlighted its importance like never before. This has also been evident in the travel and expense software industry.
So, expense management solutions give you an edge over your competition, whether it is data-driven insights, better strategic decisions, or simple automation.
FAQs
An expense management solution is a software or system that helps organizations streamline employee expense tracking, reporting, and approval. It automates expense-related processes to improve accuracy and efficiency.
CFOs rely on expense management to maintain cost control, ensure policy compliance, and gain insights into spending patterns. It contributes to financial stability and informed decision-making.
These systems allow employees to submit expense reports digitally, which are then reviewed, approved, and processed. They integrate with financial systems for seamless record-keeping.
Cloud-based solutions offer scalability, accessibility from anywhere, and automatic updates. They reduce IT overhead and provide real-time data insights.
By enforcing policy compliance, flagging suspicious expenses, and providing audit trails, these solutions help prevent and detect fraudulent activities.
Automation eliminates manual data entry, reducing errors and processing time. It also triggers alerts for policy violations and ensures timely reimbursements.
Yes, modern expense management apps use encryption and authentication to secure data. Many also offer features like biometric login for added security.
Look for solutions that offer customizable reports, real-time dashboards, and the ability to analyze spending trends to support strategic decision-making.
Yes, most systems offer integration with accounting, ERP, and payroll software, streamlining financial processes and data sharing.
Consider factors like scalability, ease of use, compliance capabilities, and the ability to adapt to your organization’s specific needs for a successful implementation.
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