Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs Brex

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

Spend management combining corporate cards, bill payment and expense claims, now part of Paylocity

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Brex logo

Brex

Accounting

The financial stack for growing businesses

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Brex has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Airbase card issuing and bill payment are built around United States entities and United States bank accounts, so a group with subsidiaries abroad keeps running local card and payment processes alongside and does not get the single ledger of spend that justified the purchase.; Brex the free Essentials tier is limited to two legal entities
  • They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Virtual cards per vendor, Brex covers Business accounts.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and Brex actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and Brex differ
AttributeAirbaseBrex
Starting price$29/monthFree
Free tierNoYes

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting), founded (2017).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Airbase

  • Virtual cards per vendor
  • Bill payment
  • Expense reimbursement
  • Unified approval policy
  • Purchase intake and procurement
  • Automated coding
  • Receipt collection
  • General ledger sync

Only in Brex

  • Business accounts
  • Expense management
  • Bill pay
  • Travel
  • QuickBooks
  • NetSuite
  • Xero
  • SOC 2

Both cover

  • Corporate cards

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Airbase

  • A company that has outgrown one shared company card and needs per person and per subscription cards with real limitsnot Brex
  • A finance team where supplier invoices arrive in an inbox and approval is whoever replies, with no record afterwardsnot Brex
  • A controller trying to close the month without rebuilding card and expense coding from statements every timenot Brex
  • An organisation that wants spend approved before it is committed rather than discovered when the invoice arrivesnot Brex

Brex

  • Corporate cards with spend controls for startupsnot Airbase
  • Expense management and reimbursementsnot Airbase
  • Travel booking inside the spend platformnot Airbase
  • Bill pay and accounting system syncnot Airbase
  • Multi-entity spend management on the paid tiersnot Airbase

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Airbase

  • Card issuing and bill payment are built around United States entities and United States bank accounts, so a group with subsidiaries abroad keeps running local card and payment processes alongside and does not get the single ledger of spend that justified the purchase.
  • The value depends on nearly all spend flowing through the platform, which makes partial adoption almost worthless and means the rollout is a change management exercise across every budget holder rather than a finance department deployment.
  • Paylocity's acquisition in 2024 reorients the roadmap towards a human capital management suite, so expense reimbursement is likely to be well served while procurement and the more finance specific features compete for attention with payroll and HR priorities.
  • Pricing combines a platform fee with tiering on features and users, and part of the economics rests on interchange rebates from card spend, so a company that puts most of its spend on transfers rather than cards pays the fee without earning the offset.
  • The general ledger sync is a mapping you own, so a chart of accounts change, a new department dimension or a ledger migration means reworking the coding rules, and a bad mapping quietly posts correct approvals to the wrong accounts.

Brex

  • The free Essentials tier is limited to two legal entities
  • Premium is $12 per user per month, so cost scales with headcount using the card
  • Enterprise and Smart Card pricing is not published
  • Eligibility criteria are not stated anywhere on the pricing page, which matters for a product that extends credit

Pricing, plan by plan

Airbase

$29/month
  • StandardFree
    • Corporate cards
    • Expense reports
    • Bill pay
  • Premium$10/month
    • Advanced approvals
    • NetSuite sync
    • Procurement
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Custom workflows
    • API access
    • Dedicated support

Brex

Free
  • EssentialsFree
    • Global card acceptance
    • Accounting integrations
    • Real-time reporting
  • Premium$12/month
    • per user
    • Custom expense policies
    • Dynamic approval chains
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • Custom pricing

Which should you pick?

Choose Airbase if

  • You need virtual cards per vendor.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want bill payment.
Airbase review

Choose Brex if

  • You need business accounts.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want expense management.
Brex review

Questions people ask

Is Airbase or Brex better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Brex at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbase or Brex?
Brex has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Airbase and Free for Brex.
Does Airbase or Brex run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Brex for free?
Yes. Brex has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Airbase starts at $29/month.
What is Airbase best used for?
Airbase is most often used for a company that has outgrown one shared company card and needs per person and per subscription cards with real limits, a finance team where supplier invoices arrive in an inbox and approval is whoever replies, with no record afterwards, a controller trying to close the month without rebuilding card and expense coding from statements every time, an organisation that wants spend approved before it is committed rather than discovered when the invoice arrives. Of those, a company that has outgrown one shared company card and needs per person and per subscription cards with real limits and a finance team where supplier invoices arrive in an inbox and approval is whoever replies, with no record afterwards are not what Brex is typically brought in for.
What can Airbase do that Brex cannot?
Airbase covers Virtual cards per vendor, Bill payment, Expense reimbursement, Unified approval policy. Brex covers Business accounts, Expense management, Bill pay, Travel. Both handle Corporate cards.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Airbase: Does it work for companies outside the United States?

Partially. Some international spend and reimbursement is supported, but card issuing and the payment rails are strongest for United States entities. Confirm coverage for each country you operate in before assuming it replaces local processes.

Brex: Does Brex have a free plan?

Yes. Brex Essentials is free for startups and growing companies and includes global card acceptance, AI-powered rules, accounting integrations, real-time reporting, and bill pay.

Source
Airbase: Does Airbase replace our accounting system?

No. It manages spend and pushes coded transactions into the ledger. QuickBooks, NetSuite or whatever else you use stays.

Brex: What is Brex Premium pricing?

Brex Premium costs $12 per user per month and is designed for mid-sized companies. It adds custom expense policies, dynamic approval chains, AI compliance auditing, multi-entity support, and live budgets.

Source
Airbase: What changed after the Paylocity acquisition?

Ownership and roadmap direction. The product continues, now positioned alongside Paylocity's payroll and HR products. If procurement is your main reason to buy, ask directly about investment in that module.

Brex: What countries accept Brex cards?

Brex cards are accepted in 210+ countries. The Smart Card plan offers local-currency cards in 50+ countries for companies focused on procurement simplification and international payments.

Source
Airbase: How is it priced?

A platform subscription with tiers, plus usage and user dimensions, partly offset by rebates on card spend. Because the rebate depends on card volume, model your own mix of card versus transfer spend before accepting a payback figure.

Airbase: Can we use it for accounts payable only?

You can, but the approval consistency argument weakens considerably. Most of the reported benefit comes from cards, bills and reimbursements sharing one policy and one coding process.

Airbase: Will our auditors accept the approval records?

The per transaction record of approver, receipt and coding is generally what auditors want to see for spend testing. Agree the sampling approach with them early, particularly around any spend that still happens outside the platform.

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