Accounting & Finance · head to head
Airbase vs Brex
Airbase
Accounting & Finance
The first all-in-one spend management platform
- From
- $29/month
- Rated
- -
Brex
Accounting & Finance
The financial stack for growing businesses
- From
- $29/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Airbase airbase was acquired by Paylocity; its pricing page now redirects to paylocity.com/pricing and the product is marketed as 'Airbase, a Paylocity Company' within Paylocity's HCM platform rather than as a standalone product.; Brex the free Essentials tier is limited to two legal entities
- They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Bill payments, Brex covers Business accounts.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Airbase and Brex actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price ($29/month), free tier (No), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting & Finance), 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
- Bill payments
- Procurement
- Approvals
- Sage Intacct
- Slack
- SOC 2 Type II
Only in Brex
- Business accounts
- Bill pay
- Travel
- SOC 2
- FDIC insured
Both cover
- Corporate cards
- Expense management
- NetSuite
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- PCI DSS
- Web support
- Ios support
- Android support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Airbase
- Spend managementnot Brex
- Expense reportingnot Brex
- Vendor paymentsnot 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
- Airbase was acquired by Paylocity; its pricing page now redirects to paylocity.com/pricing and the product is marketed as 'Airbase, a Paylocity Company' within Paylocity's HCM platform rather than as a standalone product.
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
$29/month- EssentialsFree
- Corporate cards
- Expense management
- Bill pay
- Premium$12/month
- Advanced controls
- Custom approvals
- Travel booking
Which should you pick?
Choose Airbase if
- You need bill payments.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want procurement.
Choose Brex if
- You need business accounts.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want bill pay.
Questions people ask
- Is Airbase or Brex better?
- Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Brex at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Airbase or Brex?
- Airbase starts at $29/month and Brex at $29/month.
- Does Airbase or Brex run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- What is Airbase best used for?
- Airbase is most often used for spend management, expense reporting, vendor payments. Of those, spend management and expense reporting are not what Brex is typically brought in for.
- What can Airbase do that Brex cannot?
- Airbase covers Bill payments, Procurement, Approvals, Sage Intacct. Brex covers Business accounts, Bill pay, Travel, SOC 2. Both handle Corporate cards, Expense management, NetSuite, QuickBooks.