Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs Conta Azul

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

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

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Conta Azul logo

Conta Azul

Accounting

Brazilian cloud system for small business finance, invoicing and sharing the books with the accountant

From
239.9/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • 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.; Conta Azul it is a Brazilian product with Brazilian fiscal logic, so it is of no use to an entity filing anywhere else, and a foreign group with a Brazilian subsidiary runs it as a local island alongside whatever the group reports in.
  • They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Corporate cards, Conta Azul covers Electronic invoice issuance.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and Conta Azul actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and Conta Azul differ
AttributeAirbaseConta Azul
Starting price$29/month239.9/month
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Accounting).

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

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

Only in Conta Azul

  • Electronic invoice issuance
  • Receivables and payables
  • Bank reconciliation
  • Boleto collection
  • Customer and supplier records
  • Sales orders and quotations
  • Stock control
  • Accountant access

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 Conta Azul
  • A finance team where supplier invoices arrive in an inbox and approval is whoever replies, with no record afterwardsnot Conta Azul
  • A controller trying to close the month without rebuilding card and expense coding from statements every timenot Conta Azul
  • An organisation that wants spend approved before it is committed rather than discovered when the invoice arrivesnot Conta Azul

Conta Azul

  • A Brazilian micro or small business under the simplified tax regime that runs receivables in a spreadsheet and wants control of cash flownot Airbase
  • A service company that needs to issue municipal service invoices and reconcile boleto collections without manual matchingnot Airbase
  • A business whose accountant asks for organised records each month instead of a folder of documentsnot Airbase
  • A small retailer or distributor needing basic stock control tied to the documents it already has to issuenot 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.

Conta Azul

  • It is a Brazilian product with Brazilian fiscal logic, so it is of no use to an entity filing anywhere else, and a foreign group with a Brazilian subsidiary runs it as a local island alongside whatever the group reports in.
  • Plans are scoped by revenue band, so a company that crosses a threshold pays more without necessarily using more of the product, and budgeting the software cost means forecasting turnover rather than usage.
  • It is not a tax calculation and filing engine, so the accountant still prepares the statutory obligations, and a business that expects the subscription to cover its Brazilian tax compliance has misread what it is buying.
  • Municipal service invoice coverage varies by city because each municipality runs its own system, so a business in a smaller or unusual municipality may find its service invoices still have to be issued on the city portal by hand.
  • The product targets micro and small companies under the simplified regime, so a business that grows into the more complex Brazilian tax regimes will outgrow it and face a migration at exactly the moment its accounting is becoming harder.

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

Conta Azul

239.9/month
  • Essencial (MEI)$239.9/month
    • 1 user access
    • Financial management
    • Invoicing
  • Controle (ME)$449.9/month
    • 2 user accesses
    • Financial management
    • Invoicing
  • Avançado$519.9/month
    • 5 user accesses
    • Financial management
    • Invoicing
  • Performance$839.9/month
    • 15 user accesses
    • Financial management
    • Invoicing

Which should you pick?

Choose Airbase if

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

Choose Conta Azul if

  • You need electronic invoice issuance.
  • You also want receivables and payables.
Conta Azul review

Questions people ask

Is Airbase or Conta Azul better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Conta Azul at 239.9/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbase or Conta Azul?
Airbase starts at $29/month and Conta Azul at 239.9/month.
Does Airbase or Conta Azul run on more platforms?
Airbase runs on Web, Ios, Android. Conta Azul runs on Web.
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 Conta Azul is typically brought in for.
What can Airbase do that Conta Azul cannot?
Airbase covers Corporate cards, Virtual cards per vendor, Bill payment, Expense reimbursement. Conta Azul covers Electronic invoice issuance, Receivables and payables, Bank reconciliation, Boleto collection.

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.

Conta Azul: Does Conta Azul do my tax filings?

No. It organises the operational and financial records and shares them with your accountant, who prepares and files the tax obligations. It is the record keeping layer, not the compliance filer.

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.

Conta Azul: Can it issue service invoices for my city?

Coverage depends on your municipality, because each runs its own service invoice system. Check your specific city before subscribing, since a gap there is the difference between automation and manual issuance.

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.

Conta Azul: Why does the price depend on my revenue?

Plans are banded by turnover rather than purely by features or users. It keeps the entry price low for very small companies, but it means growth triggers a price change independent of how much of the product you use.

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.

Conta Azul: Will my accountant work in it?

Many Brazilian practices already do, and there is a dedicated accountant role. Ask your accountant before subscribing; if they work in a different product, the friction of running two systems usually falls on you.

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.

Conta Azul: Is it suitable if I leave the simplified tax regime?

It is built around smaller companies and the simplified regime. As the tax treatment becomes more complex, expect to outgrow it and to face a migration alongside a change of accounting complexity.

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.

Conta Azul: Is there an English interface?

It is a Brazilian product in Portuguese, aimed at Brazilian owners and accountants. Plan for Portuguese language operation.

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