Accounting · head to head
Airbase vs Extend
Airbase
Accounting
Spend management combining corporate cards, bill payment and expense claims, now part of Paylocity
- From
- $29/month
- Rated
- -
Extend
Payroll
Virtual card issuing and spend controls layered onto existing business credit cards
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Extend 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.; Extend it depends on an existing business credit card relationship, so a company without a qualifying Amex, Visa or Mastercard business card cannot use it as a standalone card issuer.
- They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Corporate cards, Extend covers Virtual card issuing.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Airbase and Extend actually diverge.
Identical on both: platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated).
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 Extend
- Virtual card issuing
- Per-card spend controls
- Approval workflows
- Receipt auto-matching
- ERP integrations
- API 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 Extend
- A finance team where supplier invoices arrive in an inbox and approval is whoever replies, with no record afterwardsnot Extend
- A controller trying to close the month without rebuilding card and expense coding from statements every timenot Extend
- An organisation that wants spend approved before it is committed rather than discovered when the invoice arrivesnot Extend
Extend
- A small business wanting free vendor-level virtual card controls without opening a new card programmenot Airbase
- A company with an existing Amex or bank business card wanting tighter per-vendor spend limitsnot Airbase
- A finance team wanting predictable per-user pricing rather than a private quote for spend managementnot Airbase
- A larger business wanting API-driven automated card issuance tied to its existing card relationshipnot 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.
Extend
- It depends on an existing business credit card relationship, so a company without a qualifying Amex, Visa or Mastercard business card cannot use it as a standalone card issuer.
- The free Starter plan is capped at five users and 100 cards a month, which small but growing teams will outgrow quickly and need to upgrade past.
- The Pro plan enforces a ten-user minimum, so a company with only two or three people who need virtual cards pays for unused seats.
- Rewards, credit terms and dispute resolution still run through the underlying card issuer, so Extend cannot improve or change those terms; it only adds a control layer on top.
- Deeper ERP integrations such as NetSuite and Dynamics 365 are reserved for the custom-quoted Enterprise tier, so companies needing them lose the pricing transparency of the published Starter and Pro plans.
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
Extend
Free- StarterFree
- Up to 5 users and 10 guests
- Up to 100 virtual cards per month
- One expense category
- Pro$11.99/month
- 10 user minimum
- Up to 500 virtual cards per month
- Custom approval workflows and QuickBooks Online integration
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Unlimited users and virtual cards
- API access for automated card issuance
- NetSuite and Dynamics 365 integration, dedicated account manager
Which should you pick?
Choose Airbase if
- You need corporate cards.
- You work on Web, Ios, Android.
- You also want virtual cards per vendor.
Choose Extend if
- You need virtual card issuing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want per-card spend controls.
Questions people ask
- Is Airbase or Extend better?
- Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Extend at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Airbase or Extend?
- Extend has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Airbase and Free for Extend.
- Does Airbase or Extend run on more platforms?
- Airbase runs on Web, Ios, Android. Extend runs on Web, iOS, Android.
- Can I use Extend for free?
- Yes. Extend 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 Extend is typically brought in for.
- What can Airbase do that Extend cannot?
- Airbase covers Corporate cards, Virtual cards per vendor, Bill payment, Expense reimbursement. Extend covers Virtual card issuing, Per-card spend controls, Approval workflows, Receipt auto-matching.
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.
Extend: Does Extend replace our business credit card?
No, it issues virtual cards against an existing American Express, Visa or Mastercard business credit line rather than opening a new card programme.
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.
Extend: Is there really a free plan?
Yes, the Starter plan is free for up to five users, ten guests and 100 virtual cards a month.
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.
Extend: What does Pro cost?
11.99 dollars per user per month billed annually, or 12 dollars monthly, with a ten-user minimum.
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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