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Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs IRIS KashFlow

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

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

From
$29/month
Rated
-
IRIS KashFlow logo

IRIS KashFlow

Accounting

Online accounting software for UK sole traders and small businesses

From
£13.5/month
Rated
-

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.; IRIS KashFlow advertised monthly prices of £1.35 (Starter) and £2.75 (Business) are a 90% promotional discount off the standard £13.50 and £27.50 rates, and the promotion is described as lasting 6 months before reverting
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and IRIS KashFlow actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and IRIS KashFlow differ
AttributeAirbaseIRIS KashFlow
Starting price$29/month£13.5/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 IRIS KashFlow

Nothing recorded that Airbase does not also cover.

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

IRIS KashFlow

  • business accountingnot Airbase
  • invoicing and billingnot Airbase
  • VAT managementnot 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.

IRIS KashFlow

  • Advertised monthly prices of £1.35 (Starter) and £2.75 (Business) are a 90% promotional discount off the standard £13.50 and £27.50 rates, and the promotion is described as lasting 6 months before reverting
  • Listed prices are in GBP plus VAT, and the platform's plans are built around UK VAT filing rather than other tax regimes
  • Annual pricing is quoted at RRP £162/year (Starter) and £291.50/year (Business) before the same promotional reduction

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

IRIS KashFlow

£13.5/month
  • Starter Monthly$13.5/month
    • 10 invoices
    • up to 25 bank transactions
    • single user access
  • Business Monthly$27.5/month
    • unlimited invoices
    • unlimited bank transactions
    • multi-user access
  • Starter Annual$162/year
    • 10 invoices
    • up to 25 bank transactions
    • single user access
  • Business Annual$291.5/year
    • unlimited invoices
    • unlimited bank transactions
    • multi-user access

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 IRIS KashFlow if

Nothing in the data separates IRIS KashFlow from Airbase on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Questions people ask

Is Airbase or IRIS KashFlow better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and IRIS KashFlow at £13.5/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbase or IRIS KashFlow?
Airbase starts at $29/month and IRIS KashFlow at £13.5/month.
Does Airbase or IRIS KashFlow run on more platforms?
Airbase runs on Web, Ios, Android. IRIS KashFlow 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 IRIS KashFlow is typically brought in for.
What can Airbase do that IRIS KashFlow cannot?
Airbase covers Corporate cards, Virtual cards per vendor, Bill payment, Expense reimbursement.

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.

IRIS KashFlow: What are IRIS KashFlow's core features across all plans?

All IRIS KashFlow plans include unlimited quotes, online VAT submission, mobile app access, 50+ reports, bank feeds, receipt capture, multi-currency support, and payroll for up to 5 employees.

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.

IRIS KashFlow: Are there promotional discounts for new IRIS KashFlow customers?

Yes, new customers receive a 90% discount for 6 months on both Starter and Business monthly plans.

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.

IRIS KashFlow: Can multiple users access IRIS KashFlow on the Starter plan?

No, the Starter plan is limited to single-user access only. Multi-user access requires the Business plan.

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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