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Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs Maxio

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

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

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Maxio logo

Maxio

Accounting

Billing and financial reporting platform for B2B SaaS companies

From
$599/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.; Maxio entry-level Grow plan starts at $599/month, making it costly for very early-stage startups.
  • They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Corporate cards, Maxio covers Usage-based billing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and Maxio actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and Maxio differ
AttributeAirbaseMaxio
Starting price$29/month$599/month
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Androidweb, api
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 Maxio

  • Usage-based billing
  • Subscription management
  • Revenue recognition
  • SaaS metrics dashboards
  • Dunning and collections
  • Accounting and CRM integrations

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

Maxio

  • Billing for B2B SaaS companies with complex contractsnot Airbase
  • Usage-based and hybrid pricing meteringnot Airbase
  • GAAP/IFRS revenue recognition for finance teamsnot Airbase
  • SaaS metrics reporting for investors and boardsnot 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.

Maxio

  • Entry-level Grow plan starts at $599/month, making it costly for very early-stage startups.
  • Pricing above the Grow tier requires a custom quote rather than transparent self-serve pricing.
  • Focused specifically on B2B SaaS billing, so it lacks general e-commerce checkout or consumer payment features found in platforms like FastSpring.
  • Advanced features like multi-entity support and expense amortization are gated behind paid add-ons.

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

Maxio

$599/month
  • Grow$599/month
    • For businesses up to $100k in monthly billings
    • Usage-based and recurring billing
    • Automated invoicing and dunning
  • Scale$undefined/month
    • For businesses over $100k in monthly billings
    • Advanced revenue management add-ons
    • Multi-entity support

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 Maxio if

  • You need usage-based billing.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want subscription management.
Maxio review

Questions people ask

Is Airbase or Maxio better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Maxio at $599/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbase or Maxio?
Airbase starts at $29/month and Maxio at $599/month.
Does Airbase or Maxio run on more platforms?
Airbase runs on Web, Ios, Android. Maxio runs on web, api.
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 Maxio is typically brought in for.
What can Airbase do that Maxio cannot?
Airbase covers Corporate cards, Virtual cards per vendor, Bill payment, Expense reimbursement. Maxio covers Usage-based billing, Subscription management, Revenue recognition, SaaS metrics dashboards.

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.

Maxio: What does Maxio cost?

Maxio's Grow plan costs $599/month for businesses with up to $100k in monthly billings. Businesses above that threshold need the Scale plan, which requires a custom quote from Maxio's sales team.

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.

Maxio: Is there a free plan?

No, Maxio does not offer a free plan. The Grow plan at $599/month is the entry point, with unlimited users included at no extra cost.

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.

Maxio: What does Maxio integrate with?

Maxio integrates with accounting systems like QuickBooks, Xero, and NetSuite, CRMs including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive, and 20+ payment gateways alongside its own Maxio 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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