Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs Orb

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

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

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Orb logo

Orb

Accounting

Revenue design platform automating usage-based billing and pricing strategy

From
On request
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.; Orb custom pricing model requires sales consultation, no transparent public pricing
  • They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Corporate cards, Orb covers Usage metering.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and Orb actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and Orb differ
AttributeAirbaseOrb
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionCustom pricing based on billing volume and events
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb, API
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Orb

  • Usage metering
  • Automated billing
  • Pricing modeling
  • Revenue recognition
  • Spend controls
  • Pricing calculator
  • NetSuite integration
  • Data warehouse sync

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

Orb

  • Implementing usage-based billing for cloud infrastructure providersnot Airbase
  • Modeling and testing multiple pricing strategies before launchnot Airbase
  • Automating revenue recognition for financial reportingnot Airbase
  • Managing complex hybrid pricing (seats plus usage) at scalenot Airbase
  • Providing customers real-time spend controls and usage visibilitynot 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.

Orb

  • Custom pricing model requires sales consultation, no transparent public pricing
  • Pricing based on both events and billing volume adds complexity to cost estimation
  • Enterprise-focused positioning may be overkill for simple subscription use cases
  • Requires integration with existing accounting systems for full value
  • Limited information on free tier or trial availability

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

Orb

On request
  • Core$undefined/custom
    • Real-time event ingestion (up to 250K+ events/second)
    • Real-time alerting
    • Hybrid and usage-based billing
  • Advanced$undefined/custom
    • All Core features
    • Data warehouse sync
    • Salesforce integration
  • Enterprise$undefined/custom
    • All Advanced features
    • Enterprise-grade SLAs
    • Dedicated 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 Orb if

  • You need usage metering.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want automated billing.
Orb review

Questions people ask

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

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.

Orb: How does Orb pricing work?

Orb uses custom pricing based on your billing volume (total value of invoices) and events (raw data records ingested). Specific costs must be discussed with their 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.

Orb: What is the difference between Core, Advanced, and Enterprise plans?

Core includes event ingestion and basic billing automation. Advanced adds data warehouse sync and Salesforce/NetSuite integrations. Enterprise adds SLAs, dedicated support, and mission-critical guarantees.

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.

Orb: Can Orb handle hybrid pricing models?

Yes. Orb supports hybrid pricing combining seat-based, usage-based, and flat-rate components, making it suitable for complex monetization strategies.

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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