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Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs Spendbase

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

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

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Spendbase logo

Spendbase

Accounting

SaaS and cloud spend management that charges a share of the savings it finds rather than a licence

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Spendbase 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.; Spendbase charging a share of savings gives the vendor an interest in defining savings generously, and the customer cannot verify a counterfactual price it never saw.
  • They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Corporate cards, Spendbase covers Subscription visibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and Spendbase actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and Spendbase differ
AttributeAirbaseSpendbase
Starting price$29/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionFree card tier, plus a share of savings on the managed plan
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Spendbase

  • Subscription visibility
  • Discount marketplace
  • Virtual cards
  • Cashback
  • Renewal management
  • Savings-share billing

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

Spendbase

  • A startup with no procurement function that wants renewal dates and subscription owners in one placenot Airbase
  • A company with heavy Azure or cloud spend that can use pre-negotiated credit allocationsnot Airbase
  • Issuing virtual cards per subscription so a forgotten trial cannot renew silentlynot Airbase
  • A finance lead who wants software cost reduction without hiring anyone to do itnot 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.

Spendbase

  • Charging a share of savings gives the vendor an interest in defining savings generously, and the customer cannot verify a counterfactual price it never saw.
  • The savings share is reported at around 25 percent but is not published on the pricing page, so the actual commercial terms only appear in a contract.
  • Spendbase is both a banking provider and your software negotiator, so a company using both concentrates operating cash and vendor relationships in one small, young company.
  • Banking is delivered through partners rather than held directly, meaning deposit protection and service continuity depend on those partners rather than on Spendbase.
  • It is scoped for startups and small companies, so organisations needing approval workflows, purchase orders or ERP integration will find it thin against a real procurement platform.

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

Spendbase

Free
  • Digital bankingFree
    • No monthly fee per user
    • Up to 100 virtual cards
    • EUR and GBP account details
  • Spend management$undefined/year
    • Everything in the free tier
    • Reported share of roughly 25 percent of savings achieved
    • 200 percent return guarantee against a deposit

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 Spendbase if

  • You need subscription visibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want discount marketplace.
Spendbase review

Questions people ask

Is Airbase or Spendbase better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Spendbase at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbase or Spendbase?
Spendbase has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $29/month for Airbase and Free for Spendbase.
Does Airbase or Spendbase run on more platforms?
Airbase runs on Web, Ios, Android. Spendbase runs on Web.
Can I use Spendbase for free?
Yes. Spendbase 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 Spendbase is typically brought in for.
What can Airbase do that Spendbase cannot?
Airbase covers Corporate cards, Virtual cards per vendor, Bill payment, Expense reimbursement. Spendbase covers Subscription visibility, Discount marketplace, Virtual cards, Cashback.

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.

Spendbase: Is Spendbase free?

The card and banking tier is genuinely free with no per-user fee. The spend management service is paid from a share of the savings it finds, reported at around 25 percent.

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.

Spendbase: How is a saving calculated?

The methodology is not published. Agree the baseline, the measurement period and what counts as a saving in writing before signing.

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.

Spendbase: Does Spendbase hold my money?

Banking is provided through regulated partners including Moorwand in the UK and EEA and Sutton Bank in the US, with Mastercard issuing the cards.

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.

Spendbase: Is it suitable for an enterprise?

No. There are no purchase orders, approval hierarchies or ERP integration; it is built for startups.

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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