Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs Vertex

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

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

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Vertex logo

Vertex

Accounting

Enterprise tax determination, compliance, and e-invoicing software

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.; Vertex pricing is entirely custom and not published, requiring a sales engagement to get a quote.
  • They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Corporate cards, Vertex covers Real-time tax determination.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and Vertex actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and Vertex differ
AttributeAirbaseVertex
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Androidweb, api
Founded20171978

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 Vertex

  • Real-time tax determination
  • Global e-invoicing compliance
  • Compliance reporting and filing
  • Exemption certificate management
  • AI-powered compliance workflows
  • ERP 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 Vertex
  • A finance team where supplier invoices arrive in an inbox and approval is whoever replies, with no record afterwardsnot Vertex
  • A controller trying to close the month without rebuilding card and expense coding from statements every timenot Vertex
  • An organisation that wants spend approved before it is committed rather than discovered when the invoice arrivesnot Vertex

Vertex

  • Automating indirect tax calculation for large multinational enterprisesnot Airbase
  • Managing global e-invoicing compliance mandatesnot Airbase
  • Handling exemption certificates for B2B salesnot Airbase
  • Embedding tax logic directly into ERP and e-commerce checkout flowsnot 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.

Vertex

  • Pricing is entirely custom and not published, requiring a sales engagement to get a quote.
  • The platform is built for enterprise-scale tax complexity, which can be more than small businesses need.
  • Implementation typically requires integration work with existing ERP systems, adding setup time and cost.
  • Documentation on self-serve plan tiers or limits is not publicly available, unlike simpler tax tools.

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

Vertex

On request
  • Vertex Cloud$undefined/mo
    • Custom pricing based on business needs
    • Tax determination, e-invoicing, and reporting
    • ERP and e-commerce integrations

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 Vertex if

  • You need real-time tax determination.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want global e-invoicing compliance.
Vertex review

Questions people ask

Is Airbase or Vertex better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Vertex at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbase or Vertex?
Airbase starts at $29/month and Vertex at On request.
Does Airbase or Vertex run on more platforms?
Airbase runs on Web, Ios, Android. Vertex 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 Vertex is typically brought in for.
What can Airbase do that Vertex cannot?
Airbase covers Corporate cards, Virtual cards per vendor, Bill payment, Expense reimbursement. Vertex covers Real-time tax determination, Global e-invoicing compliance, Compliance reporting and filing, Exemption certificate management.

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.

Vertex: Is Vertex's tax software pricing publicly available?

No. Vertex does not publish pricing for its Vertex Cloud or enterprise tax platform; costs are determined through a custom quote based on modules, transaction volume, and deployment scope.

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.

Vertex: Roughly what do businesses pay for Vertex?

As reported by third-party buyer guides, not Vertex itself, mid-market companies processing 10,000-50,000 monthly transactions often pay in the $40,000-$100,000 per year range including platform and transaction fees.

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.

Vertex: Who manages Vertex Cloud after it's set up?

With the Vertex Cloud deployment option, ongoing operations such as monitoring, configuration, and state tax correspondence remain the responsibility of the customer's internal team rather than Vertex.

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.

Vertex: What systems does Vertex integrate with?

Vertex integrates with major ERP and e-commerce platforms including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, Shopify, Workday, and NetSuite to embed real-time indirect tax calculation into existing business systems.

Source
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.

Vertex: How many jurisdictions does Vertex support for tax determination?

Vertex calculates real-time indirect tax rates across 195 countries and more than 20,000 tax jurisdictions worldwide.

Source
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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