Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Airbase vs Volopay

Airbase logo

Airbase

Accounting

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

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Volopay logo

Volopay

Payroll

Corporate cards, multi-currency accounts and accounts payable automation for Asia-Pacific businesses

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.; Volopay cross-currency spend within Singapore carries a fee around 3.1%, which is easy to overlook against the advertised free domestic transfers and can dominate total cost for internationally mobile teams.
  • They diverge on capability: Airbase covers Corporate cards, Volopay covers Multi-currency business accounts.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Airbase and Volopay actually diverge.

Attributes where Airbase and Volopay differ
AttributeAirbaseVolopay
Starting price$29/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
CategoryAccountingPayroll
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Volopay

  • Multi-currency business accounts
  • Virtual and physical corporate cards
  • Accounts payable automation
  • Expense management
  • Accounting integrations
  • Approval workflows

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

Volopay

  • A Singapore-headquartered company paying vendors and staff across several APAC currencies from one accountnot Airbase
  • A finance team wanting free domestic transfers with accounts payable automation includednot Airbase
  • A regional business consolidating separate local business bank accounts into one multi-currency platformnot Airbase
  • A company whose card spend is concentrated in SGD and wants to minimise cross-currency fee exposurenot 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.

Volopay

  • Cross-currency spend within Singapore carries a fee around 3.1%, which is easy to overlook against the advertised free domestic transfers and can dominate total cost for internationally mobile teams.
  • Cross-border payments in non-SGD currencies add roughly 1.6%, so a company paying many overseas vendors accumulates a real cost that is not visible on the headline pricing.
  • Regional focus on Asia-Pacific means weaker fit for companies whose spend is mainly in Europe or North America, where Payhawk or Extend cover the ground better.
  • Pricing is not published, so despite the specific fee percentages that are publicly known, the underlying subscription or platform fee must be obtained by quote.
  • As a comparatively young fintech, its card issuing depends on banking partners whose regulatory standing in each APAC market can change, and companies should confirm current licensing in their specific country before committing.

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

Volopay

On request
  • Volopay$undefined/month
    • Free domestic SGD transfers and Accounts Payable Automation
    • Approximately 1.6% fee on cross-border non-SGD payments
    • Approximately 3.1% fee on cross-currency spend within Singapore

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 Volopay if

  • You need multi-currency business accounts.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want virtual and physical corporate cards.
Volopay review

Questions people ask

Is Airbase or Volopay better?
Neither clearly leads. Airbase starts at $29/month and Volopay at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Airbase or Volopay?
Airbase starts at $29/month and Volopay at On request.
Does Airbase or Volopay run on more platforms?
Airbase runs on Web, Ios, Android. Volopay runs on Web, iOS, Android.
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 Volopay is typically brought in for.
What can Airbase do that Volopay cannot?
Airbase covers Corporate cards, Virtual cards per vendor, Bill payment, Expense reimbursement. Volopay covers Multi-currency business accounts, Virtual and physical corporate cards, Accounts payable automation, Expense 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.

Volopay: What currency is Volopay built around?

Singapore dollar as the base account currency, with support for spend and transfers across several other Asia-Pacific currencies.

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.

Volopay: Are transfers free?

Domestic SGD transfers and the Accounts Payable Automation product are advertised as free; cross-border and cross-currency transactions carry separate fees.

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.

Volopay: Is pricing published?

No, subscription pricing requires a quote, though the specific cross-currency fee percentages are disclosed publicly.

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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