Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Brex vs Modern Treasury

Brex logo

Brex

Accounting

The financial stack for growing businesses

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Modern Treasury logo

Modern Treasury

Accounting

Payment operations and ledger infrastructure that sits between your product and your own bank accounts

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Brex has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Brex the free Essentials tier is limited to two legal entities; Modern Treasury you must already have or be able to obtain your own bank accounts with the right connectivity, so early stage companies without a banking relationship cannot use it and are pushed towards a sponsor bank model instead.
  • They diverge on capability: Brex covers Corporate cards, Modern Treasury covers Multi-rail payment initiation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Brex and Modern Treasury actually diverge.

Attributes where Brex and Modern Treasury differ
AttributeBrexModern Treasury
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Free tierYesNo
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 Brex

  • Corporate cards
  • Business accounts
  • Expense management
  • Bill pay
  • Travel
  • QuickBooks
  • NetSuite
  • Xero

Only in Modern Treasury

  • Multi-rail payment initiation
  • Bank connectivity
  • Ledgers
  • Automatic reconciliation
  • Approval workflows
  • Virtual accounts
  • Compliance tooling
  • Return and exception handling

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Brex

  • Corporate cards with spend controls for startupsnot Modern Treasury
  • Expense management and reimbursementsnot Modern Treasury
  • Travel booking inside the spend platformnot Modern Treasury
  • Bill pay and accounting system syncnot Modern Treasury
  • Multi-entity spend management on the paid tiersnot Modern Treasury

Modern Treasury

  • A marketplace paying out to thousands of sellers that needs a ledger its application can trust rather than reconciling a payments dashboard by handnot Brex
  • A lender originating and servicing loans that must track disbursements, repayments and returns against its own bank accountsnot Brex
  • A company that wants to move off a banking as a service provider and hold its own bank accounts after seeing sponsor banks offboard fintech programmesnot Brex
  • An insurer handling premium collection and claims payment across several rails with approval controls and an auditable trailnot Brex

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Brex

  • The free Essentials tier is limited to two legal entities
  • Premium is $12 per user per month, so cost scales with headcount using the card
  • Enterprise and Smart Card pricing is not published
  • Eligibility criteria are not stated anywhere on the pricing page, which matters for a product that extends credit

Modern Treasury

  • You must already have or be able to obtain your own bank accounts with the right connectivity, so early stage companies without a banking relationship cannot use it and are pushed towards a sponsor bank model instead.
  • Pricing rests on an annual minimum commitment, and companies that miss their volume forecast pay the minimum regardless, which makes the headline per-transaction rate close to irrelevant in year one.
  • Supported bank connectivity is a finite list, so if your bank is not on it you are either waiting for an integration or changing banks, which is a far larger project than adopting the software.
  • It is software over banking, not banking, so it does not solve card issuing, deposit accounts or the licensing questions that a company embedding financial products still has to answer elsewhere.
  • The ledger is genuinely good but adopting it properly means making it the source of truth for balances in your product, which is a significant application change rather than a payments integration and is where implementations run long.

Pricing, plan by plan

Brex

Free
  • EssentialsFree
    • Global card acceptance
    • Accounting integrations
    • Real-time reporting
  • Premium$12/month
    • per user
    • Custom expense policies
    • Dynamic approval chains
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • Custom pricing

Modern Treasury

On request
  • Modern Treasury Platform$undefined/year
    • Platform access fee covering API, dashboard, infrastructure and support
    • Usage-based fees across ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow, push to card, cheques and stablecoins
    • A single annual minimum commitment that both platform and usage fees count towards

Which should you pick?

Choose Brex if

  • You need corporate cards.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want business accounts.
Brex review

Choose Modern Treasury if

  • You need multi-rail payment initiation.
  • You also want bank connectivity.
Modern Treasury review

Questions people ask

Is Brex or Modern Treasury better?
Neither clearly leads. Brex starts at Free and Modern Treasury at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Brex or Modern Treasury?
Brex has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Brex and On request for Modern Treasury.
Does Brex or Modern Treasury run on more platforms?
Brex runs on Web, Ios, Android. Modern Treasury runs on Web.
Can I use Brex for free?
Yes. Brex has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Modern Treasury starts at On request.
What is Brex best used for?
Brex is most often used for corporate cards with spend controls for startups, expense management and reimbursements, travel booking inside the spend platform, bill pay and accounting system sync. Of those, corporate cards with spend controls for startups and expense management and reimbursements are not what Modern Treasury is typically brought in for.
What can Brex do that Modern Treasury cannot?
Brex covers Corporate cards, Business accounts, Expense management, Bill pay. Modern Treasury covers Multi-rail payment initiation, Bank connectivity, Ledgers, Automatic reconciliation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Brex: Does Brex have a free plan?

Yes. Brex Essentials is free for startups and growing companies and includes global card acceptance, AI-powered rules, accounting integrations, real-time reporting, and bill pay.

Source
Modern Treasury: Is Modern Treasury a bank or a banking as a service provider?

Neither. You hold your own bank accounts and it is software over them. That avoids sponsor bank concentration risk but means you need the bank relationship yourself.

Brex: What is Brex Premium pricing?

Brex Premium costs $12 per user per month and is designed for mid-sized companies. It adds custom expense policies, dynamic approval chains, AI compliance auditing, multi-entity support, and live budgets.

Source
Modern Treasury: What does it cost?

Not published. A platform access fee plus usage fees across rails, on an annual term with a single minimum commitment. Negotiate the minimum, not the per-transaction rate.

Brex: What countries accept Brex cards?

Brex cards are accepted in 210+ countries. The Smart Card plan offers local-currency cards in 50+ countries for companies focused on procurement simplification and international payments.

Source
Modern Treasury: Which rails are supported?

ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow, push to card, cheques and stablecoin payments, subject to what your bank supports.

Modern Treasury: Do we still need our own compliance programme?

Yes. KYB, KYC and transaction monitoring are included in the platform, but you are the one holding the accounts and the regulatory obligation sits with you and your bank.

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