Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Brex vs Ottimate

Brex logo

Brex

Accounting

The financial stack for growing businesses

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ottimate logo

Ottimate

Accounting

Invoice capture and accounts payable automation trained on food and beverage distributor formats

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; Ottimate nothing is published about price, and quotes are structured by location and invoice volume, so a group with a few high-volume sites and one with many low-volume sites can receive very different numbers for the same total spend
  • They diverge on capability: Brex covers Corporate cards, Ottimate covers Line-item invoice capture.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Brex and Ottimate actually diverge.

Attributes where Brex and Ottimate differ
AttributeBrexOttimate
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
Free tierYesNo
Founded2017Unknown

Identical on both: platforms (Web, Ios, Android), 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 Ottimate

  • Line-item invoice capture
  • GL coding
  • Approval routing
  • Supplier payments
  • Price change alerts
  • Purchase order matching
  • Digital invoice retrieval

What people use each for

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

Brex

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

Ottimate

  • A 40 site restaurant group whose bookkeepers key distributor invoices line by line to track food costnot Brex
  • An operator that wants to know within a week when a supplier raises the price of an item outside the contracted schedulenot Brex
  • A hotel group standardising accounts payable approvals across properties that each have their own general manager sign-off rulesnot Brex
  • A finance team migrating from paper invoice files that needs digital retrieval from supplier portals rather than chasing branches for copiesnot 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

Ottimate

  • Nothing is published about price, and quotes are structured by location and invoice volume, so a group with a few high-volume sites and one with many low-volume sites can receive very different numbers for the same total spend
  • The line-item extraction advantage is trained on food and beverage distributor formats, so accuracy on long-tail suppliers, service invoices and one-off vendors falls back to general OCR and needs human review
  • It is an accounts payable layer, not an inventory or recipe costing system, so operators still need Restaurant365 or an equivalent for true plate costing and the value depends on that integration behaving
  • The company has rebranded once already from Plate IQ, and much of the third party comparison material still uses the old name or wrongly attributes it to AvidXchange, which makes independent due diligence unusually hard
  • Payment execution through the platform introduces a dependency on Ottimate for supplier relationships, and moving away later means re-establishing payment details with every vendor rather than simply exporting data

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

Ottimate

On request
  • Ottimate$undefined/year
    • Quoted by location count and invoice volume
    • Payment rails may carry separate transaction charges
    • Implementation and accounting system integration scoped separately

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 Ottimate if

  • You need line-item invoice capture.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want gl coding.
Ottimate review

Questions people ask

Is Brex or Ottimate better?
Neither clearly leads. Brex starts at Free and Ottimate at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Brex or Ottimate?
Brex has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Brex and On request for Ottimate.
Does Brex or Ottimate run on more platforms?
Brex runs on Web, Ios, Android. Ottimate runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Brex for free?
Yes. Brex has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ottimate 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 Ottimate is typically brought in for.
What can Brex do that Ottimate cannot?
Brex covers Corporate cards, Business accounts, Expense management, Bill pay. Ottimate covers Line-item invoice capture, GL coding, Approval routing, Supplier payments.

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
Ottimate: Is Ottimate owned by AvidXchange?

No. Ottimate is the rebranded Plate IQ and operates as an independent venture-backed company. AvidXchange is a competitor, not the parent.

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
Ottimate: What was it called before?

Plate IQ. The company kept the same product and renamed it Ottimate.

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
Ottimate: Does it work outside restaurants?

It will process any invoice, but the line-item extraction accuracy that justifies the price is tuned to food and beverage distributors. Other industries should test carefully before committing.

Ottimate: Does it replace Restaurant365?

No. It handles invoice capture, approval and payment. Recipe costing and restaurant-specific inventory stay in Restaurant365 or an equivalent.

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