Accounting · head to head
Brex vs Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense
Accounting
Expense reporting and travel management at three dollars per user per month
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Brex the free Essentials tier is limited to two legal entities; Zoho Expense aI receipt scans are metered per user per month rather than unlimited, so heavy claimants exhaust the allowance and either scan manually or push the organisation to a higher tier.
- They diverge on capability: Brex covers Corporate cards, Zoho Expense covers Receipt OCR.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Brex and Zoho Expense actually diverge.
| Attribute | Brex | Zoho Expense |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | subscription | Per user per month |
| Founded | 2017 | Unknown |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Zoho Expense
- Receipt OCR
- Corporate card reconciliation
- Per diem and mileage
- Approval workflows
- Travel requests and booking
- Policy engine
- Multi currency and multi entity
- Accounting integration
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Brex
- Corporate cards with spend controls for startupsnot Zoho Expense
- Expense management and reimbursementsnot Zoho Expense
- Travel booking inside the spend platformnot Zoho Expense
- Bill pay and accounting system syncnot Zoho Expense
- Multi-entity spend management on the paid tiersnot Zoho Expense
Zoho Expense
- A mid market company replacing spreadsheet expense claims without a five figure annual software budgetnot Brex
- An existing Zoho One customer extending the suite so expense data lands in Zoho Books without integration worknot Brex
- A business with staff travelling across several currencies that needs automatic exchange rate handling on claimsnot Brex
- A services firm rebilling project expenses to clients and needing them coded to projects at the point of claimnot 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
Zoho Expense
- AI receipt scans are metered per user per month rather than unlimited, so heavy claimants exhaust the allowance and either scan manually or push the organisation to a higher tier.
- Zoho Expense does not issue cards, so policy enforcement is retrospective and out of policy spend is caught after the money has left rather than declined at the terminal.
- Additional users who create expenses are billed at the monthly rate rather than the annual rate, which makes a large population of occasional claimants more expensive than the headline three dollars implies.
- Support quality is the recurring complaint across Zoho products, and at three dollars a seat there is no commercial room for the account management that mid market finance teams expect at renewal or during an audit.
- Deep configuration such as complex approval matrices and custom fields is workable but fiddly, and there is no meaningful professional services organisation to hand implementation to.
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
Zoho Expense
Free- FreeFree
- Up to 3 users
- Receipt capture with limited AI scans
- Basic expense reports
- Standard$3/month
- Billed annually, minimum 3 users
- Corporate card reconciliation
- Approval workflows
- Premium$5/month
- Billed annually
- Travel requests and self booking
- Advanced approvals and policy rules
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.
Choose Zoho Expense if
- You need receipt ocr.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want corporate card reconciliation.
Questions people ask
- Is Brex or Zoho Expense better?
- Neither clearly leads. Brex starts at Free and Zoho Expense at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Brex or Zoho Expense?
- Brex starts at Free and Zoho Expense at Free.
- Does Brex or Zoho Expense run on more platforms?
- Brex runs on Web, Ios, Android. Zoho Expense runs on Web, iOS, Android.
- Can I use Brex for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- 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 Zoho Expense is typically brought in for.
- What can Brex do that Zoho Expense cannot?
- Brex covers Corporate cards, Business accounts, Expense management, Bill pay. Zoho Expense covers Receipt OCR, Corporate card reconciliation, Per diem and mileage, Approval workflows.
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.
SourceZoho Expense: Is the free plan usable in production?
Only for three users. Beyond that you move to Standard, which has a three user minimum anyway.
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.
SourceZoho Expense: Does Zoho Expense issue corporate cards?
No. It reconciles card feeds but does not issue cards, so you need a card programme elsewhere if you want spend blocked before it happens.
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.
SourceZoho Expense: What is the real cost for a hundred users?
Around three thousand six hundred dollars a year on Standard annual billing, plus higher monthly rates for any additional occasional claimants beyond your licensed count.
Related pages
More on Zoho Expense
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