Softwr

Travel · head to head

Center vs Circula

Center logo

Center

Travel

Card-first travel and expense management with real-time transaction visibility

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Circula logo

Circula

Accounting

Expense, travel and employee benefit management for German speaking finance teams

From
€15/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Center the product is built around its own card, so employees still using a legacy bank corporate card get the ordinary receipt-chasing experience and the real-time promise does not apply to them.; Circula the module pricing stacks: expenses at fifteen euro per licence plus ninety nine euro for cards plus a hundred and forty nine euro for accounts payable means a fifty person company pays well over a thousand euro a month before add ons.
  • They diverge on capability: Center covers Center corporate card, Circula covers German per diem engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Center and Circula actually diverge.

Attributes where Center and Circula differ
AttributeCenterCircula
Starting priceOn request€15/month
Pricing modelquotePer user per month
CategoryTravelAccounting

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 Center

  • Center corporate card
  • Real-time expense capture
  • Travel booking
  • Insights for Travel
  • Policy automation
  • ERP sync

Only in Circula

  • German per diem engine
  • Receipt capture and OCR
  • Corporate credit cards
  • Employee benefits
  • Accounts payable
  • Mileage and travel
  • DATEV and ERP export
  • Approval workflows

What people use each for

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

Center

  • A US mid-market finance team that wants committed travel spend visible before the month closesnot Circula
  • A company replacing a bank corporate card plus a separate expense tool with one suppliernot Circula
  • A business that wants hotel spend booked directly by staff still captured in travel reportingnot Circula
  • A NetSuite or Sage Intacct user wanting coded expenses posted without manual re-keyingnot Circula

Circula

  • A German company that must apply statutory per diem rates and meal deductions correctly to avoid payroll tax exposurenot Center
  • A finance team wanting card spend, expense claims and benefits in one DATEV exportnot Center
  • An employer offering the tax free monthly benefit allowance and needing auditable records of itnot Center
  • A mid sized business replacing spreadsheet mileage claims with rule enforced distance calculationsnot Center

Where each one falls short

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

Center

  • The product is built around its own card, so employees still using a legacy bank corporate card get the ordinary receipt-chasing experience and the real-time promise does not apply to them.
  • Travel booking depends on Spotnana, meaning content, service levels and roadmap for a core part of the product sit with a third party Center does not control.
  • It is a United States product, and multi-entity companies with European or Asian subsidiaries will need a separate card and expense stack for those entities.
  • Interchange on card spend is a significant part of how the vendor earns, which is why the software price looks low; a company that keeps most spend on an existing card programme is a poor fit commercially.
  • It is a smaller supplier than Brex, Ramp or SAP Concur, so integration coverage outside the main US accounting systems is thinner and custom connectors are often the answer.

Circula

  • The module pricing stacks: expenses at fifteen euro per licence plus ninety nine euro for cards plus a hundred and forty nine euro for accounts payable means a fifty person company pays well over a thousand euro a month before add ons.
  • A minimum of ten licences excludes small teams, and the flexible licensing model for occasional claimants makes monthly cost harder to forecast than a flat per seat price.
  • Strength is in German tax rules, so companies with significant operations outside the DACH region gain little from the feature that justifies the price.
  • The accounts payable module includes only a hundred invoices per month, so invoice heavy businesses face metered overage on top of the platform fee.
  • Card issuing carries a per card transaction ceiling and depends on partner issuing, so high value procurement spend can hit limits that a bank issued corporate card would not.

Pricing, plan by plan

Center

On request
  • Center Expense and Travel$undefined/year
    • Usage-based, with no licence, deployment or support fee published
    • Flat per-booking travel fee including unlimited changes
    • Card interchange forms part of the vendor revenue

Circula

€15/month
  • Employee and Travel Expenses$15/month
    • Per licence, billed annually
    • Minimum 10 licences
    • OCR receipt capture
  • Credit Cards$99/month
    • Platform fee, unlimited cards
    • Per card spend limits
    • Transaction limit of EUR 750,000 per card
  • Accounts Payable$149/month
    • Platform fee
    • Includes 100 invoices per month
    • Supplier invoice capture and approval
  • Benefits$1/month
    • Per licence
    • Tax free benefit allowances
    • Mobility and meal benefits

Which should you pick?

Choose Center if

  • You need center corporate card.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want real-time expense capture.
Center review

Choose Circula if

  • You need german per diem engine.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want receipt capture and ocr.
Circula review

Questions people ask

Is Center or Circula better?
Neither clearly leads. Center starts at On request and Circula at €15/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Center or Circula?
Center starts at On request and Circula at €15/month.
Does Center or Circula run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Center best used for?
Center is most often used for a us mid-market finance team that wants committed travel spend visible before the month closes, a company replacing a bank corporate card plus a separate expense tool with one supplier, a business that wants hotel spend booked directly by staff still captured in travel reporting, a netsuite or sage intacct user wanting coded expenses posted without manual re-keying. Of those, a us mid-market finance team that wants committed travel spend visible before the month closes and a company replacing a bank corporate card plus a separate expense tool with one supplier are not what Circula is typically brought in for.
What can Center do that Circula cannot?
Center covers Center corporate card, Real-time expense capture, Travel booking, Insights for Travel. Circula covers German per diem engine, Receipt capture and OCR, Corporate credit cards, Employee benefits.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Center: Do we have to use the Center card?

Effectively yes for the core benefit. Center can ingest other card feeds, but real-time capture, controls and the pricing model all assume its own card.

Circula: Does Circula calculate German per diems automatically?

Yes, by destination country and trip duration, including meal and accommodation deductions, which is the main reason DACH finance teams buy it.

Center: Who provides the travel booking?

Spotnana provides the underlying Travel-as-a-Service platform; Center provides the interface, policy layer and reporting.

Circula: What does it actually cost for fifty employees?

Roughly seven hundred and fifty euro a month for expense licences alone at the fifteen euro rate, before the ninety nine euro card platform fee and any accounts payable module.

Center: Is there a per-user licence fee?

Center markets usage-based pricing with no licence, deployment or support fees; the economics rest on card interchange and booking fees.

Circula: Is there a minimum commitment?

Yes. A minimum of ten licences and annual billing on the published rates.

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