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Accounting · head to head

Circula vs Karbon

Circula logo

Circula

Accounting

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

From
€15/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Karbon logo

Karbon

Accounting

Practice management for accounting firms

From
$59/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Karbon monthly billing option only available for teams of 4 or more users
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Circula and Karbon actually diverge.

Attributes where Circula and Karbon differ
AttributeCirculaKarbon
Starting price€15/month$59/month
Pricing modelPer user per monthsubscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 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

Only in Karbon

Nothing recorded that Circula does not also cover.

What people use each for

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

Circula

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

Karbon

  • Automating client document collection for tax practice intakenot Circula
  • Tracking all client requests in workflows tied to jobsnot Circula
  • Aligning hours worked with billable time per engagementnot Circula
  • Automating period close by connecting practice management to accountingnot Circula
  • Streamlining client document submission and approval workflowsnot Circula

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Karbon

  • Monthly billing option only available for teams of 4 or more users
  • Team plan at $59/month per user minimum cost may be expensive for smaller practices
  • No seat license discounts published; scaling costs linearly with user count

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Karbon

$59/month
  • Team$59/month
    • Per-user pricing
    • Designed for small accounting firms
    • Minimum team size of 4 for monthly billing
  • Business$89/month
    • Per-user pricing
    • Workflow automation
    • Integrations for growing practices
  • Enterprise$null/mo
    • Custom pricing
    • Tailored for large accounting firms
    • Dedicated support

Which should you pick?

Choose Circula if

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

Choose Karbon if

Nothing in the data separates Karbon from Circula on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Karbon review

Questions people ask

Is Circula or Karbon better?
Neither clearly leads. Circula starts at €15/month and Karbon at $59/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Circula or Karbon?
Circula starts at €15/month and Karbon at $59/month.
Does Circula or Karbon run on more platforms?
Circula runs on Web, iOS, Android. Karbon runs on Web.
What is Circula best used for?
Circula is most often used for a german company that must apply statutory per diem rates and meal deductions correctly to avoid payroll tax exposure, a finance team wanting card spend, expense claims and benefits in one datev export, an employer offering the tax free monthly benefit allowance and needing auditable records of it, a mid sized business replacing spreadsheet mileage claims with rule enforced distance calculations. Of those, a german company that must apply statutory per diem rates and meal deductions correctly to avoid payroll tax exposure and a finance team wanting card spend, expense claims and benefits in one datev export are not what Karbon is typically brought in for.
What can Circula do that Karbon cannot?
Circula covers German per diem engine, Receipt capture and OCR, Corporate credit cards, Employee benefits.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Karbon: How much does Karbon cost?

Karbon pricing starts at $59 per user per month (Team plan, billed annually) or $79 per user per month (monthly billing for 4+ users). Business plan is $89/month annual or $99/month monthly. Enterprise pricing is custom.

Source
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.

Karbon: Is there a discount for annual billing on Karbon?

Yes, Karbon offers annual billing at a discount compared to monthly. Team plan is $59/month annually versus $79/month monthly. Business plan is $89/month annually versus $99/month monthly.

Source
Circula: Is there a minimum commitment?

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

Karbon: What is the minimum user requirement for monthly billing on Karbon?

Karbon requires a minimum team size of 4 users to access monthly billing. Teams smaller than 4 must choose annual billing.

Source
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