Softwr

Accounting · head to head

Cledara vs Happay

Cledara logo

Cledara

Accounting

Software subscription management with a virtual card per application, priced from £100 a month

From
£100/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Happay logo

Happay

Accounting

Indian travel, expense and corporate card platform, now owned by MakeMyTrip

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cledara control only extends to subscriptions paid on a Cledara card, so anything billed by invoice, bank transfer or a legacy company card is invisible to the system and undermines the inventory it promises.; Happay the platform has changed owner twice since 2021, from founders to CRED to MakeMyTrip, and each transition has meant leadership churn and roadmap reprioritisation.
  • They diverge on capability: Cledara covers Virtual card per subscription, Happay covers GST-aware capture.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cledara and Happay actually diverge.

Attributes where Cledara and Happay differ
AttributeCledaraHappay
Starting price£100/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer month by number of applicationsquote
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android

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 Cledara

  • Virtual card per subscription
  • Cancel by card
  • Application inventory
  • Approval workflow
  • Invoice collection
  • Accounting export
  • Spend optimisation module
  • IT management and compliance modules

Only in Happay

  • GST-aware capture
  • Corporate cards
  • Self-booking travel
  • Cash advances
  • Approval matrix
  • Analytics

What people use each for

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

Cledara

  • A finance team that cannot say what software the company pays for because everything is on three people's company cardsnot Happay
  • A company that keeps paying for tools nobody uses and cannot get the vendor to process a cancellationnot Happay
  • A startup wanting approval on new software purchases before the first charge rather than at the auditnot Happay
  • A finance function that spends days each month chasing SaaS invoices for the accountantnot Happay

Happay

  • An Indian enterprise needing GST input credit fields captured at the point of expense submissionnot Cledara
  • A company with field sales staff needing rupee prepaid cards with merchant category limitsnot Cledara
  • A finance team replacing a spreadsheet-and-email cash advance process with a tracked workflownot Cledara
  • An Indian group wanting travel booking and expense from one supplier with domestic content depthnot Cledara

Where each one falls short

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

Cledara

  • Control only extends to subscriptions paid on a Cledara card, so anything billed by invoice, bank transfer or a legacy company card is invisible to the system and undermines the inventory it promises.
  • Tier limits are set by number of applications rather than headcount, and twenty applications on the Basic plan is fewer than most companies of fifty actually run, so buyers often land on a higher tier than the entry price suggests.
  • The modules that turn it from a payment layer into a management platform, spend optimisation, IT management and compliance, are each priced at £150 to £200 a month, comparable to the base plan itself.
  • Usage data is inferred from payment and integration signals rather than deep application telemetry, so its judgement of whether a tool is underused is weaker than a discovery product built on single sign-on and API usage.
  • It is a card issuer as well as a software vendor, which adds financial counterparty considerations and means a change in its banking arrangements would affect how the company pays every one of its suppliers.

Happay

  • The platform has changed owner twice since 2021, from founders to CRED to MakeMyTrip, and each transition has meant leadership churn and roadmap reprioritisation.
  • It is now owned by an online travel agency, so the incentive is to grow travel bookings, and expense-only customers are not the strategic centre of the product.
  • Card issuance depends on partner bank relationships, so limits, approval times and product features are constrained by a bank the customer does not choose.
  • Coverage is overwhelmingly India-specific, which makes it unsuitable as a group-wide platform for companies with foreign subsidiaries.
  • Integration depth outside common Indian ERP and accounting systems is thin, and connecting a global SAP instance usually needs bespoke work.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cledara

£100/month
  • Basic$100/month
    • Up to 20 software applications
    • Virtual card per subscription
    • Application inventory and approvals
  • Premium$undefined/month
    • Up to 75 software applications
    • Typically 51 to 150 staff
    • 1% cashback in the first year, capped at the subscription cost
  • Pro$undefined/month
    • For organisations above roughly 150 staff
    • Scoped individually
    • 1% cashback in the first year, capped at plan cost
  • Add-on modules$200/month
    • Spend Optimization £200 a month or £1,500 a year
    • IT Management £150 a month or £1,500 a year
    • Software Compliance £150 a month or £1,500 a year

Happay

On request
  • Happay$undefined/year
    • Quoted per-user or per-transaction subscription
    • Card programme terms set with the partner bank
    • Travel booking fees separate from expense subscription

Which should you pick?

Choose Cledara if

  • You need virtual card per subscription.
  • You also want cancel by card.
Cledara review

Choose Happay if

  • You need gst-aware capture.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want corporate cards.
Happay review

Questions people ask

Is Cledara or Happay better?
Neither clearly leads. Cledara starts at £100/month and Happay at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cledara or Happay?
Cledara starts at £100/month and Happay at On request.
Does Cledara or Happay run on more platforms?
Cledara runs on Web. Happay runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Cledara best used for?
Cledara is most often used for a finance team that cannot say what software the company pays for because everything is on three people's company cards, a company that keeps paying for tools nobody uses and cannot get the vendor to process a cancellation, a startup wanting approval on new software purchases before the first charge rather than at the audit, a finance function that spends days each month chasing saas invoices for the accountant. Of those, a finance team that cannot say what software the company pays for because everything is on three people's company cards and a company that keeps paying for tools nobody uses and cannot get the vendor to process a cancellation are not what Happay is typically brought in for.
What can Cledara do that Happay cannot?
Cledara covers Virtual card per subscription, Cancel by card, Application inventory, Approval workflow. Happay covers GST-aware capture, Corporate cards, Self-booking travel, Cash advances.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cledara: What does it cost?

Basic is £100 a month for up to 20 applications, with Premium covering up to 75 and Pro above that. Add-on modules are £150 to £200 a month each, and annual payment saves 16%.

Happay: Who owns Happay now?

MakeMyTrip. It agreed in November 2024 to acquire the expense management platform, brand and team from CRED, which had bought Happay in 2021.

Cledara: Does it find software we did not tell it about?

Only what passes through its cards or connected integrations. Subscriptions paid by invoice or another card stay hidden, which is the main limitation of the model.

Happay: Can it be used outside India?

It books international travel for Indian entities, but the expense and card sides are built for Indian tax and banking and do not serve foreign entities well.

Cledara: How does cancelling work?

You cancel the virtual card for that subscription, which stops the payment. It does not remove your contractual obligation, so check notice periods.

Happay: Does Happay issue its own cards?

It issues cards through partner banks rather than under its own banking licence, so card terms follow the partner.

Cledara: Is the application limit by users or by tools?

By tools. Twenty on Basic, seventy-five on Premium. Count your actual subscriptions before assuming the entry price applies to you.

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