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Travel · head to head

Egencia vs SimplyBook.me

Egencia logo

Egencia

Travel

Corporate online booking and travel management from Amex GBT for mid-market and enterprise programmes

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SimplyBook.me logo

SimplyBook.me

Scheduling

Online booking system for service businesses

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only SimplyBook.me has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Egencia pricing is per transaction and offline touches cost several times an online booking, so a programme with many complex multi-leg itineraries pays far more than the headline online fee suggests.; SimplyBook.me pricing model includes many features locked behind custom add-ons
  • They diverge on capability: Egencia covers Policy and approval engine, SimplyBook.me covers Booking website.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Egencia and SimplyBook.me actually diverge.

Attributes where Egencia and SimplyBook.me differ
AttributeEgenciaSimplyBook.me
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotefreemium
Free tierNoYes
CategoryTravelScheduling
FoundedUnknown2009

Identical on both: 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 Egencia

  • Policy and approval engine
  • Negotiated rate loading
  • Traveller tracking
  • Agent support
  • Concur Expense integration
  • AI booking assistant

Only in SimplyBook.me

  • Booking website
  • Client management
  • Payment processing
  • Marketing tools
  • Custom branding
  • Google Calendar
  • Outlook
  • Zoom

What people use each for

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

Egencia

  • A company of several hundred travellers wanting negotiated hotel rates without paying for a high-touch TMCnot SimplyBook.me
  • A finance team standardising on SAP Concur that wants booking data pre-populating expense reportsnot SimplyBook.me
  • A multi-country employer needing consolidated duty of care reporting on where staff are travellingnot SimplyBook.me
  • An organisation moving off a regional TMC and wanting one supplier across Europe and North Americanot SimplyBook.me

SimplyBook.me

  • Schedulingnot Egencia
  • Appointment bookingnot Egencia
  • Time trackingnot Egencia
  • Resource managementnot Egencia
  • Team coordinationnot Egencia

Where each one falls short

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

Egencia

  • Pricing is per transaction and offline touches cost several times an online booking, so a programme with many complex multi-leg itineraries pays far more than the headline online fee suggests.
  • It is now a service tier inside Amex GBT rather than an independent supplier, so a competitive process that shortlists both Egencia and Amex GBT is not really two bids.
  • Regional content and service quality are uneven, and companies with travellers in smaller markets often find local fares and hotels missing from the tool and end up going offline.
  • Implementation to load negotiated rates and configure policy typically runs months, and rate loading errors surface as travellers seeing the wrong prices rather than as a clean failure.
  • Because the platform underwent a relaunch on new architecture, customers migrating from the older Egencia stack have faced feature parity gaps and retraining during the transition.

SimplyBook.me

  • Pricing model includes many features locked behind custom add-ons
  • No built-in video conferencing, requiring third-party integration
  • Limited CRM capabilities compared to dedicated sales platforms
  • Free plan capped at 5 bookings per month, limiting small business use

Pricing, plan by plan

Egencia

On request
  • Egencia$undefined/year
    • Per-transaction booking fees, online and offline rates differ
    • Optional annual platform or management fee
    • Implementation and rate loading charges

SimplyBook.me

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 50 bookings/month
    • Booking website
    • Basic features
  • Basic$8.25/month
    • 100 bookings
    • Custom features
    • Payments
  • Standard$24.9/month
    • 500 bookings
    • All features
    • Multiple locations

Which should you pick?

Choose Egencia if

  • You need policy and approval engine.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want negotiated rate loading.
Egencia review

Choose SimplyBook.me if

  • You need booking website.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want client management.
SimplyBook.me review

Questions people ask

Is Egencia or SimplyBook.me better?
Neither clearly leads. Egencia starts at On request and SimplyBook.me at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Egencia or SimplyBook.me?
SimplyBook.me has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Egencia and Free for SimplyBook.me.
Does Egencia or SimplyBook.me run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use SimplyBook.me for free?
Yes. SimplyBook.me has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Egencia starts at On request.
What is Egencia best used for?
Egencia is most often used for a company of several hundred travellers wanting negotiated hotel rates without paying for a high-touch tmc, a finance team standardising on sap concur that wants booking data pre-populating expense reports, a multi-country employer needing consolidated duty of care reporting on where staff are travelling, an organisation moving off a regional tmc and wanting one supplier across europe and north america. Of those, a company of several hundred travellers wanting negotiated hotel rates without paying for a high-touch tmc and a finance team standardising on sap concur that wants booking data pre-populating expense reports are not what SimplyBook.me is typically brought in for.
What can Egencia do that SimplyBook.me cannot?
Egencia covers Policy and approval engine, Negotiated rate loading, Traveller tracking, Agent support. SimplyBook.me covers Booking website, Client management, Payment processing, Marketing tools.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Egencia: Is Egencia still sold under its own name?

Yes. Amex GBT bought it in 2021 and kept the brand, relaunching it in 2026 with a conversational AI assistant and a Concur Expense integration.

SimplyBook.me: Does SimplyBook.me offer a free plan?

Yes, SimplyBook.me offers a free plan for small businesses, though advanced features and custom add-ons require paid plans.

Source
Egencia: How is it different from Amex GBT itself?

Egencia is the more self-service, lower-touch tier of the same company, aimed at mid-market programmes; Amex GBT proper is the high-touch enterprise service.

Egencia: Does it replace an expense system?

No. It books travel and feeds data to expense tools such as SAP Concur; you still need an expense product.

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