Payroll · head to head
Extend vs Ottimate
Extend
Payroll
Virtual card issuing and spend controls layered onto existing business credit cards
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Ottimate
Accounting
Invoice capture and accounts payable automation trained on food and beverage distributor formats
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Extend has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Extend it depends on an existing business credit card relationship, so a company without a qualifying Amex, Visa or Mastercard business card cannot use it as a standalone card issuer.; Ottimate nothing is published about price, and quotes are structured by location and invoice volume, so a group with a few high-volume sites and one with many low-volume sites can receive very different numbers for the same total spend
- They diverge on capability: Extend covers Virtual card issuing, Ottimate covers Line-item invoice capture.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Extend and Ottimate actually diverge.
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 Extend
- Virtual card issuing
- Per-card spend controls
- Approval workflows
- Receipt auto-matching
- ERP integrations
- API access
Only in Ottimate
- Line-item invoice capture
- GL coding
- Approval routing
- Supplier payments
- Price change alerts
- Purchase order matching
- Digital invoice retrieval
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Extend
- A small business wanting free vendor-level virtual card controls without opening a new card programmenot Ottimate
- A company with an existing Amex or bank business card wanting tighter per-vendor spend limitsnot Ottimate
- A finance team wanting predictable per-user pricing rather than a private quote for spend managementnot Ottimate
- A larger business wanting API-driven automated card issuance tied to its existing card relationshipnot Ottimate
Ottimate
- A 40 site restaurant group whose bookkeepers key distributor invoices line by line to track food costnot Extend
- An operator that wants to know within a week when a supplier raises the price of an item outside the contracted schedulenot Extend
- A hotel group standardising accounts payable approvals across properties that each have their own general manager sign-off rulesnot Extend
- A finance team migrating from paper invoice files that needs digital retrieval from supplier portals rather than chasing branches for copiesnot Extend
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Extend
- It depends on an existing business credit card relationship, so a company without a qualifying Amex, Visa or Mastercard business card cannot use it as a standalone card issuer.
- The free Starter plan is capped at five users and 100 cards a month, which small but growing teams will outgrow quickly and need to upgrade past.
- The Pro plan enforces a ten-user minimum, so a company with only two or three people who need virtual cards pays for unused seats.
- Rewards, credit terms and dispute resolution still run through the underlying card issuer, so Extend cannot improve or change those terms; it only adds a control layer on top.
- Deeper ERP integrations such as NetSuite and Dynamics 365 are reserved for the custom-quoted Enterprise tier, so companies needing them lose the pricing transparency of the published Starter and Pro plans.
Ottimate
- Nothing is published about price, and quotes are structured by location and invoice volume, so a group with a few high-volume sites and one with many low-volume sites can receive very different numbers for the same total spend
- The line-item extraction advantage is trained on food and beverage distributor formats, so accuracy on long-tail suppliers, service invoices and one-off vendors falls back to general OCR and needs human review
- It is an accounts payable layer, not an inventory or recipe costing system, so operators still need Restaurant365 or an equivalent for true plate costing and the value depends on that integration behaving
- The company has rebranded once already from Plate IQ, and much of the third party comparison material still uses the old name or wrongly attributes it to AvidXchange, which makes independent due diligence unusually hard
- Payment execution through the platform introduces a dependency on Ottimate for supplier relationships, and moving away later means re-establishing payment details with every vendor rather than simply exporting data
Pricing, plan by plan
Extend
Free- StarterFree
- Up to 5 users and 10 guests
- Up to 100 virtual cards per month
- One expense category
- Pro$11.99/month
- 10 user minimum
- Up to 500 virtual cards per month
- Custom approval workflows and QuickBooks Online integration
- Enterprise$undefined/month
- Unlimited users and virtual cards
- API access for automated card issuance
- NetSuite and Dynamics 365 integration, dedicated account manager
Ottimate
On request- Ottimate$undefined/year
- Quoted by location count and invoice volume
- Payment rails may carry separate transaction charges
- Implementation and accounting system integration scoped separately
Which should you pick?
Choose Extend if
- You need virtual card issuing.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want per-card spend controls.
Choose Ottimate if
- You need line-item invoice capture.
- You work on Web, iOS, Android.
- You also want gl coding.
Questions people ask
- Is Extend or Ottimate better?
- Neither clearly leads. Extend starts at Free and Ottimate at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Extend or Ottimate?
- Extend has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Extend and On request for Ottimate.
- Does Extend or Ottimate run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Extend for free?
- Yes. Extend has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ottimate starts at On request.
- What is Extend best used for?
- Extend is most often used for a small business wanting free vendor-level virtual card controls without opening a new card programme, a company with an existing amex or bank business card wanting tighter per-vendor spend limits, a finance team wanting predictable per-user pricing rather than a private quote for spend management, a larger business wanting api-driven automated card issuance tied to its existing card relationship. Of those, a small business wanting free vendor-level virtual card controls without opening a new card programme and a company with an existing amex or bank business card wanting tighter per-vendor spend limits are not what Ottimate is typically brought in for.
- What can Extend do that Ottimate cannot?
- Extend covers Virtual card issuing, Per-card spend controls, Approval workflows, Receipt auto-matching. Ottimate covers Line-item invoice capture, GL coding, Approval routing, Supplier payments.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Extend: Does Extend replace our business credit card?
No, it issues virtual cards against an existing American Express, Visa or Mastercard business credit line rather than opening a new card programme.
Ottimate: Is Ottimate owned by AvidXchange?
No. Ottimate is the rebranded Plate IQ and operates as an independent venture-backed company. AvidXchange is a competitor, not the parent.
Extend: Is there really a free plan?
Yes, the Starter plan is free for up to five users, ten guests and 100 virtual cards a month.
Ottimate: What was it called before?
Plate IQ. The company kept the same product and renamed it Ottimate.
Extend: What does Pro cost?
11.99 dollars per user per month billed annually, or 12 dollars monthly, with a ten-user minimum.
Ottimate: Does it work outside restaurants?
It will process any invoice, but the line-item extraction accuracy that justifies the price is tuned to food and beverage distributors. Other industries should test carefully before committing.
Ottimate: Does it replace Restaurant365?
No. It handles invoice capture, approval and payment. Recipe costing and restaurant-specific inventory stay in Restaurant365 or an equivalent.
Related pages
Other head to heads
- Extend vs Payhawk
- Extend vs Mooncard
- Extend vs Volopay
- Extend vs EnKash
- Extend vs Branch App
- Extend vs Justworks
- Extend vs Openwage
- Extend vs PayFit
- Extend vs OnPay
- Extend vs RemoFirst
- Extend vs SalaryFits
- Extend vs Sage Intacct
- Extend vs Ceridian Dayforce
- Extend vs Immediate
- Extend vs Jify
- Extend vs Stampli
- Extend vs Tipalti
- Extend vs Bill.com
- Extend vs Basware
- Extend vs Medius Expense
- Extend vs Yooz
- Extend vs Moss
- Extend vs Kodo
- Extend vs Airbase
- Extend vs Tropic
- Extend vs Melio
- Extend vs RazorpayX
- Extend vs Sage 50
- Extend vs Stigg
- Extend vs Vena Solutions
- Extend vs ADP
- Extend vs Medius
- Ottimate vs Payhawk
- Ottimate vs Mooncard
- Ottimate vs Volopay
- Ottimate vs EnKash
- Ottimate vs Branch App
- Ottimate vs Justworks
- Ottimate vs Openwage
- Ottimate vs PayFit
- Ottimate vs OnPay
- Ottimate vs RemoFirst
- Ottimate vs SalaryFits
- Ottimate vs Sage Intacct
- Ottimate vs Ceridian Dayforce
- Ottimate vs Immediate
- Ottimate vs Jify
- Ottimate vs Stampli
- Ottimate vs Tipalti
- Ottimate vs Bill.com
- Ottimate vs Basware
- Ottimate vs Medius Expense
- Ottimate vs Yooz
- Ottimate vs Moss
- Ottimate vs Kodo
- Ottimate vs Airbase
- Ottimate vs Tropic
- Ottimate vs Melio
- Ottimate vs RazorpayX
- Ottimate vs Sage 50
- Ottimate vs Stigg
- Ottimate vs Vena Solutions
- Ottimate vs ADP
- Ottimate vs Medius