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Accounting · head to head

Circula vs Kodo

Circula logo

Circula

Accounting

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

From
€15/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Kodo logo

Kodo

Accounting

Corporate cards and intake to pay for Indian businesses

From
On request
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.; Kodo kodo is not a licensed issuer, so card limits, settlement cycles and eligibility come from a partner bank whose terms you do not directly control and which can change the programme.
  • They diverge on capability: Circula covers German per diem engine, Kodo covers Corporate cards.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Circula and Kodo actually diverge.

Attributes where Circula and Kodo differ
AttributeCirculaKodo
Starting price€15/monthOn request
Pricing modelPer user per monthquote

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android), 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

Only in Kodo

  • Corporate cards
  • Purchase requests
  • Invoice capture and matching
  • Vendor payouts
  • GST and TDS handling
  • ERP integration
  • Spend analytics

Both cover

  • Approval workflows

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 Kodo
  • A finance team wanting card spend, expense claims and benefits in one DATEV exportnot Kodo
  • An employer offering the tax free monthly benefit allowance and needing auditable records of itnot Kodo
  • A mid sized business replacing spreadsheet mileage claims with rule enforced distance calculationsnot Kodo

Kodo

  • An Indian startup replacing founder personal cards with issued cards carrying per employee limitsnot Circula
  • A finance team automating vendor payouts across NEFT, RTGS and UPI with maker checker approvalnot Circula
  • A company that needs GST compliant invoice coding flowing into Tally without rekeyingnot Circula
  • A business enforcing purchase requests and approvals before spend rather than reconciling it afterwardsnot 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.

Kodo

  • Kodo is not a licensed issuer, so card limits, settlement cycles and eligibility come from a partner bank whose terms you do not directly control and which can change the programme.
  • Indian regulatory changes on prepaid instruments and card issuing partnerships have repeatedly disrupted fintech card programmes, so continuity risk is higher here than in equivalent European or United States products.
  • Pricing is not published, so comparing Kodo against Happay, Zoho Expense or a bank corporate card requires a full sales cycle and disclosure of your spend volumes.
  • Coverage is India only, so any group with overseas subsidiaries runs a second card and payables system and loses the consolidated view.
  • The intake to pay workflow is lighter than a dedicated procurement suite, with limited contract management and supplier onboarding, so regulated or heavily audited buyers will find gaps.

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

Kodo

On request
  • Kodo$undefined/year
    • Quoted per customer, no published rate card
    • Card limits and settlement terms set by the sponsoring partner bank
    • Payout volumes and payment rails may carry per transaction charges

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 Kodo if

  • You need corporate cards.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want purchase requests.
Kodo review

Questions people ask

Is Circula or Kodo better?
Neither clearly leads. Circula starts at €15/month and Kodo at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Circula or Kodo?
Circula starts at €15/month and Kodo at On request.
Does Circula or Kodo run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
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 Kodo is typically brought in for.
What can Circula do that Kodo cannot?
Circula covers German per diem engine, Receipt capture and OCR, Corporate credit cards, Employee benefits. Kodo covers Corporate cards, Purchase requests, Invoice capture and matching, Vendor payouts. Both handle Approval workflows.

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.

Kodo: Who actually issues the cards?

A partner bank under a card network arrangement, not Kodo. Ask which bank, whether the product is credit or prepaid, and what happens to your limits if the partnership changes.

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.

Kodo: Is pricing published?

No. Kodo quotes per customer, so benchmark against at least two Indian rivals before signing.

Circula: Is there a minimum commitment?

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

Kodo: Does Kodo work outside India?

No meaningful coverage outside India for card issuing or payouts.

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